Putting Bands to the “Test”

Whew! That's the best way to describe what I'm feeling after completing my doctorate after two grueling years of research and 97 rewrites of my dissertation (OK, it seemed liked 97). When I started my doctorate program (being an educator), I was definitely the “odd person” among my classmates, sitting in classes with principals, administrators, and even a few superintendents. After doing most of the understudy program, it was time to focus on the dreaded dissertation topic. After hearing most of the topics, I began to panic and even thought (to myself and aloud), “What the heck am I doing here?” You see, all these former classroom teachers and administrators’ dissertation topics focused on their past or present experience in and out of the classrooms dealing with test scores and how “this” or “that” had an impact on the students or certain ethnicities or gender. Man! I was freaking out! Here I was a strength coach at the high school level and I had nothing even close to what my classmates were submitting. The deadline was very close as well. So I prayed and asked that the Big Man show me what I knew was right there in front of me. Then bam—it hit me! Why not do my dissertation on the effects of something I love and know a little something about—strength and conditioning?

So I gathered up the nerve and my paperwork and met with my committee chairperson. My proposal was titled “An Evaluation of the Use of Bands as a Form of Resistance for Traditional Squats with High School Students.” Before I knew it, my topic was accepted, and I started the next year and a half gathering information and completing research for what I felt was a very informative project for myself and others. I hope I didn't lose you with all the “introduction” babble, but I wanted to stress the fact that I considered it a huge honor and privilege to be able to complete my doctorate by successfully defending a research study that focused on strength and conditioning.

OK, the facts: I set out to prove that utilizing commercial bands, specifically the light band and the mini band, would increase the mean average of post-test 1RM squats and post-test vertical jumps. There is so much information I should include, but I hate to bore you that much more, so I'll try to stick to the basics of the study.

The following is a brief overview of the “meat and potatoes” of the study:

Purpose of the study

The purpose of this study is to determine if implementing bands as a form of resistance might be more effective in obtaining both aspects of absolute strength (1RM squat max) and speed strength (vertical jump) for high school students. By implanting bands as a form of resistance to a formatted strength and conditioning class on the high school level, the average mean increase in the 1RM squat max and vertical jump may be higher than that of the control group. The objective is to consistently increase the mean average of explosion capability (vertical jump) as well as absolute strength (1RM squat max) and to transfer these gains to whatever sport the athlete is participating in.

Background of the problem

Over the last twenty years, the focus of strength and conditioning has been on productivity of the lower body, more specifically concentrating on manipulating the squat and bench exercises with velocity and intensity based on a 1RM squat. The quest for not only the strongest athlete but also the fastest or most explosive athlete has been the focus of a majority of strength and conditioning programs on all levels (Baker 2001).

Athletes do not have an abundance of time to recruit what strength levels they do possess. It has been shown that 0.3–0.4 seconds or more are required to reach maximum force levels in an athletic movement (Dermody 2003). Further, during near maximal lifts in the traditional squat and deadlift movements, 0.6 seconds elapse before the movement is completed. The actual time available to produce force in athletics is much less. For example, in explosive movements, such as running or jumping, force has to be produced in less than 0.3 seconds (Dermody 2003). In fact, the requirement is usually closer to 0.1–0.2 seconds. It is crucial for the athlete to be able to recruit as many motor neurons and muscle fibers as possible in the shortest period of time (Dermody 2003).

Method

There are 121 students enrolled in a physical education elective course on strength and conditioning. This number represents a total of four classes offered throughout the instructional day and is optional for the students at JHS. From the 121 students participating in the study, two groups were randomly selected to form both the control group and the experimental group. Both the experimental and control groups bring the total number of students to sixty for the treatment group and sixty-one for the control group. Of the total 121 participants, the majority of students were male (85 percent). Fifteen percent were female.

Once the pre-tests have been completed, the Excel spreadsheets will be updated with student pre-test information and formatted to provide the conjugate method workout. Both groups performed the exact same lifts with the same percentages and supplemental lifts assigned to each student, regardless of which group they were in. Both groups had students throughout all four classes. This meant that each class had a different percentage of each group assigned to each class. The treatment group implemented the use of bands at the beginning of the tenth week of actual lifting. The implementation of the bands was incorporated on the day assigned for dynamic/speed squats (Thursday) and on the days assigned for best effort heavy squats (Monday). At the end of the second, eight-week period, which was the last week of the semester, the students performed the exact same testing procedures. Each student was tested in the squat, bench, power clean, and trap bar as well as the vertical and broad jump. The exact same procedure remained intact with each testing period, ensuring validity in testing results for the data analysis phase. The treatment group had their vertical and squat test averaged to give a mean for the group. The control group underwent the exact same procedure for vertical and squat results to formulate a mean average for both groups in the vertical and squats measured and compared.

Results

Now, I would be telling a “tall tale” to say that all of my research questions proved to be correct. One must take into sincere consideration the analysis program that the data went through. It was submitted to a statistical analysis in social science program, which is a “turbo charged version of Excel that provides every imagined statistic one might need." But when looking at the results from the perspective of a strength coach or a coach looking to implement bands as a form of resistance, you can't go wrong. When I ran the stats through the basic Excel spreadsheet, the results speak for themselves, which is what we as coaches are looking for—the bottom line. "Does it work?” From the excerpt below, you will observe that the starting mean average for the treatment group was higher for both the squat and vertical jump, which we all know makes it more difficult to make the gains that ultimately proved the bands definitely had a major impact. The post-test mean averages might not appear to add up, but keep in mind that I have excluded all the participants and just included the outcome. Also, please take into consideration that the numbers don't signify those that didn't test due to injury or different issues that had a bearing on the outcome.

In closing, in my dissertation, I did make future recommendations for a longer study period, which translates to using the bands for longer periods of time, preferably in the off-season and pre-season.

I hope that you will see this information useful in some remote way. As I stated, I apologize for the novel, but with this magnitude of study and the format to which I had to follow, I felt it was imperative to include a brief summary of the phases and formats for the study. I know we have all used bands to some degree with our athletes (some more than others), but I wanted to show on paper and in an actual study, not observed speculation, that the bands are a tremendous training tool for any sport. Stay strong and God bless all who work with our young student athletes and assist them in becoming outstanding young men and women.