Adding resistance bands to your workout

      In a previous post we deep dived adding chains to your workout. In today post we will deep dive adding bands to your workout. From a practical standpoint, bands are easier to add to work out since 99% of gyms have some sort of bands while only a few gyms would have chains. Bands also tend to be cheaper than chains.

     I have been to some gyms that keep the bands out in the open and other gyms that keep it behind the desk, and you have to "sign" them out. In a previous gym that I worked out at had bands available to "sign out", however after a while the bands would go missing.... always confused me. If you have someone sign out equipment and have cameras then how do you "lose" equipment? Perhaps it wasn't worth it to investigate the band thief, but to not replace them was puzzling to me. Anyway, back to the post.

Color of the band correlates to thickness which aids in calculating resistance 

    Calculating total load with bands is similar to using chains to a degree. While a chain is weighs what it weighs a band may vary on resistance depending on composition (how thick the band is or how stiff the band is. Typically designated by color) and the deformation of the band (how much is band stretched). Hooke's law dictates that tension is equal to stiffness x deformation. As you can see it is possible to calculate total load using bands, but it can be complicated (and requires math.... who TF wants to do that much math in the gym?). Additionally, the age of the band plays a factor in tensile strength. An older band loses tensile strength over time while a brand-new band is operating at full capacity. Once the total load is determined then the peak load at the top of the lift is averaged out with the total load at the bottom of the lift (exactly the way we measure total load of chains)   

    The premise behind using bands is to increase power through force development during the concentric movement. To some degree this works; in studies ranging from 20% to 35% of the total load using bands have shown to increase peak power. Replicating those total loads is difficult due to the reasons listed above.

    Are bands worth it? 

    That depends. If you're looking to calculate exact resistance in terms of a total load to ensure your hitting desired rep range, then I am not sure bands would be the way to go. If bands are added to body weight exercises to make them harder (or easier) then I would fully endorse them. Pushups typically only account for 80% body weight; adding bands to pushups would push the total resistance higher. Reverse crunches are another body weight exercise that bands benefit from to increase tension during the movement.