Warming Up the Body … Why and How with Bands?

The more effective your warm up and more prepared you’ll be to play, the more likely your body will perform well during the game

It’s a very simple and proven concept.

Why do people rarely apply this same concept to their workouts?? The better your body is prepared to workout, the better workout you will have. The problem is very few people understand why they should be warming up the body. So lets cover that issue first.

4 Reasons to Warm Up the Body

1. Minimal Joint Compression

As the body ages, joint compression can become uncomfortable. This is especially true if the joints are not lubricated first doing low impact or no impact movements often done in a warm up. Band “assisted training” allows you to get the body moving with minimal joint compressive forces by decreasing ground contact forces.

Bands also allow you to lengthen out the muscles while doing active, over pressure stretching in a non-weight bearing position. This obviously creates minimal joint compression as well.

Implementing these two band training techniques into a warm up routine is a great way to start getting tendons, ligaments and joint soft surfaces lubricated without instantly asking joints to deal with aggressive body weight compressive forces.

Assisted Mobility Lower Body Warm Up

2. Get Long and Strong

Most people understand the importance of stretching out muscles prior to working out. However, it is also important to make sure muscles are activated to effectively stabilize joints with the new ranges of motion that are created with stretching.

Bands obviously can be used for stretching. However, the ascending resistance that bands create also allows them to be used to develop increased peripheral joint stability strength. This increased level of peripheral stabilization strength created by training with bands will, in turn, decrease joint wear and tear.

3. Tendons Lubricate Best with Low Loads

As the body ages, tendons become dryer and as a result require longer periods of time to effectively lubricate and eliminate friction. Placing a tendon under even mild loads too soon in a workout can lead to tendon trauma and inflammation.

Band ascending resistance provides a progressive increase in tension under a low load. This allows tendons to gradually increase lubrication and decrease friction.

Using bands to replicate movements that will be used in an upcoming workout allows all tendons to gradually increase lubrication while exercising under a low but progressive resistance. These types of short band workouts are known as Primer Workouts.

4. Avoid Pain Causing Movement

A resistance bands pliability allows individuals to modify most movements to avoid pain causing patterns of movement. Therefore, by implementing bands into a warm up, joints don’t have to go through trauma causing patterns of movement that lead to continued inflammation and pain. As a result, the body stays pain free and moving well all because trauma was not intentionally created.

Why Resistance Bands Should Be the #1 Tool Used for Warming Up the Body

To ensure the body is ready to workout, warming up the body has to become a consistent routine prior to every workout. Resistance bands are extremely lightweight and portable. This makes it very easy to always have them available to stretch with, perform primer workouts and activate peripheral stabilizer prior to a workout routine.

Just like training, the more consistent you stay with warming up the body, the more likely your body will achieve fitness longevity.

Band Warm Up Versatility

Summary

For the average fitness adult, most post-exercise soreness is the result of unnecessary joint and soft tissue trauma. This is most often incurred by not appropriately warming up the body prior to doing aggressive strength training or aggressive ground contact exercises like running.

Those individuals that follow a consistent and progressive warm up routine will incur far less joint pain and soft tissue inflammation. Learning why and performing a consistent, well designed warm up routine using resistance bands will eliminate unwanted joint and muscle pain while enhancing the overall results achieved in every workout.

RBT Resistance Band Training