At Home Workouts To Stay Fit

Benefits of Resistance Bands

• Resistance bands have been found to produce similar muscle recruitment activity levels and peak load levels as free weights. 
• A 2006 study published in the "Journal of Strength and Conditioning" found that athletes who incorporated resistance band exercises into their workouts along with free-weight exercises saw significantly greater developments in leg power than when they only used free weights.
• Using resistance bands causes you to activate your core muscles for stabilization and better balance.
• Smaller muscle groups are more easily targeted.
• Resistance bands create resistance in all directions thus providing constant resistance all the way through each exercise movement.
• Strengthens neglected muscle groups that weights do not.

Progressive Overload With Resistance Bands 

People often undervalue resistance bands and their effectiveness. Which makes it important to understand how to progress if you cannot move up in “weight”. 

Here are some ways to continuously challenge yourself with bands:

• Isometric Hold - Mastering full range of motion before increasing load and hitting it harder with isometric holds of 2-3 seconds. 
• Active Rest - Instead of just resting for 30 seconds, try incorporating 30-45 second planks, plyos, stretching, etc in interim.
• Time Under Tension - General rule of thumb for most repetition schematics: 3-4 seconds eccentric, 2 seconds iso pause, 1-2 seconds concentric with no break between. For lower reps/more tension simply stack your bands (meaning use two of the resistance bands simultaneously). Of course lower rep and heavier weights will be more explosive with a pause between reps. And higher reps will have a faster tempo overall. But so much strength potential is never even touched when you repeat the same tempo for 8-15 reps as you do for 30 reps.

*Note: Concentric movement is when the muscle shortens while producing force (contracting the muscle). This happens when you are raising the weight during a biceps curl. Eccentric movement is when the muscle lengthens while producing force. For example, when you're lowering the weight back down during a biceps curl.

Don’t undervalue the power of resistance bands. You can get just as good of a workout in with bands as you can with weights. Think outside the box, hit different angles, different tempos, etc.

Resistance Bands + Weight Training 

Using resistance bands simultaneously with dumbbells or weights increases the tension at points of the fulcrum lever that are typically at a disadvantage with one method or another. Dumbbells have a disadvantage relative to gravity depending on the lever point, and thus resistance bands can fill in for the decrease in load position. On the contrary, bands can’t offer consistent tension at all angles so using dumbbells will fill the gap at certain points.  

If you want to increase your body’s ability to handle heavier loads, increase your muscle’s hypertrophy and improve control, I recommend working with eccentric resistance ( resistance bands) as an additional modality to your strength training program.

While saying training with an eccentric focus is better than concentric is still up for debate, it’s not a bad idea to incorporate some form of eccentric at some point.

Example Workouts

Total Body at home utilizing a loop band + resistance band or stacked bands with handles and a door anchor.

4 sets of each circuit 

Circuit 1: 

1. Step ups on chair or bench ( whatever you have available- weight optional) x 15 each
2. Loop Band Standing abduction side kicks x15 each
3. Banded Glute bridges weighted if possible x 15

Circuit 2: 

1. High Anchor Tricep Pulldowns/ extension facing anchor x 12
2. High Anchor Standing Rear Delt flies x12
3. High Anchor Wide Rows with Squat X12 

Circuit 3:

1. Burpee x 10
2. Loop Band Lateral Squat Walk X6 steps each direction 
3. Triangle pushups x 12
4. Loop Band Stationary Alternating Reverse Lunges x 10 each 

Glute focus using resistance bands + hip circle loop band 

Using Loop Band Above Knees:

• Single Legged Straight leg kick backs x 12 each leg
• Lying banded reverse hypers ( lay on your stomach on a bench with loop band on)  x 15
• Lateral squat walk banded  x 6 steps each direction 
• 4 sets

Low Anchored resistance band + ankle straps:

• Standing kick backs  x 12 each
• Standing side Hip Abduction leg raises x 15 each
• Standing side lunges  x 12 each
• 4 sets 

• Standing reverse lunges with knee drive forward x 12 each
• Bands attached to ankle Mountain climbers x 30 ( 15/side )
• Lying lateral leg raises x 12 each
• 4 sets 

Burnout Finisher - loop banded squat jumps - 100 reps total AFAP ( As Fast As possible)

For all your resistance band needs, including workouts and video demonstration visit www.adobands.com 

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