While it is always best to workout in a gym that has plenty of space and the best equipment for some people it is not an option due to finances, location, or perhaps they prefer to workout in their own home. For many it is not viable to go out and buy a set of dumbbells and barbells with racks and benches for they may not have the funds or even a place to keep it. Their only option is to find ways to work out with their own body-weight or using various tools to challenge their body. If you are like me you will find many body-weight exercises too easy and easily become bored with them. You just crave the resistance you get with load and this is where the massive advantage of the resistance band is found. In this article, I will discuss the several benefits of resistance bands and show you videos of several advanced ways to use the bands in your workout.
What Are Resistance Bands?
Resistance bands are elastic rubber ropes that come in different shapes, sizes, and resistance levels. Most brands offer light, medium and heavy bands that are easy to adjust allowing you to be creative with your exercises and workouts. They can be used by people of all ages and abilities as there are exercise we use with older adults and some with professional sporting athletes.
The versatility of this equipment is amazing and for this strange situation many of us are in right now this tool can be invaluable in maintaining quality workouts that not only maintain our strength and fitness, but even improve it!
While body-weight strength exercises can provide some great strength gains they cannot improve your ability with pulling movements and grip strength unless you do chin-ups. Unfortunately, not many people can do a chin-up especially the people who really need to strengthen who are perhaps injured, old, or simply not strong enough. Sure, dumbbells, kettlebells, and barbells can be a good addition and achieve the same outcome but they are not always a viable option.
This is where resistance bands can overcome this problem and help you build muscle to build up to the “bigger” movements.
There is a real problem facing us when we lose too much muscle from inactivity and many of the injuries I see every week in my training studio are injuries caused from poor movement or simply not moving enough. The thing you must understand is that the body will lose muscle really fast once you stop using it. And it affects everything from bone density to insulin resistance.
Resistance bands are one of great training tools available that we can use in this unusual time to preserve our muscle mass and prevent any future problems.
Let’s look closely at all the benefits this equipment provides.
Resistance Bands Build Strength
Most people really underestimate how much resistance they can provide and in some cases I would argue it is actually more difficult than the load coming from a dumbbell or barbell. Once you stretch the bands, they can make you work against more resistance, particularly at the end of your range of motion where strength is rising or already at its peak. This causes the muscles to be targeted differently and assists in developing functional muscle movements.
Resistance bands significantly increase the demands on joint stability during movement as there is a massive increase in velocity that acts like a slingshot effect on the joints. This trains the muscles to adapt to these rapid changes, unlike dumbbells or barbells that are more predictable and partly rely on momentum, making a portion of free weight exercises actually weightless!
These training tools also are one of those rare pieces of equipment that let you train multiple muscles in your body at the same time and focus very closely on the CORE. Very much like cable machines in a gym environment they allow you to alter the direction the load comes from. With free weights gravity is always forcing the load down to the ground, yet with resistance bands you can manipulate this angle to create different angles.
For example, a wood-chop exercise or single cable push will create a horizontal resistance forcing huge amount of strength to be recruited through the core along with parts of the upper body providing the movement.
I suggest to read our detailed article – How to improve core strength using the myofascial slings
It is not just these movements it works for you can also create huge loads with the squats, push-ups, bent over rows, horizontal and vertical chest presses, overhead presses, overhead, lunges, and even deadlifts as we will show you shortly. When you use a resistance band there is literally an exercise that you can do for every single muscle in your body. They are awesome for developing functional strength.
Resistance Bands Are Cheap & Take Up Very Little Space
There is no point in buying multiple pieces of workout equipment to get into shape when you can spend just a little bit of money on a set of resistance bands that will train your whole body from top to bottom. A full dumbbell rack could set you back a few thousand dollars whereas you can buy a quality pack of resistance bands from an online retailer for as little as $70! In this current economic climate this is very important to know for many people will be stretched to the limit with their finances due to loss of their income.
Also you have to consider is how easily they can be stored when you are not using them. They fit in a cupboard, your car, under your bed, even in a backpack or luggage so you can take them with you and exercise almost anywhere. When I provide programs for people who exercise at home one of the first things I ask them is; “how big is the area you plan to train in?” In most cases the area they can exercise in is not very spacious. With resistance bands this is not a problem for you don’t need much space to work with them. You can do a stack of exercises in just a small lounge room.
