Resistance bands

I've hit a wall exercise wise and the weight loss stopped and went back up. So, I got to start over. In theory lots of walking was supposed to help my back. Not for me. Things only got worse and within a couple hundred feet I get foot drag and excruciating pain on only one side of my lower back. Doc said it is muscular and I need to do other things to strengthen my back so prescribed physical therapy. My insurance sucks so I told him it was pretty much a no go. I would be paying 150 dollars every visit, and that is not happening. I am happy I have a realistic doctor. He told me it would be cheaper to purchase a good set of resistance bands and do the exercises I learned in PT the last 2 times. (Before the surgery, and after)

We are waiting on the specialist visit until I strengthen my back and cut some pounds.

I have been researching bands and am not going cheap. I had a cheap set pop on me after shoulder surgery 1. That freaking hurt. Will NOT be purchasing execise equipment from wal-mart ever again.

Does anyone use these and have some suggestions?

I have been considering one of these but will take all advice I can get. I am under docs care and I know the exercises for my back, but I might as well use them for the weight loss too.

http://gorillastrengthgear.com/

and

https://ironwoodyfitness.com/product-category/bands/

I love bands they are great for stretching and mobility you can even incorporate them into your weight training to add resistance to the bar or reverse bands to overload a movement with a heavier weight than you could handle in a specific portion of the lift .

As for where to buy from , if you live in the USA my first stop for equipment would always be EliteFTS these are the guys the strongest powerlifters in the world trust .

http://www.elitefts.com/shop/bars-weights/bands.html

I would also highly recommend checking out the book Becoming a Supple Leopard by Kelly Starrett for injury rehab and prevention . He's also good for how to use bands , foam roller and other tools to keep our bodies functioning correctly .

I use the Iron Woody bands. I like them mainly for the name! OK, and they were less expensive than some other brands. This is one of the brands used by powerlifters, as are the Elite EFS ones Kyle mentioned. Jumpstretch is another brand. There are others, too (can't recall any names off the top of my head.)

I also use them for stretching and mobility. And, I also recommend checking out Kelly Starrett's videos. I also occasionally use them to add resistance to a barbell or to pushups.

I have2 each of the the 41" purple (mini) , red (super mini), blue (small) and green (medium) ones. I use the blue ones for stretching and mobility. I use the purples and reds for psuhups. I haven't used the greens that much.



All that being said, I'm not familiar with using bands alone for resistance.

I'm not a doc, nor am I an expert on much of anything, but I'll tell you what's helped me in the past when my back started giving me problems: barbell deadlifts. If my workout for that day called for deadlifts, I'd do them as normal with my regular set weight for five reps. If not, I'd work them in at the end of my workout for 5-8 reps at half of my regular set weight. One set was all it took, and my back would instantly feel better for several hours afterward. After a certain point, my back quit hurting altogether, probably because I'd built up strength there.

Josh, no dead lifts I have a 2 minor impingements. That is not a word, I know.

Theraband. They make bands (2" wide) as well as tubing. Every baseball training facility, football fieldhouse, or PT office I go in has Theraband resistance bands. A complete set of the the 2" wide loops (5 bands) is around $30. I have a bunch of the tubing that I cut off into pieces for our youth baseball program (pitchers use the tubing for warm up). Now, these are bands typically used in rehab exercises. They are different than bands that you would use in weight lifting which tend to be much stronger and are used for assisted pullups, band bench press, band deadlifts, etc.

Bought some black mountain bands. I totally forgot about theraband.

I have a bunch of bands from Rogue Fitness.