I’ve used resistance bands for training for over a dozen years. The right bands can add a lot of value to your training program.
They are a very affordable alternative when compared to a complete weight set, durable, portable, and versatile.
You can perform nearly every exercise with bands that you can perform in the gym, with some creativity and modification.
Iron Woody Fitness resistance bands are by far the best bands I have ever used. I do not have any endorsement deals with this company. This is simply my experience. Try it for yourself and you’ll find out.
Drill for Skill
With JiuJitsu and other grappling based movements, we have many ways to move that are not common to other exercises. Therefore, drilling these movements is a useful and necessary ingredient in your overall success as a practitioner of the arts.
In the videos below, I will demonstrate how I use bands to train:
- The Wrestlers Shot
- Maintaining Positional Control
- Neck and Guard Posture Maintenance
I’ve a big fan of drilling. If you’ve read my articles, you know that every workout and training session I perform is reviewed as a set of drills. I’ve created a product around this concept called DRILLSKILL.
Solo drilling is a way to turbo-charge your results. You may not always have the luxury of a training partner to drill with, being creative with your solo drills becomes paramount to your development.
Overall, drill by yourself, drill with a partner, drill with multiple partners….it all helps you reach your goals faster.
In this video, I demonstrate a few of my favorite video uses for bands: the wrestler’s shot and positional control maintenance.
Here is another example using bands to improve the quality of neck training.
The first drill includes a guard posture drill where you resist the tension of the band throughout your neck and body as if your posture were being compromised in the Closed Guard.
The second is a brief demo of resisting the tension from the side, making your entire body resist the tension and posture-breakdown caused by the bands. In this manner, neck training becomes much more “functional” as a result, rather than isolating the muscles of the neck.
Add bands to a few basic drills and you will notice the difference in your performance on the mat.
