If you are like me there are times when you just cannot make it to the gym. I get uneasy if I don”t get to workout so I decided to buy some equipment and create my own “home gym”. I bought adjustable dumbbells, a barbell, a pull up bar, and some bands. The first set of exercise bands or exercise tubing that I bought had handles. They were not too expensive and I thought they would be a nice addition to the equipment I have. Initially they were great, especially when I did some light, isolation work like facepulls and shoulder work. The problems occurred when I tried to get a bit heavier with rowing and curling movements….the bands broke at the handle. What did I do? Well I thought that it was just because the bands were cheap. So I paid a little more for my next set of bands……with handles. Well, they broke too. If you are familiar with powerlifting, you will oftentimes see lifters use heavy duty bands in their training, attaching bands to bench press movements, box squats, you name it. These bands take a lot of abuse and don”t break.
These bands also come in lighter resistance so I decided to buy a few and try them out. After using them a few months the lesson learned is:
NEVER BUY BANDS WITH HANDLES
Jump Stretch Flexbands
These bands are a little more expensive than your usual bands, but they are worth it. These are true rubber exercise bands. I have used them liberally and have never had any problems whatsoever. I bought three jump stretch bands, 25 lb, 35 lb, and 50 lb. These bands provide plenty of resistance for all types of movements. These are also great if you travel a lot and would like to get a good workout in. Their versatility and portability are great. The amount of work you can do with these bands are limited only by your imagination.
Jump Stretch FlexBand Mini Band 25 lb. Resistance
This band is about 3 1/2 feet long and about 1/2 inches wide. It feels like a big, thick rubber band. I use this band to work on my mobility as well as some isolation exercises. I use this band for face pulls, shoulder work, and sometimes as finishing movements when performing density workouts like supersets, dropsets and tri sets.
Jump Stretch FlexBand Monster Mini Band 35 lb. Resistance
These bands are the same length and width as the 25 pounders. Resistance with these range anywhere from 10 to 35 lbs. These are good for many of same things as the 25 pounders. These offer a little more resistance for curling movements and for movements where you want to focus on explosiveness and speed.
Jump Stretch FlexBand 50 Lb. Resistance
This is my favorite resistance band. It is the same length as the other two and is about 6 inches wider. I use this band for just about everything, you name it, I use this band for it. I like to use it to asisst in pull ups or chin ups. If I want to hit the back a bit harder, after hitting failure on normal chin ups, I”ll wrap one end of the band around my pull up bar and the other end of the band under my knees. This way I can get several more reps. This is great if you struggle to do pull ups or chin ups. For me, the 50 lb. band is the most versatile of all of them. It offers more resistance so that I can do more exercises.
Creativity With FlexBands
As mentioned above, you can use these bands for just about everything…..hundreds of exercises. You can also use this bands along with traditional dumbbells or barbells. For example, say you want to do a biceps drop set. Get your flexbands then grab a pair of dumbbells. Start curling. After reaching your target reps with the dumbells, drop them and continue performing reps with the bands until failure….a drop set with dumbbells and a flexband. You can do the same thing with more than one band. I”ll use curls again as an example. I”ll grab a 25 lb. and 35 lb. bands. Perform my target reps, then drop one band and continue. Simple yet effective. Those are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to uses for these bands. The things you can do with these bands are limitless. If you have a home gym or just want to spice up your training at the gym, give flexbands a try.