In the world of home workouts, there is are a few new toys that are simply a must and one of these that is gaining great infamy is the humble resistance band.

Now, this might not be an item that can have a direct input into muscle growth or cardio fitness, however I feel it it needs to be used in a short and frequently carried out set of routines to help with mobility and flexibility.

If you’ve ever felt niggles in your back, hips, ankles, shoulders – I guarantee these would be improved and even removed through being more mobile.

There are floods of companies offering different types and models of resistance bands, and my aim here is to give a quick summary of the different types so that you can understand what is the best resistance band for your needs. I have identified three key areas that resistance bands have been aimed at targeting:

1. Mobility & Flexibility
2. Full Body Workouts
3. Olympic Lifts

Mobility & Flexibility

At a later date I plan to dig much deeper into this subject but in short:

• Mobility – the freedom at which a joint can move through its range of motion. Typically combatted through a range of exercises that require good posture and work on improving this range of motion.
• Flexibility – the length of a muscle. Typically combatted through stretching.

If this is an area that interests you, I can recommend this site Mobility WOD as the best source of information out there on the subject.

So, back to this post – in order to improve mobility you need to have a routine that helps you work on expanding your range of motion in key places. I personally like to work my way up as I believe the mobility of a joint affects everything above that joint. So for me I would do ankles > hips > lower back > shoulders > wrists. As a rower, mobility is paramount and means you can get much better hip power and rock over to engage more muscle groups.

Resistance bands for mobility don’t need to be over engineered, and are generally there to
provide some tension that can be adjusted easily. There are a number of sets out there, and I think that this set by Limm gives exactly what you need. There are 5 bands offering different levels of resistance that can be inter changed by body part or as strength improves.

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I will start suggesting my favourite and most effective routines for improving mobility. Watch this space.

Full Body Workouts

Now this isn’t totally new – people have been using some type of resistance bands for getting in a home workout for decades, however the equipment available for this is always improving.

These days you can get sets that come with handles and grips that attach to a host of different bands of different resistances. This means the number of exercises you can do effectively is much greater. If workout out at home is something you do a lot, I think this can be a very good investment.

There are a number of sets on the market, and I think that this set by Black Mountain is both high quality and great value – what more can you want!

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See below for a great 10 minute session you can do with just one resistance band set at home.

[video_page_section type=”youtube” position=”default” image=”” btn=”light” heading=”10 minute resistance band workout” subheading=”” cta=”” video_width=”1080″ hide_related=”false” hide_logo=”false” hide_controls=”false” hide_title=”false” hide_fullscreen=”false”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou0n5aO_K9Y[/video_page_section]

Olympic Lifting

This is for the serious lifter, and one that will typically already have a strength & conditioning coach. One way to add extra resistance to a lift that escalates through the movement is using a real heavy duty band. This is commonly done for Deadlifts or Bench Press – I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone without an experienced spotter or coach. However – these are the final set of resistance bands I said I would share information on.

These bands from WOD Fitters are ones I have seen used in my gym.
I can’t say I have been brave enough to use them but they are incredibly heavy duty – and they need to be if you are lifting weights that require the use of bands to help you through plateaus and pace of lifts. They are expensive, and the price is PER BAND, but if this is something you are looking to invest in then look no further.

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Conclusion

To summarise – there are a number of key types of resistance band, however from my perspective they should be used primarily for mobility as there are much better pieces of equipment you can buy to support full body workouts. So for me, the best resistance band set is the Limm and I think you’ll be surprised at how much improved mobility affects not only exercising, but all over posture.

Until next time,

Simon