Layered bands are thin individual layers of latex continually wrapped around and layered until the desire thickness is created. It is than cut and glued down. The problem is this glue does not always adhere well especially on smaller bands where surface area is less.
Also smaller bands typically get stretched more which challenges the band structurally and can lead to peeling.
Can this be eliminated??
That is exactly what I asked over 1 year ago while designing a new band.
The answer ….YES!!
“The BAND” by Performax which is the exclusive band of www.resistancebandtraining.com uses a technique called “latex welding” to adhere that final end back down onto the band. By welding the end of the final layered back down onto the band it has eliminated peeling.
In the past 7 months that “The BAND” has been on the market I have had zero bands returned for fraying.
Problem Solved!!
If you have issues with fraying no problem… I have the solution.
Buy all your bands with latex welding which to my knowledge you will only find at
For the past 2 months I have been volunteering my time at the local high school weight room
Its been a very exciting experience and can’t believe how much I still enjoy being a part of that
environment.
After watching and talking to alot of athletes a few thoughts have clearly come out.
1. Athletes like to train what they do best. If they could bench press or do Bicep curls everyday they would.
2. Very few athletes turn around and put their back to the mirror. Translated, they only train what they can see in the mirror.
3. Flexibility is a neccessary evil they must do before they can lift.
4. The core is something they train on their back and stabilization or Reactive trunk training
is not even a thought.
5. Circuit based training is no where to be seen. Its all 1 set and recover for 3 minutes.
For the past 6 Fridays we have been doing a Reactive RBT Day and to an athlete they are all really enjoying it and are seeing a huge carry over into their weight room days.
Here is a Typical Friday workout.
Band Stretching
Lunge-Reach warm up
Partner Band Training 2 x 20 sec.
1. Power skips
2. Quick Steps
Partner Start work 1 x 8 reps
1. Acceleration
2. Shuffles
3. Turn and Go
4. Back pedals
Partner 2 Step Deceleration Drills 1 x 6 reps
1. Forward Right and Left
2. Shuffle Right and Left
3. Turn and go Right and Left
4. Drop Step Right and Left
Tug of War drills 2 x 15 yard
1. Power Crawls
2. Power Backwards dragging
3. Forward Towing
4. Shuffle towing
The athletes are fired up after and coaches are amazed at how hard they are working with just a rubberband.
These are drills and programs we will cover on Feb 7th. Coach or Trainer…. If you train athletes and you want to learn how Reactive RBT the weight room gains onto the field… You better join me.
Yep..Today is my birthday and I have been truly blessed.
First of all I have been blessed by with having a strong spiritual belief
Secondly I have a wonderful wife who works beside me everyday and is everything a mom could ever be
Next I have 3 awesome children that are everything a father could every hope for.
Next I have my health which allows me to do what I love to do….. Help 1000′s of people every year make their best … BETTER!!
Next I have a business and career that makes everyday a lot of fun and definitely a challenge.
Lastly, I have been able to meet so many awesome fitness and medical professional friends who are rock stars in their own right and motivate me everyday to get better.
Its amazing what a couple of weeks do for your mental and physical energy levels.
I decided to take the last 2 weeks off to re-energize and just brainstorm.
All the business and training mentors I have have always told me that I needed to do this but often I just kept
working and rolling with what came up.
Guess what??
They were right.
So I started by asking myself this question..
How could I help make all of my fellow RBT’ers better and more excited about Reactive RBT??
Here is what I came up with…
People need to really see what RBT is truly all about. I have to show not tell them. As a result I will be launching several exciting new projects and clinics over the next month.
First of all A new blog will soon be up. www.askdaveschmitz.com will be launched which will make finding RBT information much easier regardless if you are a coach, trainer or fitness Enthusiast.
Secondly I will be launching A brand new RBT Live TV series called… Reactive RBT LIVE!!
More on this later but trust me this is going to be alot of fun for everyone.
Next, I have established several dates for Reactive RBT Specific Clinics. The first one will be a Coaches only “React to the Ball” Clinic on Feb. 7th. I will discuss this more in upcoming blog post but if you are a coach and want to get your athletes faster in weeks not months… Sign up HERE
Also stay tuned because a Reactive RBT For Fitness Professionals is ready for March… Date just needs to be confirmed.
