Bands Around Knees Is Useless? New Study Breakdown

Lindsay discusses the contention surrounding banding exercises, particularly squats, hip thrusts, and glute bridges. She explains that while bands can sometimes be used as a learning tool for beginners, regular use can lead to decreased performance and diminished muscle growth. Lindsay debunks the popular belief that banding exercises contribute significantly to glute development and suggests that genetics, well-rounded exercise routines and quality movements are the actual causes of good muscle development. She disagrees with the trend where bands are used throughout the entire workout routine, which is often disseminated on social media. Lindsay concludes by reminding viewers that her optimized training programs do not include banding exercises which have been proven by studies and expert opinions to hinder workout performance and muscle growth.

Chapters:
00:39 Why do people band?
06:02 Biomechanics have debunked these theories for years
09:03 Studying the impact of bands around knees to hip thrusts
11:14 But it's not going to hurt anything to band, is it?
13:02 We need more studies on women
15:48 Your feelings don't equate to truth nor hypertrophy
20:35 If you're looking for optimized training programs

My Community BeStrong doesn’t just provide Training programs but NOW includes MEAL PLANNING!!! Making it easier than ever to hit your goals!!!

JOIN HERE

Membership gives you access to….

• Training App with dozens of programs to choose from.
• MEAL PLANS w/ Yummy recipes!
• Courses :
  • Learn Step Away from Tracking and Mindfully Eat
  • How to set up a Fat Loss plan
  • Setting up your Muscle building phase.
• Community & Support with specific groups that share you same goals
• $500 worth in give aways monthly
• Monthly Themes and Challenges to increase your learning and help you BECOME the person you want to be.
  • December - Fitness Flexibility - How to Stay Present with family and Your fitness Goals
  • January - Becoming the master of protein
• bi Weekly Lives
• Upload videos of exercises for form reviews done by me!

Creators & Guests

Host

Lindsay

Wife and mother of three. I have a deep passion for learning and teaching. I also really love lifting weights and fitness.

What is LiftingLindsay's More Than Fitness?

Dive into the joy of fitness with Lindsay and other guests exploring how it goes well and beyond the gym floor, the number on the scale, the size of your waist or the calories you're counting.

Lindsay: Hey guys.

Welcome, welcome to
Lifting Lindsay Channel.

I'm super, is this a channel?

Is that what this is?

The podcast.

Podcast channel.

Do people call it a channel?

My husband tells me all the time, like,
you're, you're such a grandma with all

things technology, and it is so true.

I, I so am.

I wear that badge loudly and proudly.

I do.

It's very loud.

I think it's very obvious
for everyone around me.

But anyways, okay, we're gonna be
talking about something fun, but

semi controversial if you will.

Should you be banding your hip thrusts
or glute bridges and, you know, I'm

just gonna throw in there squats.

Should you be banding your squats.

So let's actually talk about the
why, why do people usually band?

Because I think that there are some
different reasons why people do it.

Sometimes when people are learning
how to squat or they're learning hip

thrust movements, what happens is the
adductors can kind of take over and pull.

And what happens with that and how
we know that that's happening is

because, the glutes may be weak
and the knees will start caving in.

And so there are many people who
will say, we can use a really,

really light band, not a heavy one.

Don't use a heavy one.

A really, really light band,
just to give people an awareness.

I.

That you, maybe we don't want
our knees coming in, right?

One because maybe that person didn't
go to the coach saying, Hey, I, I

really want really big adductors.

So if we can just grow
them, that would be great.

You know, most people when
you're like, why do you squat?

They're not like adductors mo.

Most women are like, I
want glutes, I want quads.

Right?

And so that's usually why.

But what happens is the adductors
can kind of initiate, uh, helping you

get out of the bottom of that squat.

And so when that happens
and they contract, they

kind of pull those knees in.

So that is a really good, if you are a
coach and you see that, that tells you,

either the glutes are really, really weak

for the high load that
we're using for the person.

Maybe they're not strong enough, their
glutes aren't strong enough for that load.

