What Resistance Band Training Does that Traditional Lifting Weights Can’t when it comes to Making 50 Your New 30
Looking Good is Going to Require First Getting Your Joints Feeling and Moving Good
6 Things Bands do that Weights can’t when it comes to keeping your body moving and feeling great regardless of age
1
Keeping You Mobile and Flexible – As the body ages, tendons, muscles and ligaments lose water and as result become less resilient. However when you implement a band stretching and strengthening program into your weekly exercise routine, it allows you to maintain and improve on joint mobility and muscle flexibility. A band’s light weight pliable construction is similar to a muscle – allowing you to stretch muscles and joints in all planes of motion. A free weight cannot be used as a stretching tool because it can only work in a single plane and is dominated by gravity.
2
Decreasing Exercise Induced Soreness – Lifting weight is going to result in joint and muscle trauma due to a constant resistance or force being applied to the muscle. Repeatedly performing this over several years will lead to joint breaking down. Training with a band’s accommodating ascending resistance will be less traumatic on muscles and joints thus reducing long term exercise induced wear and tear.
3
Convenience + Fun Workouts = Consistency – Sticking with your exercise routine is the secret to seeing great results! Since lack of time is the main reason people skip workouts, it’s super important to have a convenient workout option. A resistance band is lightweight and portable, so you can work out anytime, anywhere – no more excuses about not having time! Unlike free weights, resistance bands require minimal storage, are easy to carry around and can train all aspect of fitness.
4
Better Movement Coordination – As we get older and spend more time sitting, our body’s agility and coordination starts to slow down. That’s why it’s important for your exercise routine to focus on keeping normal daily movements sharp and coordinated. Resistance Band Training is perfect for this by allowing you to push, pull, squat, lunge, and more, while also helping you practice functional movements like running, jumping, swinging, and throwing. Unlike free weights that train in one direction, bands help you build athletic movements using dynamic, full-body exercises!
5
Keep the Body 3-D Strong The body’s muscles and joints are designed to move in 3 distinct planes or patterns. A band’s non-gravity dependent lightweight construction, allows bands to exercise joints and muscles in every pattern while being placed any posture or position. Weights are 100% gravity dependent which requires individuals to exercise in only a single plane or pattern. The best performing muscle is a muscle that is long, strong in all 3 planes movement.
6
Works on Speed of movement – The faster the body’s muscles respond the more likely we stay in balance and avoid awkward injury causing movements or falls. A band’s accommodating resistance allows you to train muscles at different speeds thus allowing for faster response and reaction time. Faster responding muscle allow the body to successfully deal with awkward unexpected movements. Strength training with weights is done using slow movement patterns that are not conducive to improving faster response or reaction time.
Next Steps Thank you for taking the time to learn what resistance band training can do that lifting weights cannot. Lifting weights has its place in helping the body stay strong against gravity but how the body performs regardless of age, is not solely dependent on strength. As noted above, there are several other factors that training should address to ensure your body is ready to maximize life’s opportunities outside the gym.
Get The SeniorSTRONG Program
SeniorSTRONG is a complete 28 Day Program that uses continuously looped resistance bands as the primary strength training tool to help active aging fitness minded adults a joint friendly, convenient, versatile and easily adaptable strength training program that can be done by Anyone – Anywhere – Anytime doing Any Movement.
Next Steps Thank you for taking the time to learn what resistance band training can do that lifting weights cannot. Lifting weights has its place in helping the body stay strong but how the body performs regardless of age, is not only dependent on strength. There are several other factors addressed in this article that significantly impact ultimately how our body will perform on a day to day basis. Implementing resistance band training into a weekly exercise program will impact those factors more effectively and as a result needs to be part of all exercise programs if the goal is to keep the body looking, feeling and moving great.