This piece is the first in a long series of articles I will be putting together on the essentials of contemporary physical culture. Contemporary Physical Culture is, in contrast to Old School Physical Culture, simply a modern approach to those ancestral insights. After all, the pioneers of what is basically summed up as the precursor to our current day industry lived over a century ago. And we’ve learned so much since they’ve laid what is in understated and tremendous foundation. We truly stand on the shoulders of giants. And now we have myriad tools at our disposal to further expand on that legacy. The one that will be the focus of this article is Elastic Resistance and, by extension, Variable Resistance Training.
This is one of many somewhat casual education pieces coming your way, where I explain and simplify certain training implements and methods. The intention of these is to demystify certain over complicated concepts of fitness. You can always look at the links at the end for further reading, but these will essentially be presented from the philosophy of old school physical culture and of PrymaFit. So, without further ado, let’s get into it. We’ll be going over concepts of band training, quality control with resistance band resistance band sets, elastic variable resistance, programming, and more.
Resistance Bands – The Most Underrated and Misunderstood Training Implement
There aren’t too many people – fitpros included – who truly understand and appreciate the value of resistance bands. By value, I don’t just mean how ideal they are for home training on a budget. I mean the genuine efficacy and efficiency of resistance bands as a training implement. Most fitness enthusiasts are aware of a company called Bodylastics. But at the same time, they barely have a grasp on the concept of stackable resistance. Which was really pioneered by Bodylastics. That’s just a little observation and history on how we got to the popular band training kits we see today. Before I get into the nitty gritty – I want to make a point about the objective of this article. I want to eliminate the barrier to entry for band training, yes. But I am focusing on training with stackable resistance bands for upper body and lower body training, as well as loop bands for maximizing lower body training. This is where I’ve seen the most results for myself, my clients, and my peers. So to be clear, every occurrence of bands being implemented on this site is centered on these methods.
Stackable resistance bands are those band sets that include multiple resistance bands, each varying in in poundage of resistance – usually color coded – with clip on handles. The sum total of resistance provided by these bands is typically between the 150-220lb range. These packages vary depending on who makes them. I was lucky enough to get a set of bands back in 2013-14 from Gorilla Strength Gear, who doesn’t seem to be around anymore, which totals 220 pounds of resistance and has lasted over seven years. Two of them recently snapped after enduring years of insane training blocks. But luckily, I had already purchased a decent set of bands from amazon, so training continued as usual. I mention this to highlight the overwhelming options we have when it comes to selecting bands. And that quality is important. Gorilla Strength Bands were marketing themselves as ideal for athletes and a serious contender for bodylastics at a lower price point. I will expound on this point further when I talk about how to select a good set of bands. The common thread with at least decent quality stackable resistance band sets seems to be color coding, gradually increasing (progressively overloading) detachable industrial rubber tubing that uses a sort of simulated poundage determined by the thickness of the tubing. These often com with detachable handles. As well as other clip-on accessories that make this the most versatile training implement you can invest in. Even if you have an exorbitant amount of money to spend on your home gym. And as fascinating as that sounds – the real magic is in the tension. See, the band sets themselves don’t weigh much of anything. When you pack them all up, they barely weigh a few pounds. But when you anchor these bands to something, a banister or the included door anchor, this creates the tension. And the further the bands are stretched, the further the resistance increases. Some band sets have a sort of double-edged poundage. My aforementioned set, as well as the goliath to their proverbial David – bodylastics, and a few others which I will link below feature this sort of tension. The difference in this resistance as opposed to the standard – is that you get more resistance in less bands. My new band set that I purchased on Amazon has the standard resistance model. My 40lb band is 40lbs total, with each handle carrying 20lbs of resistance. However, 40lb band from my first set is 40lbs on either side. Meaning that lifting both sides actually sees me lifting 80lbs of resistance. Not 40 pounds. By now, you’ve probably done the math and realized that there’s almost exponential possibilities when it comes to stackable resistance bands. And why investing in a quality set can work wonders for most physical culturists. Provided there is proper programming. Loop Bands
You’re probably wondering about the value of loop bands for physical culturists. I’ll tell you – the’yre invaluable. Especially when you’ve got options and a least a few good heavy tension bands. They essentially work the same way as their more popular sibling – resistance tubing. Minus the anchors and handles, of course. With loop bands your body is the anchor point which provides the leverages and tension these are especially golden for squat and bridging progressions. Don’t want to spend money on a weight vest or the DLC-esque mini-weights necessary for progressive overload? Loop bands. Want to easily use methods such as drop sets or Reverse Pyramid Training? Loop bands. Loop bands, through the same elastic variable resistance as tubes, provide a whole new mountain of progression for your basics and intermediate calisthenic progressions. While many people immediately focus on the upper body with almost any training implement – lower body and posterior chain training is where these implements truly shine. Squat progressions, hinging, bridging. You can build some serious raw, functional strength with the right workouts.
