21 RESISTANCE BAND MOVES YOU CAN DO AT HOME

Who needs a full home gym?

You can get a full-body workout with a single piece of equipment, from the comfort and privacy of home.

Build muscle, size, and strength with these simple band exercises.

 

Sometimes it’s easy to forget just how simple it can be to get a little fitter. You don’t need technological marvels strapped to every part of your body or racks straining under heavy weights on hand. You just need to push your body a little bit further than it’s used to being pushed, and one excellent way to do that is to pull a stretchy bit of elastic in several directions.

Resistance bands are cheap, easily available on fitness stores in India, including our GymSquad ®️ fitness training bands and are also effective for a variety of workouts – probably far more effective than you might think. While those looking to add serious bulk might not get all they need from resistance bands, they are a great tool for increasing strength and adding some muscle. You can also use them for fast-paced HIIT workouts if you want to improve your cardiovascular fitness and burn boatloads of calories.

Resistance bands have gone from a little-considered afterthought in the gym to one of the most commonly used implements in the home and outdoor workouts that dominated fitness trends during the Covid-19 pandemic in India. Finally, bands got their due over the past year and a half, and became valuable as much for their utility as for their wide availability as supply chains made weights tougher to find. Now, you should consider ways to keep them in your routines permanently as you ease back in to more typical training protocols.

The Types Of Resistance Bands You’ll Need For This Workout

Resistance bands all work in the same way but they’re not all the same. You can get looped bands or various sizes and strengths, or a straight band which has two ends. Often the latter will have handles to make them easier to hold. Gymsquad ®️  provides a resistance band for legs, buttocks, and hips (60 to 120 LBS) in 3 colours set available in three levels of resistance in India. It’s made of satin cotton and latex wire mesh material. However, check you’re buying something that’s appropriate for your fitness level.

For one, Gymsquad ®️ bands are incredibly versatile. Using just your bodyweight and a band, you can load up essential movements like push-ups and squats. Need resistance? Stand on your band to curl, press, or row it, or tether it to an anchor point and you can perform all manner of pulls, extensions, and more. These resistance bands provide you with the ability to hit just about every muscle group in your body - if you're willing to work hard and get a little creative with your surroundings.

Even if you have dumbbells and kettlebells at home, or even if you’re fine doing basic bodyweight motions, having a resistance band around can bring serious value to your workouts.

Why? Two words: Accommodating resistance. Essentially, the farther you pull a resistance band, the more it quite literally “resists” you. That’s a different brand of resistance than say a dumbbell.

Take a biceps curl. Curl the dumbbell upwards, and there comes a point where the curl actually gets “easy” for your biceps, near the top of the motion. The length of the lever that challenges your biceps decreases as you finish the exercise, meaning gravity can no longer create challenge with the dumbbell (and your muscle no longer needs to create as much force to fight that challenge).

Do the same curl with a Gymsquad ®️ resistance band and as you near the top, it doesn’t get easier; instead, you have to work to earn the squeeze at the top of the curl. The stretched band is fighting you more, forcing you to accelerate through the entire range of motion and challenging your muscle fibers in a different way. You’ll have to squeeze your muscles extra-hard to fight banded resistance, a habit that will improve your dumbbell training, too.

Does that make bands better than dumbbells? No. But both tools can have a place in your training, and in the grand workout scheme, both tools can complement each other. One tool (hint: not the dumbbell), however, is so tiny that you can easily fit it in your backpack for any and every road trip.

That all makes resistance bands a quality option for any workout. But in much the same way you might mix barbells, dumbbells, and cables at the gym, you ideally want to mix up your training with resistance bands too. Try these approaches with bands (and know that there are many more too).

Full Workout: Yes, you can use Gymsquad ®️ resistance band for an entire full-body workout; they’ll challenge and push your body. Depending on the size of your resistance band, you might not be able to go incredibly heavy on some of the motions where you’ll want more challenge, such as deadlifts and squats, so if you’re doing a bands-only full-body session, consider doing this as a circuit. Aim for one pull move (a row or pulldown or curl), one push move (a push-up, overhead press, or triceps press-down-style motion) and one leg move (squat, deadlift, or lunge) in every full-body session.

Finishers: If you have access to dumbbells and barbells, or if you’re advanced enough with your bodyweight to create unilateral challenges (think: pistol squats and post push-ups), consider using bands near the end of your workout. They’re a great way to promote an active and aggressive chest squeeze on a push-up.

Drop-sets: One great way to use bands at home is to use them in drop-sets. A drop-set has you starting with a heavier weight (or a more challenging version of a move), then “dropping” into a lighter weight or more basic version of an exercise. Because you’re fatigued from the initial work you put in on the harder move, the easier move feels, well, harder. Try it with squats. Do 10 resistance band squats, holding the band under your feet and with your hands at your shoulders. Immediately release the band and do 10 standard squats. Do 3 sets. Enjoy the burn.

Mix-and-match these moves to create resistance band workouts that you can do anytime, anywhere. And when in doubt, remember to think full-body (one pull move, one push move, one leg move).

This includes split-stance row, the reverse fly, the single-arm reverse fly, and the classic bent-over row.

You'll rock your abs in this classic abdominal exercise, which takes advantage of banded resistance to challenge your core against all rotation.

12 Anytime-Anywhere Band Moves

This includes a banded monster walk that'll light up your glutes, and a banded jump squat that'll teach you to create lower-body explosion.

It’s all about isolating your triceps, reinforcing the idea that even when your arms are straight, your triceps must be working.

Attack the small, supporting musculature within your shoulders, bullet-proofing your upper body for bench presses and pullups alike with this series of moves.

Not every banded move is about pure muscle. The mobility wall squat will open your hips and improve your squat form and technique.

This one is all about abs, fighting against both anti-rotation and anti-extension (can you keep your core contracted no matter how the band pulls you?). It looks easy. It's not though.

You'll train your triceps by this exercise.

This one will light up your back, and there's a lot more ab challenge in it than you may expect at first.

This one isn't for the faint of heart, and it's certainly not easy. Build up to it. If you dare.

This one will build your chest and challenge your core simultaneously. And yes it's fun to punch the ground.

One resistance band, one structure, plenty of biceps and triceps pump fun.

Bulletproof your shoulders and build mid-back strength (and more ab strength than you think too) with this one.

Grab a partner and inject some fun (and serious anti-rotational challenge too!) into your workout with this finishing ab game.

Yes, with bands, you can grow your arms and sculpt your abs all at once! You'll do that here.

Find two posts and get ready to blow up your chest with this move, which is all about squeezing though the middle of your chest.

The face pull, when done correctly, will light up your back and bulletproof your shoulders. Fun fact: It's best with bands.

Add depth to your shoulders with this simple resistance band move.

Build speed and athleticism.

Another move that'll push your triceps to the limit, forcing you to own the straight-arm position.

This move adds hamstring size and strength. And you don't need a lot of room to do it, either.