Workout Exercises

Nowadays medical experts are continuously recommending strength training to improve physical and mental health but with a hectic work and travel schedule it is not always possible to attend the gym regularly. Going to the gym often seems like a huge time sink, so lots of people skip the gym. However a simple search for home workout equipment and exercise regimes can work for them no matter where they were, no matter how busy their schedule, and application of the recommendations can help prevent a broad array of medical conditions like osteoporosis prevention, arthritis relief, cardiovascular benefits, insulin metabolism, injury prevention, sleep benefits, mood enhancement, increased stamina, weight loss and overall slowing of the aging process.

Strength training, may include weight training and other weight-bearing exercises, involving working with resistance machines and free weights (dumbbells). However we recommend using the body’s own weight for example: push-ups, body-weight squats and chin-ups. In addition resistance bands are the best home workout equipment to use. Because they take up so little space at home (your living room is for living not to accommodate huge pieces of exercise equipment) and are portable enough to just pop in your bag and take to work, on a business trip or on vacation. Resistance bands are ideal for working on small muscle groups as smaller muscle groups are harder to train with traditional exercise equipment.  Resistance bands are flexible so increasingly recommended by physical therapists to recover from surgery or from any injury.

Resistance bands are just what they look like: large elastic bands to help you in building strength. They can be used for variety of exercise, are safe, inexpensive and easy to use so are fast becoming a popular addition to the home workout routine. Resistance bands are the best home workout equipment available as buying them will mean you will not have to invest money in other expensive cumbersome fitness equipment. These bands are color-coded based on tension level, and are the indicators of variable resistance. You can purchase a set of resistance bands instead of purchasing individual bands and our guide will help you tailor your workouts to your fitness levels.

Athletic trainers and fitness experts alike favor resistance bands especially for the travel workout, and many professional travelers are following the example to avoid interruptions tot heir healthy lifestyle. Traveling means a lot of time sitting around and the road warrior workout kit will help you in utilizing your time and better managing your workout life. Traveling does not exactly equate to traveling in comfort. Waiting for planes, sitting in meetings, sitting on a plane or restaurant all negates the good work you do to keep in shape. In addition, your back takes the strain from lugging, your laptop and accessories. You can save yourself with the road warrior workout where you will find your body maintains shape and you maintain a more relaxed outlook.

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If you do a  resistance band training session at home it is easy to forget to include a few stretches first to warm the muscles up and get them ready for exercise. It is easy to think that resistance band training is not as serious as lifting heavy weights but it not a good practice to skip the warm up.

Why Stretch Muscles Before a Resistance Band Routine?

Stretching warms and loosens the muscles to prepare them for exercise.  One of the most common causes of athletic injury is failure to warm up muscles resulting in torn muscles and even torn ligaments which are harder to repair and sometimes require surgery. Some easy movements like swinging your arms, stretching arms overhead, jogging lightly in place and side to side movements of the core area will get some of your muscles loosened up. Then begin a disciplined warm up that stretches large muscle groups, paying particular attention to arms, legs, and core. Hold each stretch for 8 to 10 seconds and then release.

Simple Stretches For a Resistance Band Workout

Arm warm-ups: Interlace your fingers and push both arms out in front of you with palms facing you, hold, then switch so palms are facing outwards and hold. Lift your arms up overhead, clasp your elbows, hold and then release.

Leg warm-ups: Do walking lunges, holding each lunge for a few seconds. With one foot in front of the other, your front foot should be flat on the ground, knee bent at a right angle over your ankle. Your back heel should be raised, with leg straight. You should feel the stretch in your gluteal muscles, your front quadriceps, your back leg hamstring and your calf muscles.

Core warm-up: Stand with legs apart, feet firmly planted and facing forward. Soften the knees. Bend at the waist with hands down on the floor in front of you. Plant the right hand on the floor, raise the left hand to point to the ceilng and twist at the waist. Hold. Then lower slowly and switch sides.

Resistance bands give you more of a workout than you might think – it’s not smart to underestimate the power of these thin, rubbery cords, so learn the basics of stretching and allow a couple of minutes before and after your resistance band workout to nurture your muscles with a few warm-up and cool-down stretches.

When people talk about strength training most of us automatically invoke images in our mind of muscle-bound men with ripped bodies lifting twice their body weight above their heads. But strength training doesn’t have to automatically imply heavy weights. Resistance bands are a great way to introduce strength training into your routine. Not only that, but they are safer and easier to use than weights and more accessible to a greater number of people.

