Resistance Bands

If you wandered into a gym recently then I don't doubt that you've seen people working out with resistance bands. Entire fitness classes even fitness videos are dedicated to them.

Resistance bands offer a huge range of motion, as opposed to a machine that strictly dictates your range of movement. This allows you to create resistance from every direction the side, overhead, below like free weights, and even to combine several exercises. Bands also let you mimic movements such as a baseball bat, golf club or tennis racquet swing to perfect your sport.

I find this versatility important so I don't hit a plateau. After all, your body is smarter than you give it credit for. This is why I use a variety of weight machines, barbells, dumbbells, benches, stability balls, resistance bands and cardio machines in my workout it constantly gives my body the idea that it has to keep adapting itself, therefore I see constant gains. With resistance bands, I've incorporated their varying degrees of difficulty into my workout the lightest resistance for warm-up stretching and the medium and highest resistance bands for leg extensions, kickbacks and bicep curls.

When I'm traveling this is how I perform leg extensions with my resistance bands actually I just need one! I usually do 15 to 20 reps, in sets of 3, but start with 10 reps and 3 sets per leg.

Figure 01 Figure 02

I simply wrap the resistance band around a doorknob or chair. I wrap the other end around my right ankle Grasping a chair for stability, I step back with my left foot, far enough so that I can swing my right foot forward and without hitting anything (Figure 01). I extend my right hip and leg pulling the resistance band back to feel the stretch (Figure 02). I return my leg to original position (Figure 01). Once a full set of reps has been completed with the right leg, I switch the resistance band to my left leg and perform the same exercise. Before I was sold on the idea of weight training, I gave resistance bands a try. If you're warming up to the idea of resistance training, but not quite sold, do what I did and purchase a few resistance bands. You can buy a set for $25 (for all 3 levels of resistance).

These usually come with a diagram of exercises. This way you can perfect your form and start weight training without having to purchase a gym membership or expensive weight equipment for your home.