Using Bands in Your Workouts

Implementing bands into your workout can start with your warm up, finish with your cool down or go anywhere in between. 😉

Remember a continuously looped, Quantum Band is another muscle without a nervous system. You have to provide that. As a result, implementing bands into your workout is like having muscles train muscles which makes it adaptable to anyone and to all components of a workout.

A Quantum Band is like another muscle without a nervous system.

The following blog will provide you with insight and video examples on how to implement bands into your workout regardless of what component of your workout you are focused on.

Using Bands in a Dynamic Warm Up

Bands are by far the most effective way to perform a dynamic warm up. A band’s continuous looped pliable construction and “muscle like elasticity” allows individuals to perform a dynamic contract–relax stretching routine that not only passively lengthens out muscles but allows the muscles to slowly begin to warm up at the same time.

Band Stretching Warm Up for an Upper Body Strength Workout

Implementing Bands into a Pre-workout Muscle Activation Routine

Very few individuals perform a pre-workout activation routine before aggressively proceeding into the higher intensity part of their workout. Using bands to activate key core and primary muscles prior to a workout will improve the intensity level of a workout while eliminating the potential for muscle or joint related injuries that often occur due to the body not being ready to train hard.

Total Body Activation Exercises for both Upper and Lower Body Planned Strength Routines

Implementing Bands in Strength Training

Obviously bands create a resistance that can easily be implemented into a strength training routine. However, what most individuals do not realize is that a band’s unique ascending resistance challenges muscle strength in ways that all other body weight or free weight tools can’t.

Therefore, regardless if bands are used in conjunction with or separately from free weight or body weight training tools, by implementing bands into the strength training component of a workout, it will create a significantly greater strength training effective than if training without bands.

Here are 4 ways to implement bands into the strength training component of a workout:

1. Perform a band only strength training circuit (awesome for travel workouts)
2. Alternate between a band exercise with a free weight or body weight exercise
3. Complete a primary free weight workout round and then follow it up with a series of auxiliary band exercises to maximize muscle fatigue and saturate the muscle with blood
4. Simultaneously train with bands and free weights to train the entire strength curve

Simultaneous Band–Barbell Bicep Curl Training

Heavy Band Strength Training

Implementing Bands as a Finisher

An effective finisher can achieve several goals including additional calorie expenditure, saturating a muscle with blood for greater growth or re-establishing a higher level of central nervous system excitement. Regardless of the goal, a band’s ability to provide resistance to any movement and change resistance on the fly allows individuals to perform a high intensity finisher without having to concern themselves with using several different training tools.

Alternating Band Training Options that can Easily be Put into a Band Finisher

Implementing a Band Cool Down

As previously noted, bands are an outstanding passive stretching tool for both a pre-workout dynamic warm-up and also as a post muscle lengthening cool down. Using a longer duration stretch approach, a band’s elasticity provides a muscle with a gentle accommodating post exercise muscle lengthening. This is perfect for decreasing the central nervous system while allowing rhythmical breathing to be performed during what is a very relaxing way to re-establish normal muscle length.

Summary

Obviously resistance band training could be used to complete an entire workout, but many individuals want to incorporate different training tools to create workout variety. However, training with resistance bands provides a unique and unmatched training response that cannot be simulated with any other type of dead weight, free weight, body weight or suspension type training device.

As result, resistance bands should be part of every workout. Fortunately, implementing bands into your workout can occur within any component of that workout making it very easy to achieve regardless of what the overall fitness or performance goal is for that specific workout.