10 Reasons Why
Resistance bands are awesome
I love using resistance bands in my classes with older adults and seniors. I alternate them with dumbbell and bodyweight workouts, mostly focusing on strength but also using the elastic bands for flexibility and balance. There are so many benefits to a resistance band workout, and so many great reasons to use them - here are my top 10.
Reason #1: Bands are so accessible
Bands are affordable and easy to source. You can get them in a range of sizes/resistance from most sports stores or department stores, and you can quickly and easily build up a supply of bands for your whole class, especially if you are teaching in a community centre, running boot camps in the park, or holding personal training sessions out of your garage.
Bands are a great exercise for seniors when they want to exercise at home, or are travelling and away on holidays too. They don’t take up much room in your cupboard or suitcase, so they can be an affordable and realistic way that you can encourage participants to continue exercising even when they aren’t in class, to try and maintain that muscle that they have been building.
Reason #2: Bands are safer to use
Bands are a little safer than dumbbells. You can’t drop a band on your toe or your head (or hit the person next to you either), or get trapped under a barbell because you’ve overestimated how much you can press! You also reduce any compression on your joints, which is important for older adults. Knees and elbows can often take the brunt of a weight exercise, especially if not performed with proper technique. Using a band or resistance tube can reduce that compression because you are pulling in a different plane, and bands aren’t as affected by gravity as a weight. Bands can snap, and you might go through a few of them (especially if you have men in your classes!), but overall, they’re safer for participants to use.
Reason #3: It’s harder to cheat on your workout
Participants tend to find a way to cheat if they can. Bands make it a little harder for them to do so! Sometimes they will use thrusting or the wrong muscles to try and hoist a weight, or keep it up. Because bands work in so many different plans, the whole body is engaged and working to complete the exercise, so there is little ability to cheat when everything is already working! The muscles are continuously working too, with the band constantly under tension as you pull out and in, so you can get a more effective workout by pushing those muscles for a more sustained period of time. We usually slow down the pace when we are using bands too, to ensure that proper technique, so we’re really working those muscles hard and getting the most we can from the workout.
Reason #4: There is so much versatility!
Bands are so versatile, to the point that you can create a full body resistance band workout - have the elastic band under your feet, under just one foot, with one hand on the band, holding both ends, under a knee or elbow, over a shoulder, around a pole, between partners, and every other whichway in between. Dumbbells can really only go up and down, but a band can be pulled in any direction, depending on your anchor point. You can do rotations, pull out and in, work on angles, stretch up and down, and work in a whole lot of different plans that you just can’t do with dumbbells, so we love the diversity that it brings to your workout, and how they can challenge a lot more muscles in different ways too.
Reason #5: So adaptable to different levels and strengths
Workout bands are so inclusive. Whether you have a participant who is doing their first class, or you’re in the gym training up a bodybuilder, you can do the same exercise with them using a band. A beginner might hold their hands a little wider on a pull apart, whereas the experienced person may fold the band over to double the resistance. A stronger person may put the band under both feet to do their side arm raise, whereas someone returning from shoulder surgery will have the band under one foot and not lift their arms as high.
Reason #1: Bands are so accessible
Bands are affordable and easy to source. You can get them in a range of sizes/resistance from most sports stores or department stores, and you can quickly and easily build up a supply of bands for your whole class, especially if you are teaching in a community centre, running boot camps in the park, or holding personal training sessions out of your garage.
Bands are a great exercise for seniors when they want to exercise at home, or are travelling and away on holidays too. They don’t take up much room in your cupboard or suitcase, so they can be an affordable and realistic way that you can encourage participants to continue exercising even when they aren’t in class, to try and maintain that muscle that they have been building.
Reason #2: Bands are safer to use
Bands are a little safer than dumbbells. You can’t drop a band on your toe or your head (or hit the person next to you either), or get trapped under a barbell because you’ve overestimated how much you can press! You also reduce any compression on your joints, which is important for older adults. Knees and elbows can often take the brunt of a weight exercise, especially if not performed with proper technique. Using a band or resistance tube can reduce that compression because you are pulling in a different plane, and bands aren’t as affected by gravity as a weight. Bands can snap, and you might go through a few of them (especially if you have men in your classes!), but overall, they’re safer for participants to use.
