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Started by Mark Collins, February 22, 2015 · 56 Replies · 5,425 Views
I use the extra heavy blue theratube with handles. The tubing is a lot stronger than the band and feels like bunge cord tension that I felt at the hardware store. You could use the black for even stronger resistance. I can easily adjust the tension by moving the handles. Here is a link for the theratube and handles in Australia. There would be similar physiotherapy supply companies that sell this worldwide. The tubing is a lot more durable than the bands and never tears.
Theratube
Handles
Stephen M said:I'm using Sportcord bungees and they work great. I use the lightest resistance (red) for the supine pulls, and heaviest resistance (black) for the prone pulls.
www.sportcord.com.
I just returned another set of cords as they did not work for me being too short. I am going to spend the extra money and go with the sportcords for now.
Looks like this should finally work and be it. I have had the Stretch series since it came out but never been able to do those 2 exercises due to lack of equipment.
How are your sportcords still holding up?
FYI: We have tested SportsCord and they are indeed too short for our purposes.
In what situations were they too short? I've been using mine at 6 feet tall with no issues.
Cole Dano said:FYI: We have tested SportsCord and they are indeed too short for our purposes.
Really?? Wow i still may buy them since others are using them successfully. What length do you guys recommend Cole?
Otherwise Cole, I know you guys are anticipating a release of an in-house cord sometime in the future, what do you recommend people to do in the meantime? Make our own?
I mean, I have owned the TB stretch series since it came out and have difficulty doing these exercises due to lack of equipment......
Since there seems to be some unanswered questions here, I thought I would bring some interest back to this thread. From what I can summarize of this thread so far:
Theratube/rubber tubing
Pros: inexpensive, easy-to-find, stronger bands (blue,black) recommended as green may not provide adequate resistance
Cons: doesn't maintain a consistent tension throughout stretch, may not provide correct resistance for given exercise, poor durability
Sport cord
Pros: ideal bungee material with handles ready for use, more durable than Theratube
Cons: some say too short, others (6ft or 183cm stature) have used them with no concern about length
Bungee/shock cord/Novabraid
Pros: recommended material by GB for consistent resistance through stretch
Cons: only available in very short lengths (with hook ends) or in very long spools. Choosing diameter is entirely dependent on your abilities. Handles sold separately, some assembly required.
Ideally, Coach recommends having a few different diameters on hand. For those who are buying bungee/shock cord by the spool and don't want to buy multiple spools and end up with hundreds of feet of cord, it is wise to start with bungee that is about 1/4 inch or 6mm in diameter and work your way up in thickness. Also, I've read that 12 ft (365cm) is an ideal length. Does anyone agree/disagree/tried different lengths?
I use this 1/4" bungee cord from amazon and it works well:
http://www.amazon.com/Bungee-Stretch-6-35mm-Diameter-Various/dp/B00IO4MA0C/
I bought 25' for $12.50 so I can double it up to get more resistance.
Mark Collins said:Is the intent more to work the upper traps and therefore use a stronger band?
Mark did you get an answer to this? As I'm also in the boat of testing out bands but I'm not sure how the strength of the band is supposed to relate to the exercise? It doesn't say in the description. Is the point to make it harder to perform for both prone and supine, or is it just to provide some assistance to the up/down movement and increase the stretch?
Right now I'm using everlast bands bought on clearance from wally-mart. i just put two separate bands on one dowel in stead of trying to find one long chord to half wrap. Had to do this as length was an issue. Seems to work for me, cheap and came with handles. Unless someone wants to correct me but as long as I keep the form cues intact it doesn't seem to be all that diff than just using one band.
Sean,sean said:Mark did you get an answer to this? As I'm also in the boat of testing out bands but I'm not sure how the strength of the band is supposed to relate to the exercise? It doesn't say in the description. Is the point to make it harder to perform for both prone and supine, or is it just to provide some assistance to the up/down movement and increase the stretch?
Right now I'm using everlast bands bought on clearance from wally-mart. i just put two separate bands on one dowel in stead of trying to find one long chord to half wrap. Had to do this as length was an issue. Seems to work for me, cheap and came with handles. Unless someone wants to correct me but as long as I keep the form cues intact it doesn't seem to be all that diff than just using one band.
I think in the prone one the band is used for assistance to both pull the shoulders open and pull one "up" into a stronger arch (IIRC, Coach even says so in the follow along video).
For the supine one I really am not sure but it always feels more like a strength exercise than a stretch (maybe I need to get a weaker band for that one).
