A new study published in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine further supports the use of elastic resistance devices as cost-effective modes of training for hypertrophy and muscle strength in healthy individuals. In the study, researchers compared Thera-Band elastic bands to Nautilus weight machines on muscle damage and muscle strength on nine healthy male subjects.
Each of the nine participants performed five sets of 10 repetition maximum knee-extension exercises on the exercise machine and with a Thera-Band elastic band. The participants were tested for indicators of muscle damage, delayed-onset muscle soreness, and their maximum quadriceps strength. The researchers determined that both the machine-aided and elastic resistance exercises produced the same amount of muscle damage, which has been revealed to be the underlying mechanism of further muscle hypertrophy.
The research team concluded that despite lower force generation during the elastic-resisted exercise, both modes of training provided a similar training stress. The authors of the study state that the present data supports the use of an elastic resistance device as an economical means of training for achieving both muscle strength and hypertrophy in healthy individuals.
The authors assert that this is contrary to the results of other investigations, which have rejected the potential of using an elastic resistance device in an athletic setting because of the perception that an elastic resistance device may not provide adequate training stress.
[Source: Journal of Sports Science and Medicine]
