6 Easy Resistance Band Exercises to Give Your Whole Body a Workout (2024)

FAQs

Can you get a full-body workout using resistance bands? ›

It can be tough to squeeze in a quality workout when you're strapped for time and have limited fitness equipment. But if you have a full-body resistance band workout in your arsenal, you can actually accomplish a whole lot.

However, with consistent and progressive resistance training using an exercise band, you can start to notice improvements in muscle strength and tone within a few weeks to a couple of months.

Generally, you can do resistance bands workouts 6 days a week to develop lean muscle mass, or full-body workouts for athletic performance benefits. As long as you maintain a healthy recovery time between workouts, you can easily use resistance bands up to six times per week.

Research has proven that resistance band exercises grow your muscles and tone them at the same time. Toning your muscles is simply the process of losing body fat so that muscles appear on the surface of your skin. There are no specific exercises to tone your muscles.

Resistance bands are effective in losing that belly fat and strengthening the core. Strengthening the core and burning excess fat helps boost your confidence and improves the shape of your body, along with bodily balance and mobility.

While you can resistance train everyday, for most people it may offer no additional benefits toward reaching their goal when compared to training only three to five days per week.

Choose a resistance level that allows you to complete 10 to 15 repetitions with good control, alignment and form. The National Strength and Conditioning Association recommends strength training be performed two to three days per week on non-consecutive days (not back to back).

The amount of time it will take to notice results with resistance band training depends on your starting point, diet, and adherence. That said, most people should see good results within six to eight weeks of training with bands as long as they are maintaining a calorie deficit.

When starting resistance band workouts, you'll want to aim for two strength-based training sessions every week that are about 30 minutes each, according to International Sports Science Association (ISSA)–certified personal trainer Mike Matthews, author of Muscle for Life: Get Lean, Strong, and Healthy at Any Age!

Do you need rest days with resistance bands? ›

Muscle needs time to repair and grow after a workout. Not giving your muscles enough time to recover means they will not get bigger or stronger. A good rule of thumb is to rest the muscle group for at least 48 hours.

We recommend that beginners should start with a lower strength of resistance band such as 10-15lbs to get used to the resistance and build strength. But if you are familiar with strength training, you can move into a heavier resistance 30lb+ to intensify your workout.

The key thing here is the reps, or repetitions of the same movement you perform: performing under six reps with heavier weights (or denser bands) tends to be best for strength, those over 12 are more for endurance, and in between those two sits eight to 10 reps, the sweet spot of muscle growth.

"Resistance bands will target and activate your glutes throughout the entire movement way more than a squat would alone, due to adding resistance and adding time under tension to those muscles that are being targeted," she says. Translation: Resistance band squats should be a staple in your lower-body workout routine.

Yes they do. Just as an example; you can add them to your Bench Press. It will add more resistance at the Top of the movement and you have to push trough the resistance. Now if you take them off you will notice a great increase in speed at the top of the movement at least.

Bands are also extremely beneficial for novice lifters. In one study, resistance bands helped decrease body fat and increase muscle strength to the same degree as free weights in an overweight/obese population.

In a word: very. One meta-analysis of eight studies showed that resistance band workouts are just as effective (if not more so) than conventional resistance band training with free weights or weight machines.

The answer depends on your goals—whether you are improving your cardio, gaining muscle, or losing weight—and your fitness level. For example, people who are new to working out will typically see cardio and muscle gain within two to four weeks. In contrast, significant fat loss might take around four months or longer.