With so many gyms and fitness centers around the country closed due to national restrictions, working out at home is more popular than ever before. We’ve been inundated with training apps and workout programs to follow from our living rooms, many of which are centered around the use of booty bands.
The affordability and convenience of bands are second to none, but just how effective are they, and are they as good as free weights?
Let’s find out!
What are Booty Bands?
Booty bands is a term used to describe short, loop-style elasticated resistance bands. When added to workouts, they increase the effort and intensity needed to perform movements like squats, deadlifts, and pulls.
They’re also just one of the many variations of resistance bands, which come in different weights, lengths, and sizes. Bands like booty bands can improve strength, mobility, and balance, and because they’re so flexible, they’re versatile, easy to store, and incredibly portable.
Bands or Weights, Peanut Butter or Jelly?
Asking if bands are as good as weights is a bit like asking if peanut butter is as good as jelly. The two absolutely complement each other, and as stand-alone elements, they’re pretty good on their own too.
They’re also two very different things, and there will be some more effective workouts using free weights, while for others, resistance and booty bands will give you the best results.
When working out with free weights, the resistance that you feel is created by gravity, which pulls the weight down. It then takes effort to pull the weight towards you or push it away from you (depending on your position) – this is resistance in the vertical plane.
When you use a resistance band, the effort you feel is generated by the elastic force in the band. You don’t need to rely on gravity’s effects to create resistance in a banded workout, just tension. As a result, bands offer resistance in vertical and horizontal planes at various angles and directions.
There’s also another distinct difference between training with weights and bands.
Free weight exercises have a strength curve, typically either descending or ascending. In a motion like a squat, the strength curve is ascending, so the weight feels easier to manage when reaching full extension in the lower body. A descending strength curve, as felt in a row, is easier to manage as the motion nears full flexion.
Resistance bands, meanwhile, don’t have such an apparent strength curve (provided you begin the exercise with a taut band). This generates a much more consistent force throughout the entire exercise, meaning that you experience resistance during the eccentric part of a movement as well as the concentric.
The Best Ways to use Booty Bands
As we’ve established, training with resistance bands will give you different results to training with free weights, so what are the best ways to use them?
Firstly, they can be used as an effective strength-building tool. Sure, free weights will always have the upper hand when it comes to building muscle mass, but everyone from beginners to experienced athletes can see measurable strength gains from using bands in their workouts.
Secondly, the nature of bands like booty bands means that they are great for developing muscle endurance too. Most exercises that focus on endurance don’t need heavy weights; instead, the aim is to achieve a higher volume with a more manageable load. Since resistance bands provide tension for the entire movement pattern of an exercise, they’re perfect for maximizing endurance.
Resistance bands are also the most effective way to improve mobility and flexibility both during and after a workout. The versatile nature of resistance bands means you can work through whole ranges of motion and even hit different angles during an exercise; while they also deepen post-workout stretches.
Then, of course, there’s rehab and prehab. The safest way to add resistance to a rehab program, bands put a lot less pressure on joints than free weights, reducing the risk of inflammation and injury. The elastic force of bands means that they can really isolate and target stabilizer muscles too, which are crucial for preventing injury and enhancing athletic performance.
In Conclusion
Pre-dating many of today’s at-home fitness fads and sure to outlast them all, bands are effective, affordable, and travel-friendly. For beginners, they’re a safe way to begin strength training and, when combined with free weights, add an extra challenge to workouts for more experienced lifters.
Moreover, they certainly are as good as weights when it comes to building muscular endurance and even provide their own unique benefits for specialized cross-training and conditioning.