Fabric resistance bands: benefits, limitations and how to use them?

Resistance bands are on the rise as part of the peoples home gym equipment setup. There portability, increase in control, price point and strength building benefits all attract athletes to use them. Especially when they are on the go. There are a number of different ways they can be used, and a number of different forms of resistance bands. This article is going to look at fabric resistance bands in particular, their benefits, their limitations and how you can incorporate them into your workout.

If you want to find out more about resistance bands check out our other blogs “latex vs latex resistance bands” or “resistance bands vs free weights”

Or,

Check out one of our other article to find out more about ‘how to get a better body’

What types of resistance bands are there?

As mentioned in our other blog “Latex free resistance bands”, there are a number of different forms that resistance bands come in. These include; rubber or latex free bands, latex resistance bands and lastly fabric resistance bands

Rubber and latex resistance bands both provide great benefits to strength building due to their strong and stretchable material. These bands allow you to put in some great muscle building training without carrying around the clunky heavy weights you may use usually.

Fabric resistance bands are very different to the previous two as it isn’t made from a latex or rubbery material. This provides fabric resistance bands with a number of positive benefits, however it also produces some limitations as well. Which we will talk about in just a moment.

Why wouldn’t you use rubber or latex resistance bands:

Rubber and latex resistance bands have been praised in the fitness community for quite some time. Their easy use, muscle building, low cost and easy cleaned benefits have been what have drawn athletes towards using them.

However, more and more people are finding a few problems with using rubber and latex resistance bands. These pieces of equipment have been said to be uncomfortable to workout with sometimes, due to their slightly sticky material. The rubber and latex often sticks to athletes bodies causing an uncomfortable feeling during their exercise.

There have also been many cases where athletes have discovered they have an allergy to latex. Therefore noticing their skin breaking out in rashes and becoming itchy. Which is obviously not ideal during a workout.

That is where rubber and latex free resistance bands come in. Offering those athletes allergic to latex with pieces of equipment that won’t cause them to stop half way through their exercise to scratch their itch.

However, rubber exercise bands are not as strong as latex bands. Therefore making them more likely to misshape and break. This doesn’t just hurt your wallet but since these bands are made from a synthetic material. It contains chemicals that are bad for the environment and make the resistance bands non-biodegradable. Therefore hurting the environment as well. Double ouch!

So what are your options then?

Fabric resistance bands:

As mentioned previously, there is a third option when it comes to material type for resistance bands. Fabric resistance bands are made from a durable elastic fabric and offer you similar strength building benefits along with other positives that help fix the issues from latex and rubber resistance bands. So let’s talk about them…

What are the benefits of fabric resistance bands:

1. More comfortable

Since fabric bands aren’t made from rubber or latex they are much more comfortable on your skin. Removing that sticky sensation on your body will help you focus on your workout more and get better results.

Fabric resistance bands also have a non-slip underlay which means although it is fabric they won’t move from the area you are trying to work out. Therefore making your exercise more effective.

2. Stronger

This type of material is less stretchy than rubber and latex bands meaning that they provide greater resistance for your exercises. Their strength also makes them more durable and therefore making them last longer. Meaning your purchase will be a better investment.

3. Non-allergic

Although this might not be a benefit to everyone, it does allow a group of people, who possibly couldn’t before, to use resistance bands in their workout. Since these resistance bands are latex free, this means that those athletes with latex allergies are able to benefit from the effective workouts that resistance bands provide. Therefore including everyone!

What are the cons of fabric resistance bands:

1. Not versatile

Although the strength of fabric resistance bands is a positive, however it does have some negative effects for the equipment. Due to the strength and lack of stretch that fabric bands provide, they are less effective for upper body workouts. Therefore they are mostly used as very effective lower body and hypertrophy exercises.

It must be noted that you can find longer fabric resistance bands that give you greater ability for more varied workouts. However these are less common than the regular sizes.

2. Not as easy to clean

Another downside to fabric resistance bands are that they aren’t as easy to clean as latex and rubber ones. Since it is a fabric material, you will need to wash them and let them dry after a couple of workouts. Otherwise they will begin to smell.

3. More likely to stretch out

Unfortunately nothing lasts forever. The lack of stretch is great for resistance, however overtime the bands will start to stretch out. Therefore making them ineffective for your workout, causing you to fork out some more money for a new set.

That being said they do last some time before this happening. So unless you are exercise or going to the gym an unnecessary amount of time then you should be good for quite some time.

We aren’t here to tell you what type of resistance bands you should or should not purchase. However, we do hope that helping you understand what the benefits are to the different types of resistance bands will help you choose the right one for you!