10 Benefits Of Resistance Bands For Strength

Prevent injuries, strength train anywhere, and achieve your fitness goals all with exercise bands. Learn about the benefits of resistance bands for your workout routine as well as which resistance bands are best to help you on your fitness journey.

As a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, resistance bands are a piece of workout equipment I recommend everyone have on hand. Not only do they make it easy to work out anywhere but they produce a different kind of tension than traditional equipment making them more effective at increasing strength in some areas.

Adding resistance bands to your workout routine can be a game-changer in terms of strength. In fact, they're one of my top pieces of best home exercise equipment.

Though many people question whether or no resistance bands are effective at producing results, I can assure you, they are. In fact, in some areas, exercise bands might be a better choice for you than dumbbells or barbells, especially if you make good use of these mini band exercises!

Scroll through the resistance band benefits below and afterward you'll learn more about choosing the best resistance bands for strength and how to make your workouts with them effective.

10 Benefits Of Resistance Bands

Having the proper exercise bands on hand can do more than just give you a great workout. Below are a few resistance band benefits you'll want to consider.

1. They're cost-effective

Compared to most gym equipment out there, exercise bands are a fraction of the cost. In fact, you can set yourself up with a wide array of tensions for under $100.

2. They take up minimal space

If you're worried about not having the room to work out, resistance bands are perfect. They take up little to no room and are even a great option for traveling.

3. They provide a low-impact tension

Compared to dumbbells or barbells, resistance bands are very joint-friendly. In fact, they're the go-to piece of equipment for injury rehabilitation and pre-habilitation.

4. Provide external resistance

Resistance bands give you something to work against which in turn makes you stronger. Though bodyweight exercises are wonderful, resistance bands give a bit more external tension.

5. They help you strengthen the postural muscles

One of the struggles with bodyweight training at home is that it can become tricky to work the back of the body (specifically the upper back) without wanting to master pull ups. Resistance bands allow you to strengthen this area easily. Learn more about the best posterior chain exercises.

6. Bands get you stronger in the "sticking" position

The sticking position is the hardest part of the exercise, the turn-around spot (think coming up from a squat). Resistance bands have the most tension at the hardest part of an exercise (the further you pull back in a row the harder it gets). This is an AMAZING way to improve strength, fast. Almost as great as paused reps.

7. They help beginners learn form

Since resistance bands are so joint-friendly and low-impact, they help those people new to working out nail down proper form while still providing them with extra tension.

8. Easy to scale

The best bands come in a variety of tensions. this means that as you progress, you move up in band strength which in turn gives you more resistance and gets you stronger.

9. Easy to use

Resistance bands are one of the easiest pieces of gym equipment to use. There's nothing to really adjust and control tends to come easier than it does with free weights.

10. Gives the user control

How intense an exercise is can be scaled based not only on the band you choose but how you hold it. This gives a lot of control to the person working out and they can adjust as necessary.

Which Bands To Buy

There are a few types of resistance bands on the market. If you're looking to get stronger at home, you'll want to look for strength bands or "closed-loop bands (also called "power resistance bands).

Avoid the long, open-ended pilates bands.

The closed-loop bands provide better resistance and come in a better variety of tensions (from 10-35 pounds). Most people begin with a yellow or red band for their upper body and scale from there.

Strength bands can also be fixed to a beam or pipe if you’re looking to perform exercises similar to a cable machine.

And while strength bands are crucial, so are mini loops. While you can perform entire workouts with them (like this mini loop circuit here), these bands are most known for their ability to strengthen and tone the glutes.

These two things are what I recommend to all of my SMASH Fit For Life workout clients in addition to just one set of dumbbells. truly, that's all you need.

Do Resistance Bands Actually Work? Can You Get Toned?

You can build muscle, lose weight and tone your body with resistance bands. But there is a secret.

Results come from progressive overload (Learn more about progressive overload).

Stimulating your muscles is more about consistent and progressive overload (always pushing and challenging, targeting the muscle in a linear way) which can be done with any equipment (or no equipment).

It’s more about the stimulus and less about the tool. 

So, as long as you’re focusing on muscle engagement and challenging that engagement more and more over time, you can build muscle and get toned- even with resistance bands.

Learn more about how to make workouts continuously harder.

How To Use Resistance Bands

There are so many ways to use resistance bands. For starters, peek this free printable resistance band exercise chart which is perfect for beginners.

From there, below are a handful of resistance band workout to kickstart your journey.

• Full body resistance band workout
• Resistance band bicep workout
• 15 minute resistance band workout
• Resistance band workout for strength

Frequently Asked Questions