If you watch football often you have likely noticed the small colourful bands worn around players arms. These bicep bands are quite popular in football and often have fans questioning their purpose.
Do these bands actually help the player athletically in any way or are they just there for show? Read on to find out.
Purpose Of Bicep Bands
When bicep bands were first created they, like any other piece of football equipment, had the purpose of improving a player on the field. The main purpose of bicep bans being that they collect sweat on your arms.
Similar to a headband a bicep band works to collect sweat that is dripping down your arms. The idea being that if this sweat is not collected it will eventually make its way down to your hands.
If this happens to a quarterback it will influence his ability to get a quality grip on the ball. This is the same reason quarterbacks wear towels around their waste.
Keeping their hands and the ball dry is of great importance to a quarterback. Sweatbands also tend to be worn by running backs and receivers as well.
These positions need to catch and maintain a confident hold of the ball. By using bicep bands these players are hoping to reduce the amount of sweat on their arms/gloves. This will ultimately allow them to get a more secure grip on the ball.
In the colder months teams will move from bicep bands to cold weather gear such as hand warmers around their waist or sideline jackets to keep warm.
Why Players Actually Wear Bicep Bands
So aside from the original purpose of bicep bands let’s get into why players actually wear them. This isn’t to say that no football players wear bicep bands for their sweat prevention. But let’s be honest the vast majority of football players wear these bands for the look.
Image is important to football players and with all the equipment it can be very difficult to show off any personality as a football player.
In the NBA for example a player could get tattoos or a cool haircut as a way to express themselves. With almost your entire body covered in football equipment players have to work to look for other ways to show their personality and style.
One of the most common ways to do this is by accessorizing. Since the jerseys, socks, and helmets can’t be changed there are only a few options left for players.
This is why you will see players with their own, facemasks, visors, and smaller accessories like bicep bands.
These allow the players to show some personality and have a different look on the field. After all as the great Dion Sanders once said “you look good, you feel good, you play good”.
What Are Bicep Bands Made Out Of?
Often times fans believe bicep bands to be small pieces of rubber wrapped around the player’s arms. This is not the case as if bicep bands were made out of rubber they would not do a very good job collecting sweat.
In most cases bicep bands are going to made of nylon, cotton, or some sort of fabric blend.
Generally speaking, a bicep band will feel the same as a headband as these pieces of equipment serve the same purpose and are often made from the same materials.
That is all on bicep bands learn about neck rolls in football or tape used on player’s arms in football.
