One of the best kept secrets in the weight lifting community are resistance bands. That’s because hardcore weight lifters will turn their noses up at resistance bands claiming they are for the ‘girls’ or only to be used to recover from injuries.
However, Terrell Owens wide receiver for the 49ers and Buffalo Bills, limited his free weights following an injury caused by the free weights and became a very focal supporter of resistance bands. There are a few certain heavy lifts that must be done with free weights – like deadlifts and squats – but for the remainder of his strength training, TO uses resistance bands.
And Terrell not only boasts an impressive football career but also an impressive muscular body to boot. He credits his ability to play into his 30s to his training and diet.
Don’t relegate those resistance bands strictly to your rehabilitation. Instead, let’s look at the different ways that resistance bands can improve your strength and muscle development while reducing impact on your joints and preventing, instead of just rehabilitating, injury.
Using resistance bands allows your muscles to work through eccentric and concentric movement. The time in your workout when the muscle shortens is concentric and when it elongates or lengthens is eccentric. For instance, during a dumbbell bicep curl the bicep is in concentric movement in the curl and eccentric while the arm is straightening.
Using the resistance bands your muscles are under the same resistance during both eccentric and concentric movement, increasing the muscle tension and strengthening. These bands also place much less stress on the joints while requiring much more control during the movement to stay in balance, increasing your functional strength and not just your muscle size.
Resistance bands are also incredibly cost-effective and can mimic most weight machine movements in your home. They are adaptable for all fitness levels which means that as your strength increases you are faced with the purchase of another band and not another set of weights.
The resistance bands can be used to isolate one muscle group or used to strengthen an entire group of muscles in a multiple joint movement. They add variety to your weight training and change it up for your muscles which will improve the benefits you get from the time you spend.
You won’t need a spotter using resistance bands, and interestingly you can add resistance bands to your barbell workout to provide a compound movement so the easier part of the lift becomes more difficult. Although they are simple they are also effective in working your muscles and increasing your strength.
Before you discount using resistance bands in your weight work, give them a try. You’ll find that you recover easier, build better overall strength and improve your endurance without increasing your risk of injury.
Resources:
American College of Sports Medicine: Eccentric Resistance Exercise for Health and Fitness
http://www.acsm.org/docs/brochures/eccentric-resistance-exercise.pdf
PLOS: Concentric and Eccentric Time-Under-Tension During Strengthening Exercise Validity and Reliability of Stretch-Sensor Recording from an Elastic Exercise-Band
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0068172
Human Kinetics: Resistance bands as effective as weight machines
http://www.humankinetics.com/news/news/resistance-bands-as-effective-as-weight-machines
The University of Arizona: Resistance Bands for Muscle Strength
http://lifework.arizona.edu/lwcfiles/ResistanceBands.pdf
Strength and Conditioning Research: Does Research Support the Use of Bands and Chains
http://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/2013/10/14/bands-chains/
Mercola: 10 Benefits of Using Resistance Bands During Exercise
http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2013/09/06/resistance-bands-benefits.aspx
Arizona Central: Resistance Band Exercises to Build Muscles
http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/resistance-band-exercises-build-muscles-8581.html
Sports Fitness Advisor: Resistance Band Exercise
http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/resistance-band-exercises-build-muscles-8581.html
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