Lastly.. I have decided to change the theme for 2009 to “Training Beyond the Contraction” instead of “Training to React not Contract”
This truly states exactly why you need Reactive Resistance Band Training into your training format.
So there you have it…
Keep your eyes open and keep checking the email box because I will be visiting it frequently…
They work when stress is applied to them otherwise they lay around.
They react when tension is forced upon them.
So do you think they know the difference between a resistance band, db or kettlebell interval workout.
Probably not.
So if I could take a simple band or 2 and do a workout that….
Pushes my heart out out of my chest.
Makes my muscles Burn with fatigue
Makes me not want to move after completing a circuit
… Than it will create the same physiological effects for fat loss not to mention it will allow me to challenge muscles by working in vectors that dead weight can’t.
It will also allow me to move faster and more explosively than if I was just lifting a dead weight which by the way has shown to burn more fat as well.
Now before I get all the hate mail….. I am not suggesting weights are bad. (I am suggesting machines are bad but that is for another day)
What I am suggesting is that you can create awesome fat burning interval strength training workouts using bands and it does not have to be your last alternative.
Frankly I think it should be our primary option at least 2 days per week.
Here is a little cardio-strength workout you may want to try. It may look cardio but I promise you hips and quads and calves won’t think so….. Dumbbells and kettlebells not allowed!!
Back in the day I use to do 100′s of isolated crunches, situps, cable crunches, inverted situps, russian twist and of course the crunch with rotation. Than I really got aggressive and went to the ab roller which was another revolutionary 6 pack training device…. (NOT)
The fact is I did all those things thinking that it was what my abs needed to be strong and functional.
After years of training this way, the six pack never came .
Matter of fact the love handles were growing and I had more low back stiffness then every.
Then one day I thought……….What if the abs are the same as every other muscle in the body.
They must be loaded or activated before they can explode or contract.
They must be trained in multiple planes of movement to really develop
They must be driven to be reactive not consiously contracted like with crunches
They must be trained in conjunction with the rest of your body not in isolation.
Matter of fact when you think about it…
What attaches the upper torso to the lower torso?? DA…The trunk!!!
So if I train full body movements (legs and arms working simultaeously as a stabilizer or as a mover) or if do high level functional movements like running (sprinting perferrably), I am probably going to train my trunk a whole lot more effectively.
Matter of fact I have never seen a fat sprinter… Have you??
The fact is the abs are “reactors” not contractors just like the rest of the neuromuscular system.
Now I realize we can’t all be sprinters or jumpers or throwers so how do you get your trunk to react like a spinter without sprinting???
What if we started using the ground and a little momentum by doing some simple stepping drills?? I bet that would crank up the abs. Especially if you accelerated momentum and gravity with a little resistance band.
That essentially is what happens in sprinting….. The trunk gets turned on with the foot landing into the ground and from the momemtum of the legs and arms swinging.
Now that you have your isometric strength in standing and you have created a little momentum with weightshifting using the sea-saw drill. Lets get you stepping and moving more aggressively in the frontal and transverse planes.
Time to get your trunk sprinting!!
www.fitnessbandbootcamp.com its how you really learn about training with bands regardless if you are a fitness professional or a fitness enthusiasts.
A reactive trunk is a component of fitness and performance that is frequently forgotten.
The problem is we never teach our trunk how to react to the ground or momentum.
Instead we do isometric training all the time.
Not a terrible idea but your abs have to be able react on the fly.
Last time I looked, the ground is a huge factor in athletics as well as daily activities.
I am presently have the pleasure of working with a local high school and there is very little trunk reaction going on.
All I see is Crunches, situps, medball crunches, medball throws lying down and leg raises.
Its the same in the gym.
Its not the individual’s fault.
Its what they see everyday in the magazines.
Its what their taught on how to work the trunk.
How does your trunk learn how to react to the ground while lying on your back??
Not a thing!!
Recently in a group workout, I took 76 athletes through my Sea-Saw drill using a simple 20lb mini band.
They were instructed to..
Switch Partners every 20 seconds and never do the same base of support back to back.
90% of the group could not finish the 4 minute workout without putting their arms down.
The reason was that they could not integrate their trunk with their upper and lower body so the the extremites fatigued early because they were taking on most of the load.
With a reactive trunk that does not happen.
The Sea-Saw is a great reactive ab progression once you have isometric weight-bearing strength like what I showed you yesterday.
