Whether it is building strength and muscles or toning up, resistance bands are in great demand because of the sheer variety of exercises that can be performed with them. Health practitioners and fitness experts are increasingly suggesting resistance bands as they are ideal exercise accessories for home and they can easily be incorporated into your circuit routine for strength training. As they are compact and lightweight, they can be used pretty much everywhere.They are also available in various sizes depending upon their resistance and stiffness. Lighter resistance bands are preferred by beginners or by people recovering from an injury and as the workout intensifies so does the workout. Heavy resistance bands are preferred by experienced exercisers.
Resistance bands are very adaptable and a large number of reresistance band excises can be developed from them with only minor adjustments. Even smaller muscles that do not get involved when exercising with free weights can easily be worked on with the help of resistance bands. This makes it a perfect accessory for athletic conditioning as well as injury prevention and rehabilitation.
Why Train With Heavy Resistance Bands?
Maximizing your work-out intensity isn’t the only reason you should be grabbing those heavy resistance bands. There are many more reasons you should be opting for heavy resistance. It can be a little scary to train with heavier resistance, especially if you have been sticking to light or medium resistance bands. The key is choosing exercises that do not place pressure on your joints and tone down your tempo to slow motion to ensure that your stabilizers are on board. Squats and pulls are generally good to begin with.
Not Achieving Desired Result
If you aren’t achieving the desired results even after a reasonable period of time, training with a stronger and heavier band will blow through band plateau and make exercises work for you again. However, you should make sure that you are being safe and don’t start out doing the same volume of workout with heavier bands.
Complacency
People become complacent when it comes to resistance bands or even weights. They think the muscle bias is disturbed if they grab a band of different resistance. Now when you go back to the lighter, smaller band after the heavier one, you are basically going for a very low level of resistance and your nervous system has to work extra to bring in more muscle fiber.
More Effective
To get better results, you need to switch to heavier resistance bands. When you start using heavier resistance bands, you will realize that your strength and stabilization have improved. It is always better to slowly ascend your level of resistance rather than making a jump for better functioning of muscles.
HEAVY RESISTANCE BAND EXERCISES
Maximize your workout intensity by exercising with heavy resistance bands that are thick and highly resistant to wear and tear. Be cautious and do not overexert yourself. Here are some exercises to try:
RESISTANCE BAND LUNGES
Give the regular lunges a miss and try the more effective resistance band lunges.
- Stand with your feet at hip width distance. With your left leg, step back to approximately two feet but use the ball of your leg. Now put the resistance band under your front foot and tug the ends in both hands.
- This forms your start position where you hold a staggered stance with your feet and head and back are held erect.
- Bend at right hip and knee, slowly lowering your body until the thigh is parallel to the floor. Your body should move in a straight line towards the floor.
- Return to the starting position and do the same with other leg. This forms one rep.
- Perform two sets on each leg with 15 reps.
RESISTANCE BAND PULL APART
This exercise works well for shoulder muscles. Since it is beginner level exercise, performing it with a heavy band will lead to more effective results.
- Hold the resistance band in front of your body with your elbows stretched and straight.
- Now, without bending the elbow, stretch the resistance band in opposite directions until it touches your chest.
MONSTER WALK
This is also known as the band walk and is known to work on the abductor muscles. It strengthens your quads and glutes.
- Fasten a resistance band around your knees and another around your ankles.
- The tension should be maintained at a level that the band is taut when your feet are shoulder-length apart.
- Take short steps in forward direction, with one foot at a time.
- After a few steps forward, take a few steps backward and get back to your original position to repeat the same steps.
BAND SPLIT SQUAD
Band split squads are good for strengthening your hip muscles.
- Loop the resistance band around your shins.
- Perform a split squat by putting the right foot forward and lifting the left heel.
- Now keeping the weight concentrated on the right foot, gently lower your body into a squatting position. Your hips should be pushed back gently while your arms should be stretched out right in front of your chest.
- Now, bend your elbows backward and ease into a standing position. Lift your left leg up and down making sure that your body doesn’t lean forward.
- Bring the left leg down to the starting position. This completes one rep.
- Complete 20 reps of this exercise.
SUPLEX LIFT
- Secure the band to the lowest hinge on a door by connecting it with a utility strap.
- Loop one end of it around your arms and bend your elbows to 90 degrees.
- Move away from the door until the band is completely taut and now stand so your feet are shoulder width apart.
- Now move your torso forward and bend your knees until your elbows touch your knees. But make sure that your back stays straight while doing this.
- Reverse the same movement to get back into the starting position and while you stand up, raise your upper arms with force.
