3458: Building With Bands: Benefits and Gaining Muscle With This Underrated Tool by Eric Leija on Muscle Building

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[00:00:30] This is Optimal Health Daily, Building With Bands. Benefits plus gaining muscle with this underrated tool by Eric Leija of ericleija.com. And I'm your host and narrator, Dr. Neal. Hey there, happy middle of the week Wednesday and welcome back to Optimal Health Daily, where I read some of the best health and fitness blogs to you, always with a little bit of my commentary at the end. And on Wednesdays, that's where I provide a little bit of inspiration at the top of the show. So with that, here we go.

[00:00:59] Quote, if we have never been amazed by the very fact that we exist, we are squandering the greatest fact of all. Will Durant. All right, let's get right to it and start optimizing your life. Building With Bands. Benefits plus gaining muscle with this underrated tool by Eric Leija of ericleija.com.

[00:01:26] Today, I want to talk about an extremely underrated tool for gains, resistance bands. Now, there's typically this aura around bands that they are just toning tools, meant to maintain a little muscle, but not necessarily great for making actual gains. The reality? This may have been true decades ago, but the bands of today are anything but mediocre. Let's get into their massive benefits and how they can deliver gains. Benefits of Working with Resistance Bands.

[00:01:55] One, versatile resistance. This benefit goes beyond being able to grab bands of various resistances. Even in a single band, you can add or subtract resistance. For instance, to add more resistance during lat pulldowns, you can place your hands closer together on the bands, which will create more tension when you pull down. If this is too much in your later reps, you can release a bit of the band by moving your hands further apart, releasing some of the resistance.

[00:02:25] This essentially means that you get an awesome amount of varying resistance levels in one band, much less two or three. Talk about versatility. Two, provides assistance. Bands are also epic for helping you make progress with difficult exercises. Take pull-ups, for example. If you're having trouble completing a pull-up on your own, you can attach one end to the bar and place your foot in the opposite end, and the resistance of the band will help pull you up to the bar.

[00:02:54] In this way, you develop the muscles needed to complete the exercise by actually being able to do it assisted. Bands can also provide assistance in making exercises more challenging. Using another example, say you want to make push-ups more challenging. Instead of attempting to balance a weight on your back or doing one-handed or elevated variations all the time, you can place a band around your upper back and under your palms. This will add resistance when you push up.

[00:03:23] Three, great for injury recovery. Unlike weights, which apply pressure to joints and bones, resistance bands add resistance without this pressure. This makes them excellent for injury recovery or even low-impact work. Four, engages stabilizer muscles. Stabilizer muscles are the smaller muscles throughout our bodies that aid in balance and movement control. These are the muscles that run along your entire core, for example,

[00:03:52] that help you stand on one foot, carry heavy groceries in one arm while staying upright, and engage when you carry any weight on one side of your body. Bands engage these muscles when you pull them away from the center of your body. As you pull them, your body resists the pull by engaging your stabilizer muscles so you can stay upright and thus strengthening them. And five, they're portable. This one is pretty self-explanatory,

[00:04:19] but bands are truly amazing for getting in a quality session anywhere, anytime. Whether it's in your hotel room, on the beach, or visiting family, they can be whipped out of a small suitcase where they barely take up any room. Gaining muscle with resistance bands. A common misconception around bands is that they're simply toning devices and not necessarily meant for gains work. The basic thought behind this is they aren't the best tools to try and gain muscle.

[00:04:46] Fortunately, this isn't necessarily true, especially considering how advanced resistance bands have become in recent years. Instead of simple bands with minimal resistance, there are bands today that can lock onto your wrists or even a pole and have an extremely high resistance level to mimic heavy weights. As such, the key to gaining muscle with bands is similar to gaining with standard weights. You want to find a resistance that's challenging to complete with 8 to 12 reps.

[00:05:15] You can also grab a middle ground weight for higher burnout reps if you prefer. You also want to consider eccentric training while using bands as well. Studies show that eccentric training produces significantly more muscle growth than standard training, and these movements are easily done with bands just as well as with weights. The key with eccentric training is to go slow and controlled in the lowering or extension phases of a lift. So for example, if you're doing a biceps curl,

[00:05:45] you want to curl, then lower that curl very slowly instead of just letting momentum carry it back down. Trust me, you'll feel it. These standard growth methods, combined with the continuous tension and variation resistance bands offer that many weights don't, we may actually have a significant tool on our hands for serious changes, regardless of how simple they appear. The bottom line. Resistance bands offer versatile resistance levels, even with just one band.

[00:06:14] Bands offer continuous resistance and continuous muscle tension, which may result in more growth. Resistance bands, when used properly, can be used like weights to gain muscle. And the versatility of bands contributes to our success, since we can work out with them anywhere, anytime. You just listened to the post titled, Building with Bands. Benefits plus gaining muscle with this underrated tool,

[00:06:43] by Eric Leija of ericlea.com. Then I'll be right back with my commentary. One thing I love about summer is how easy everything feels. The days are a little more relaxed, and I find myself reaching for the same comfortable, go-anywhere pieces again and again. And Quince has exactly that. Quince's 100% European linen pants and shirts are lightweight, breathable, and easy to just throw on, starting at just $34. Their tees are soft enough to wear all day, and the lightweight cotton sweaters

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[00:09:03] When we can create tension in our muscles and we hold on to this tension, it can actually make the muscle stronger. Resistance bands can help us hold that muscular tension, increasing our muscle size and strength. In fact, studies have found that using resistance bands for lat pulldowns, one-arm rows and even deadlifts can be helpful for increasing muscular strength, even when compared to free weights. But let's say you're not really after making huge gains in muscular strength.

[00:09:32] You just want to focus on making your body feel its best and perform optimally every day. Well, using resistance bands can help with that too. I remember when I was receiving physical therapy a few years ago because of a neck issue I was experiencing. We regularly used resistance bands to help strengthen some of the smaller back muscles located near my spine. These are called the rhomboids if you really want to know. So just as Eric said, resistance bands can be used to help with those smaller stabilizer muscles.

[00:10:02] And incorporating them into your workouts can actually be really helpful for overall balance plus strength and muscle gains. All right, that'll do it for me for today. I hope you have a great rest of your Wednesday if you're listening in real time. And I'll see you back here for tomorrow's show where your optimal life awaits. We'll see you back here for tomorrow's show where your optimal life awaits. And if you have an opportunity to show where your optimal life is, We'll see you back here for tomorrow's show.