Fitness, Weight Loss, and Diet Blog by Better Body Journal » Resistance Bands

Bodylastics Resistance Bands for Fitness

Better Body Journal — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:46:08 +0000

Looking for the best resistance band workout available? We got you covered!

A Full Gym – the Size of a Shoebox

If you can’t afford a gym membership, or hate driving to the gym, but are determined to get into shape, we highly recommend resistance band training. You can get the same benefits of lifting weights – the strength, the toning, and the weight loss, all with resistance bands.

With Bodylastics, you will get the same workout that you can get at a gym. Because resistance bands are so versatile, the exercises you can do are only limited by your imagination.

Now, we know not everyone has the know-how to come up with their own exercises (nor should you). That’s why Bodylastics comes with 140 of the top gym exercises, which you can now do at home – anytime and anyplace. Order Bodylastics with the just the training manuals, or throw in the DVD for even better instructions.

All Resistance Bands Are Not Created Equal

You can easily buy resistance bands at your local sporting goods store. But which ones do you buy? How many? What does the tension mean and what if the tension is too much or too little?

The problem with regular resistance bands is that they only offer one level of resistance. What happens when you get stronger, or are doing an exercise that requires more resistance than you have available?

The beauty of Bodylastics is the ability to adjust the resistance to any level. You can produce the weight equivalent of 5lbs, all the way up to 127lbs (or double with the T.O. kit), and everything between.

That’s more than enough for anybody. Even strong weightlifters will see the benefits of adding resistance bands into their workout mix.

Bodylastics also adheres to the highest quality standards – your Satisfaction is 100% Guaranteed. If it’s not up to par, send it back!

Bodylastics For Men and Women

Despite the misconception, resistance bands are not just for women. Men will see great results by adding resistance band training from Bodylastics into their workout mix. Beginners can use them to learn the basics of exercising and build their form (their motion during exercise) at the same time. Advanced users can use resistance bands from Bodylastics hit muscles groups that are not trained during weightlifting exercises.

Women, and even men, will see that Bodylastics is a great tool for toning up the body.

Can I Burn Fat with Resistance Bands?

Of course!

Use the Circuit Training DVD to start an exercise plan that will burn fat, help you lose weight, and tone and shape your body. If you want results fast, this program will get you toned up in 5 weeks, only 4 days a week.

Terrell Owens Workout

Now, we’re not exactly T.O. fans (OK, OK, we hate his guts). But let’s admit that he is in incredible shape for a guy over 30. And he’s still playing to his best in the NFL.

Terrell Owens’ secret to being a top NFL player is simple: Resistance bands.

T.O. teamed up with Bodylastics to bring you the hardest resistance band training program on the market. Now you can train just like T.O. in your home, at the gym, wherever you want. Who knows, maybe one day you can even out-run him?

Order Bodylastics Resistance Band Training

There are three types of Bodylastics packages you can order. Which one is right for you?

Basic Tension with Manual and DVD – This kit provides resistance up to 88lbs, which is a good amount of weight for most people.
- Recommended for – Beginners, People looking to tone up with no intention of getting any stronger.
Maximum Tension with Manual and DVD – For only $10 more, get 46lbs more resistance. You don’t want to buy the kit again because you’ve outgrown the Basic Tension kit! This is the one to get!
- Recommended for – Beginners, Intermediate, Men and Women
TO Super Strong Man with 2 Manuals and DVD – This is the kit to get if you are into weight training and sports. Get up to 254lbs. of resistance, which is more than even the strongest of people will be able to handle.
- Recommended for – Tough guys, athletes, and weight lifters.

Get Your Bodylastics Today!

Resistance Bands for Sports and Injury

Better Body Journal — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 22:11:24 +0000

Resistance bands aren’t just for losing weight with exercise at the gym. Even though they are becoming more and more popular for losing weight, resistance bands were pioneered in the field of sports medicine and injury recovery. Resistance bands provide some great benefits that cannot be reproduced with weightlifting or cardiovascular exercise. Let’s look at the reasons why they are so popular in these fields.

Before reading, know that you must always consult with your sports physician, coach, doctor, or physical therapist for a resistance band training program that is right for you. Every athlete and injury is different, and any exercise program should not be considered without first consulting a professional.

Resistance Bands for Sports Training

In sports, there is more focus on practicing certain movements (like a jump shot, slap shot, or a soccer kick) than building large muscles. While athletes always have the desire to be bigger and stronger, complimenting a strength training program with resistance bands helps athletes develop and strengthen the isolated muscles that are often ignored with weight training.

The freedom of movement provided by resistance bands allows athletes to replicate the movements in their sport with tension, not momentum. Trying to replicate these movements with a free weight can be counter-productive, and in some cases, dangerous. The tension from the bands stimulates the muscles used, helping the athlete grow in areas that are not often used in weightlifting.

