There is a lot of talk about resistance bands not being a suitable type of resistance for building muscle and strength. I want to talk about the two main reasons I use resistance bands. It is not because they are easy to bring everywhere you go and affordable but because of two reasons much deeper than that.

Reason number one is this; they create pliability of our muscles, tendons and ligaments. In simple terms, this means it allows our body to be more childlike in our movements and move with ease, rather than feeling stiff and stuck inside of our body. Picture this; you miss judging the curb when you walk into the grocery store and slip. Someone who is pliable will be able to absorb the impact of the slip with ease and continue to walk. Still, someone who has lost muscle pliability (which we lose as we age) is at risk of getting injured because they cannot absorb this impact because of the stiff state of our muscles. Resulting in the inability to length and shorten quickly to make the slip seamless and continue to walk. Being pliable gives us the ability to absorb impact as we move, with elasticity, flexibility and pliability of our muscles because they are in a state of readiness to lengthen and shorten when needed.

The second reason resistance bands are beneficial and essential to your workouts is for the control and energy it creates throughout your body. Resistance bands recalibrate the connection to our nervous system to improve the power and coordination of our movements. A heightened focus needs to go into lengthening and shortening the band. Band exercises aren't done for mindless action but movements that recruit a robust neurological connection to activate more of the muscle you are targeting to create balance and improve posture around individual joints leading to correction throughout our entire body. We often become restricted in our movements because we protect ourselves from an old injury or create a new one. Post-injury is another perfect place to introduce bands. We need to show the brain that we are safe to move “outside of the box” and create ultimate strength, vitality and a lean body!

In conclusion, once you have improved your pliability and connection to your body, you can build muscle and strength faster than you could if your body is stiff, stuck and out of tune. Using resistance bands for these purposes makes them an irreplaceable tool, not to mention a fantastic way to help recovery and improve blood flow. Because of the nature of pliability, it will help release stuck energy and toxins that may build up in your body.

Give this blog a like and comment if you love the healing benefits of resistance bands!

Rant over.
Resistance bands for life!