Today I’m sharing my all time favorite workout bands with you. So exciting.

I have three sets of favorite workout bands. One. Two. Three. Each of these sets comes with their own mix of bands, and the reason for that is that each of the bands within the mix has a different resistance. This is good because we can use a specific resistance band to go with a specific exercise…or use a specific resistance band according to your own personal strength (the stronger you are, the higher the resistance band you use, the less strong you are, the lower the resistance band you use. See what I mean?).

I use each of these sets for specific purposes. One to warm-up my lower body and supplement a leg workout at the gym, one to replace upper body weights when they are not available to me, and one to replace lower body weights when they are not available to me.

And want to know the best part about these sets? They are super easy to use, store and transport. Movable gym? Heck yeah, now we’re talking! I was able to purchase all of these bands online, by the click of a button, and they came to my door in T-2 days. Like woah. Thanks Amazon. No shipping cost and no hassle.

I freakin’ love online shopping y’all…that’s all the shopping I do, with the exception of grocery shopping…which I need to be present for, because I don’t trust anyone else selecting my produce, know what I mean? Good produce = amazing recipes, and I am not willing to sacrifice that. Not even for free delivery and convenience, no sir.

But let’s go back to my resistance bands. Love them. They are there for me in those moments of weakness when I don’t want to walk all the way to the gym (yup, I walk to our gym, it is only 3 blocks away) or when there is no gym (think traveling abroad and hotels not having a gym available).

They were literal life savers while we travelled in Italy for two weeks, in all of those hotels where the gyms were tiny and had nothing but cardio equipment and in those hotels where there was simply no gym at all. My husband and I got creative with them, and were able to get our pump on just by using bands. Crazy awesome, right?

The first set I love: SKLZ Mini Bands

These come in a pack of three, so they are sold as a set.

These I use on every leg day at the gym to warm up my legs and glutes. I literally bring them with me to the gym in my gym bag, and pull them out right before I think of starting with my leg workout.

I love to use them to warm up my glutes and legs and get them ready for the real pump, which involves heavy weights and a few machines.

Here is the warm-up circuit I use them for: 

1. Side squat walks (with band)  – 10 reps
2. Air squats (with band) – 10 reps
3. Standing side kicks each leg (with band) – 10 reps
4. Standing back kicks each leg (with band) – 10 reps

**Repeat above circuit three times.

You can really feel your glutes working and your blood flowing in your glute and leg area. Just try the above circuit and you’ll see what I mean. You can see me doing this warm-up circuit in this video.

The second set I love: Pull Up Assist Bands

These don’t come in a pack, so you have to buy them separately. I bought all five of them, as both my husband and I use them, so we need ones that have less resistance/tension (for me) and more resistance/tension (for him).

I mostly use the red, black and purple bands from this set. All depending on how strong I feel on a particular day and how many reps of an exercise I want to do. The less reps, the stronger the resistance bad I use (black and purple bands). The more reps the weaker the resistance band I use (red band).

I love to use these at home for lower-body workouts, but I also bring them to the gym with me sometimes when I don’t want to use weights nor machines for a specific leg exercise.

Here are some of the exercises I use them for: 

1. SQUAT (WITH BAND)
   1. To begin, first place long resistance band around your neck, so that the rest of the band hangs through your shoulders towards your feet. Step with both feet, hip width apart, on the exercise band, and stand straight.
   2. Hold on to the exercise band using both hands and position your legs using a shoulder-width medium stance with the toes slightly pointed out. Keep your head up at all times and maintain a straight back. This will be your starting position.
   3. Begin to slowly lower your body by bending the knees and sitting back with your hips as you maintain a straight posture with the head up. Continue down until your hamstrings are on your calves. Inhale as you perform this portion of the movement.
   4. Begin to raise your body as you exhale by pushing the floor with the heel or middle of your foot as you straighten the legs and extend the hips to go back to the starting position.
   5. Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.
2. SINGLE LEG SQUAT (WITH BAND)
   1. Stand with your torso upright and place a long resistance band around your neck so that the rest of the band hangs through your shoulders towards your feet. Step on the exercise band with your right foot, and keep your left foot at the same level, hip width apart. This will be your starting position.
   2. Step back with your left leg around 2 feet or so from the right foot being left stationary behind and lower your upper body down, while keeping the torso upright and maintaining balance. Inhale as you go down. Note: As in the other exercises, do not allow your knee to go beyond your toes as you come down, as this will put undue stress on the knee joint. Make sure that you keep your front shin perpendicular to the ground.
   3. Using mainly the heel of your foot, push up and go back to the starting position as you exhale.
   4. Repeat the movement for the recommended amount of repetitions and then perform with the other leg.

I feel like these bands act as a replacement to weights, and not just as a warm-up aid like the bands I showcased above. You can do full-on exercises with them and can get those glutes and legs shaped up!

These two exercises are just an example of what you can do with these bands. You can also see me performing these two exercises on this video.