About the strength, it should feel challenging but doable. The difficult thing with any kind of band is assigning a weight rating.
Bungee in particular, I've tested a number of cords and there isn't always a relationship between how thick they are and how strong they are, that's why I can't help much when folks ask "is this a good cord", "what size should I buy"
IMO the best solution is go to your local hardware, and find the bulk bungee, on a spool. Test it out there in the shop, maybe get a few different strengths if that's an option. I use this stuff all the time for all sorts of drills, so it doesn't hurt to have a few weights on hand. Get a 10 foot length. Take it home wrap it around you hands and get busy.
I am privately looking at having them made by a manufacturer in Germany.
I have a huge collection of bands of all sorts and have found after extensively using bungee that Coach Sommer is absolutely right, bungee is superior to pure latex. It's safer for one, and it has a much more even pull.
A stronger band makes it easier on the abs and back extenstors, but harder on the traps. As I have progressed I have lessened the tension and focused more on getting my muscles to control the movement.
Cole...sounds like the potential of another product offering GB-bungee? 
I don't think the question of "what strength of band ?" needs to be answered. Seems the confusion is what the purpose of the bands are to the movement in the supine and prone positions. Once that is clarified then people can go about picking out their own strengths to accomplish the task to my way of thinking. Suggesting a strength of band I think confuses the issue, cart before the horse.
Leonhard/Mark...thanks I will go with that direction since it seems the consensus. As you said mark it doesn't seem to make sense to use very hard bands for these movements. Like you I would think muscle development is part of the goal. That being said we know too how Coach likes to use weight to enhance stretches. So keeping that in mind as well I think I need to hunt for stronger bands to curl up stronger in prone.
I finished building my bungees and thought I would share my results and a few things I learned. I ordered 25 feet (7.6 meters) of both 1/4" (6.3 mm) and 3/8" (9.5 mm) bungee cord from Amazon. I also ordered a set of exercise handles. I assumed that the larger bungee cord would have more resistance than the smaller size but was surprised that this was not the case...
As you can see from the above pictures, the smaller (green) bungee actually has more fibers in its core. The larger bungee in this example only has a thicker covering. The lesson learned is that size is not necessarily good measure of resistance. In my case, I prefer the smaller cord that has higher resistance.
Once I cut the bungee cord to length, I singed the nylon covering with a lighter flame and also put some heat shrink tubing on the ends to prevent any fraying. The heat shrink probably wasn't really necessary but I had it on hand and it was simple to do. I then formed a loop and secured with some plastic zip-tie cables as shown below:
Please note that I view the zip ties as only a temporary solution. My experience has been that plastic zip ties will harden over time and become brittle and break. I will check them periodically until I pick up some hog-ring wire and hog-ring crimping pliers to do the job properly.
The bungee cord is attached to the handles with carabiners as shown below:
LENGTH:
I made my bungee 10' (305 cm) in length. For me, this is a good length when fully stretched. The only problem is that there is no resistance at 5 feet (157 cm) or less from the anchor point. To solve this, I have looped the bungee over a higher bar on my stall bars before passing the cord under the bottom bar as shown in the picture below. This gives me resistance when I am only 3' (91 cm) away, and the bungee still has enough length to work well when fully stretched. I think the following pictures will do a better job of explaining...
I am not saying this is the correct approach but I am playing with it for now. So far I am very pleased and feel that the cord provides a very consistent level of resistance throughout my range of movement.
One final point is that when I do the Prone Thoracic Band Pull stretch, I have very poor flexibility and find that I like more resistance to help me into the stretch. With the handle and carabiner design, it is easy to add an additional bungee cord to double the resistance as shown below:
All of the above is just my initial stab at building my bungees for the Thoracic Bridge Series stretches. Other approaches may be better and I'm open for suggestions. I just wanted to post this to help give ideas to anyone looking to make their own cords.
If you're around 6 feet tall or a bit under, it looks like we need bungees of 10 or 12 feet long, although some have stated that the 6 feet from SportCord works well for them (?). I'm confused. I'd rather buy a ready made product and be done with it, but if 6 feet is too short, I won't.
1. Clarification in approx. length required would be much appreciated.
On 7/16/2015 at 0:04 PM, Matthew Mutch said:ch or 6mm in diameter and work your way up in thickness. Also, I've read that 12 ft (365cm) is an ideal length. Does anyone agree/disagree/tried different lengths?
The consensus seems that we need a variety of bungee strength (light, medium, heavy) and that the thickness is not necessarily indicative of tensile strength. 1/4" or 3/8" seems to be a starting point to experiment with. Ok great.
