Resistance bands can help you blast through that workout plateau

If you haven't thought about adding resistance bands to your workout, there's a pretty good reason why you should.

From the warm up right through to the workout and lifting, resistance bands can come in very handy and are definitely worth investing a few quid in. Researchers at the University of Tampa got to work on doing a study that tested how an athlete's performance would be affected by the use of resistance bands, and found that in just five weeks, members of the basketball team had in fact increased their explosive strength and force thanks to the use of bands. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ti8fv_jJ-w As you can see in the video, the team use the bands for anything from squats to bench press, and if you want to replicate that, it's not too difficult. To attach the bands, you can use (heavy) dumbells to weight them at the bottom, and loop the top of the band around the bar before adding the plates on. This is the easiest way, but you can also stretch the band around the bottom of the bench, and on to each side of the weight, outside the plates so that it looks like this. What the study found was that the addition of the resistance band forced athletes to work harder at the top of the lift where the muscles are normally at their strongest. It found that this helped those athletes who trained with the bands to improve much faster than those who didn't. You can also use resistance bands as a vital part of your warm up routine, something which should definitely be added to your plan if you're not currently doing so. Two great exercises are the resistance band shoulder circles (you should warm up your shoulder for days when you will work your chest, back, arms or shoulders) and the overhead split squat. For the circles, slide the band underneath your feet so that you're standing on top of it, pull it up until you're making a 'T' shape and then rotate your shoulders making small circles. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj5aEH1zPMY You can also perform this exercise by keeping your hands down by your side and shrugging in a circular motion too. For the split squat, wrap the band around underneath your foot, and then across on the opposite shoulder, as if it were a sash. From there, squat or lunge down, and you'll feel the resistance and the way back up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZnlojy5TPo If you feel confident, you can also hold the resistance band above your head and extend on the way back up to get more of your upper body involved in the warm up. Repeat both exercises for three sets of ten, and on the split squat try to do ten on each leg. Hat-tip to Stack.com for the pic and The University of Tampa for the video