Resistance bands are the ultimate traveling companion for on-the-go workouts. They allow you to perform a wide range of exercises, and they’re small enough to be stuffed into the bottom of your bag when you’re done.
If you’re heading on vacation, or you just want a quick resistance band workout to try at home, we’ve got you covered. This routine from International Personal Trainer Academy expert Amanda Capritto will work your upper and lower-body muscles with just six moves.
"I love this workout because it’s simple, straightforward and relatively fast-moving," she says. "It can also be performed as a high-intensity workout or a strength-building workout depending on the resistance band setup you have.
"For instance, if you only have light-to-moderate bands, you can move quicker and take less rest to make this akin to a HIIT workout. If you have heavy bands, you can perform the movements slowly and with a lot of rest to achieve a strength-building stimulus."
How to do Amanda Capritto’s resistance band workout
Superset x3
- Resistance band squat x10-15
- Resistance band good morning x10-15
Superset x3
- Resistance band bent-over row x10-15
- Resistance band overhead press x10-15
Superset x3
- Resistance band biceps curl x10-15
- Resistance band overhead triceps extension x10-15
This workout consists of three supersets—two exercises performed back-to-back with no rest in between.
In practice, this will mean performing 10-15 resistance band squats, then immediately completing 10-15 resistance band good mornings, followed by a rest.
Repeat this superset three times before moving on to the next one. Once you’ve finished three rounds of each superset, the workout is complete.
As Capritto explains in the introduction, if you’re using a lighter resistance band, take a 30-second break between sets. If you have heavier bands and want to build strength, take 90 seconds between sets as this will allow your muscles to recover more so you can hit the next set with renewed intensity.
If you've not got a set of bands at your disposal yet, I like this this option on Amazon, which comes with four different levels of resistance.
1. Resistance band squat
Sets: 3 Reps: 10-15 Rest: -
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and a long-looped resistance band under the middle of both feet. Loop the top of the band around the back of your neck and shoulders.
- Keeping your chest up and your back flat, bend your hips to lower your hips as far as you can towards the ground.
- At the bottom, drive through your feet to return to the standing position.
2. Resistance band good morning
Sets: 3 Reps: 10-15 Rest: 30-90 seconds
- Keep the band set up as it was for the resistance band squats.
- This time, hinge at the hips to bend over until your torso is roughly parallel with the floor. Keep your back flat and push your butt back while doing this.
- Squeeze your glutes and drive your hips forward to reverse this motion and return to the starting position.
3. Resistance band bent-over row
Sets: 3 Reps: 10-15 Rest: -
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and place the center of the band under the middle of both feet. Hold the other end of the resistance band in each hand.
- Keeping your back flat, hinge at the hips to bend over until your torso is roughly parallel with the floor and your arms are extended down. This is your starting position.
- Drive your elbows upwards to row both ends of the band up to the bottom of your rib cage.
- Pause at the top of the repetition for a moment, squeezing your shoulder blades together, then control the band back to the starting position.
4. Resistance band overhead press
Sets: 3 Reps: 10-15 Rest: 30-90 seconds
- Stand upright with a long-looped resistance band placed under the middle of both feet.
- Hold the other end of the band in both hands in front of both shoulders.
- Press the band upwards to extend your arms overhead, pushing your head through your arms at the top of the rep so your biceps finish by your ears.
- Control the band back down to your shoulders to complete the repetition.
5. Resistance band biceps curl
Sets: 3 Reps: 10-15 Rest: -
- Stand upright with a long-looped resistance band placed under the middle of both feet.
- Hold the other end of the resistance band at your hips so the band is taught, your arms are at your sides extended down, and your palms are facing away from you.
- Using both hands, curl the band up toward your shoulders.
- Pause at the top of the rep for a second, twist your little fingers towards you slightly and squeeze your biceps, then lower the band back to the starting position.
6. Resistance band overhead triceps extension
Sets: 3 Reps: 10-15 Rest: 30-90 seconds
- Take a staggered stance, with a long-looped resistance band placed around the bottom of your back foot.
- Stretch the band up so you’re holding the other end in both hands behind your head with your elbows pointing upwards.
- Keeping your upper arms steady, straighten arms overhead, then control the band back to the starting position.
Can you build strength with resistance bands?
It is definitely possible to build strength and muscle with resistance bands, especially if you’re newer to resistance training and require less of a stimulus to make progress. But Capritto says this isn’t the case for everyone.
“If you have resistance bands that are thick or heavy enough to reach the point of failure or near-failure, where the last rep of your set feels almost impossible, then yes, you can build muscle with resistance bands only.
“However, if you’re able to easily complete 20 or more repetitions of any exercise without
fatigue, you’re not going to build muscle that way—at least not for very long. Beginners will see some muscle growth with just about any resistance training protocol because the overall stimulus is entirely new to their body.”
The body follows the SAID (specific adaptation to imposed demands) principle, meaning it adapts to better handle the tasks you consistently ask it to do. In the case of strength training, this means you need to be continually challenging your body in order to prevent your progress from plateauing.
“As people progress, it’s important to implement progressive overload—continually loading the musculoskeletal system with higher weights and/or more challenging stimuli—to see continued results,” Capritto says.
So at some point, you’ll need to switch your light resistance bands for heavier ones, or opt for some dumbbells to increase your load. Need some new gear? Have a look through our round-up of the best resistance bands and best adjustable dumbbells.
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