Exercises With Rubbers

When talking about physical exercises we must always start from the premise that any type of sport or exercise will always be beneficial for our body. Therefore, we must force ourselves to do it continuously in our lives. In this article we are going to talk about exercises with rubbers, their benefits, their disadvantages and how to carry them out to improve our physical form.

When we consider in a more or less serious way to start practicing a sport or physical exercise, the first thing that comes to mind is the expense that we will have to pay to be able to get in shape. Quota of a gym, appropriate clothing and footwear, machines or gadgets if we want to spend hours at home, a whole series of obstacles that can make us give up our decision to train.

To avoid this first blockage, I bring you today a series of routines that you can practice in the comfort of your home without an exorbitant initial expense.

Rubber exercises are a cheap way to start getting in shape if you are one of those who cannot stand a closed and crowded place like a gym, or for you who during a season will not be able to go to the gym for being on vacation for example and do not want to leave your training routine. But we should not be wrong about this type of training. It may be that some of the exercises are more comfortable but there will be others that we cannot do it or are more difficult at the time of its execution.

We can say that elastic bands are a substitute for some machines to tone our body, but we cannot say that they are a substitute for all the elements that we can find in a gym.

Instructions

We will see a series of instructions and steps so that the exercises with this type of elements are the most beneficial possible.

1. Elastic bands, also known as rubber bands or resistance bands, were initially used for joint or muscle rehabilitation.
2. Being very light elements, low price and great ease of handling has managed to move quickly to the world of sport.
3. The most important thing about elastic bands when using them for sports is that all of them will offer us resistance when practicing our physical exercise routines.
4. We must remember, as we always do when we talk about physical routines, that for any exercise to have positive results for us, we must practice it assiduously during the week.

Let’s see now what types of exercises we can perform with elastic bands and for which muscles they are designed.

1. The first exercise we present to you is the one that has to do with push-ups. They are carried out the same as the usual ones but in this case, they can be somewhat more complicated. We place ourselves in the plank position (in the following image you can see how this position is performed) and pass the elastic band through the upper back, a little lower than the shoulders (in the shoulder blades). We roll the ends of the band on our thumbs and place our hands on the floor to adopt the flexion position. We lower our chests to the ground while flexing our arms. Before reaching the ground with the chest, we contract the abdomen and chest strongly. We push ourselves against the ground to return to the starting position.

Now let’s perform the so-called sitting oar. We sat on the floor, with our backs straight. Place the elastic band on the soles of the feet, in the center. We stretch our legs. With both hands we grab the elastic band and stretch our arms in front with the palms of our hands facing inwards. We flex our arms to pull the band towards us with our back straight at all times (you may be interested in this article on how to do back exercises). We return to the starting position slowly.

1. The next exercise in our routine can be squats. For this exercise we stand up, with the feet separated a little more than the width of the shoulders. Step on the elastic band and hold both ends tightly with your hands, arms bent and resting on your shoulders. We perform a squat, bending the knees with the back straight. We squeeze the abdomen and buttocks at the same time.
2. Another exercise can be the standing press. We stand up, as for the previous exercise, but this time instead of bending, what we do is stretch our arms above the head. We start with the palms of the hands inwards and rotate them as we stretch our arms, until we finish with the palms forward.
3. Biceps curl. For this exercise we stand with our feet a little closer together than in the previous exercise. Place your feet on the elastic band. We take the ends with the arms stretched on both sides of the body. The back always straight. Flex the arms pulling the band until they are flexed on the chest completely. We return to the starting position slowly.

These are some of the exercises that we can do as routines with bands or elastic bands. Remember that something very important after having done any exercise table is to spend some time stretching our muscles to relieve them of the effort used.

What You Need

In this section we are going to talk about the different types of elastic bands that exist in the market and which one we should use depending on our physical preparation.

• First, we find the simplest elastic bands. We are going to use them if we are beginners in this type of exercises or if we want to tone our body in a gentle way. They are simple rubbers and in a simple way. They usually measure one meter or meter and a half approximately and with about 15 centimeters more or less wide. It will vary its thickness depending on the resistance. They usually differentiate from each other through colors. They give us greater freedom of movement since they do not carry grips. However, their drawbacks are that they offer little resistance and their durability is lower. But they are a good option to start with these types of routines.
• At a higher level we find the elastic bands that carry a handle or grip. They are made of a thick elastic cable that we can take by means of a handle at each end. They are bands that offer a little more intensity and resistance when performing the exercises.
• Finally, we now refer to the bands or elastic bands that offer the greatest resistance of all. They are very similar to the previous ones. The main difference is that these instead of a single cable carry several, usually three. Therefore, by having more cables the effort we have to make in the exercises will increase.

Councils

Let’s finally see a series of tips on why using elastic bands for your exercises is very beneficial.

1. They are the best option to perform the training in our own home.
2. They are easy to transport. We can take them with us so as not to stop our training routine, for example, if we go on a trip.
3. With them we can work all muscle groups: arms, legs, shoulder, chest and back. We just have to take care of the way we place it for our body.
4. They help us to work on basic physical qualities. That is, the rubbers are a perfect alternative to be able to work with resistance, speed and strength exercises for both the upper and lower part of our body. They also help us improve our flexibility (here is an article about flexibility exercises), since we can include them in several stretching exercises.
5. The tires can also serve to bring variety to our workouts. They provide an extra element to the typical toning exercises.
6. They adapt perfectly to different fitness levels. We have already seen the models of exercise rubbers that exist depending on our physical level.
7. With elastic bands we can add a greater variety of movement to our workouts. If we normally execute a series of exercises without varying them, our muscles adapt to these exercises, this resistance and that strength so, after a while, we will not notice evolution. Therefore, it is very convenient to mix different types of exercises and resistance.
8. They are less aggressive elements than typical weights so the risk of suffering an injury decrease.
9. The bands or elastic bands help us train for different sports, since they can simulate the movements that for example we perform in tennis or golf and even baseball. They are widely used to prevent various sports injuries that are very common in this type of sports such as tears and knee injuries. At the same time, they are also highly recommended for people who practice athletics.
10. As we said at the beginning, bands or elastic bands were used before sports for the rehabilitation of muscle or tendon injuries. Therefore, in addition to all the benefits exposed, they are ideal for physical therapy. That is, after an injury they are highly recommended to rebuild the muscles that have been atrophied by lack of activity during the period of the injury.