Resistance bands are a commercial adaptation of the surgical tubing used by physical therapists for decades. Though originally used for recovery and injury treatment, the fitness community has adopted them as a tool for full-body workouts. Like any other exercise equipment, resistance bands are excellent for some tasks and limited for others.
Type of Exercise
As their name implies, resistance bands provide a resistance workout. Resistance training builds muscle strength by adding load to the normal range of motion for your muscles. As they work against the extra load, your muscles tear microscopically. Those tears heal back thicker and stronger, thus building stronger muscle fibers. Resistance bands use their elasticity to provide the resistance - as you stretch the band, its natural structure pulls it back toward its static length.
Advantages of Resistance Bands
Portability, safety and cost are three advantages resistance bands have over free weights - the most similar alternative resistance exercise tool. Resistance bands are lightweight and compact, making them far more suitable for travel. Essentially a gigantic rubber band, they also lack the hard edges and toe-crushing risks of free weights if you lose your grip. Finally, they are markedly less expensive than a set of dumbbells or name-brand resistance gear.
Disadvantages of Resistance Bands
Flexibility is the most commonly cited disadvantage of exercising with resistance bands. The range of resistance for these tools is far smaller than that of free weights. This is true both in terms of maximum range of resistance, and how many varieties of band are available within the range. A second, less frequent disadvantage is that they tend to wear out. A three-year-old resistance band will have less resistance than a brand-new band. This problem rarely occurs with free weights.
Kinds of Exercises
You can use resistance bands in place of dumbbells for most traditional free weight exercises. To do so, stand on or otherwise immobilize one end of the resistance band. Grip the free end by its handle and go through the standard motion of the dumbbell exercise. You can also loop the center of the band around an anchor point to grip both handles. Some good exercises using one grip include overhead triceps push, biceps curls, chest press, leg press and leg extension. Some exercises using both hands include chest press, two-hand biceps curls and military press.
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