Resistance Bands
If you have to been to a gym you probably have seen people working out with a variety of colored resistance bands. Reistance bands have been used in physical therapy centers for years in the rehabilitation of musculskeletal injuries. Now they have caught in more recent years in the fitness arena as another way to perform resistance or strength training as they can provide an intense workout regardless  of one’s fitness level.
Exercising with resistance bands is a great way to change up your workouts and they can be fun to use.
Advantages of Resistance Bands
Resistance bands have several advantages. Resistance bands are versatile, convenient, easy to use, inexpensive, and portable making them almost the perfect form of resistance exercise.
They are portable and can be traveled with easily (hard to carry dumbbells in your suit case). They are versatile. Unlimited number of exercise can be performed with them. In fact, you are only limited by your imagination as to the number of ways you can exercise with them. They also come in a number of different colors each corresponding to a specific resistance. The lighter color resistance bands represent lower resistances while the darker ones represent heavier resistances.
Resistance bands provide a variable form of resistance unlike dumbbells or barbells. With dumbbells or barbells the resistance is heavy only for a part of the range of motion (where gravity is the greatest) – usually either the very beginning or the very end. With resistance bands the resistance changes throughout the range of motion and muscles are challenged throughout a wider range of motion. Also, simply taking step away from where the resistance band is anchored and the resistance changes.
Variable resistance throughout a greater range of motion improves coordination and stabilization of the body. In otther words, you must engage much of your core body when using resistance bands even though you may be only exercising your legs or arms. So bands provide more of a total body workout.
Bands are convenient and easy to use. There are no weights to change. Simply change the color of the band your working out with if you want to increase or decrease the load your lifting. And, compared to free weights, resistance bands are inexpensive. If you want a home gym and have a limited budget, resistance bands are definitely the way to.
On the surface resistance bands may not look like much, but they can provide as intense of a workout you want. So next time you see them don’t resist using them!