One example would be the baseball bat swing. You can practice swinging at pitches all day long, but the improvement in power start to become negligible. If you compliment that with a resistance band routine, you start seeing improvements in power and hitting ability. It essentially shocks the isolated muscles that are used in the swing, and some that are not. An example of an exercise to do in this situation would be the wood chop. With one end of the band tied down, you rotate from side to side and stimulate the muscles in the torso that are engaged in taking an axe to a tree, which is similar to the batting motion.

Look at a boxer’s training regime. Boxers are the hardest training athletes in sports. The majority of their workout includes hitting the speed bag and punching bag, but they include resistance bands in their training too. Throwing punches with the resistance band grasped in your hands and around your back stimulates the muscles used in a punch much more than throwing punches into thin air. Bobbing and ducking punches is another motion that is commonly reinforced with resistance bands in boxing.

Resistance Bands for Sports Injury Prevention

Training the less-used muscles can increase overall performance and greatly reduces the risk of injury. A baseball pitcher experiences incredible strain on their rotator cuff in the motion of a pitch. The rotator cuff is a muscle that is not directly trained with weight lifting exercises, but it can be isolated and strengthened with resistance bands. Performance from the pitcher improves and the risk of injury decreases, because the rotator cuff is better prepared for the strain of pitching.

Another example is an offensive lineman in football. Their primary motion is pushing forward with their chest and arms. The freedom of movement from resistance bands allows the player to do chest presses in any direction, not just up and down like in a free weight chest press. This better prepares him for motions involved when engaging a player taller or shorter than him.

Resistance Bands for Injury

Injuries happen to everyone, not just athletes. If youâ€™ve suffered nerve damage, then you know how difficult it can be to maintain blood circulation and flexibility within that body part. Physical therapists know that proper blood circulation is one of the keys to recovery, because blood is the vessel that carries the nutrients our body needs. When there is no circulation, there is no life.

How can you circulate blood without intense physical activity that can make an injury even worse? The answer, of course, is resistance bands. Because there is no impact on the joints and bones, patients can exercise with resistance bands with minimal pain, if any at all. This stimulates the blood to flow to the areas being trained, improving recovery time. Low-impact exercises like walking and swimming provide similar benefits.

The Bottom Line on Resistance Bands

Anyone and everyone should include resistance bands in their workouts. People who want to lose weight, athletes, and even those that have never been to a gym before can all benefit from resistance band exercise.

Here is the bottom line: Weight training provides strength and power. Cardio makes the heart and lungs stronger. Resistance bands tie it all together and make your body more durable and healthier in the long-run.

Resistance Bands Versus Free Weights

Better Body Journal — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 17:01:22 +0000

This article will look at the similarities and differences between free weights and resistance bands, and the advantages of each.

It is a common misconception that resistance bands cannot build muscle or tone the body. This is purely false, as studies have shown that the amount of force provided to stimulate the muscle fibers for growth (also known as peak load), is the same with resistance bands and free weights.

Before we continue, it should be made clear that free weights do not mean machines. Free weights are dumbbells and barbells. Machines like the Smith Machine or bicep curl machine do not provide nearly the benefits of free weights. Machines restrict motion to a very narrow range-of-motion, and do not provide nearly the amount of resistance one part of the movement. For example, when lifting the weight on a hamstring curl machine, it is difficult. But on the way down it is nearly effortless. By not providing resistance on the return motion, no additional force is applied to the muscles.

Similarities Between Free Weights and Resistance Bands

Free weights and resistance bands provide the same benefits in many aspects. They both provide the resistance to increase muscle strength, and they both provide a free range of motion. A free range of motion means that there is no restricted movement in any one direction.

Both allow for progressive resistance, which means you can change the weight or resistance based on your needs. Both allow for variable speeds, which lets you do different speeds of exercises. You can work out different types of muscle fibers depending on the speed of your movements.

These similarities are the factors that build muscle mass, increase muscle strength, and help remove body fat. Any good workout program must include these factors to be effective.

Differences Between Free Weights and Resistance Bands

Now that we know both resistance bands and free weights provide similar benefits, how are the different?

Fighting Gravity versus Moving Freely – The resistance from free weights comes from gravity. The problem with gravity is that it builds momentum. If you stop lifting a weight, it is going to fall. Building muscle comes from fighting this force. On the downside, the momentum can cause problems, especially if you are not trained to lift too much. Your ability to control the weight diminishes with each repetition. Without control, the risk of injury increases.

With resistance bands, you do not fight gravity. Instead, you are fighting the tension in the bands, but you are allowed to move in any direction you please. With gravity, the only way is down. The ability to move freely allows you recreate many of the natural movements in our daily lives. The main benefit is increased performance during daily activities: a baseball swing, swimming, opening a refrigerator door, and shooting a basketball are just some examples.

Improving Form – Form (the motion in which you perform an exercise) is a topic that is not discussed that often. But proper form increases the effectiveness of every repetition and greatly reduces the risk of injuries. If youâ€™ve ever noticed those people in the gym flailing about recklessly, it’s safe to bet they never learned about form.