Now that we have covered the benefits, what are some of the best exercises to use?
Resistance Band Squat
This is probably my favorite but it is a bit tricky to get set up so make sure you watch the video. You will also need two bands of the same strength to do this version. You can do an easier version with a single band which we will show you next where we integrate the shoulder press with it.
This version is great for building strength into the legs with a load similar to a dumbbell or barbell squat and makes the body-weight squat seem so much harder.
Instructions:
1.Stand in the loop of an appropriate thickness band then place the band over your opposite shoulder. Place another band under the other foot and over the other shoulder to give you a harness like set up.
2.In a comfortable stance wide enough that allows you to squat down between your legs.
3.Take a deep diaphragmatic breath; engage the TVA drawing the belly button inward.
4.Lower down into a comfortable squat keeping the natural arch in your low back.
5.Exhale through pursed lips as you return to standing pushing through the added resistance of the band.
For more information on squat techniques check out the article – Should your knees go over your toes when you squat?
Resistance Band Lunge
This time you only need one band but it will need to be much stronger. The lunge is very versatile movement and provides you with more freedom than the squat which is why you need a much stronger band. It is also much easier to set this one up.
Instructions:
1.Loop the band over your right shoulder and under your left foot so it makes a diagonal line.
2.Drawing your belly button inwards step back into a lunge then drive with your front foot to return to standing against the resistance of the band.
3.Perform 10-15 reps before switching the band to the opposite side then repeat.
There is many other versions of the lunge you can apply this to you and I encourage you to read more about these and all the best tips in this article – Lunges are essential to your fitness success
Resistance Band Shoulder Press
Overhead press is great for building strength into the upper traps and deltoid muscles of the shoulder and is a functional movement we need in daily life. It is also a very weak movement for many people so having an exercise to target this is excellent.
This is quite simple to set up and there is two versions we use. The first version is the simple two legs and two arms and the second one we use only a single arm overhead movement. For the two arm version I might use a slightly stronger band than the single arm version. If it is too hard I can also incorporate the squat movement to make it a push press.
Don’t underestimate the bands resistance as it is much harder than it looks. Start with a light band and progress if it is too easy.
Resistance Band Push-ups
Push ups are one of the best exercises you can use in your own home. But they can get a bit boring after a while especially if you can knock out a lot in a row. Finding a way to make them more challenging is great and the resistance band definitely achieves this. I would say it is more difficult to do push-ups with a band than it is to do with a weight vest on. The band really pulls quite hard at the top of the movement and the inconsistency of the resistance really throws you off.
While a bulk of the workload is performed by the chest, shoulders and triceps, the exercise cannot be done correctly without almost every muscle in the body participating. The abdominal muscles must stabilize your torso to keep your hips from sagging or lifting up too high, and various other muscles such as Serratus Anterior play a role in assisting the stability of the head, shoulder and spine.
Instructions:
1.Lie face down hands a comfortable width at shoulder height with a resistance band around your back.
2.Take a diaphragmatic breath and draw your belly button inwards. Exhale through pursed lips pushing yourself up to a plank position keeping your head and spine in alignment.
3.Inhale as you lower back to the ground and repeat.
You can read more about push ups in this article – Why push-ups are the best exercise for strength and fitness
Resistance Band Single Leg Deadlift
This exercise is difficult enough as body-weight for most people as it requires a high degree of coordination and balance to get it right. It is also the best exercise to strengthen the glutes and the posterior chain muscles of the legs which are so important for the health of the knee and the lower back.
This exercise forces the glutes to perform several roles at once. It needs to stabilize the hip, act as a hip rotator, and lock the head of the femur into the socket, creating a very tight and stable hip joint during gait. This prevents the ball and socket joint from rattling around during walking and running. It is not hard to see why it is rated so highly for preventing lower limb injuries.
Instructions:
1.Standing on one leg and looping a band under your foot.
2.Reach down keeping the natural arch in your low back.
3.Grasp the band in both hands a little more than shoulder width apart.
4.Pick your chest up look forward and engage your core.
5.When you lift your torso to the top position exhale through pursed lips through the most difficult point of the movement. Imagine trying to push the ground away from you with your feet.
