Can resistance bands build strength? What a review actually found
This article is verified by 2 studies/publications.
Resistance bands can be easy to pack away or take with you. But are they useful for getting stronger, or just a compromise when you can’t use weights? A 2019 review compared elastic resistance programmes with conventional resistance training. Its results support taking bands seriously, with several limits worth understanding.[1]
Too long; didn’t read (Summary)
- A corrected 2019 review included 7 studies and 224 participants comparing elastic and conventional resistance programmes.
- It did not detect a clear strength advantage for either approach; that is not proof of equivalence.
- The studies were short and varied. Their findings do not establish equal muscle growth or elite lifting performance.
A small and varied comparison
The review examined trials using elastic tubes or bands and programmes using weight machines or free weights. The included populations ranged from adolescents and active adults to athletes and people with heart or lung conditions. These weren’t all the same exercise programme applied to the same kind of lifter.
The corrected study count was 7 trials, involving 224 participants. Programmes lasted 4–12 weeks, with different exercises, training frequencies and strength tests. Some studies measured the heaviest load someone could lift once; others measured force against a dynamometer, a device that measures force.[2]
This variety makes the review relevant to more than one setting, but it also limits how precisely it can answer your own equipment question. A finding averaged across different tests isn’t a direct test of every band exercise against its dumbbell counterpart.
No clear winner does not mean identical results
The pooled analyses did not detect a clear advantage for either approach in upper- or lower-body strength. The estimates were uncertain enough to allow an advantage in either direction. That supports elastic resistance as an option for strength training, rather than proving that the 2 methods are equivalent.
A 2020 correction also fixed swapped upper- and lower-body labels in the original paper and figures. The overall absence of a clear winner remained, but the corrected information matters when interpreting specific results. Reading only the original abstract would give you the wrong study count and outcome labels.
The equipment still needs a workable programme
One challenge identified by the authors was standardising the load with elastic resistance. Studies used approaches such as perceived effort, different bands or altered stretch. Simply owning a band doesn’t reproduce a training protocol, and a band colour isn’t a universal weight measurement.
For your own training, it helps to record which band you use and how the exercise is set up, so comparisons between sessions are meaningful. The review doesn’t establish a best band tension, a universal progression rule or equal results over years.
It also studied strength, not a direct comparison of muscle growth or competitive lifting performance. Bands can be a practical option; the evidence doesn’t turn every equipment choice into the same training stimulus.
Sources
- Effects of training with elastic resistance versus conventional resistance on muscular strength: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Lopes JSS, Machado AF, Micheletti JK, de Almeida AC, Cavina AP, Pastre CM. SAGE Open Medicine. 2019;7:2050312119831116. doi: 10.1177/2050312119831116. Study.
- Corrigendum to “Effects of training with elastic resistance versus conventional resistance on muscular strength: A systematic review and meta-analysis”. SAGE Open Medicine. 2020;8:2050312120961220. doi: 10.1177/2050312120961220. Study.