Now that we’ve gone through that little rundown, we can begin to understand the PrymaFit doctrine when it comes to band training. Why my templates that involve bands are programmed thus. After almost a decade of band training – to include banded calisthenics, band-only hypertrophy cycles, conditioning sessions, etc. as well as training others with bands. These programs are what I know works from science and anecdote. Essentially, we want to be using tubing for upper body training, deadlifting variations, and core movements. While using loop bands to maximize lower body pressing and hinging progressions. There are certain niche instances such as isometrics, unilateral movements, etc. where one is preferential to the other. Bands Are At Least As Good as Free Weights – Elastic Variable Resistance
Alright, so now that I’ve given you the bare essentials on band selections, I’m going to tell you how training with them actually works. I chose this order of operations, so to speak, because that’s usually how these things work.
First, lets get the elephant in the room out of the way. Resistance bands are small, they don’t actually weigh anything substantial, and to some they seem delicate. All of this can be chocked up to appearances being deceiving. When we apply critical thinking to the situation – these doubts can be easily assuaged. The rubber that’s being used for the equipment in question is industrial latex or synthetic rubber polymer. It’s literally in a class all it’s own (comparing to your mother and grandmother’s resistance bands). This means that everything possible with dumbbells is possible with bands. Refer to that statement for any questions on range of motion, speed and tempo, and progressive overload. However, there are certain differences that may be deemed advantageous with resistance bands when compared to other implements. From my point of view, I especially find them advantageous when it comes to adding external resistance to calisthenics. Okay, things might admittedly get a little esoteric. I’m going to explain elastic resistance by initially comparing elastic tubing to the very muscle fibers you’re contracting to lift them. Your muscle fibers are made up of all these little filaments that are, in theory, sliding back and forth as you contract your muscles. When you contract your muscles, you put them under tension and this tension provides resistance. This is why isometrics is a thing. And part of myriad reasons calisthenics more than qualifies as effective resistance training. Okay, so those muscle fibers go through varying degrees of tension depending on your range of motion. This is why time under tension is so important for progressive overload. When you do a pushup – there’s a point of least resistance, and a point of most resistance. But these muscles that are the main movers are under constant tension until you leave the pushup position. Got it? This is almost exactly how bands work. Until you release those bands and the tension they provide, you’re still actively working against resistance. Now, that statement and everything leading up to it is extremely nuanced. But nuance is good. Nuance opens up a world of opportunities. Often times these opportunities arise out of new interpretations. For instance, a goblet squat becomes a completely different monster depending on what your bands anchored to. As well as the angle and leveraging of yourself and the bands. Are you gripping the band at both ends or just one? What is the speed and tempo of your movement? All of these things can turn a movement variation or progression into something far more challenging and advanced. Much of this is due to the namesake of elastic resistance. It provides us with more variables than free weights. And that’s because, along with its cool and edgy cousin from the city – chain training – elastic resistance falls under the banner of Variable Resistance Training. You know why guys like Dwayne Johnson take those chains so seriously? Because of the simple yet insane physics involved with it. When he does dips with those chains (which are deceitfully heavy) he adds resistance throughout the movement because the load increases the higher, he pushes. This is called linear mass displacement. The variable here, much like with suspension training, is the lengthening of the chains/distance of the chains. The two are related but not the same, and that’s for another article. Back to Elastic Resistance. Elastic Resistance is variable because of a curvilinear relationship between length and load. Basically, this means that there’s a relationship between the length of the bands and load being provided. The longer the length, the greater the load. This is why I made that little allegorical comparison between bands and muscle fibers. While it is not exactly a one-to-one comparison – it is still an effective visual metaphor. There are a few ways to manipulate this resistance. Including angles, set/rep/rest schemes, and movement variations. Now That I’ve Covered The Not So Obvious
Let’s go over the obvious differences from training with free weights. Band training affords the home/garage gym physical culturist the ability to train in the horizontal plane easier than you can with free weights. It also allows you to move freely and readily between the sagittal plane and the horizontal plane. This includes movements like chest flyes, wood choppers, rotating lunges, etc. The official scientific name for this plane is transverse plane. Sagittal plane movements include movements like the standard lunge, the standing or kneeling chest press, most rowing progressions, and so on. You may see many of these movements executed with training implements such as medicine balls, dumbbells, kettlebells, and cables. But you need a gym to be able to transition between most of these implements seamlessly. And the point of this is home/garage gym training, after all. There’s also no variability or consistency to the resistance provided by these aforementioned implements.
