Free Weights Vs Resistance Bands, Which is Better?

To many of us it might appear that we have traditionally been training with free weights and that the resistance bands are just a new fad, which will soon pass. However that is not the case, resistance bands have been around now for a century and their popularity is just increasing. In this article we will compare the resistance bands with free weights and compare their advantages and disadvantages.

Before we start to evaluate, which one is better, free weights or resistance bands, let’s learn a little bit about resistance as it is important to understanding the difference between resistance band and free weight.

What is Resistance?

In terms of the physical fitness, resistance is any type of object against which our muscles have to generate a force to move it. As an example when you perform a bicep curl, we hold a dumbbell in our hand and then try to move it up. The dumbbell is heavy and due to gravity it always wants to fall down on the ground. With our muscles, we generate force to move the dumbbell up against the gravity. The dumbbell hence is the resistance, which we move by generating force through our bicep muscles. As the weight gets heavier, our bicep muscle has to generate more and more force and in the process the muscle becomes bigger and stronger.

Resistance of a Resistance Band

Unlike a dumbbell where the gravitation force is responsible for the resistance, for resistance bands the resistance is generated due to the elastic force of the resistance band. As we stretch the resistance band, tension builds up inside the resistance band, our muscles have to generate force to overcome this tensile force and stretch the resistance band further.

Differences between Free Weights and Resistance Band

Our muscles don’t really care if they have to generate a force against a free weight or a resistance band. Force generate is force generated for… Read More