Building muscle with resistance bands: Are fitness bands just as much of a challenge as dumbbells?

Muscle building with resistance bands

Before we talk about the effectiveness of loop bands, let's review the basics of muscle building together. To build muscle mass, you need to provide your muscles with a training programme that combines mechanical tension with metabolic stress. Mechanical tension occurs when your muscles work against resistance, like lifting weights. The higher the resistance, the greater the mechanical tension. For example, if your maximum bench press capacity is 100kg and you do a set of five reps at 80kg, you're facing a lot of resistance, which forces your muscles to adapt. 

Metabolic stress, on the other hand, is caused by longer sets with less weight that keep your muscles under tension for a longer period of time. A well-known sign of this is the burning sensation towards the end of a set with many repetitions.

To build muscle, your muscles need to be exposed to both mechanical tension and metabolic stress. This means that sometimes you need to use heavy weights with short sets to promote mechanical tension, while other times you need to use lighter weights with longer sets to increase metabolic stress. 

Due to their nature, resistance bands can also generate both mechanical tension and metabolic stress and thus promote muscle growth. We will look at this in more detail in the next section.

According to scientific findings, can you build muscle with resistance bands?

Absolutely possible! A meta-analysis from 2019, which summarised eight different studies, has confirmed this. The results show that training with loop bands enables similar strength gains as training with free weights - in different population groups and using different test methods. 

In particular, the studies show that the muscle hardly differentiates between the resistance of free weights and elastic bands as long as the tension remains constant. This is made clear by one of the studies included in the meta-analysis: scientists used electromyography (EMG) to investigate muscle activation during various exercises such as squats, deadlifts and horizontal and vertical pull-ups with resistance bands and free weights. They found that muscle activation was almost identical for every exercise and muscle group! 

However, a closer analysis of the study shows that muscle activation was similar - except at the beginning of the movement when the resistance bands were not yet under tension. To optimally promote muscle growth, the muscle should be under tension during the entire movement of the exercise to maximise the crucial time under tension. 

Let's take a look at how you can actually optimise your muscle growth with loop bands.

Improve muscle development with resistance bands

To maximise muscle building with resistance bands, make sure you feel the resistance throughout the movement of your exercises to keep the muscle under continuous tension. As mentioned above, muscle activation is similar regardless of whether you are pressing 100kg with a resistance band or free weights. The main difference lies in the resistance: constant with free weights, progressive with fitness bands. 

The progressive resistance adapts ideally to the strength curve of the movement. For example, with bicep curls you will feel less resistance at the beginning of the movement and the greatest resistance at the end of the movement. This enables effective loading while at the same time protecting the joints. 

A potential problem with progressive resistance is that the muscle may not be under tension for the entire movement. To avoid this, you should stretch the resistance band so that it is already under tension at the start of the movement. For exercises such as the bicep curl, it is better to have a noticeable resistance at the beginning and feel a higher resistance at the end of the movement. 

To summarise, it is possible to build muscle with fitness bands, as several studies have shown. However, to really optimise muscle building and achieve similar muscle activation as with free weights, it is crucial to feel the elastic resistance throughout the exercise, which requires correct execution and high-quality equipment.

7 reasons why fitness bands are superior to free weights

Now that we have shown that it is possible to build muscle with resistance bands, let's take a look at the many advantages of training with fitness bands compared to free weights.

1. Strengthening of the joints 

The best resistance band exercises for your core

Together we have seen how you can build muscle with loop bands and what advantages they offer compared to free weights. Let's now take a look at which resistance band exercises are particularly suitable for the core and how you can use them for comprehensive strength training. Depending on the strength of the band, you can complete 2-3 sets of 15 to 20 repetitions per exercise, for example. Alternatively, you can perform intensive circuit training: Perform all 5 exercises in succession, load each one for 45 seconds and then take a 15-second break. Repeat this for 2 to 3 rounds.

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