Exercise bands are all the rage nowadays; they’re cheap and effective. Everyone has them in their gym bag, but do you? Which ones do you buy? Fit Simplify Resistance Loop Bands are the bands I’ll be talking about in this article. They’re simple enough and they don’t use much space in your gym bag.
The one thing that most gym goers go wrong is not warming up properly. This can lead to serious injury that can keep you out of the gym, pretty much the opposite of what you want. This is where resistance bands come in. The resistance loop bands I’ll be reviewing today is the Fit Simplify Resistance Loop Exercise Bands.
The Importance of Warming Up
As I mentioned earlier, if you don’t warm up properly before exercising, it can lead to injury that can leave out of the gym. You should gently warm up your muscles before weightlifting, which entails gradually increasing your heart rate and blood circulation.
Stretching prepares your muscles for the pain you’re going to put them through. It also raises the temperature in your muscles.
Why do you want to raise the temperature of your muscles?
Hemoglobin, a protein in your blood that transports oxygen, releases more oxygen into your muscles when at a higher temperature.
Again, why should I care?
You’ve probably seen dudes warm up in the gym in hoodies, sweating buckets. If you’ve ever seen Rocky, he always warms up in a gray hoodie and sweatpants.
The increase of temperature by wearing a heavy piece of clothing warms up your muscles (duh!). This allows your muscles to contract quicker and respond to stimulus faster. If you’ve ever been in the freezing cold in the dead of a Canadian winter, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Your extremities, such as your hands and feet, won’t react as fast. Heart rate is slowed, reaction time and strength are decreased.
Performance in the gym needs to be 100%, that’s why you’re there in the first place. To increase performance, you probably already drink a pre workout drink. But have you heard about using salt for a performance increase? Read my other article on Why I Put Salt in My Preworkout and Why You Should Too.
Something that isn’t mentioned frequently with warming up is mentally preparing yourself for the exercise. So many gym goers (myself included unfortunately) step foot in the gym and instantly want to move some heavy-ass weight. You want to prepare yourself for that next personal record, so you want to get in the mindset as well. Try to think about the technique of the exercise you’re going to perform while warming up. Go through the motions so you don’t get caught up in yourself.
Fit Simplify Resistance Exercise Loop Bands Review
You can’t really go wrong with these bands, and you don’t need anything more complicated either. The bands themselves are 12” by 2” wide and are made of latex (not rubber), so you don’t get that funny chemical smell.
Included are five different bands at different strengths. As per Amazon, these are the resistances per band:
- Green (x-Light) 2-4 lbs (thickness is 0.4 mm)
- Blue (Light) 6-8 lbs (thickness is 0.60 mm)
- Yellow (Medium) 10-12 lbs (thickness is 0.80 mm)
- Red (Heavy) 15 – 20 lbs (thickness is 1.0 mm)
- Black (x-Heavy) 25 – 30 lbs (thickness is 1.2 mm)
Where can I buy the bands?
You can buy Fit Simplify Resistance Loop Bands on Amazon, check them out below.
Keep them in your gym bag so you’ll always bring them to the gym. Make it a habit to stretch every little muscle before jumping into weightlifting.
How To Use Fit Simplify Bands
In my normal gym sessions, I’ll generally use the bands before any chest or shoulder exercises. Read my other article on the Best Chest Warm Ups you can do.
The best part about these loop bands is that they’re so flexible in use. You can hit pretty much any body part with these, and that’s why they should be a staple in your warm up routine.
For legs, I like to start with lateral band walks or X band walks. Lateral band walks are super simple to set up too, just step in the loop and start stepping sideways.
If you want more tension, try the X band walk. This is a very similar exercise, except that you make a small loop with the band to hold on to and step on the band instead of wrapping it around your ankles.
For lower back exercises, banded hyperextensions are king. If you have issues holding a plate to your chest during hyperextensions, this is your next step. They add constant tension, so you don’t have to rely on gravity to do it’s work. Plus if you want to make the exercise more challenging, just use a heavier band!
The bands themselves are made well, and feel comfortable against your skin. The last thing you want is ripping the outer layer of your skin off as you attempt to warm up in excruciating pain (let’s avoid that completely). Also included is a lifetime guarantee for the bands, in the event that you become super Hulk and stretch the bands beyond belief.
