Can elastic be used instead of free weights?

Factual Questions
1

I badly need to improve my fitness after gaining a ton of weight in the past couple of years from overeating and low activity. The New Year’s cruise didn’t help matters either. I have a an exercise bike that will take care of the aerobic stuff but I don’t have weights or a weight machine for the strength training. I feel that machines are generally a rip-off anyway (expensive clothes hangers) and they take up too much space. Can various lengths of elastic bands or tubing be used instead of free weights to effectively train my muscles? I intend to do crunches and push-ups as well.

Has anyone developed a training program using elastic resistance?

2

Yes. Google on “portable gym” or “travel gym” and you’ll see a number of manufacturers who market elastic bands as compact workout equipment.

3

If you’re just looking to get into basic shape, then elastic is fine. Beyond that, there are some issues with it that need to be taken into consideration.

4

I don’t really want to increase muscle mass, just tone what’s there. Wouldn’t elastic resistance be easier on the joints?

5

As far as your joints go, resistance is resistance.

6

Theraband .

I’m considering using it as part of my gymnasts’ training, actually.

7

One thing you may want to consider is that weights exert a constant resistance, but an elastic band takes more and more force as you stretch it farther. I don’t know if this has any physiological consequences, but mechanically it’s a major difference.

8

That’s the complication I was talking about. Now, as long as you’re just interested in basic fitness, it’s not an issue, but as soon as you want something more, or to have a significant increase in strength outside of the gym, it can be a problem.

To be honest, most dumbbell and barbell lifts don’t offer constant resistance, but that’s more of an issue for high-level strength athletes than anyone else.

9

I’m going to recommend bodyweight exercises (pushups, squats, situps, etc.).

About the only thing that you can’t do with just your body are “chest expanders.” I’d recommend a band for this, but I think getting started, you’ll do fairly well with the bodyweight stuff.

10

Too many misconceptions here. First of all, get that “tone” out of your head. That doesn’t exist. If by tone people mean seeing the muscles contract, move and expand through the skin, not as in bodybuilding style but as in general athletic condition, that can only be achieved by having a low body fat and by building more muscle. This also applies to looking “tighter” or, in general terms, in shape.

Elastic bands don’t build muscle. Up to a point, they might help with strength and stimulating those red muscle fibers, but once you get used to them it will do no more good. As far as anaerobic exercise goes, they won’t help you lose any significant fat either. And, depending on how you train, they might do nothing to you or do exactly the opposite of what you intend to do. With high repetitions and little resistance you will stimulate the white muscle fibers in your system and adapt your central nervous system at doing this. Thing is, your white muscle fibers don’t grow like the red ones do and, because of this, won’t make you look any better or demand more calories from your body (not as many as the added muscle would).

I answer no to this question posed by you: Can elastic be used instead of free weights? No, because they serve different purposes. It’s usually the swimmers and the marathon runners at my gym who use them because it’s a very good complementary exercise for them. For the rest of us, the ol’ good strength training will work.

Regardless of whether you’re male or female, what it seems to me you’re looking for is this: You want to “get in shape”, lose fat, gain definition. Aerobic exercise, strength training, and a smart diet will do the trick. Replace all fatty food, that goes without saying, and get a good grip on quality carbs. Don’t cut your calories in half, unless you’re being extreme with your current eating habits. You will need them for the training you’ll do. Up your protein, what you can (same as with the carbs, you’re not a bodybuilder and hardcore diet is not a concern of yours, but eating smarter and healthier progressively will help you with your goals). Spread your meals to 4-6 times a day, prefer eating a small meal every two hours or so to eating really big 2 times per day. Do an hour of cardio, if you can, the days you’re not lifting. And, as far as strength training goes, do a three day split, full-body workout. On Monday you can work chest and biceps. Wednesday, back and shoulders. Friday, legs and triceps. Start slowly, at 50-60% body strength and, after 4 weeks, move up to 75-80%, with 8-10 repetitions and be wary of good form. Yes, with free weights.

I’m not a gym rat. I’m a gym whore.

11

Totally. In the one you’re exerting a force on a handle of some kind to move it against gravity, and in the other you’re exerting a force on a slighty different handle to move it against a downward force that’s not gravity.

…

Weight is weight. Band training is a perfectly good way to build muscle and strength as long as you’re smart about progressive resistance.

12

What kind of bands are we talking about here? If it’s something like the Bowflex, I can see how it might work, but it is an accepted notion that free weights are the way to go.

Also, “weight is weight” is correct, but the training methods involved with even the same amount of weight differ. A squat, for example, is different from a leg press in that not only are the movements and the ways your body exerts force different, but your body also makes use of your stabalizer muscles, offering greater resistance to your body and, balancing out the distribution. This is why free weights are considered better than machine work, overall.

In any case, only by increasing resistance in a low repetition range will you build any muscle. If your elastic bands can do this, go ahead. I’d ask an expert on fitness first though.

13

My take is that Elastic based resistance can be better/worse than the equivalent free weight movement depending upon the mechanics, however IMHO the big issues are:

Progressive resistance. Unless you have the ability to incrementally increase the resistance without impairing the range of motion then you are severely limited to the amount of strength you can gain. There is a wider ‘debate’ over how strength translates into muscle growth/hypertrophy, however most people will agree that there is a direct correlation. Before you write this off saying “But I dont want to be muscular, I just want to tone”, as someone else mentioned, the standard misuse of the verb Tone relates simply to losing fat and gaining muscle.

Compound movements. Bands can be hard to set-up to allow you to perform the ‘prime mover’ exercises such as the Squat, Overhead Press and Deadlift.

Bands are useful to provide complimentary movements. I used some for direct translation into drawing a bow string when I was practising archery, and also to provide smooth resitance in neck exercises for martial arts.

My personal recomendation is to get a pair of dumbell bars and a selection of weight plates (including small 1/4 lbs) and a sturdy bench. With some instruction you can perform hundreds of exercises (just pick a dozen!) and increase the resistance. They are also cheap and relatively easy to store.
Jim

14

Beat me to it.

Check around thrift shops and garage sales and you can often find great deals. Dumbells never break (well, hardly never :slight_smile: ) and will last you a life time if you don’t buy crap.

Once you’ve got 'em go to stumptuous.com and take a gander at the dumbell section of the site (and read the rest).