Behind the Whiteboard: Bands & Tension

We like to incorporate bands in our training here at Performance360 in a variety of ways. Sometimes we’re attaching them to kettlebells and performing swings, sometimes we’re standing on them and performing curls, and sometimes they attach to a barbell for movements like rows and deadlifts. No matter what facet they are being used, the same end product is unanimous across the board.

Increased tension.

As a band lengthens the tension increases, making the movement progressively harder. For example, at the apex of the kettlebell swing the band is at full tension so it forces our lats and glutes to work harder to drive the bell up. This is the exact same reason the band helps us on the pull-up yet is still effective at developing our strength on it. We get a boost at the bottom when tension is highest, but as that band shortens the tension dissolves meaning at the top of the pull-up rep it’s all “us.”

Bands are an excellent tool to manipulate tension and get gains that we otherwise wouldn’t without them.

-Dave