We all have our favorite Board30 class – mine is anything with the resistance bands. At Board30 Ponte Vedra, you’ll find them on the DaVinci Body Board, the wall, hanging from the ceiling (Sky) and sometimes added to bounce intervals. The variety in your workout is one of the reasons I love them.  

Here are 10 proven benefits to adding resistance band training to your fitness regime. 

1. Resistance bands come in many forms – traditional bands with plastic handles attached to the end, looped bands to put around your wrist, thighs or ankles, flat bands which are great for physical therapy, and the super band which is good for partner exercises.  

2. When you use resistance bands, you improve your balance, strengthen isolated muscle groups, prevent injuries and challenge yourself in new ways. A bicep curl with a dumbbell is a fixed motion and the muscles used are predictable. Add the instability of the band and muscle fibers all over your arms and shoulders kick in to keep the band stable – working your muscles overdrive.  

3. You can customize your workouts and make it as easy or as hard as you want to with various size bands and tension levels, and you can hit all three planes of motion – sagittal, frontal and transverse. 

4. You can get creative with your bands and use them to warm up, strengthen and stretch your muscles, improve mobility and cool down.   

5. Resistance bands are an ideal tool to help you lose weight while gaining muscle. 

6. You can use them to strengthen your movements in the same manner as weightlifting, but resistance bands are much easier on your joints and less taxing.   

7. With resistance bands, you can target specific muscle groups or do full-body workouts using compound movements and explosive exercises to get cardio in the mix. 

8. Resistance bands are fantastic tools to help you with bodyweight movements like pull-ups, dips and push-ups, and many other calisthenics movements. 

9. They travel well – you can take resistance bands basically anywhere – the beach, park, family vacation, work trip, kids sporting events, etc. Small, light and flexible – they can be tucked away anywhere. And if you’ve got extra space, the Board30 Mini Board is a great addition. Use code Board30PV for $25 off a Mini Board via www.board30PV.com.   

10. Resistance bands are inexpensive so you can buy varying resistance levels and find the right fit for your workout.  

It may be hard to look at a little band next to a dumbbell and believe they can pack a powerful punch – but it’s true. To figure out the right size and color – you should reach moderate to maximum muscle fatigue between 20 and 30 repetitions. If your band is too easy or too hard – you’ll know.  

The fact that resistance bands were first used in sports medicine for injury prevention and recovery (and date back to the early 1900s) is a telltale sign that they are effective and worth adding to workout arsenal regardless of your fitness level.   

Whether you already have a set of resistance bands and use them often, we hope the information provided gives you some insight into how you can use them to your full potential. 

-Your Board30PV crew