Did you know that the earliest recognition
of resistance bands came in 1896 when a Swiss man by the name of Gustav Gossweiler requested
a patent for an elastic exercising device? To be used as a “gymnastic apparatus”
to replace other apparatusesses, Gustav’s invention laid the foundation for other patents
to follow up to this day. And yes, these rubbery tubey porta….bly
things has become pretty popular over the years. Question is, do they actually build muscle? Let’s get one thing out of the way first. If you’re a beginner, absolutely positively
you will see results using bands. Beginners, you guys are lucky. You’ll pretty much respond to any type of
exercise, including band exercises. Let’s also get a few more other things out
of the way. Bands are great for people going through physical
therapy, rehab, and the elderly, since it’s lower impact, easier to control, for the most
part, and something easy to do at home. And yes, bands are extremely portable. You can get all different colors of the rainbow
with very different resistances that can do a bunch very different exercise. Awesome! BUT! Now let’s get to the good stuff. Can it give you all of them beautiful gainz? We know the research definitely show a whole
bunch of muscle growth and strength benefits when it comes to beginners. But as you get out of the phase athletes call
“newbie” gains, making sure to use progressive overload and providing proper stimulus to
your muscles is mucho importante for growth. So, what does that mean for bands? Well, let’s talk a little bit about the
physiology of muscle contraction first. Warning: boring science ahead! Contraction occurs within a sarcomere via
the sliding filament theory, where cross bridges are formed by a reaction between the elements
of contraction, actin and myosin. The head of a myosin filament attaches to
an adjacent actin filament and forms the so-called “bridge” and then pulls the sucker towards
the center of the sarcomere. The more it pulls, the shorter the muscle
fiber becomes. Such as when you go from straight missiles
to gun show! Now, based on different lengths of the muscle
fiber, the amount of force you can produce changes. At its longest, force production is lowest
due to low contact between the contractile elements. In the mid-range, force is the highest with
the most contact occurring. And then weak again at its shortest length,
where you’re fully flexed, due to overlapping. Here, take this funky scenario for example. A guy is pulling a stone towards him attached
to a rope. As he creates slack on the rope, another guy
decides to join in behind and help, producing more pull power. The more they pull, the more and more people
help out, and produce more power! Eventually, they run of rope space and start
stepping back. But, little did they know there was another
group pulling another stone right behind them. The two groups get in each other’s way,
forcing some people out, and force production dwindles. Now, apply this to muscle force production,
and you’ll see a chart like this. Weakest in the beginning, strongest in the
middle, and weak again at the end. I’m not sure if that made any sense… Anyway! You’re probably wondering, “How the heck
does this have anything to do with resistance bands?” Well…I’ll tell you!... After I explain what that means for your traditional
dumbbells! Now, if I were to take a weight where I can
lift pretty confidently at the middle range of motion, where I’m the strongest, the
weight is probably still no good because I can’t lift it for reps at the weakest part
of the range. That means I have to go lighter, of course. But now, the weight is too light in the middle
and I’m not getting the maximal stimulus I need for growth. And as far the bicep curl, I’m not getting
much of a stimulus at the end neither. I know, I know, I said that you’re weaker
at the end of the movement, too. But in this case, something in biomechanics
known as a moment arm, is very short, meaning the line of resistance is very close to the
axis, or your joint or elbow in this case. The shorter the moment arm, the less force
needed to move an object, thus, in the bicep curl, not a lot of force produced at the end. I probably confused you even more than before,
but let’s continue… Okay, now let’s FINALLY look at resistance
bands. The resistance applied from elastic bands
are different from that of traditional weights. Duh! The WAY it is different is that it applies
a growing level of resistance the more you pull through the range of motion. That means, at the very start, the amount
of tension and resistance is at its lowest, and then at its highest at the end of the
movement. That’s good though, in the case of the bicep
curl, because that’s what you want! A growing resistance since you’re weakest
in the beginning, strongest in the middle, and weak but low moment-arm at the end! But, it’s not great for ALL exercises. Take the side raises, for example, where you’re
super struggling towards the top of the movement because the moment arm is much greater. And some bands, especially loop bands that
are stronger, has an extremely wide range of resistance, like this one, where it goes
from 50 to 125 pounds of force, almost 3 times as much from start to finish! So, this is a huge disadvantage to resistance
bands, along with the fact that you’ll grow out of the very light bands really quickly
and then using the heavier bands will be tough because it’ll start pulling YOU instead
of you pulling it. As far as gains, it looks feasible, but only
up to a certain point. Hold on a minute… We know weights have a constant load, which
can be good but it also means not enough resistance for the middle range of motion to create an
optimal stimulus. And we know bands are good because of a continuous
load, but is too low in the beginning and too tough at the end. So, why not combine them together? (windows ta-da!) That’s right! Adding bands onto your weights is probably
the best way to go to compensate for the differences in muscle force production. That means greater stimuli, greater volume,
and greater gains! In fact, the studies back this up, where one
even found, as far as strength, subjects improved their one rep maxes twice as much with bands
than using weights alone. (results may vary)
So, the “smart” way to use bands is to simply use them with your exercises now. But, if you do choose to use bands alone,
maybe you can use it as a warm-up set before jumping into weights. Some people even find it useful to supplement
a workout with band exercises at the end to push volume up a bit more and creating a heavier
pump. And you probably even have some awesome ideas
to use with your bands. And if you do, share it in the comments! Anyway, I hope this video was more helpful
than… confusing, and if you enjoyed it, please like, share, and subscribe! As always, thank you for watching!
