Muscle-building target is not a nightmare; it is the game of patience, consistency, the use of the right tools, and practices. Bodybuilders practice for long hours with free weights to build muscles in the gym. But modern resistance bands are also supposed to be good alternatives to the gym equipment and free weights.
Resistances bands help build the muscles by offering extra intensity and stabilizing the muscle groups. They offer flexibilities to train at home, work, outside, or during traveling to build muscles.
Resistances bands seem like lightweight rubber ropes that may not satisfy you. But many trainers recommend a resistance band for building muscles. So before choosing resistance bands for muscles building, the question arises in your mind can you build muscle with resistance band?
Stay with me to know if resistance bands for muscle-building are effective and how to build strong muscles with resistance bands.
Can you build muscle with resistance band?
Building muscles with resistance bands is not just possible but also very effective and easy. You can find hundreds of ways to train for building any muscles in your body. It comes with excellent ideas to target your lower or upper body.
Your muscles need tension, good recovery, adaptation, and progressive overload that is pretty easy to facilitate with resistance bands. You may take some more time to see progress when bodybuilding with resistance bands only.
But combining resistance bands with other gym equipment could increase your muscle-building capacity. You can fasten your muscle-building process with the use of resistance bands.
What do you need to build muscles with resistance bands?
Before answering the question “can you build muscle with resistance band”, you need know what things you need. Well, your muscles require four main things to build muscles with resistance bands.
So ensure you have provided the required things to give your muscles a chance to build and grow with resistance bands exercises. Your muscles are building with resistance bands’ needs.
- Tensions and overload
- Good recovery
- Adaptation and progressive overload
- Protein-rich diet
Tension and overload
Your muscles need resistance to create a stimulus for growth, so you need to apply resistance in the form of tension. It is what we say, stressing your muscles for growth. You have plenty of ways to put tension on your muscles with a resistance band. Tension is the first muscle-building phase, so find the right resistance band practices to ensure muscle tension.
Adequate Recovery
After tension, the next step for muscles growth is recovery. Muscles recovery means you should sleep, take plenty of water, rest and eat well to ensure maximum muscles growth.
- Good muscles recovery needs 7 to 9 hours of sleep because your muscles recover rapidly when you sleep. It leads to a hypertrophy process that helps to gain muscles.
- Water is essential for muscle building; sufficient water in your body provides a friendly environment for protein synthesis. It will promote protein synthesis and flush out the wastes and all fats loss.
- Not just sleep, you also need rest when you are awaking, so set a schedule when you relax your muscles.
Adaptation and progressive overload
Your muscles need progressive overload with adaptation with the previous one. Once your muscles become habitual load, the harder workout becomes easier for them with growth. So, you need to increase the load with your muscles growth for fast growth.
If you stop increasing the load on your muscles, then it means your muscles will stop growing because of the same load, same intensity, and same resistance level. This happens too fast when your muscles grow, so you need to increase the load for building muscles continuously.
Amount of resistance, time under tension, the volume of training, and rest between times under tension are the major factors related to muscle overloading.
Protein-rich diet
Your muscles also need enough protein to gain energy and mass with exercise. You have two means of energy: carbs and proteins, but protein is safe and better for health. Protein also has a major role in constructing new muscles and maintaining older muscles.
So intake a protein-rich diet to ensure fast muscles growth; you need 1g of protein for 1 pound weight body weight per day to gain muscles. Bodybuilders also recommend a protein-rich diet to enhance muscle growth with a resistance band muscle building workout.
You can add protein-rich diets such as meat, eggs, milk, pulses, grains, and protein supplements for fast muscles growth.
How to build muscles with resistance bands?
Resistance bands could strengthen and tone muscles in all body areas, making muscles with a resistance band possible. But first, you need to identify the resistance bands exercises that effectively challenge your body. So to build muscles with resistance bands, you must follow the below tips before selecting any exercises.
Set exercise schedule
You need to develop your workout schedule to meet your daily and weekly requirements. Set a flexible and easy workout schedule at the start and then make changes in the schedule over time. You should include two days a week for upper body muscles to strengthen and two days for lower body muscles.
Your whole schedule of exercises should not be less than 4 to 5 days in a week and thirty minutes a day with resistance bands to get quick results.
Choose the right tension level.
Choosing high tension could improve your muscles fast, but it does not mean choosing more than your capacity. First, choose the tension level of the resistance band and perform repetitions; if you could easily perform ten repetitions or more than ten, you should increase the tension.
But if you feel too much fatigue and cannot perform 7 to 8 repetitions, you should try the lower tension level. So always ensure the correct tension level by increasing or decreasing tension level for quick and smooth muscles development.
