Resistance band exercises to try

Blog | by Sport UNE Sports Development Coordinator, Justin Shaw

Resistance bands are a great addition to your workout routine. Movements that involve resistant bands create constant tension for your muscles which is excellent for building strength, burning fat, and joint stability. Now, what I mean by “constant tension” is that your muscle is always until it returns to the starting position.

An easy way to visualise this:

• Imagine lying on your stomach and getting up to your feet. Once you’re standing on your feet, there’s minimal effort require to stay there. Gravity and your skeleton are doing most of the work. This is what some free weight exercises are like, with the majority of the tension involved in the movement itself.
• Now imagine lying on your stomach and coming up into a plank position. Once you’re at the top, you are still under tension. Gravity wants to pull you down, but your muscles are working to keep you off the ground.

This is a very broad and clunky metaphor, but it helps to understand the difference.

When we are training, especially for strength and muscle growth, a key aspect is time under tension. The more time your muscles are under tension, the more work they are doing, and the more they will adapt.

Resistance bands can be added to your free weight movement such as wrapping a band around the centre of your legs during a deadlift to provide constant tension and to help work out any weak points in your foundation movements. They are also fantastic for working out at home, or while travelling.

Here are some band exercises that you can do anywhere!

7 resistance band exercises for upper body

1. Band Extension (Rear Delt Fly)
2. Band Row
3. Band Bicep Curl
4. Band Tricep Kickback
5. Band Tricep pushdown
6. Band Lateral Raises
7. Banded Standing chest press

7 resistance band exercises for lower body

1. Band Kickback
2. Band Squat
3. Band Deadlift
4. Banded Glute bridge fly
5. Banded hamstring Curl
6. Banded Crab walk
7. Band Quad Extension

7 resistance band exercises for a strong core

1. Banded Core Rotation
2. Banded Palloff Press
3. Banded Heel Taps
4. Banded Reverse Crunches
5. Planking Band reaches
6. Planking Banded foot Mountain Climbers
7. Banded Lawnmowers

Using bands is an excellent place to start if you are new to resistance training. If you have been training a while, they are a great way to bust through plateaus and spice up your current session plans. Get creative!

Make one of our group fitness classes part of your workout routine!

See the timetable by visiting our website or speaking to one of our friendly staff members on (02) 6773 3856