These bands have some awesome potential. Get creative with them and you’ll see how you can easily replace weights from the gym with bands, and all from the comfort of your own home (or hotel room).

The third set I love: CUXUS 11 PCS Resistance Band Set

These are a set, and come in a pack. There’s 11 pieces in this set, and out of these, 5 are the actual resistance bands. The other 6 pieces are to supplement these bands, so that you can modify the bands to perform different exercises. Neat, right?

I only use these for when I travel and know there will be a tiny gym at the hotel we are staying at (with mostly just cardio machines) or no hotel gym at all. So they’d also work great for when staying at an AirBNB.

My husband and I each have one set of 11 pieces, so that when we are traveling together, we don’t have to wait for the other person to be done. It works great. They are not bulky at all, so they don’t take too much of your luggage space either.

With my husband we have used these creatively to modify a plethora of exercises for which we would normally need dumbbells, bars with plates and machines.

 

Here are some of the exercises I use them for:

1. BAND PULL APART (for shoulders)
   1. Begin with your arms extended straight out in front of you, holding the band with both hands.
   2. Initiate the movement by performing a reverse fly motion, moving your hands out laterally to your sides.
   3. Keep your elbows extended as you perform the movement, bringing the band to your chest. Ensure that you keep your shoulders back during the exercise.
   4. Pause as you complete the movement, returning to the starting position under control.
2. LATER RAISE WITH BANDS (for shoulders)
   1. To begin, stand on an exercise band so that tension begins at arm’s length. Grasp the handles using a pronated (palms facing your thighs) grip that is slightly less than shoulder width. The handles should be resting on the sides of your thighs. Your arms should be extended with a slight bend at the elbows and your back should be straight. This will be your starting position.
   2. Use your side shoulders to lift the handles to the sides as you exhale. Continue to lift the handles until they are slightly above parallel. Tip: As you lift the handles, slightly tilt the hand as if you were pouring water and keep your arms extended. Also, keep your torso stationary and pause for a second at the top of the movement.
   3. Lower the handles back down slowly to the starting position. Inhale as you perform this portion of the movement.
3. SHOULDER PRESS WITH BANDS (for shoulders)
   1. To begin, stand on an exercise band so that tension begins at arm’s length. Grasp the handles and lift them so that the hands are at shoulder height at each side.
   2. Rotate the wrists so that the palms of your hands are facing forward. Your elbows should be bent, with the upper arms and forearms in line to the torso. This is your starting position.
   3. As you exhale, lift the handles up until your arms are fully extended overhead.
4. UPRIGHT ROW WITH BANDS (for traps)
   1. To begin, stand on an exercise band so that tension begins at arm’s length. Grasp the handles using a pronated (palms facing your thighs) grip that is slightly less than shoulder width. The handles should be resting on top of your thighs. Your arms should be extended with a slight bend at the elbows and your back should be straight. This will be your starting position.
   2. Use your side shoulders to lift the handles as you exhale. The handles should be close to the body as you move them up. Continue to lift the handles until they nearly touches your chin. Tip: Your elbows should drive the motion. As you lift the handles, your elbows should always be higher than your forearms. Also, keep your torso stationary and pause for a second at the top of the movement.
   3. Lower the handles back down slowly to the starting position. Inhale as you perform this portion of the movement.
5. SQUATS WITH BANDS (for quadriceps)
   1. To start out, make sure that the exercise band is at an even split between both the left and right side of the body. To do this, use your hands to grab both sides of the band and place both feet in the middle of the band. Your feet should be shoulder width apart from each other.
   2. When holding the bands, they should be the same height on each side. You should be using a pronated grip (palms facing forward) and have the handles of the bands next to your face for this exercise. This is the starting position.
   3. Slowly start to bend the knees and lower the legs so that your thighs are parallel to the floor while exhaling.
   4. Use the heel of your feet to push your body up to the starting position as you exhale.
6. CALF RAISES WITH BANDS (for calves)
   1.  Grab an exercise band and stand on it with your toes making sure that the length of the band between the foot and the arms is the same for both sides.
   2. While holding the handles of the band, raise the arms to the side of your head as if you were getting ready to perform a shoulder press. The palms should be facing forward with the elbows bent and to the sides. This movement will create tension on the band. This will be your starting position.
   3. Keeping the hands by your shoulder, stand up on your toes as you exhale and contract the calves hard at the top of the movement.
   4. After a one second contraction, slowly go back down to the starting position.

Sorry I have no video here to show you how each of these exercises are done with the bands, but hopefully the descriptions above are good guides to walk you through them.

 

So now you know some of my travel secrets on how I stay in shape when a gym is not an option. It is great to have these bands available on-demand, as skipping a workout when you really want to get one in, is a total bummer. Get these online (SKLZ Mini Bands, Pull Up Assist Bands, CUXUS 11 pcs Resistance Band Set) and start to try them yourself at home. Remember to get creative with your bands, so that you can target all of those muscle groups you would normally hit at the gym with weights and machines. Bands are a life saver.

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