Do you want to build a strong muscular system? Add resistance bands to your strength training two or three times a week and improve your gains. Using resistance bands will create additional training stress to your workouts and accelerate your muscle-building results.
Using Bands to Enhance Muscular Hypertrophy
Muscular hypertrophy occurs by overloading a muscle group with a stimulus, such as a strength training workout. The training stress creates tiny tears in the muscle fibers and fascia. When these micro-tears heal, they return stronger and larger to deal with the previous workout stress. (1)
Using resistance bands in your training increases your ‘time-under-tension.' This time-under-tension relates to both the negative and concentric movements, increasing muscular hypertrophy. You can use resistance bands to improve the training stress and response in exercises such as; squats, hip thrusters, pushups, and leg raises. (2)
Variable Resistance
Bands are available in varying levels of resistance. As a beginner, it is wise to start with a band that offers a low level of resistance so that your body can adapt to the additional training stress. As you get used to the added resistance, use a stronger band that makes your workout more challenging. You may find that you will need to increase the resistance every other week to keep progressing with your hypertrophy goals. (3)
Tips for Hypertrophy Training with Bands
Bands provide additional hypertrophy training stress in both bodyweight and free-weight exercises. Be sure to check the manufacturer's guidelines before adding them to a weight-training program. Different manufacturers will specify different safety rating for their bands, so make sure that you choose the right band with the correct level of resistance to meet your training needs.
Add bands to bodyweight exercises such as push-ups, sit-ups, leg raises, and hip-thrusts. Attach them to barbells for added resistance on barbell curls, triceps extensions, chest press, and adduction exercises.
To ensure progression with your band training, keep adding extra resistance by using a stronger band every two to three weeks. Your body will eventually adapt to the additional training stress placed on it. Keep the exercise challenging by increasing the resistance for the best hypertrophic result. (4)
References
(1) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20847704
(2) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3285070/
(3) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5476889/
(4) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3588619/
