- Okay, so you bought some resistance bands.
Question is, what now?
Let me show you five great exercises to get started.
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So we're talking about resistance bands
quite a lot on this channel.
And I think that in terms of home exercise equipment,
they're one of the best bits of kit that a runner can have.
So, so versatile.
The problem I see lots, though,
is people have the resistance bands
or maybe bits of theraband given by the physio,
and they just sit gathering dust because
they don't necessarily know what to do with them.
So Holly and I, and Charlie,
are gonna show you five exercises to hit the hips,
the shoulders, and the core in a very quick little routine.
All we need for this routine
is a mini resistance band like this.
I'll leave the link to where I buy these ones on Amazon,
down in the description.
The first of the exercises we're gonna work through
is a very simple, three-way band pull from the hip.
We're gonna start out in this position
standing on one leg, band around the ankles,
and we're gonna pull out directly to the side.
In case we put on a clock face,
we're gonna be pulling out,
if we are standing on the left leg,
pulling out to three o'clock.
From there, you're gonna do six reps,
pulling out as far as you can,
then slowly controlling the return of the band
back til your ankles are almost together.
You'll do six reps in that three o'clock direction,
and then we're gonna do six reps to four o'clock,
and then six reps to six o'clock.
Okay, we're gonna do this
on obviously the right hand side standing on the left leg,
and then we're gonna do the same on the left hand side,
standing on the right leg.
But here we're obviously going out to nine o'clock,
then seven o'clock or eight o'clock,
and then down to six o'clock again.
Six reps on each direction, on each side,
and you do that three times through.
The second exercise is a band resisted body weight squat.
So the band comes up a little bit higher this time,
around the knees.
You can either go just below the kneecap
or just above the kneecap.
It doesn't really matter,
it depends on what feels particularly comfortable for you.
From there I want you to take perhaps a little bit
of a wider squat position than you would normally take,
so that we've got a little bit more resistance
being pulled into the band.
From there I want you to sit your bum back
and you can push your hands forward to use
as a bit of a counter weight if you like to achieve that.
Keep the weight in the heels but keep the knees apart,
and resist the temptation for the knees to want to come
together in response to the band pulling them together.
You're gonna come up and down into your squat,
come down to about parallel every time
and you're just gonna work through three sets of 10 to 15,
consciously trying to push out against the band,
rather than allowing the knees to knock together.
The third of our exercises
is a band resisted mountain climber.
We're gonna start out in a press up position
with the band looped around our feet.
Well and truly onto the foot so we're not round the toes,
we're over the main portion of the foot itself.
From there you're gonna keep one foot back
in our press up position,
as you bring your knee up towards elbow level.
You're gonna be pulling against the band as you do that,
and obviously the backward leg
is the anchored leg for that band.
You're gonna be pulling against the resistance of the band
as you bring the knee forwards.
Get to the most forward point,
then with control, come back til your feet are together.
You will repeat that then, on the other side.
And you're gonna go for, this time,
time rather than reps.
We're gonna go for 60 seconds,
pulling left, right, left, right
and you'll feel the effort here
through particularly those hip flexors,
and those abdominal muscles.
If you need to break it down to bouts of 30 seconds,
that's absolutely fine.
The key here is to maintain form
and control around this whole core region.
Moving to the upper body, the next exercise
I'm actually gonna line you up against the wall.
Little bit of a knee bend,
and make sure your back is absolutely flat against the wall.
You're gonna wrap the band around your hands
with your palms facing in,
and your elbows at about 90 degrees.
You're gonna pull the palms of your hands apart,
so you can feel the resistance of the band,
and then from there I want you to keep that tension on,
keep the elbows bent, as you flex both shoulders up,
so the band passes in front of your face
and your fingers come up towards the wall overhead.
You're gonna work back down from there,
back down to the starting position,
and the key here
is to consistently keep that pressure into the band,
pulling the band apart,
not allowing it to bring your hands any closer together.
For the last of these exercises,
we're gonna go back down to foot level,
wrap the band around the foot,
and you're gonna take up a half kneeling position.
The band's gonna be around the forward foot of the two.
You're gonna grab hold of the band with the opposite hand.
You're gonna keep a flat back as you go
from the position where your hand is near your foot,
to then pull back leading backwards with the elbow,
feeling a squeeze in the muscles of your back.
So thinking about your lats,
thinking about your rhomboids in particular,
thinking about your posterior deltoids as well
so the back of the shoulder.
As we then pull as far back as we comfortably can
and then return back to the start.
Let me know how you get on with this,
let me know if you've got any questions in the comments
and I'll speak to you soon.
Bye now.
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That's the, uh, that's the light.