Chances are, unless you’ve been lost the jungle for the last 5 years, you have probably seen resistance bands around once or twice. These bands are quickly becoming very popular and are now common on prime time reality TV and mainstream fitness classes. Unlike the majority of fitness trends, resistance bands are proving to be very beneficial for many purposes from rehabilitation to power lifting. I am going to list the reasons why you should you consider adding resistance bands to your current routine.

1. Cost

A lot of resistance bands can be picked up for less than $10. Many manufacturers such as Bodylastics also sell sets of bands with varying resistance that can be picked up for less than $100. So, as you can see this is a huge advantage over free weights and gym memberships.

2. Portability

Resistance bands take up virtually no space what so ever. This is great for people who may live in an apartment and don’t have the space a home gym requires. Also, their size makes it very easy to pack into a suitcase or backpack to take to a hotel or even the office. So you can squeeze in a quick workout!

3. Ease of use

Resistance bands are extremely versatile pieces of equipment. There are literally over 100 exercises that can be performed; including practically every exercise you would use a piece of gym equipment to perform. There are a variety of accessories available to add more dimension to your workouts. Additions such as door attachments and ankle bands expand the possibilities even more. These things are inexpensive and most of the time will included in resistance band sets. Such as the sets sold by Bodylastics.

4. Low Impact Workouts

Because you are not using any more weight than your body weight, you are not creating the amount of stress on your joints as you would normally with the use of free weights. This makes resistance band training ideal for people with joint problems and injuries. This is the reason why fitness bands are a common choice for physiotherapists and fitness classes for seniors.

5. Dynamic Resistance!

Dynamic Resistance? What the hell is that?

Dynamic is resistance simply means, changing resistance. With free weights or gym equipment if you lift 50lbs, you lift 50lbs all the way throughout the movement. The dynamic resistance created by resistance bands creates more tension as you progress through the movement. So, for instance, if you were doing a bicep curl with a resistance band the point of the movement where your arms are curled in close to your body is actually going to be the toughest part of the exercise. Not only will you experience increasing tension in the first half of the movement but you will also experience resistance in the last half of the movement. This builds explosive strength and power, which is why we are starting to see more and more athletes incorporate the use of resistance bands into their training. This is an incredible advantage over weights alone (resistance bands can actually be attached to your barbells and dumbbells, but I’ll save this for another time).

Conclusion

As you can see there are some very strong points as to why a person should start incorporating resistance band training into their current schedule. The price, portability and superior workout are the reason these simple pieces of equipment are gaining so much popularity. I hope I can convince you to get them a try. Your body will thank you!