6.Repeat
You can also add the bent over row to this exercise as shown in the video. This is an excellent way to build some upper body strength into the upper back which is often hard to do with body-weight exercises. For this reason alone I would always include this exercise in every program.
Crab Walks
This is a quick video that looks at the popular exercise for strengthening the glutes called the Crab Walk. This is a progression of the lying glute exercise called the clam and due to the standing position it gets the quadriceps and hamstrings involved into the movement while still heavily targeting the glute medius and glute maximus. This exercise works best if you use small micro resistance bands around the legs to force the glutes to work harder to provide external rotation of the hip.
In the video I discuss the importance of placing the band above the knee and why I prefer to use a squat motion as opposed to staying bent over as many people do. A great exercise to use at the beginning of a workout to provide a good warm up prior to move complex movements of the hip and is something I use a lot with agility and sports based training.
Wood-chops & Single Arm Pull & Push Variations
These last few exercises are the ones that really target the core as we discussed earlier. All you need to have is a place to fix the resistance band to. For example a post or a pole that cannot be pulled over. You will not need a very strong band to do these as the exercise can be very difficult if you use a band that is too strong. Find the right one for you and adjust your stance from where you have fixed the band to find the right amount of tension.
These are all fantastic exercises to use for sports, but just as relevant to an older adult which is what makes them such a great investment.
Chin-ups
So far we have seen how the resistance bands can challenge you and make things harder. This time we show you how the band helps you. You will need to find a secure set of bars to hang the band from and you can find something like this in the local playground or school. Chin-ups are one of the exercise most people avoid for they are very tough to do and require considerable strength. The resistance bands provide enough help that it enables you to develop your skills to eventually one day be able to do a chin-up on your own.
You can read more about chin-ups in the article – Why chin-ups are the ultimate core exercise
Rehabilitation Exercises Using Resistance Bands
For a long time resistance bands have been used in the physical therapy and rehabilitation world for they are a great way to introduce a person to resistance training with a low risk load that does not apply huge compression forces like free weights do. They are an fantastic way to target small stabilizing muscles that are often weak and not easy to strengthen with your traditional exercises.
Below are a few videos that show you how we might use resistance bands to do this.
Do You Want More Ideas?
For more specific programs for general fitness, various injuries, sports and even older adults methods I encourage you to get our Little Black Book of Training Secrets book below. This has over 100 detailed programs with exercises, sets, reps, rest and tempo all done for you and broken into specific chapters to make it easy to reference what you need. The ultimate tool and resource for you to get the most out of your training.
Click here or the image below to get your copy.
Summary
Working out at home does not have to be boring or cost a lot of money by buying stacks of weights or machines. Sure they are great if you have the space and the money to get them but you can still create some intense workouts and training sessions using your own body-weight and resistance bands. I hope this article gives you some ideas of how to mix up your training and maintain your levels of strength and fitness until life goes back to some normality. This also might also give you some much needed inspiration and motivation to get into your training again if you have stopped.
About The Author
Nick Jack is owner of No Regrets Personal Training and has over 20 years’ experience as a qualified Personal Trainer, Level 2 Rehabilitation trainer, CHEK practitioner, and Level 2 Sports conditioning Coach. Based in Melbourne Australia he specializes in providing solutions to injury and health problems for people of all ages using the latest methods of assessing movement and corrective exercise.
References
•Functional Anatomy of the Pelvis and the Sacroiliac Joint – By John Gibbons
•Movement – By Gray Cook
•Corrective Exercise Solutions – by Evan Osar
•Back Pain Mechanic – by Dr Stuart McGill
•Diagnosis & Treatment Of Movement Impairment Syndromes – By Shirley Sahrman
•Low Back Disorders – by Dr Stuart McGill
•Ultimate Back Fitness & Performance – by Dr Stuart McGill
•Anatomy Trains – by Thomas Meyers
•Motor Learning and Performance – By Richard A Schmidt and Timothy D Lee
•Assessment & Treatment Of Muscle Imbalance – By Vladimir Janda
•How To Eat, Move & Be Healthy by Paul Chek
•Scientific Core Conditioning Correspondence Course – By Paul Chek