2. For the crafty, handymen: Are these types of hooks something one can use safely for our purposes, assuming that the bungee cord matches the diameter of the hole with a snug fit. This solution seems simple enough to attach to regular handles, if it could work. What do you think? I'm concerned about safety and the possibility of the bungee snapping out of the hook with usage... Thanks.
Eva,
My bungee cord is 10 feet long and each handle / carabiner is 1 foot long, for a total of 12 feet in total length. For me, this length works well when I attach the bungee to a higher stall bar and then loop it under the bottom bar as shown in the pictures above. If I only attached the bungee to the bottom bar it would work although the bungee resistance would not pull as close to the stall bar.
Depending on the handle setup, my personal opinion is that 6 feet would be too short. Eight feet would be the absoute minimum, and 10 to 12 feet is preferred. (This assumes you are using cord that stretches 100%. If your cord stretches more than 100% you could use a shorter length ).
The hooks that you linked to might be okay but I'm not sure. I decided against using that type of hook for the exact reason you stated. I don't want something snapping right in the middle of a stretch. I felt more comfortable with the loop and carabiner approach.
Thank you @Scott Jelsma for your detailed reply. 10-12' it is. I agree with you, the loops with the hog ring wire seems to be a safer and more durable option. I'll add that project to my list!
Finally got set up with some proper bungees. None of my local hardware stores had bungee on spools but one had packages of bungees in various lengths with carabineer clips on the ends. So I bought a package of 4, 4 foot length bungees, they also had 8 inch nylon strap (like a thin narrow seatbelt type material). I clipped two of the bungees together used a nylon strap in a loop on each end for handles and it seemed to be long enough.
My next TB session I'm going to try and double up the bungees with the 2 extra ones I have to see if that gives me more tension and what that feels like.
For what it's worth, I just made my own with this bungee cord ($11.99 for 25')
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M9L1TCQ/
and these handles ($10.44).
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0091M9WYS/
These handles work well because they have built-in carabiners. I cut the bungee to length, fused the ends with a flame, tied a small loop at each each end with a bowline knot, covered the knot with duct tape, and clipped the handles on.
Length of Bungee for Supine Thoracic Band Pull
From the instructional video for the supine movement, the bands seem to allow a full upright sit with arms extended, with the slack being just taken out of the cords. The bungee here forms the diagonal of a right triangle that is your body. Most people are *roughly* the same length from pointed toe to hip and from hip to hands -- if not slightly longer in the torso+arm. That means the diagonal of the triangle is 1.414*legLength (possibly up to 1.5). Since the band needs to be double that length, you just multiply by two. Don't forget to account for handles, and if you want to make yourself really pull back on the bands at the top, remove a little length.
bungeeLength = 2 * ( 1.414 * legLength - handleLength - initialStretch)
Here is a spreadsheet I made: Supine Thoracic Band Length by Leg Length (Google Sheet)
This should be a good baseline for pretty much anyone who can measure from their toes to their hip.
Some thoughts:
Hope it helps!
The aforementioned Sportcord was out of stock on Amazon, but a quick search found me these ones - https://www.amazon.com/SportCord-Resistance-Bands-Bungee-Type-Resistant/dp/B0042Q7C4K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1474315525&sr=8-2&keywords=sport+cord+resistance+bands
3 different cord strengths and included handles. One of the answered questions say the stretch to more than 4m. I will try them and post back.
A quick question - what do the pros think about using a cable tower with two separate cables for the band pulls? The gym I'm working out at these days don't have any suitable bungees so I had to get creative. Turns out I seem to be getting a much better stretch out of that since I can adjust the resistance exactly to my needs via the counter-weight. Is there anything wrong with my approach?
It's a very good approach, the only possible issue being the angle you are pulling from. I ideally the cable would be coming from fairly low.
In many respects a bungee is a portable, inexpensive cable machine, with the down side that it is difficult to dial the load perfectly. But since for the most part in gymnastics they are used for warm up, that's not an issue.
Good to hear!
The lowest I can set it to is about the height of the second lowest rung of a set of stall bars.
That sounds like it should be fine.
On 25 november 2015 at 3:47 AM, AndyW said:I use this 1/4" bungee cord from amazon and it works well:
http://www.amazon.com/Bungee-Stretch-6-35mm-Diameter-Various/dp/B00IO4MA0C/
I bought 25' for $12.50 so I can double it up to get more resistance.
Think ill buy these too. Hard to know. Anyone tryed these?