With free weights, it is much easier to use other muscles within an exercise for assistance. Letâ€™s look at the shoulder press example. A shoulder press is where you hold a dumbbell in each hand, arms out, and lift them above your head. If you are doing this standing up, you will notice that as the going gets tough, you start to use your legs to squat down and push up to help you get the weight up. This begins to defeat the whole point of working out your shoulders.

Resistance bands isolate the muscle you’re working on, allowing you to focus on and improve your form. You’re not worrying about the weight dropping on your head or rushing to get your exercises done.

Versatility – Have you ever swung a heavy dumbbell side to side? Have you ever practiced punches with a free weight tied to your hand? While it is possible, these are some of the things that are better suited for resistance bands.

Many types of athletes use resistance bands to improve the movements their sport requires. Bat swings, tennis serves, punches, ducking and weaving, and nearly every motion in sports (aside from competitive weightlifting) can be helped with resistance bands.

Portability – Resistance bands take up no more space than a purse, and weight just ounces. Try taking a set of dumbbells anywhere with you. Many people complain about not having time to work out. Spending just 10 minutes a day with resistance bands during a lunch break is a great way to increase fitness and start feeling better.

So, Which Method of Exercise is Best?

Actually, that is the wrong question to ask. The better question is: Why aren’t you including resistance bands into your workout?

Anyone in the field of fitness knows that cross-training and diversity is the key to overall performance and fitness. Don’t pick just free weights, or just resistance bands. Use both in your workouts so that one supplements the other. Over time, you will notice the benefits from both without becoming bored.

Resistance Bands for Exercise

Better Body Journal — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 23:47:30 +0000

Introduction to Resistance Bands

For most people, exercise means lifting weights or doing some type of cardiovascular activity, such as running. But there are a lot of less-than-well-known techniques for exercising, and one of those is using resistance bands.

Using your body’s own resistance for exercise is one of the premiere ways to tone and shape your body. The risk of injury is incredibly low and it provides a fantastic range-of-motion. These exercises include push-ups, pull-ups, body squats, jumping jacks, and many more. You don’t need resistance bands for those particular exercises, but when you add bands to your workout you expand the amount of muscles you can workout, and the types of exercises you can do.

Using resistance bands for exercise takes this theory of using body weight further to provide some great workouts. Exercises like the bicep curl and the overhead press don’t do a lot of good without a weight. But when you use resistance bands, you are providing your muscles the resistance they need to tone up and grow.

Why Aren’t Resistance Bands More Popular?

Most people have heard of resistance bands, but they are not commonly seen like treadmills or weight machines. Why not?

Reason 1: The first reason is because when people try them, they are often surprised at how they feel. With traditional weights, gravity is providing resistance in only one direction â€“ down. You feel the most resistance when you are lifting the weight up (for example, in a bicep curl), so when you bring the weight down gravity is actually helping you do it.

With resistance bands, the tension is constant throughout your range of motion. This is why it feels different, and in most cases more difficult than other exercises. The truth is that when an exercise is new, harder and different, it is a good thing!

Reason 2: The next reason is that people assume that resistance bands do not provide a good workout. “How can some rubber band give me a good workout?” The truth is that your muscles cannot really tell whether you are using weights or bands. They do not discriminate. As long as the tension is similar, you can get the same toning benefits.

Resistance bands “attack” more muscles than weight machines. Machines are restricted to a very narrow range of motion. This leads one part of a muscle to grow more than others, resulting in an uneven distribution of strength. Resistance bands allow your body parts to move freely and provide more resistance throughout. A free range of motion also reduces risk of injury.

Reason 3: The final reason people do not use resistance bands is because they do not know how. If youâ€™ve never used one before, it will be hard to even know where to start. This problem can easily be solved when you learn about the many exercises you can do with resistance bands.

5 Reasons to Start Using Resistance Bands

The Best Value â€“ Dollar for dollar, resistance bands provide the best value out of many pieces of exercise equipment. Expect to pay less than the cost of one month of gym membership. Try out Resistance Bands for only the cost of shipping!

Work for Beginners and Advanced Athletes â€“ Working out with resistance bands can be done by anybody. Beginners can start with simple exercise like bicep curls and chest presses. The benefit is that you can train at your own pace and not hurt yourself, while learning the motions required for free weights. Athletes use resistance bands that provide an large amount of tension, exploding their training and power of their muscles.

Increased Coordination â€“ The range-of-motion and constant tension provided by resistance bands means all of your muscles grow evenly within each body part. Better muscle balance leads to better coordination.

Variety â€“ Let’s face it. Those of us that have been exercising for a long time need some variety every once in a while. Resistance band exercises are a great supplement to weightlifting and cardiovascular exercising.

Easy to Travel â€“ Resistance bands take up no more space than a pair of shoes. You are essentially bringing a full gym with you, anywhere you go!