The Basics of Training with Bands

The use of bands in strength training has been around a long time, but was made popular by Louie Simmons and the Westside Barbell Club. Bands are an excellent advanced training technique that can really push up your maximal and explosive strength (depending on how you incorporate them). I plan on writing a series of articles related to the use of bands in strength training, but this first article is going to cover the basics, and I do mean basics. In this article I am going to discuss the benefits of bands, when to incorporate them, where to purchase them, and how to store them.

Let’s start with where to purchase your bands, since this article will be useless if you don’t know where to purchase your bands. You can purchase your bands from JumpStretch. I am not in any way affiliated with JumpStretch, nor do I make a penny when they sell a set of bands. I am recommending JumpStretch due to the fact that I purchased my bands from JumpStretch years ago and they are still in near perfect condition. These bands are very high quality and will last you a long time. If you plan on following the suggestions in my future articles, you will need to purchase the bands in pairs (two of each).

Now let’s discuss some of the many benefits of using bands in your routine. You can use bands to develop maximal explosive strength, maximal strength, as a neuromuscular conditioner, and psychological conditioner. In addition, you can use bands to increase overload. In short, bands have many benefits depending on how you incorporate them into your training.

So now that you have made it this far in this article, you are probably ready to get started, but are you ready to use bands in your training? First of all, I would personally only use bands for intermediate to advanced athletes and never with beginners, but this is just my preference. I like to save the bands as an additional method of attack during a training cycle and incorporate them throughout my training cycles depending on various factors. I am not going to get into any specific training details in this article, but I am going to write more articles on this topic, many more, and very soon. So if you want specifics with training with bands, definitely stay tuned!

So now you are ready to purchase your bands. Once your bands arrive, you will notice they are covered in a white powder. Do not wipe this powder off as it makes the bands easy to use when the bands rub against each other. In addition, it keeps the bands dry, which is very important. You may find that once your bands no longer have the white powder on them that you would like to re-powder them and I have a solution. I contacted JumpStretch and they told me that I could use corn starch, which I have been using for many years. I also store my bands in a plastic container filled with corn starch and I put the bands back into this container and shake it whenever I need to re-coat my bands. Below you will find a photo of how I store my bands.



Stay tuned, more band training articles will be arriving.