Or maybe it's just an awareness thing.

Maybe they just need help.

Like, Hey, don't push out.

Like maybe push out against,
don't allow your knees to cave in.

Maybe just push out a
little bit against my hands.

But most people don't wanna, you know,
face their client, you know, in the eyes.

Descend down with them while holding
like kind of the outside of their knees,

like push out against my hands, right?

So for these coaches, they're like, yeah,
I'm just gonna wrap a band around a little

bit higher than knees their knees, so
that they just have this little cue of

keep your knees not out per se, but
just we're trying to keep them in

line with actually trailing your toes.

We don't want them to cave in.

So some people use it for that, but that's
something you graduate out of, right?

You need that maybe a few times.

And then if you're being coached
correctly, you're being mindful.

You graduate out of that.

You get out of that.

And then once again, the band
is very, very, very, very light.

And so that can be applied to
both, uh, hip thrusts and squats.

Now, in recent years, though, the past 10
years, bands are no longer now being used

as a way for coaches to kind of cue, but
what a lot of people are thinking is, hey.

I really want to build my upper glutes.

I want to build my, you know, glute mead.

I want to round out my glutes.

And so I, I've got to work maybe
my glute mead a little bit more.

And they do have, an
element of abduction, you

know, pushing the knees out.

There is a, an element now, not
necessarily at a 90 degree, they're

not gonna be the primary mover

at 90 degrees, if you're sitting down.

Like if you kind of have those abductor
machines where you sit down and you go,

just go straight out, that's actually
gonna line your piriformis up more

than it will necessarily your glute me.

So if you wanna work your
glute me really, really well.

Then, um, I'll actually put in the
notes, some variations with both

bands and, cable work and how we can
line those up really, really well.

We don't want a ton of hip flexion.

We actually want to be
standing up a bit more.

But a lot of people have been thinking,
well, since there is this, this

slight element of, and maybe they've
exaggerated, uh, the element of abduction

for glute medias, then let's do.

Two things at one time.

Let's work the glute max with a squat,
and then also if we have bands around,

then we can push out and also be
that's going to help work Glute meet.

That's the general thought of why a
ton of women have been using bands

is they're like, I'm gonna try
to get a little glute max, and a

little glute mead at the same time.

Now in the biomechanics world,
this has been debunked for

many, many, many, many years.

Uh, now some individuals have built
their entire career around bands, even

selling bands, so we're probably not
gonna see them preach, oh, I was wrong.

I just learned 'cause.

You know, that's kind of what's
hard when people bet their entire

livelihood off of like one exercise,
or one diet, or one machine, or

one band or whatever, you know.

When new information comes out
that challenges it, do you think

that they're gonna be the first
ones to jump on the bandwagon?

Or maybe the ones who give the
most resistance to it, right?

So that's kind of hard.

But anyway, I don't wanna speak badly
of anybody or throw anybody under the

bus there, but I'm just letting you know
that of course, the person who has built

their entire life, livelihood, their
entire income on banding everything

is probably not gonna be on board.

Of course, the individual who's written
all of the books again, like pro and

teaching all of the benefits for fill in
the blank diet, when research comes out

saying actually just a calorie deficit
is all as needed for all of these things.

Actually, any calorie deficit
will give you the benefits

that you listed in your book.

Yet they're not gonna be like, oh, okay.

They're usually going to.

Fight it the most, right?

Because this is their livelihood.

So that's just a really good thing
to just kind of keep in the back

of your head as you're scanning
through information on social media.

But anyways, there was a study that,
uh, put this whole ban's idea to the

test before I di dive into this study.

Let me just say this one other thing.

There are a a lot of people who have taken
the bands around the the knees for hip

thrusts, for squats, and they've really
kind of thought, well, if I always have

bands around my knees, then my glute
need upper glutes will always be working.

So I all see people literally
it's glute day and they'll post on

social media glute day and they wear

the band for every single exercise.

Even like calf phrases.

And so I think, you know, this study, if
not ignored by the masses, I, I am excited

for people to kind of be excited that
now we have more data on this and maybe

we're gonna choose a, a different method.

