Resistance Band Training for Older Women

With more people showing interest in resistance band training—no doubt, for its convenience, low price and easy portability, along with how easy it is for beginners to get started—researchers from Serbia and Croatia decided to study the effects of this exercise modality in a chair-based program for older women.

After a 12-week program of twice-weekly supervised resistance band training, 84 women ages 66–84  showed significant improvements in functional fitness and in glucose, total cholesterol, and HDL and LDL levels, when compared with a control group of women who did not exercise.

Participants performed low-load, whole-body resistance exercises using an elastic band. The two-set training protocol consisted of 12–15 repetitions of each exercise per set (40%–60% of a 1-repetition maximum), with 1 minute of rest between sets. These were the resistance training exercises:

• knee extension
• knee flexion
• bent row
• chest press
• unilateral hip flexion
• upright row
• trunk flexion
• biceps curl
• overhead triceps extension
• hip abduction
• hip extension

Study authors noted that resistance band training seems to be a viable training model that ensures high training adherence and offers an efficient strategy for preventing and reducing age-associated changes in metabolic markers and fitness levels in older women.

The study appeared in the Journal of Sports Science & Medicine (2021; 20 [1], 133–41).  

See also: Sample Class: Band Blast!