With band training, once you’ve gone through a properly programmed base building program and thoroughly built a foundation – you can easily add these movements to your training sessions and even set up stations for different movements within the same session. Band training also brings insane new upgrades into hypertrophy programs that call for compounds and isolation movements – stability. While not necessarily requiring the same recruitment of stabilizer muscles as suspension training – movements like the kneeling press-fly requires significant core stabilization. It also allows for an insane combo that’s as rewarding aesthetically as it is functionally. Couple this with the extended triceps push down, where you slightly flick the wrist down when you’re at the end of the full range of motion, and you’re on your way to a Push Day fit for the gods. It’s not lost on me that the nomenclature of many of these movements are insiders between myself and my clients and peers. But I am going to deliver tutorials in the near-future that make them accessible for everyone. A Word on Power
Another overlooked or perhaps just unforeseen advantage to training with bands is the affinity for power. This is a pretty natural component to the multidimensional nature of bands. Because their inherent physics go hand-in-hand with the type of movement that develops power. Before I get all sciencey I’ll use a metaphor/analogy. You know how in online videogames – especially battle royales and MOBAs – when the servers mess up the ping ruins the game. You’re bouncing all over the place. We’ve come to know that as “rubber banding”. Slowly moving in one part of the environment and then rapidly snapping to another point. Power training essentially works in the same way. Plyometrics, explosive calisthenics, Olympic lifting – all look like real world versions of rubber banding. The box jump, the clap pushup, the clean, etc. All of these movements start out pretty slow, with unwavering deliberation and end in a very rapid, explosive finish. This is because power is explosive. So, explosive training builds power. This is why I recommend using a light/moderate band to learn a movement and begin incorporating it into your training. And because of the elastic nature of bands, you’re better off applying that train of thought to training that is on the hypertrophy-relative strength zone of the strength continuum.
But if you want to train for power, whether deliberately with singles and sets of triples, heavy bands will take your training to another level. For the same reasons I just mentioned, we see many strength and conditioning coaches and athletic trainers have their clients run against the elastic resistance of bands. However, this can be applied to many other movements. Powerlifters have popularized movements such as the banded bench press. But you can simply build power with the banded pushup or dip and forego the bench and barbell altogether. This is why you see my band training templates that are either firmly planted in the strength-power domain or the strength-hypertrophy domain. These differences will be expounded on in the next article. Wrapping Up
Bands are one of my favorite training implements and methods. Still a new frontier, it doesn’t have to be hard to get into. I hope I did my part and at least demystified it enough to where you can cast aside your doubts and invest in a set. Or at least maybe dust off the set you bought a year ago because you couldn’t get to the gym. In this piece, I went over what makes a set of bands worth it and what to look for when shopping for bands depending on your training goals. As well as some of the science behind band training. Not only are there glaringly obvious attributes and properties that make this a worthy addition to even the most expensive home gym. But there are some relatively unknown advantages as well. From bodybuilding style hypertrophy training to power-focused athletic training, one set of bands opens up many doors. In the next article, I will go over programming for band training, provide templates for different training methods and goals, and share some Do’s and Don’ts for band storage and set up – including how I used the same set of stackable resistance bands for nearly a decade as a digital nomad. Until then, check out some of my band training templates linked below.
I look forward to sharing more gems with you all and helping you reach your goals with one of the most slept on tools in the fitness game. Until next time. Stay Prymal, Shredded Shaman
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Shredded ShamanLifelong athlete and martial artist. I'm on a mission to bring back the good old days of Physical Culture and make this fit lifestyle a lot more enjoyable. Archives
October 2022
CategoriesAll Bodyweight Calisthenics Cardio Celeb Workouts Dumbbells HIIT Martial Arts Metabolic Conditioning Powerbuilding Resistance Bands Shredding Superheroes Suspension Training Weighted Calisthenics Workouts |