Elastic Band Exercises: Are They Effective?

Fitness is a lifetime trend and not something you pick and drop along the way. This is why it is always advisable to try out a fitness routine that will be sustainable and inexpensive in the long run. Talking of affordable and effective training tools, elastic bands definitely come top of the list.

Elastic or resistance bands are highly recommended for both beginners and advanced fitness levels. Exercises involving elastic bands can target multiple muscles on your body – from the triceps and shoulders to the glutes.

In this piece we look at the best exercises involving resistance bands and how they work.

What are the best exercise bands?

You can perform many exercises with your resistance bands depending on your goals and the muscles you’re training. Here is a list of the top 10 best exercise bands and the muscles they target.

• Wall lateral pulldown band exercises used to train lats and upper back.
• Side-lying hip abduction for upper leg
• Triceps extension exercises targeting triceps
• Shoulder external rotation for the shoulder and upper back
• Fire hydrant elastic band exercises targeting hamstrings and glutes
• Front squat for training shoulder and leg muscles
• Donkey kick elastic band exercises for hamstring and glutes
• Jump squat for glutes and thighs
• Splitter exercise for chest and arm muscles
• Flye band exercises for shoulder, upper back and chest

These are simple exercises that you can easily perform at home.

Do resistance bands actually work?

Resistance bands work for various purposes. That said, to check their efficiency, you need to evaluate it against your goals – do you want to gain muscle strength or muscle hypertrophy?

Well, resistance bands are ideal for muscle strength gains, especially if you train over a continuous period of time. However, to achieve this, you’ll need to put in effort and strive to beat your previous resistance levels and reps. Resistance band exercises do work in gaining strength quickly, but for that, you’ll have to push for higher reps for endurance.

The low intensity of elastic band exercises is what makes it suitable for endurance.

So what about gaining muscle? In practice, muscle gaining is one of the major benefits of resistance band exercises, especially for beginners.

You’ll find resistance bands more useful in more ways as you continue pushing up the reps and gaining more endurance.

Start working out

How do you work out with a band?

There are many ways you can work out with a resistance band. However, how you work out with a band will depend on the type of resistance band and training purpose. Here are 2 common ways to work out with a band.

Wall Lateral pulldown

To perform the wall lateral pulldown, stand with your back against a wall.

• With the elastic band around your wrists, stretch out your arms over your head.
• Now pull the arms downwards and bend elbows outwards to form a 90 degree.
• Return to the starting position.
• Perform 1 set of 12-15 reps.

Triceps Extension

The triceps extension using resistance bands is performed by holding the band in your hands.

• With your right forearm parallel to the ground, place your right elbow over your head.
• Ensure your left-hand stays in front of your left shoulder. Now extend the right arm but keep it close to
• your head and feel as the band stretches to work the right upper arm.
• Get back to the original position.
• You can perform 1 set of 12-15 reps.