More trainers, Biokineticists and fitness personalities are adding resistance bands to their regiments. So what’s the hype about? At ActiveX we believe that resistance bands are a powerful tool that can enhance your training experience, improve muscle development and bring some fun into your workout. While the gyms are closed, there’s even more reason to jump aboard the movement – here’s why:
1) All the Options
A resistance band is a light, portable and very adaptable strip of rubber that offers a range of resistances based on the elasticity and size of the band. There are many different types of resistance bands that can all be used to perform an array of diverse exercises or be added to intensify your favorite movements.
Power Bands (long flat rubber bands), Tube Bands (oblong tubes with handles), Therapy Bands (paper-thin strips of latex rubber) and Mini Bands also sometimes called “booty bands” (small loop bands) are the primary resistance bands used in fitness activities. ActiveX mostly makes use of Power Bands because the length and size make them incredibly versatile and adaptable. There are a variety of band “weights” that offer different levels of resistance for increased intensity or agility.
2) For the Gains
Resistance bands provide different levels of stress to your body that ordinary weight training regimes do not. They help to strengthen your muscles in the lengthening stage as well as the shortening stage (concentric and eccentric contractions). Using resistance bands in your training essentially promotes more dynamic muscle development.
In any form of resistance training, you are adding additional force to your exercise; whether it is through body weight, weights, dumbbells, water or resistance bands. This resistance puts strain on your muscle contractions to build and strengthen them over time. Resistance bands are no different. But – now for the powerful facts – in many movements, a resistance band changes the direction of the resistance force making the exercise more difficult towards the end. For example, free weights feel heaviest at the beginning of the movement whereas resistance bands make your muscles work harder towards the end.
A bench press is a great example of this comparison. When you are lying on the bench with your arms bent at your sides holding the barbell beginning to press it upwards – you are experiencing the most difficult part of the exercise. When your arms are fully extended above your shoulders there is less stress and it feels easier. If you were to perform the same exercise without a barbell, and instead use a resistance band, you would encounter the opposing effect. There is no stress at the beginning of the movement because the band is slack, but as you press upwards, you experience more force and difficulty in the exercise. This means that in many resistance band exercises your muscles experience the full extent of stress in a particular movement. You can even combine a resistance band onto your bench press set-up and undergo a tough set from beginning to end.
3) Dynamic Movements
A resistance band mimics similar movements to weight training; but, can offer more dynamic movement range with intensity occurring at the peak of your muscle contraction. You can execute a wide range of dynamic movements with a resistance band including: numerous curls, overhead tricep extensions, intensified squats, or better yet, do multiple movements at once like a lateral squat and a resistance band press at the same time.
These powerful bands offer an incredible range of motion to your body due to their elasticity. Pulling or pushing the band at varied angles engages different muscles that would otherwise have been ignored. This opens a whole world of available resistance exercises that are ordinarily not available with standard dumbbell training. Bands can further assist you to perform difficult bodyweight exercises such as a pull-up and a pistol squat.
As a Biokineticist, ActiveX owner, Andre implores the use of resistance bands in your stretch regimes too. “What often tends to happen is that we get really good at doing the same type of stretch”, explains Andre, “and we never develop and stretch the full extent of our muscles – most of the time we just leave out a whole host of muscles that need our attention”. This is where heavy resistance bands help. You can anchor yourself and use the band as a lever to move different parts of your body and activate your muscles in deeper stretches.
4) The Portable – Affordable – Gym
Resistance bands can literally be transported anywhere. Loop it around a fixed structure or anchor it down with your body weight and there you have it: a fixed piece of resistance equipment. These adaptable bands are also a great replacement for the cable machine. The same cable exercises can be performed with a band with the unique advantage of increased resistance when the band is elongated.
On that note, gym equipment is outlandishly expensive. Most of the time, the equipment you have invested in offers very limited uses. Take the Ski Erg Machine for instance, this is an +R18000,00 piece of equipment that you can only execute one activity with. Two resistance bands can be looped around two fixed eyes and perform the same activities as a skier machine. To elevate the difficulty the resistance band can be pulled harder from a distance or heavier bands can be used.
5) Accessible
You can purchase a basic resistance band for less than R100. At ActiveX we use superior rubber bands that are more durable than the everyday variety found in-store. The difference is the way it is made: either it is a solid piece of rubber with one joint, or it is constructed by fusing multiple tiny layers of rubber together. We stock the latter as these bands offer better flexibility and durability. Plus, our bands are the same ones used by the Springbok rugby team! If you want to find out more about these dynamic movements and versatile tools – get in touch with us today.