Must include exercises for upper body
Your resistance band exercise should include the best resistance band exercise ideas for your shoulders, biceps, chest, and triceps. To get a beautiful muscular body shape, you must perform resistance band exercises for belly fat for stronger belly muscles.
Must include exercises for lower body
You also need to strengthen your lower body muscles. You can try many leg workouts for glutes, cores, thighs, ankles, and even the feet. For the lower body muscles, such as glutes, you do not just need to have the best resistance band for glutes but also the best exercise for glutes development.
Consistency
Whether you perform the best resistance band muscle building workout, you will never reach your goals until you consistently follow your workout. Only sincere and consistent efforts are the key to success. So ensure consistent muscle-building activities to get quick and fast results.
Helpful tips
Although resistance bands can assist you in building larger muscle groups, you will see results after a significant amount of time. You need patience and consistency when struggling with bodybuilding with resistance bands only.
You should set your short-term goals and assess your short-term goals; if you reach your short-term goals, then it means your exercises are fruitful and keep it continued. But if you do not find any positive results after three to four weeks, then it means you should change your workout and find a better idea to build muscles.
Resistance band muscle building workout
I will teach you how resistance bands hit every muscle and how to exercise with resistance bands to build muscles. There are five major muscle groups in our body if we do not consider the core. It includes our chest, our back, our shoulders, our arms, and our legs.
How to use resistance bands for legs
Legs are one of the largest groups of muscles in our body. So I will teach you two different leg exercises with resistance bands because I think we need more emphasis on our legs than all other small muscle groups.
Resistance Squats
Some people recommend simple bodyweight squats to build legs muscles. But it is not enough to get better muscles building results. Using resistance bands for squats adds resistance and ensures tension for glutes, core, and overall legs muscles.
- Step one
Take a long loop resistance band and hold both of its handles in your hands.
- Step two
Stay straight on the floor and place the resistance band under your feet; try to keep your legs equal, and the length of the resistance band should be the same on both sides.
- Step Three
Now pull the resistance band by placing your hands on the back of your shoulder. Try to raise your hands from the back at maximum height.
- Step four
After that, perform squats 10 to 15 repetitions are enough for one set of squats. When performing, do not go so deeper; medium height is better. Do not bend your ass and try to keep your hips straight.
Chest Flys
Chest Flys could be the best resistance band exercise for building chest muscles and improving your arms, shoulders, and belly muscles.
- Step one
You will need support in the lower door to firmly hold the resistance band handles. You can use an additional handle to hold the resistance band from the middle in the door lower side. Try to manage equal length on both sides for balances movement.
- Step two
Stay straight, keep the door on behind and hold resistance band handles in your hands. Ensure a proper distance of one to two feet away from the anchor. It will add tension to make your workout challenging.
- Step three
When maintaining balance, pull the resistance band by pulling both hands in front of your face around your face. Make movements in the same way like you are hugging a giant person.
- Step four
Perform ten to fifteen repetitions; you could increase the number of reps if you feel easier. When performing reps, do not keep your knees straight; try to keep your elbows a little bent to increase tension.
Back Rows
Back Rows is my second resistance band exercise for legs that is a great and easier exercise for your back muscles. I will try some lower back rows reps to damage the back muscles; when they recover again will be stronger than before and will become stronger and stronger with every week.
- Step one
You do not need to remove the resistance band; leave it in the same position as the chest fly’s workout. You need to change your position. Stay two or three feet ways from the anchor by facing the door in a bend body position. It will put pressure on your back muscles and strengthen your back muscles.
- Step two
Keep your ass straight, do not lose it, and try to pull the resistance bands. Try to pull as much as possible, at least to your belly level.
- Step three
Do not worry about your hands; focus on your elbows and try to squeeze your shoulders when pulling resistance bands. Practice ten to fifteen reps but make sure you keep your position well maintained.
Push down
Now we move to our fourth muscle that is the arms and shoulders. There are triceps and biceps; pushdowns are perfect for the triceps muscles. Pushdowns are easier to practice, and you can practice anywhere with ease.
- Step One
To perform that exercise, remove your resistance band anchor from the lower door and stick the anchor in the upper of the door.
- Step two
Stay in bent body position three to four feet away from the door facing towards the door. Keep your hips straight, but do not go in a deeper position because you need sufficient space for your biceps training.
- Step Three
Once you get the above position, pull the resistance band and pull them until your arms are straight. But without losing your hips muscles to ensure a good tension level.
- Step Four
You will feel burning your muscles if you do that correctly. It is a tough practice, and ten reps may be enough for you. When you straighten your arms squeeze your arms and stay for one or two seconds and then move for another rep.
