Do you keep the tension on the band so that you can do 8 to 12 reps and once you can do 12 do you increase the tension? Thus, a workout and advancement similar to free weights. Also , at what point do you move up to the next band color?
How often do therabands and/or rubber stretch tubes need to be replaced?
I have been using mine 2-3x a week since late October.
They seem OK, but I imagine that they will need replacement at some point.
I do 30-40 reps of each exercise. I was told to advance colors very slowly. Remember, these are small muscles--you do not want to overload them with too much resistance. I think it is a different approach than weight lifting.
You are trying to build muscle endurance and tone, not increase the size of the muscle. More repetitions are the idea here. Remember, the tolerances between muscle and bone in the shoulder area are already small. You don't want to close the gap anymore by bulking up these muscles. I do about 40-50 rep's of each exercise twice; when I do them :rolleyes: .
Thanks for the replies. Very helpful. One question I forgot to ask.Do you do the exercises every day or do you skip a day ? I am rehabing a torn supraspinatus muscle and have received conflicting advice from two physical therapists. Orthepedist advises no surgery. Interested to hear if someone has gone thru this type rehab using therabands and if you exercised every day. Also, not to confuse the issue but I am doing range of motion stretches every day.
I had a negative MRI, so the diagnosis was swimmer's shoulder/tendinitis due to impingement. Initially I did the exercises daily (for at least a year), now about three times/week (in combination with some weight lifting). Besides Therabands, my therapist recommended a few other exercises, including "ball on the wall" (surprisingly helpful).
