Strength training is a component of overall health. If your muscles become weak, you will not be able to perform daily tasks to a full capacity. Muscle mass naturally starts to decrease with age, which affects basal metabolic rate -- your caloric expenditure at rest. According to the American Council on Exercise, gaining muscle will keep your metabolic rate elevated and prevent weight gain. When it comes to training, resistance bands and chin-up bars each have distinct features.
Design
Resistance bands are made out of durable rubber and they have a tube-shape or they are flat and look like large rubber bands. The tube-like bands often come with hard plastic handles. Chin-up bars are constructed out of durable steel and they are circular and hollow.
Resistance and Body Weight
As the name implies, resistance bands offer you resistance when you do exercises. The darker the color band, generally, the more resistance it will have. A chin-up bar is stationary and you get resistance from the weight of your body. This does not mean it is easier to use than resistance bands. Lifting the weight of your entire body is actually more intense than using bands.
Difference with Exercises
Resistance bands allow you to do numerous conventional exercises commonly done with free weights, such as biceps curls, shoulder presses, lateral raises, triceps extensions and chest presses. Chin-up bars only offer you pullup variations and ab exercises such as conventional grip pullups, wide grip pullups, close grip pullups, chin-ups and hanging knee raises. The difference between chin-ups and pullups is in your hand position. With pullups, your hands face away from your body and with chin-ups, your palms face your body.
Targeted Areas
Resistance bands not only work the upper body, but they also give your lower body exercise options, such as squats, lunges, lying hamstring curls, leg extensions and hip abduction. Chin-up bars only target the upper body. This makes them less effective if you are looking to do a full body workout.
Mobility
Resistance bands are light, flexible and easy to store and transport. All you have to do is wrap them up into a circular shape and place them in a suitcase or drawer. This makes them easy to take on the road when you are traveling for work or vacationing. Chin-up bars don't give you this same convenience, unless you get a special bar for home use. These fasten to the inside of a doorway and you can fold them up and transport.
Increased Resistance
Both the bands and chin-up bar give you options to increase your resistance. When using bands, reduce the length of cord to make it more taut. For a biceps curl, for example, place your hands lower on the bands to get more resistance. You also have the option of using more than one band at a time. With a chin-up bar, you have the option of wearing a weighted vest or ankle weights to increase your resistance.
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