Concentration Curls
Concentration curls are the best resistance band exercise for building bicep muscles. It is easy to practice but offers you greater resistance to build your muscles faster.
It does not just benefit your arms muscles. Still, it is also a good exercise for the belly because it equally hits the belly muscles and is also recommended as the best resistance band exercise for belly fat.
- Step one
Hold resistance band both handles in your one hand and loop the setup around your one foot. Folding will increase the tension; you will need more resistance to practice concentration curls. But I will teach you for one arm and then for the other.
- Step two
Now place your opposite arm on your belly; your hand should be under your elbow to support your arm. It will also make your movement smoother due to the hard space supporting your arms.
- Step three
Start your practice once you get the above position; pull your resistance band up to your face level without pulling your foot. It is tough to practice but make sure you do not disturb your posture.
- Step four
Ten reps are enough because it is a stressful workout, and you may feel quick fatigue.
- Step five
Once you have completed the ten reps for your one arm, get the same position but for the opposite side and perform ten more reps.
Lateral Raise
Indeed your shoulders muscles are one of the biggest muscles groups, and everyone wants to give it the best shape for a good body posture. Lateral raise is one of the best resistance band exercises for shoulders muscles. It strengthens your shoulders and improves your chest and arms muscles.
- Step one
Stay straight by holding the resistance band on both handles in your hands; loop the resistance band under your feet to get the balanced position. Make sure there is one 6 to 9 inches distance between your feet to make your workout more stressful.
- Step two
Slowly raise your hands on both sides keep your arms straight on the sides up to your shoulders level. Do not lose your body posture; keep your hips, legs, and chest muscles straight. If you feel hard, you can also little bent elbows for easy movement.
- Step Three
Perform 20 reps in 2 sets to make your workout easier. You will quickly build strong and larger muscles around your shoulders if you perform it correctly. But take a rest of one or two minutes between two sets.
Wood Chopper
Wood Chopper is my last exercise for your core muscles. I will teach you two sets of ten reps for both sides to target your core muscles.
- Step one
Take a short resistance band, attach it with an anchor, and attach both ends with one handle on the opposite side. Attach the anchor to the door’s upper side and hold the handle in both hands. Stay in a sideways position. Make sure there are more than 12 inches of distance between your feet.
- Step two
Now gently pull the resistance band to the lowest position and move back to the up position. Complete ten reps for your one side.
- Step three
Stay in the same position but for the other side and perform ten reps for that side. You have done your full-body muscle-building workout with a resistance band.
Frequently Asked Questions:
How long to see results from resistance bands?
There is no doubt resistance bands are modern and lightweight workout tools that may assist you in building muscles. You can build any of your muscles with resistance bands. But it takes time to see its results; you can set your short-term goals on two to three weeks tenure for checking the performance.
But its real results will start seeing after three months, after six months you will see a significant change in your body. You will get your required results after six months if you practice correctly. So be patient and consistent to see results from resistance band exercises.
Do resistance bands help to lose thigh fat?
Your muscles need tension and stress to burn fats; whether you have fats in the belly or around your thighs, resistance bands effectively lose fats. There are many leg workout ideas with resistance bands that can assist you in loose thigh fats.
Do resistance bands build muscles in the legs?
Of course, you can use resistance bands to strengthen your legs muscles; squats and many other resistance bands exercising ideas are available that can easily grow your legs muscles.
Do resistance bands build glutes?
Yes, resistance bands also help to develop glutes. You can find several resistance band exercises to build your glutes. Push down is also the best resistance band exercise to develop glutes and strengthen your back muscles.
Is bodybuilding with resistance bands only possible?
When it comes to bodybuilding with resistance bands only, you may see results a little later than using free weights and other metal gym equipment. But it is quite possible to build the muscles with resistance bands.
If you want quick results, you can use a resistance band with your other gym equipment to make your workout more challenging and productive.
Are resistance bands are better than free weights?
If you compare them to rewards, free weights are better than resistance bands because you can put more stress on your muscles to build muscles fast. There are risks in using resistance bands because they can hurt you.
Resistance bands, due to some flexibility such as you can train anywhere, anytime, lightweight and safer to use, and satisfactory results make them a better choice than free weights for most people.
Conclusion
Hope, you will get the answer of the qustion, “can you build muscle with resistance band”. Stronger muscles are a sign of a healthy body, and they do not just develop a good body but also improve our performance in routine life. You have many ways to build muscles, but using resistance bands is an easier, safe, and productive way to build muscles.
After learning the right resistance bands muscles building workout, you can train anywhere, anytime, to get your required results. But you need some patience, consistency, proper rest, diet, and sleep to build muscles with resistance bands.