Reason #3: It’s harder to cheat on your workout
Participants tend to find a way to cheat if they can. Bands make it a little harder for them to do so! Sometimes they will use thrusting or the wrong muscles to try and hoist a weight, or keep it up. Because bands work in so many different plans, the whole body is engaged and working to complete the exercise, so there is little ability to cheat when everything is already working! The muscles are continuously working too, with the band constantly under tension as you pull out and in, so you can get a more effective workout by pushing those muscles for a more sustained period of time. We usually slow down the pace when we are using bands too, to ensure that proper technique, so we’re really working those muscles hard and getting the most we can from the workout.
Reason #4: There is so much versatility!
Bands are so versatile, to the point that you can create a full body resistance band workout - have the elastic band under your feet, under just one foot, with one hand on the band, holding both ends, under a knee or elbow, over a shoulder, around a pole, between partners, and every other whichway in between. Dumbbells can really only go up and down, but a band can be pulled in any direction, depending on your anchor point. You can do rotations, pull out and in, work on angles, stretch up and down, and work in a whole lot of different plans that you just can’t do with dumbbells, so we love the diversity that it brings to your workout, and how they can challenge a lot more muscles in different ways too.
Reason #5: So adaptable to different levels and strengths
Workout bands are so inclusive. Whether you have a participant who is doing their first class, or you’re in the gym training up a bodybuilder, you can do the same exercise with them using a band. A beginner might hold their hands a little wider on a pull apart, whereas the experienced person may fold the band over to double the resistance. A stronger person may put the band under both feet to do their side arm raise, whereas someone returning from shoulder surgery will have the band under one foot and not lift their arms as high.
Looking for band exercises?
Try our online course, Resistance Bands for Older Adults and get 168 resistance band exercises for your group fitness or personal training sessions. A huge range of exercises with videos, demos, handouts, and tips throughout.
Reason #6: Bands are a great cognitive challenge too!
We are always looking for ways to test and challenge brains, as well as bodies. Resistance band exercises are great for this! Often you can have arms and legs doing different things to be able to perform the band exercise correctly - whether it’s both arms doing something differently (one comes forward, the other goes to the side), or arms are different to legs (legs are lunging while band is stretched overhead). Because of the additional range of motion and planes that bands can be used on, participants have to think a little harder about what they’re doing, where the band is going, and ensuring that they are keeping their proper technique while performing the exercise.
Reason #7: Use bands in circuits and supersets
Resistance bands or elastic tubes are a great addition to your circuit classes. While your focus may be on a weight machine or dumbbell exercise, bands can be a great way to change things up. You can use them as alternate stations, or run a series of band exercises at the halfway point before participants go back for a second lap of the circuit. You can also use them in supersets to really challenge the muscles. Do your bicep curls with dumbbells, then repeat the curls using a band for your second or third set. Same exercise, same muscles, just changing things up to keep the muscles (and participants!) engaged. Bands can also activate secondary and core muscles a little more too, which adds even more benefits to your workout.
Reason #8: Bands give muscles a varying stimulus
Using bands means that the stimulus on your muscle changes during the exercise. When you’re using a 2kg dumbbell, it stays 2kg when you lift it up and when you lower it down. When you use an exercise band though, the tension increases as you pull it, and it becomes harder and harder, challenging the muscles more and more, as you complete the exercise. This is great for your muscles that have to work that little bit more to stay controlled throughout the whole motion. This means that participants can also increase the challenge within the exercise and within the workout, just by pulling the band a little more.
Reason #9: Create a whole band workout on the floor!
There are so many exercises that you can do using a resistance band on the floor, but many people just don’t even think about it. Dumbbell exercises are limited, but using a band you can do exercises on your back, on your side, on your tummy, on all fours or seated, and those exercises can be working both upper body, lower body, and core muscles, and often all at the same time. A floor workout can be great for participants who struggle to stand for long periods of time, or who don’t have much leg strength, or who just like being on the floor! Add some variety, change things up, challenge the brains, and get your participants working on the floor.
