The Battle is on! DING! DING! DING!
It’s the age old battle of resistance bands vs weights. When you cross paths with someone, they are normally on one side or the other. There is no in between. It’s kind of like avocado. You either hate it or love it. I don’t understand you hate people though. Avocado….ahhhhh. Oops, getting a bit distracted here. Ok, so the question is, who is right? Some people say resistance bands are easier on the joints. So are they better? But then you can go heavier with free weights. So are they better? I’m going to get to the bottom of this resistance bands vs weights battle once and for all.
Resistance Bands Vs Weights; Whose Side Am I On?
I’m going to be honest. About five minutes ago, I was a dumbbells all the way, no contest, kind-of-a-girl. I own both free weights and bands, but I just love weights. The bands confuse me. I don’t like that I don’t know exactly how much weight I’m using. I like to measure and be consistent or improve with every workout. That unknown factor de-motivates me in a way. I don’t like that I can’t do every single workout with the bands that I can do with free weights. For example, in P90X, you do walking, weighted lunges where you do a curl and a shoulder press mid lunge. I could’ve been halfway thru my workout with the time it would take me to figure out how to do that properly with the band. And seriously, I’ve had the band come off my foot and smack me in the face before. Definitely the ultimate deciding factor! OUCH!
And the Winner IS……….
So those were all the reasons my vote was for weights in the exercise bands vs weights battle. But, as I did a little research, I was surprised to find the overwhelming evidence in support o
f resistance bands. No, I’m not switching because all of my factors still hold true for me, but I had assumed you got a better range of motion with free weights. WRONG. I also assumed you could get stronger and isolate the muscle more with free weights. WRONG. Free weights depend on gravity. Since bands do not, you are able to have a greater range of motion mimicking everyday activities more. You can also provide continuous tension on the muscle vs with free weights you can only go vertical (due to the gravitational pull). For example, in a simple bicep curl, your muscle rests as the top with a free weight. With a band, the tension is still there. It is also close to impossible to cheat with resistance bands. I’ve seen many a gym rat swinging their body all over the place to get that dumbbell where it’s supposed to go. Momentum doesn’t matter with the bands. And, of course, we all know bands are cheaper and far more mobile. It seems as though this battle of resistance bands vs weights might not end up how I expected. I’m not trading in my dumbbells anytime soon, but I will dig those bands out and give them a second try.
P.S. Stay tuned: Now that I’ve covered resistance bands vs weights, tomorrow I will talk about Powerblocks vs. SelectTechs.