That's actually going to line
up better with our goals.

So a recent study put this
whole bands around the, knees

thing to the test, and they were
applying it to hip thrusts, okay?

And what they found was that the EMG
reading failed to show any increase

in activity in the glute mead.

Isn't that interesting?

But, but even more important
because high low A MG, we're kind of

seeing over time that that doesn't
necessarily mean maybe it's pro or

cons or you're gonna grow or not.

MG is just, it's kind like the scale,
one tool, one tool of many, right?

But that was one tool saying,
Hey, we're not seeing it.

Any increase in activation.

The biggest and most important part of
actually all of this study was that band

usage actually decreased performance.

Okay, well now performance is directly
correlated to growth to hypertrophy.

So yeah, like listen up, this
is actually really important.

When bands were used, it decreased
the load around 45 pounds or, or

about 10 point a half to 12.5%.

So load, your ability to load actually
dropped, so performance dropped.

Why does that matter?

Well, when we're trying to build
muscle, we need to create tension on

the muscle we are trying to build.

Decreasing the load decreases that.

Okay.

That's not a good thing.

Okay.

So that is really, really important.

And then the, the conclusion of
the study, and we're gonna talk

about maybe some pros and cons of
the study here in a minute, but the

conclusion of the study by researchers.

Was actually that, you know, they
conclude, okay, this is may not

produce expected results and cannot
recommend using bands around these.

And I completely agree with that.

Uh, like I mentioned, this is something
that even within like going to

biomechanics courses over the past,
six years, all of the leaders in that

industry have come to the same conclusion.

So now we're seeing, okay, now
there's studies saying the same thing.

N one Education did some in-house testing,
on females, they saw the same exact thing.

This is clearly just not a good
tool, and if anything can actually,

decrease the likelihood of the
overall optimization of the exercise.

So you could take a quality, good
exercise like, you know, glute

bridge, like the hip thrust.

And you've now actually lowered
the quality of it by banding it.

So it's not that like, well,
but it's not gonna hurt.

It's like, oh, but no, no, that's
actually like exactly what the study said.

It, like, it hurts it, like it, it makes
the actual exercise not as effective,

so therefore, like we shouldn't do it.

Like there's really no reason to do it.

yeah, I agreed with the
author's conclusion.

If you want to build glute media, then
it's best to do separate exercises

that work abduction specifically.

And like I said, I'm, I am going to, uh,
add in notes, some links to some Instagram

posts that I've done on glut mead.

Now oftentimes, so there's,
there's two other things that

I wanna talk about with this.

Some people read that study and they're
like, but this study was done on men,

so therefore it doesn't apply to women.

And I do agree that we need to
see more women studies being done.

There are some types of studies
that the, that the sex is going

to influence things far more.

Uh, nutrition studies when
we're looking at hormones.

I like different things like that.

Like that is real.

Yes, 100%.

We need to see that.

But a study like this, I, once again,
N one education did do in-house only

on women and saw the exact same thing.

A reduction in output, uh, no glute mead
activation, really like, so this has been

actually, I don't wanna say replicated
'cause it wasn't the exact same study,

but it was relatively similar and done
on women and it showed the same thing.

But it's really important when we're
looking at things like biomechanics, it's

actually not necessarily sex that makes
the huge difference, but actually kind of

the mechanics of the individual, right?

And as long as we can make sure that
the readings are in the correct place.

So when they're, when they are
setting everything up for EMG to

be able to read, is there higher
activation, like all of that?

Well, we need to make sure that
the most important thing is,

is this on the right muscle.

And what's hilarious is I have literally
seen studies where they're like, well,

we're looking at different divisions of
the chest, but then they had the it all on

the wrong divisions and not even reading
like accurately the different divisions.

So I've seen them do it, poorly,
but in this, the fact that

it's like lowering output.

This type of study where we're really
just looking at the biomechanics and

hypertrophy, there's not going to
be these differences between the two

sexes that would actually make this
irrelevant because it was done on men.

