Health Alert: Power bands

(National) July 21, 2006 - Once physical therapy tools, resistance bands have moved into the mainstream. Now, everyone from elite athletes to homemakers are finding them hard to resist.

32-year-old Gillian Haberman is getting back in shape after having her first baby. She's working with a personal trainer and some stretchy elastic strips called resistance bands, "I like getting a total body workout and I really feel like this just incorporates all the muscles or many muscles at once in a natural way."

Exercise bands and bungies come in different widths and strengths, offering varying degrees of resistance.

Paul Frediani says, "When you add resistance to your body, your body doesn't know what it's moving, doesn't know if it's a can of beer, or if it's a brick or a rock or a band. Resistance is resistance."

While bands work muscles differently, the effect is the same as traditional weights.

Frediani says, "With the free weight, the, the weight becomes less resistant as you pick it up. With a band, you get more resistance towards the end of the movement."

Frediani says band workouts can both build muscle and burn calories, "You can have a lot of resistance uh to add muscular strength to your workout or you can do uh high repetitions with cardio in between for a real high fat burning, caloric burning workout."

Another plus - the band's size, portability and low cost let you work out almost anywhere.

Frediani says, "You can buy a couple of resistance bands. You can do this very, very simple exercise at home, a whole routine of exercises. You can hit every single muscle group in your body."

Yet a band workout looks deceptively easy.

Haberman says, "I was a little bit skeptical, but it's amazing how they work." And that's made her a resistance band fan.

Paul has written a book, called "The Power Band Workout," which highlights the bands' versatility.

It's available in bookstores and online.

Posted 1:39pm by Bryce Mursch