Reason #10: Bands add variety to your workout
We’re teaching classes every week to the same participants, sometimes once or twice a week, so we need to be coming up with new ways to train our muscles so that neither the muscles, nor our participants, get bored. Participants like doing something a little different, and often will just even like the autonomy of being able to choose their own resistance band for their own workout. We are always looking for new exercises for older people and new ways to engage our participants to keep them coming back to class, so the variety that a resistance band workout offers ticks all the boxes.
So there you have it. There are my top 10 reasons why you should be using resistance bands in your workouts with older adults and seniors. Have I convinced you yet? I hope so! And hopefully you have access to a set of bands for your classes so you can get struck straight into it.
If you aren't sure where to start, try our online course Resistance Bands for Older Adults, to get a heap of exercises and ideas for incorporating resistance bands into your classes. We also show you the proper technique for each exercise, and how you can teach it to your participants, to ensure they are getting a safe and effective workout. Check it out today!
We are always looking for ways to test and challenge brains, as well as bodies. Resistance band exercises are great for this! Often you can have arms and legs doing different things to be able to perform the band exercise correctly - whether it’s both arms doing something differently (one comes forward, the other goes to the side), or arms are different to legs (legs are lunging while band is stretched overhead). Because of the additional range of motion and planes that bands can be used on, participants have to think a little harder about what they’re doing, where the band is going, and ensuring that they are keeping their proper technique while performing the exercise.
Reason #7: Use bands in circuits and supersets
Resistance bands or elastic tubes are a great addition to your circuit classes. While your focus may be on a weight machine or dumbbell exercise, bands can be a great way to change things up. You can use them as alternate stations, or run a series of band exercises at the halfway point before participants go back for a second lap of the circuit. You can also use them in supersets to really challenge the muscles. Do your bicep curls with dumbbells, then repeat the curls using a band for your second or third set. Same exercise, same muscles, just changing things up to keep the muscles (and participants!) engaged. Bands can also activate secondary and core muscles a little more too, which adds even more benefits to your workout.
Reason #8: Bands give muscles a varying stimulus
Using bands means that the stimulus on your muscle changes during the exercise. When you’re using a 2kg dumbbell, it stays 2kg when you lift it up and when you lower it down. When you use an exercise band though, the tension increases as you pull it, and it becomes harder and harder, challenging the muscles more and more, as you complete the exercise. This is great for your muscles that have to work that little bit more to stay controlled throughout the whole motion. This means that participants can also increase the challenge within the exercise and within the workout, just by pulling the band a little more.
Reason #9: Create a whole band workout on the floor!
There are so many exercises that you can do using a resistance band on the floor, but many people just don’t even think about it. Dumbbell exercises are limited, but using a band you can do exercises on your back, on your side, on your tummy, on all fours or seated, and those exercises can be working both upper body, lower body, and core muscles, and often all at the same time. A floor workout can be great for participants who struggle to stand for long periods of time, or who don’t have much leg strength, or who just like being on the floor! Add some variety, change things up, challenge the brains, and get your participants working on the floor.
Reason #10: Bands add variety to your workout
We’re teaching classes every week to the same participants, sometimes once or twice a week, so we need to be coming up with new ways to train our muscles so that neither the muscles, nor our participants, get bored. Participants like doing something a little different, and often will just even like the autonomy of being able to choose their own resistance band for their own workout. We are always looking for new exercises for older people and new ways to engage our participants to keep them coming back to class, so the variety that a resistance band workout offers ticks all the boxes.
So there you have it. There are my top 10 reasons why you should be using resistance bands in your workouts with older adults and seniors. Have I convinced you yet? I hope so! And hopefully you have access to a set of bands for your classes so you can get struck straight into it.
If you aren't sure where to start, try our online course Resistance Bands for Older Adults, to get a heap of exercises and ideas for incorporating resistance bands into your classes. We also show you the proper technique for each exercise, and how you can teach it to your participants, to ensure they are getting a safe and effective workout. Check it out today!
Prefer to watch the discussion?
Jump on to our YouTube channel to see Carol and I talking about resistance bands and why we like working with them so much.
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