Banded Resistance Exercises You Need to Include in Your Workouts
Once you have been training for some time, a time will come when you’ll have hit the ceiling of muscle growth. Breaking a plateau can be one of the hardest things and can only be done by adding advanced training techniques to your training routines.
Using resistance bands in your workouts can add constant tension to your muscles and can prove effective in forcing your muscles into growing. Resistance bands generally are of three different types (strong, medium and light). You need to use the right one according to your strength and the exercise.
Banded Leg Press
Exercises with resistance bands work best where the range of motion is vertical. Using the resistance bands on the leg press is easy, and will make the exercise feel like a completely different exercise.
You’ll need a couple of bands of the same strength for all the exercises mentioned in the article. On each side, put one end of the bands on the lift-off handles and the other end on the bars which holds the weights.
Banded Squat
Using resistance bands in your exercises will make them harder by adding resistance when the bands are expanded and reducing the tension when the bands contract. For the barbell squats, you’ll need a set of heavy dumbbells to attach one end of the bands.
Put the other end of the bands around the barbell outside the weights while the bar is racked. Unrack the bar and walk back a couple of steps so you’re in line with the dumbbells on each side. It’s important to keep an upright stance while performing the banded squats.
Banded Bench Press
If you’re new to banded resistance training, it’ll be a good idea to ask someone for a spot. The added resistance might take you by surprise as the bands completely change the dynamics of the exercises.
Place a heavy dumbbell at some distance from your chest on each side. Attach one side of the bands to the barbell and the other to the dumbells. You’ll feel the resistance while you’re pressing the weights up.
Banded Deadlifts
If you’re using medium or heavy resistance bands, you’ll be lifting around 50% of your usual weights. You’ll need a couple of heavy dumbbells on each side for performing the banded deadlifts.
Place the dumbbells on each side so that each side of the barbell is placed between the two dumbbells. Wrap one side of the band around one dumbbell and the other around the second dumbbell. The bands on each side should go over the barbell while it’s resting on the floor.
Banded Smith Machine Military Presses
Place a dumbbell on each side of the smith machine under the barbell. Wrap one end around the dumbbell and the other around the barbell. Maintain a full range of motion while performing the banded resistance exercises to get the most out of them.
It can take some time to trial test which kind of band works the best for each exercise. Perform these exercises in your next workout and your muscles will be filled with lactic acid and begging for mercy.
Do you use resistance bands in your training? Let us know in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook and Twitter.
