5 Benefits of Resistance Bands

For some people, building muscle and tackling your exercise goals means investing in heavy weights or other equipment. But what if you prefer to keep your exercise gear lightweight? Though it may sound like a paradox, it is possible to build muscle with exercise tools that aren’t a nuisance to lug around. That’s where resistance bands come in.

These durable rubber bands are an excellent way to stay on top of your physical fitness goals without breaking the bank. Even better, they’re easy to use, store, and take with you. These exercise bands can be used in many workouts for the upper body as well as the lower body. Use them for muscle strength training, with bodyweight exercises, or even for recovery.

Curious about the benefits of resistance bands? We’ll break down five reasons why you might want to consider adding them to your routine.

#1 They Help Build Strength

One of the top benefits of resistance bands is that they can help you accomplish what is often a central goal of any workout routine: strengthening your muscles.

They’re not an unfavorable replacement for weights, either. Research shows that resistance bands can be just as effective for building muscle as using free weights or weight-training gym equipment.¹

Plus, there are many ways that exercises with resistance bands can mimic most of the workouts you get from gym weight machines and free weights. You can use resistance bands for a range of exercises, including:

Squats
Curls
Chest presses

#2 They Improve Your Flexibility

If you’re looking for ways to improve your flexibility and keep your joints and muscles limber, you’ll be glad to know that increased flexibility is included among the resistance band benefits.

There’s ample research to support the claim that using resistance bands can benefit your flexibility. In fact, in 2017, a survey of 19 individual studies found that resistance bands were useful in improving the flexibility of 649 elderly people.² This suggests that regular resistance band use could help you gain better flexibility and increase your range of motion.

#3 They Support Your Balance

Resistance bands benefits don’t stop at improving your flexibility. There’s a substantial amount of evidence to suggest that using resistance bands regularly could also improve your balance and stability while on your feet.²

Numerous studies have linked the use of resistance bands with improved flexibility among elderly people, even in cases where those people are recovering from fall-related injuries.²

But balance isn’t only about keeping you upright. According to some studies, having good balance can also benefit you by:²

Improving your mental health
Improving your quality of life

Add resistance bands to your routine the next time you’re doing lunges or perhaps Bosu ball exercises to challenge and strengthen your balance.

#4 They Go Where You Go

Another major benefit of using resistance bands is their portability. Despite the huge range of exercises you can perform with them, resistance bands don’t require much room for storage or packing. They’re lightweight and adaptable, which means they’re easy to take with you.

That kind of mobility is especially advantageous when you’re on vacation, traveling for work, or otherwise on the go and don’t want to fall off your fitness routine. You can simply fold up your resistance bands, stick them in your suitcase or carry-all, and you’re good to go.

Thanks to their portability, resistance bands can be a helpful solution for anyone who struggles to keep up with weight training when they’re away from home. Instead of skipping your routine when you’re separated from your equipment, you can simply take the bands with you.

And by helping you to keep your routine consistent, resistance bands can help you avoid the pitfalls that can come with not getting your exercises in, such as:

Muscle catabolization
Slowed progress
Loss of motivation

The next time you’re leaving home, be sure to throw a couple of your resistance exercise bands into your suitcase.

#5 They’re Amazing for Recovery

Being able to control the resistance level and the variety of resistance exercises make them beneficial for recovery as well. If you’ve recently suffered an injury that’s made your regular workout routine difficult or impossible, resistance bands could be the secret to keeping you on track during your recovery period. One of the top resistance band benefits is how helpful they are for working out while you’re getting better.

In fact, resistance bands could be helpful even in cases when a specific injury isn’t to blame. For example, some studies suggest the regular use of resistance bands could be beneficial for people who experience pain from medical conditions like arthritis.

In one study, participants who use resistance bands at least three times a week noticed the following improvements:³

Pain reduction
Increased functionality

Chuze Fitness to Reach Your Fitness Goals

When you have physical fitness goals, you need an arsenal of workout tools and equipment that meet your needs—whether that’s portability or support for recovery. But you also need a community of people who support your efforts and offer you guidance on how to achieve them. That’s where Chuze Fitness comes in.

At Chuze Fitness, we’re remaking the gym-going experience into one that’s enjoyable, stress-free, and effective for anyone who wants to make fitness a priority. Across our facilities, we offer fitness classes, the best gym equipment, friendly staff members, and an iChuze app to keep you on track even when you can’t make it in.

Ready to work out in the best gyms in the world? Find a Chuze fitness center near you by searching “gyms near me” and get started today.

Reviewed By:

Ani is the Vice President of Fitness at Chuze Fitness and oversees the group fitness and team training departments. She’s had a 25+ year career in club management, personal training, group exercise and instructor training. Ani lives with her husband and son in San Diego, CA and loves hot yoga, snowboarding and all things wellness.

Sources:

Cleveland Clinic. How Effective Are Resistance Bands for Weight Training? https://health.clevelandclinic.org/should-you-try-resistance-bands-for-strength-training/#
National Library of Medicine. Effectiveness of resistance exercise using elastic bands on flexibility and balance among the elderly people living in the community: a systematic review and meta-analysis. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5599848/
National Library of Medicine. Effects of resistance exercise using the elastic band on the pain and function of patients with degenerative knee arthritis. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7008024/

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