Ask HN: Anyone use only resistance band to workout at home? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Anyone use only resistance band to workout at home?

8 pointsdebanjan164 comments

I have a friend who needs full body resistance training and lives in a small place. Bands is the only option available.

Is it possible to maintain general fitness and remain injury free with resistance bands with a desk job? Maybe gain some minimal muscle also?

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I did for a short time. My feelings on it are mixed. Objectively, you can absolutely stay fit and build muscle with resistance bands alone. That being said, it has problems. To do heavy excersizes often requires very thick bands with a lot of tension applied which can result in the bands pinching your hands in a very uncomfortable way. Same with movements where you stand on the band to anchor it, it can be very uncomfortable for your feet. Also, it’s much more difficult to progress in a measured way compared to free weights. If you haven’t made enough progress to move up to a heavier band, you can vary the weight by tensioning the bands more before starting your movement, but obviously this is very imprecise. For these reasons I personally found it much more difficult to be consistent with my workouts than I do now with free weights.

If space is a concern, I would still probably recommend going with a set of adjustable dumbbells and a bench over bands.

I did this during lockdown here's some comments.

- It was not as fun or engaging as weightlifting. I agree with @gateorade about the progression too. - I have a background in weightlifting and so was not worried about injuries - Gloves help quite a bit with annoying hand issues - Some exercises are very ineffective - i.e. back - I think they are more suitable as a more involved stretching routine than as a workout replacement - You can buy no name brand sets VERY cheap

I am overweight, if I wasn't overweight I would do bodyweight exercises. I have never tried yoga but maybe thats helpful too.

I also agree with top comment that dumbells and a bench are much better.

Injuries usually build gradually through many repetitions of bad form. While free weights can push joints into unhealthy stretches the bands are more likely to pull the joints into bad form. It requires a firm suppression of ego as regular discipline to avoid this.

Gaining some minimal muscle is likely possible with increasingly heavy bands, so long as the above caution about form is heeded.

i suspect so.

i can't offer any kind of expert advice just personal experience from occasionally resistance banding over the last few months and years - a good amount more recently.

it's kind of awesome.

i currently have a grey band (light) and red band (heavy) from SPRI - prob got at target:

https://www.spri.com/

i do curls and shoulders with the grey/light, and just hooked up the red/heavy band into a door frame using the shipped-with door jam holder thing and use that to do back pull thingies - this is new for me and amazing, esp as i have upper back trouble occasionally that is debilitating, and it usually flares up every few months because i have _not_ been doing my back strengthening exercises -- like wall angels (physical therapy stuff), etc. origin injury from lifting a couple of suitcases 30 years ago.

in theory you can do a bunch of other stuff but i mainly use them to do these real basics.

i did just buy a $99 dip/pushup multi-use thing from amazon to do pushups and....well, dips ain't happening anytime soon - not strong enough. hasn't arrived yet. not sure if i'll use it or not.

i have a 'pushup platform' piece of gym equipment i've been wanting to prototype for 100 years, but no luck there yet. i tried doing incline pushups by leaning against my countertop, but eh - don't like it for various reasons. and floor pushups are not my thing anymore. i don't want to do the 1,000+/day i used to do in college - just enough.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MSX7ZBT?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_...

the bands are awesome-ish for a few reasons:

  - they're just there, so you can just use them whenever you want.
  - i've thought about setting a 15- or 30-min timer, but no need yet.
  - they can offer resistance thru a full range of motion, unlike dumbbells (?)
  - they're super-portable
  - i've brought them on trips but never use them - but i could
  - they have different 'weights'/resistances, and color-coded, so easy to use
  - you can learn some basic exercises
  - you can gain confidence in staying fit-ish for longer into aging
  - you can prob help battle metabolic syndrome/diabetes at least a little
  - you can spot-strengthen easily when some body part is feeling weak
  - it prob makes a diff in how you physically appear
  - there's def at least some strength and muscle gain
  - you can usually go heavier and/or lighter for whatever you need

main caution i would offer to anyone 30+ is start low/slow - low resistance/weight - b/c you can do like me, grab some decent-sized dumbbells, go to town, then end up with bicpes tendinitis for years. :)

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