In order to stay in shape it is necessary to run, do aerobics or use a stationary bicycle. In other words, you have to do something called maintenance gymnastics and do it often. But this kind of exercise adds very little mass to muscles. So it is necessary to do exercise that concentrates the effort on muscles you want to develop. Normally this has been done with weights, or large devices that only fit in gymnasiums. Now there is a more versatile option: elastic bands.

Building muscles with bands
Elastic bands are two tubes of latex (hollow or compact), whose dimensions depend on the height of the person doing the exercise and the force, or resistance, that this person needs the bands to exert. For most people and most kinds of exercise, the bands should be 110 cm long and 10 cm thick.

This instrument makes it possible to carry out almost any kind of gymnasium exercise. It takes advantage of the bands� elasticity to stretch and contract muscles in a constant state of tension. Thus, in order to develop arm muscles, the person stands on one end of the band (one foot on each band), holds their arms out and, gripping the other end of the bands in their fists. Then they move their arms up to their shoulders, and then back to the initial position. In this kind of exercise it is important to maintain tension at all times, never relaxing completely. Fat is burned off and muscles are developed very effectively.

A versatile kind of exercise
Among the advantages that bands offer as compared to other tools for exercising muscles, one is that they make it easy to do any kind of exercise: they not only replace weights or other equipment in the most common routines, but they also let you exercise other parts of the body. In fact, because of their versatility bands are often used by physical therapists in rehabilitation sessions. So, for instance, with bands it is to possible to work the dorsal muscles, a group that is usually outside the reach of other exercise tools because exercising these muscles requires the person to get in uncomfortable positions.

Furthermore, a single set of elastic bands offers many possibilities: while dumbells require different weight to suit the needs of the person doing the exercise and the muscles they want to develop, with bands all you need to do is change the way you grip them to modify the force required to do exercise. However, for major modifications you need bands of a different length altogether. But in any case this option is very practical for exercising at home. They are cheap and take up little space. And you can carry them in a suitcase or backpack to keep working on muscles when you travel out of town.

Some words of caution
The first thing experts recommend is to plan these exercises so the effort required is progressive. This way you avoid injuries because of an overload and assure the exercise is efficient. And while in most cases involving muscle exercises it is good to know something about anatomy and biomechanics, in this case the risk of injury is minimal so long as you observe the general rules of safety. In first place, your wrist should always be lined up with your forearm to keep the tension of the band from hurting a joint. It is also a good idea to monitor your posture while exercising because excessive tension can cause a hyperextension of the muscle.

Finally, before getting down to exercising make sure the bands are in good shape. If they have a cut or are worn out, they can snap while being used for exercise and  cause an accident. And even if they are in perfect shape, you can always lose control of them. So it is recommended you always keep them away from your face.