Don’t Resist Resistance Bands

Eric Janicki's chest workout utilizes resistance bands.

In an earlier post I highly recommended resistance bands after having shunned them for years. My previous flawed thinking had been that they must surely be less effective than weights even though I had never seriously put them to the test.

After more than a year now of use two or three times a week I can confidently state that resistance bands build REAL muscle as effectively as dumbbells and barbells—because resistance is resistance, no matter the tool chosen.

Lots of people make little nor no progress at the gym despite all the machines and weights available to them because of poor form, lack of intensity and a lack of desire to LEARN how to best and most effectively use the gym equipment. Few people bother to do research outside the gym, and thus keep on doing what isn’t working and becoming frustrated with their lack of progress.

The same is true of resistance bands, or any fitness regime for that matter. After watching dozens of videos on youtube, many featuring bodybuilders using resistance bands, I’ve realized how few of these instructors actually know how to put resistance bands to their most effective use. I watch as they go through a lackadaisical resistance band routine and realize they don’t know what they’re talking about as their routine does not mimic in intensity or effective form their barbell/dumbbell/machine workouts in their other videos.

Resistance bands are unique in that they allow for practical correction mid-rep due to their physical properties of expansion as opposed to the dead weight of a dumbbell. Employing a dumbbell, for instance, there is usually a position within the rep where there is little resistance, little stress on the muscle, as opposed to the same movement performed with a resistance band in which there is unrelenting resistance throughout the entire movement.

Resistance bands also permit a “smoother ride” throughout the movement and better control than a barbell or dumbbell. I have found that it defeats the purpose of the resistance band to strictly employ the exact movement for the dumbbell or barbell version of the same exercise. Resistance bands are unique in that they allow for mid-rep corrections and adjustments that if made using a dumbbell might cause injury. Just like when you first began weight training, it took you a while to accustom yourself and learn how best to engage the weight or machine to maximum usefulness. The same goes for resistance bands.

Give resistance bands a try, and a chance to show their effectiveness. Your fitness routine is a part of your lifestyle and you should always be open to trying new ideas. That’s how progress is made in the creation of new muscle.