(In answer to an email question):
I switch back and forth but have used bands 80% of the time for chest/back/bi’s for the past two years, occasional hamstrings (difficult to use them for much else like leg work) mainly due to convenience, but also because doing the same motion over and over with a locked range of motion with the machines just was not working any longer, possibly creating injury (tho I think the changes of injury are remote, or at least take a very very long time for most people).
Then I had some minor tendonitis that started over a year ago, and found the bands were a great option over the weights which were almost impossible to use at my previous weights once the tendonitis hit me for the first time in my life. Was a very very frustrating condition to deal with. An anti-fungal approach minimized the symptoms greatly, as has dietary modifications. It’s amazing in that regard, as I’m 90%+ better in that area, and it no longer impacts the amount of resistance I can use nor my quality of life. (What’s amazing to me, but shouldn’t be since I promote it all the time, is all the common conditions people have that are remedied via anti-pathogen approaches, detox and diet…this is what I’ve always used to “fix” myself, and it never stops working. I remain partly brainwashed into believing only western medicine can fix certain things. Beginning to believe that instead of western med being 95% bunk…that it’s 100% bunk)…;>
Since then, with the 30 to 40 lbs bands, I’ve had great results. (If you get bands, get the ones I referred you to, not because it’s an affiliate link in which I make a whopping 30 cents per band, but because they are the *only* double-banded ones I’ve ever found, I’ve broke and hurt myself before) try the green and teal colored ones at 30lb and 40lb. The teal one is way strong. And/or get a 25lb one (blue I think?) but I think you’ll find those to be for the ladies…not nearly enough resistance.
It’s just a matter of how they’re used. Anyone that says using them very slowly with an almost “isotension-style”
approach at times, isn’t going to build muscle is not using the heavy enough bands. *Of course* they will build and tone, the resistance is crazy-strong! Then we have that advantage at the peak of the range of motion where the resistance is highest, which I think is terrific; not necessarily superior to weights, but not inferior either. With each, bands and weights, there is always a “bottom” of the movement, but when the tension is strong enough with a band, I feel the overall resistance you get from them is superior in that the positive and negative have an *increasing* resistance the entire range of motion, peaking at the top. We get resistance with weights obviously just in a different way, where we have gravity and a “rest” portion with weights at this same “top” (bi curl “rests” at the top as the dumb bell sits near the shoulder in the movement, whereas the band’s resistance is at it’s peak there, if you follow what I’m trying very poorly to explain ;>), and in both cases slow and fast twitch muscles are involved, the latter builds size and tones.
All this depends upon is one thing: overload of the muscle to create a metabolic response in the fast twitch muscles (the lactic acid response and that whole cascade). Does not matter HOW it happens; lifting barbells, using resistance bands, or throwing Volkswagens. Weird that people would suggest bands won’t work, I am living proof they do. (If you can refer me to where you read that I’d love to read it, and you also gave me a great topic for a video, thanks, lol). You can sure as heck BET high-tension bands will give you that. I’m completely whipped after using my bands, and, they have the added bonus of weighing nothing, so they can reduce drop injuries, be transported, etc. You DO of course have to be careful with them, check them for damage each and every time, watch the handles and the strips that connect for damage (I’ve broken both the handle straps and the bands, both cases were the single-band style) and be mindful of how readily they can and will “pull” you when doing lats…pulling this towards you while wrapped around a pole; they say you should not pull bands towards you, but with safe ones and holding on to them, staying focused, I’ve always been fine. When done, you have to be careful and slowly come back to the pole so it doesn’t pull you too hard. Another way to manage that is to wrap the bands around the pole an additional time or two to make the distance you are from the pole shorter, therefore less distance to be “pulled” towards the pole at the end of the lat exercise. And believe me, you WILL be pulled if you’re using enough resistance, which is the whole point.
In short…bands are awesome. And you can take them anywhere. I’ve done workouts at home, hotels, and behind Target stores at 10 o’clock at night during Christmas season. (Then went in the store and bought some wrapping paper…they close at 11 that time of year). ;>
Hope that helps…
Love, Happiness, Health and Peace…………Tim
