JimsHealthAndMuscle.com
Resistance band
Training
A Resistance Bands Book
For Exercise At Home
Or On The Go.
James Atkinson
Copyright 2021 JimsHealthAndMuscle.com
All rights reserved.
CONTENTS
Section 1
Jump to the exercises!
As you are reading the eBook version, its really awkward to keep flicking through the book to find the correct exercise description, so in this small section, Ive added links to each exercise so you can quickly navigate to the illustrations and descriptions during your workout to refresh you on correct form and technique.
Its best to read through the rest of the book and create your plan before using this quick reference page.
Why resistance bands?
Resistance bands are an amazing piece of home gym equipment, and everyone who shows the slightest bit of interest in fitness and exercise should own some form of resistance band training equipment.
Resistance band training is so versatile and can fit into everyones training routine regardless of fitness goals and differing levels of ability. Resistance band training can be used by:
- Total beginners to fitness and weight loss
- People who are in rehab after injury
- People who are working on mobility and function
- People who just want to get their body moving
- People who want a tough circuit training session
- Endurance trainers
- Bodybuilders
The scope for resistance band training is as broad as the fitness and exercise industry itself.
Now we know that resistance band training is for everyone, we can talk about the versatility of this type of exercise. One of the major draws to exercise band training is that if you own a standard set of exercise bands and a modicum of knowledge on how to use them, you technically have a personal gym with everything you need to complete a substantial, full-body workout that fits conveniently into a small bag. You can store your full gym in a draw or cupboard and you can easily take it with you if you want to train on a business trip, on holiday, at work on your lunch break at work... Or there is a pandemic on and all the gyms close!
These things are absolutely fantastic and I cant say enough about them! I will however finish by saying that they are very inexpensive for what they are and you can pick up a quality set that will last you years for around the price of a single months gym membership or a single session with a personal trainer!
So you have heard my opinion on resistance band training and probably established that I am a firm advocate, but who am I and what gives me the right to set about creating a guide on the subject?
My name is James Atkinson (Jim to my readers and friends). Ive been into fitness and exercise for most of my life and my experience has an extreme range, from skinny to competing bodybuilder, from fat to endurance runner, I have formal qualifications in advanced fitness instruction, am an Amazon bestselling author in the fitness niche.
This information is not an excuse for me to brag, but I believe its essential for you to know some background on the author of potential exercise advice that you intend to follow. At this point, I want to thank you for your purchase and let you know I am always willing to help where I can with your fitness journey.
Id also like you to know that I am a real person, (not a ghost writer) Im passionate about my subject and write from personal experience, I have had great success with fitness but part of the journey to great success is often great failure and I have that too and I share a lot of this too.
If you do struggle with anything fitness or exercise related, please shoot me over an email at Ill do my best to help where I can.
The bottom line is that I want you to get results and Im here to help you get to where you want to be in fitness!
Health Check
Before you embark on any fitness routine, please consult your Doctor or physiotherapist. If you have any health conditions, always check if the type of exercise and exercise choices you intend to involve yourself with.
1. Do not exercise if you are unwell.
2. Stop if you feel pain, and if the pain does not subside, consult your Doctor.
3. Do not exercise if you have taken alcohol or had a large meal in the last few hours.
4. If you are taking medication, please check with your Doctor to make sure it is okay for you to exercise.
5. If in doubt at all, please check with your Doctor first you may even want to take this routine and go through it with them. It may be helpful to ask for a blood pressure, cholesterol and weight check. You can then have these taken again in a few months to see the benefit.
Which resistance bands?
There are lots of types of exercise bands out there. Some are designed for specific body parts and exercises; some are made of fabric, some of latex, some of elastic. Some are tubular, some are flat, and the list goes on. There are also many resistance bands that are essentially the same product but are marketed to a certain group, so this is something to be aware of.
When you look past all the noise and marketing, there are only really three types of resistance band. The loop band, the stretching band, and the resistance band made for attachments.
The loop band
The loop band is normally a flat circular band made of either latex or fabric. These can often be found in sets of varying tensions and sizes or can be bought as a single unit. This type of band is usually recommended as an aid for stretching, rehab or other more specific training, but they can be used for all other types of training if you have the right tension band along with the knowledge of how to utilise it.
As these are essentially a loop and they are designed for specific exercise choices, you will find these in many sizes. An example of this is that you may see a loop band designed specifically to aid in pullups. This will be a fairly large loop. You may also see one designed with outer leg exercise in mind, these will be a much smaller loop than the one designed as an aid to pullups.
The stretching band
These bands are normally made of latex or elastic and are available in many lengths. The key feature that sets these apart from the other two is that they are flat and tend to be much wider. These bands are normally used as an aid in the development of flexibility and function, often the physiotherapists choice for rehab. The wide surface area is very useful for better purchase when performing raised leg exercises and using bare feet as an anchor point.
As these are flat, you will tend see and hear them referred to as a roll, and as they are often used for rehabilitation, you may also hear them called rehab bands.
The exercise band set with attachments
These are widely available and are probably the most versatile. They are usually tubular bands of varying tensions that have small hooks at each end. These hooks are used to transform the band into a specific piece of exercise equipment. As well as the exercise bands, these kits normally contain several handy attachments such as stirrups for hand placement, a door anchor and ankle cuffs for lower body exercises.
Each exercise band can also easily be turned into a loop band by linking the two hook ends together, and they can also be stacked onto the attachments if you outgrow the highest tension band in your set.
Which one do I recommend? There is no reason you cant own variations of these bands. The more you have access to, the more scope you have for exercise. If you only wanted to invest in one type of exercise band, however, I would recommend that this was the exercise band set with attachments. This has the most versatility as you can create loop bands, add attachments that turn the band into a piece of exercise equipment for a specific muscle group, you can stack them and these exercise band sets usually include a compact bag for storage and transportation.