Does James Grage Still Train With Resistance Bands?

What's going on? James Grage here with quick update. If there’s one question I get more than any other these days, it’s this…

I saw you lifting weights on IG. Did you give up on bands?

So let’s get this out of the way. The short answer is… *definitely not!* I still use bands every freaking day.

The slightly longer answer is “Let me tell you a little story.”

Back in 2016, I found myself bored with the gym. I had tried every kind of training style and split there was, but the problem wasn’t my workouts. I was tired of the gym scene.

I wanted to do something totally different.

At the time, I was a big advocate of resistance bands, but I found that people were really skeptical of them. So I decided to put my muscle where my mouth is, so to speak. I committed to stepping away from the gym completely and using nothing but resistance bands for a full year.

Then one year turned into five.

Why? I definitely loved how bands helped me really feel my muscles working, and taught me to control each and every rep from start to finish. It took that mind muscle connection to another level.

But even more so, I loved having the freedom to train where I want to train. I could go to the beach and get an incredible workout. If my daughter had a T ball game, I could do my workout there. I didn't have to choose either family or my workout.

Creating my own resistance band company, Undersun Fitness, was a natural outgrowth of the passion I was feeling about my own training. And over the last 5 years, it’s been inspiring and humbling for me to see so many people – millions! – use our bands and training programs and feel the same way.

So… what changed? It’s simple. My son told me he wanted to start lifting weights.

And what did I do? I gave him a set of bands and told him to meet me in the park.

But I saw pretty quickly that this style of training just didn’t click for him like it did for me. The reason why is no secret. He’s a teenage boy who wanted to do some clangin’ and bangin’ in the weight room… just like I did at his age! And there’s nothing wrong with that.

Fast forward a few months, and I now have a complete home gym, where I get to train with my son and watch him build his own passion for fitness – how cool is that? And my workouts these days incorporate dumbbells, barbells, and new tools like lever arms – not just bands.

But here’s the thing… I immediately found that bands maintained my strength with those other tools, not just my muscle shape. When I started “lifting” again, there was no hiccup, no transition. So yes, let’s be clear: band strength is real strength.

Today, I still incorporate bands into my workouts, for every muscle group. Sometimes I use them as a standalone. Some I'll do it in combinations like supersets. Sometimes I'll use bands as a finisher.

Lately I've been following legendary Golden Era bodybuilder Frank Zane and his workouts, just to change things up a bit. Even then I'm still using my bands for my warm-ups and even finishers at the end of the workout. Stay tuned to that series though, because I'll be incorporating the bands more. Even Frank himself is a huge advocate of bands.

With that said, I’m still learning more about the best ways to use bands for muscle gain, fat loss, and simply feeling amazing. And I’m eager to share that information with you.

So rest assured, my love for bands is alive and well.

I’ll be reaching out again soon to share more about how you can – and should – use bands to build the body of your physique!

Talk soon,

James Grage

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