One of the most common causes of injury while working out is that a person can strain a muscle. This can be caused by a lack of proper stretching. Repeating a strenuous motion required in a lot of exercises only exacerbates the problem. Flexibility is a key part of any strong and well-rounded fitness regime. You can use Barre Bands from SuperFlex Fitness in Yoga and Pilates classes to help train mobility and flexibility in our clients.
As I wrote about in my blog Three Tips for Creating Compound Movements, the Barre Band is a new revolutionary piece of equipment in the field of resistance based training. Remember, the Barre Bands are not your typical everyday resistance bands made with plastic tubing. Barre Bands also enable the user to achieve even greater levels of flexibility when compared to traditional means. When pushing through a large range of motion (flexibility training), sometimes our clients need additional support or assistance. The Barre Bands are able to assist our clients enter into large range of motions and return to the starting point.
The Barre Bands move with your body, which results in less strain on your body and leads to more effective training sessions. The bands can be adjusted and adapted to any number of different positions. Since the Barre Band moves with the body, the user can stretch while the band provides the requisite resistance. However, the important part actually happens when the user returns to their resting position, since the band provides assistance to return the client to the starting position.
Barre Bands in Yoga and Pilates Classes
There are 2 styles of stretching that we see most often in group fitness.
1. Dynamic Stretches : movement based stretching that we see often in Pilates classes and yoga styles based on vinyasas
2. Static : move into a stretch and hold for 30-seconds or more
In addition to these styles, there are two additional methods that can be used in both of the styles.
1. Passive: also, known as assisted stretching where you are using an external stimulus to assist in increasing range of motion
4. Active: relax the muscle you’re trying to stretch and rely on the opposing muscle to initiate the stretch
The Barre Bands are ideal for use in yoga and Pilates, in addition to barre classes. You can use the Barre Bands to help in assisted stretches for both dynamic and static stretches. The Barre Band is an all-in-one, wholly encompassing piece of equipment that can assist in strengthening your body while aiding in mobility. The bands are able to easily simulate the concentric muscle tensions that are used in Pilates exercises. The resistance of the bands keeps your muscles working during each section of the exercise. For an example, see the video below.