Okay.

So when we're looking at more exercise
selection type of, studies, that's

not going to really influence it.

Okay?

So saying that this was done
on men, so therefore you should

keep doing bands is not accurate.

So another thing is women will say,
but I feel it more if I have bands on.

I feel it more.

So unfortunately feelings don't
equate to truth nor hypertrophy.

Right.

So a another thing that people
will say is, but so and so does it.

And she has amazing glutes.

one, a lot of those who rise to the top
on social media have incredible genetics.

Now, I don't want to
demean anybody's hard work.

I'm not saying that they
haven't worked hard.

I'm not saying that they haven't
built out their glutes, but it's

really, really important to understand
that correlation is not causation.

Okay?

And most women don't just walk in and do
hip thrusts with bands around their knees,

and that's the only exercise that they do.

And then for Glute day walk
out of the gym, am I right?

They're doing way more exercises.

In fact, sometimes I'm like,
I think what's hurting you is

actually you're doing too much.

Are you able to, like, every
day you're doing glute stuff

that's not helping you, right?

So you gotta let your,
your muscles recover.

So it's really, really important
to understand that if they have

done some really quality changes to
their glute need, then it, it's not

necessarily because they banded their
hip thrust and that's the only way.

It guaranteed they're doing
a lot of other exercises too.

So that is one thing that sometimes
I get slightly like, uh, okay,

well we've gotta teach this better
because just because somebody out

there has a really, really nice body.

And they do a really, really
poor exercise like frog pumps.

Remember when frog pumps were big?

Every single time I talk about frog
pumps, I have physical therapists

writing me saying, thank you.

Please tell people, please
keep telling people.

Stop it.

Stop doing the frog pumps.

So just because they do that one
exercise, remember that it's not in,

you're not looking at it in isolation.

They're doing a ton of other exercises
as well, so we cannot say that it was

that one exercise that got them there.

Unless we cut out, we detrained
them and we cut out all movements.

Except for that one.

Except for that one, right.

That's, that's the only
way we can say that.

It was that one movement, that
one exercise, that one band

that did something like that.

There's just too many other
variables that we have to

consider when we're looking at it.

So am I anti band?

I don't like, I love you guys.

I just wanna put information out there.

You take it, you apply it to you.

Is it helping?

No.

Is it hurting?

It seems to be.

Um.

Is it a tool that trainers can use maybe
to help a newbie kind of learn for Yeah.

Yeah.

I, I do actually think it is, and it can
be used wisely, but it appears in, um.

Things like, you know, hip,
hip thrusts and squats.

Like, we're really not doing
these two things at once.

Like we think we are,
we're just really not.

Um, and so it's better to just to
choose one exercise to really nail

the glutes and then, I mean, not one
exercise, but here, wait, scratch that.

It's better to choose exercises
of like, okay, this is glute max.

Choose exercise where you
want to build the glute meat.

Okay, this one.

It's primarily Glu Mead.

I swear whenever in life we're like,
I'm gonna do 2, 3, 4 things at once.

It's like, uh, but you don't
do any of them as well.

You just don't.

And this study kind of shows the
same thing if we're trying to do

it all, it's like, uh, but you're
trying to do hip extension and

abduction at the exact same time.

Like they're fighting motions.

You're trying, like that's
just not going to be optimal.

So just choose hip extension
and work that and abduction

and really work and nail that.

So thank you so much for joining me
today on the Lifting Lindsay podcast.

You know, if you are interested in
optimized training, banded work is

something that you're just not gonna find,
you're not gonna find in my programming

because, this is just something that
we've known for a, a really long time

and now we're kind of seeing a little bit
more studies rolling out, showing this.

So if you're interested in optimized
training programs, you can always go

to, uh, be strong lifting Lindsey.

Dot com.

I'll put a link in the notes as well.

Join us.

You don't just get training, you get
meal plans, you get community, you

get lives every other week with me.

I'm really here to help give
you the support that you need,

to help you hit your goals.

You guys have a wonderful week.