Health Benefits of Strength Training

The body has over 650 muscles and most of us only use a few of those each day. If you don’t use your muscles they get weaker and become ineffective at supporting the body’s primary movements. That’s why elderly people sometimes have trouble walking or lifting everyday objects.  Everyone can benefit from strength training. It helps to improve bone density,  important for fighting osteoporosis (which by the way affects men as well as women). Weight training helps to develop muscle mass and reduce stores of fat in the body. This in turn boosts your metabolism, improves the way your body processes foods, reduces your blood pressure and helps you looks younger physically and stay agile as you grow older.  Looking better will boost your self-confidence but strength training will itself help to energize you and increase your potential for maintaining a positive attitude. It boosts your immune system and makes it harder for you catch cold or come down with the flu. If you suffer from back pain, or if you have trouble walking, weight training is a low impact way to tone muscles in the lower and middle back where backache often begins  -  but make sure to check with your doctor first to find out if anything else is wrong.

How Resistance Bands Help with Strength Training

The easiest way to convince yourself that resistance bands help with strength training is by doing a couple of exercises with one. A very basic resistance band exercise involved stepping on the middle of the exercise band squarely so it runs underneath both feet. Now hold a handle in each hand and pull up as you would if you were doing bicep curls with a set of free weights. I guarantee you will feel the effect of this exercise right away. By the way keep your back straight so you don’t put stress on the back. If it’s too easy and you are not feeling the resistance, move your feet further apart to shorten the length and increase the resistance on the band.

Weight training with resistance bands is suitable for everyone, whether you are young, old or somewhere in between.  What’s more, if you are a little advanced in years, or still recovering from an injury,  you don’t have the common danger associated with weight training of inadvertently dropping a weight on your foot or your chest.  All in all, resistance band strength training is a simple and cost  effective way to counteract the natural aging process.

Ladies! Don’t you just hate using those huge, unwieldy machines at the gym that are built for men? Do you hate trying to figure out how to adjust them after a 230 lb guy just finished chest pressing 175 pounds? Some women prefer working with free weights such as dumbbells and kettle weights simply because they are easier to manipulate. Resistance bands are also a very popular option for women.

Resistance bands are often used in group exercise programmes such as aerobics, strength training and boot camp programmes because of their flexibility and effectiveness. You can use them to exercise just about any part of the body and because they are lightweight and easy to manoeuvre many women prefer them over free weights or cumbersome gym equipment.

Here are two favourite exercises for women using resistance bands (remember to warm up and cool down by doing stretches before and after your resistance band workout):

Arms:

Stand in the middle of the band. Keep your back straight, your shoulders pulled back and down and soften your knees. Hug your elbows into your waist. Now, using upper arm strength, pull the bands up to your shoulders and lower. Do this slowly for 10-12 reps. After the final rep raise your arms almost to the shoulder and do 6 small pulses. For more resistance shorten the band by widening your stance on the band.

Legs:

Stand in the middle of the band with your feet at hip distance apart, holding the ends of the band in each hand. Spread your feet a little further apart, creating resistance in the band. Now sidestep across the room by moving your right foot to the right and your left foot to meet it. Keep the band taught between your feet. For more resistance pull up on the band with your arms to keep it taught. Move ten steps in each direction and then repeat.

Resistance bands come in various strengths so start out with lightweight bands and work up to the stronger ones. By varying the length of the band, doubling it up or anchoring it and stretching it out, there is a great deal of flexibility and variety you can build into your workout. This makes it is easy to tailor it to your own fitness level.

So ladies, no more excuses! If you want a great workout that you can do pretty much anywhere, pick up some resistance bands and get started.



Fitness instructors and personal trainers often tout the benefits of resistance bands. But can a three foot piece of rubber hose that fits in your pocket and costs about the same as a portion of fish and chips really give you the same kind of workout as a dedicated iron machine with its complex series of pulleys, stabilizers and adjustable weights that sets you back a couple of months’ salary? Surely a real man needs a manly machine for getting in shape and staying that way?

The answer is no. More and more men are learning that you don’t need to shell out a fortune to get a great home workout. It’s exactly because results from exercise bands are so good that personal trainers are quick to recommend them to their clients.

Terrell Owens, famous American football wide receiver uses fitness bands for strength training. Terrell has played professional football for the San Francisco 49ers, the Dallas Cowboys, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Buffalo Bills. Staying in shape is important to Terrell and fitness bands help him accomplish that. Juan Carlos Santana, fitness guru and founder of the Institute of Human Performance works with professional athletes, fortune 500 companies, fitness equipment manufactures and professional sporting organizations. He recommends resistance band training both for building muscle and aerobic conditioning. Tony Horton, fitness trainer to the stars and founder of several highly successful fitness programs including Beach Body and P90X, regularly incorporates resistance bands in his DVD training series.

Resistance bands are regularly used by sports trainers to help athletes train for specific sports. Working with exercise bands, athletes tone and build muscles that are not worked in their particular sport but vital to the overall functioning of the muscles that are. For instance in baseball, a fast pitch requires a strong arm, but the deltoids, rhomboids and other supporting muscles are also important.

Still not convinced? Okay, here’s a challenge. Grab yourself a resistance band and try the following – I challenge you not to feel the power of this exercise:

Resistance Band Squats

Stand on the middle of the band, holding one handle in each hand. Widen your stance until your feet are hip width apart. Use your arms to pull the bands up behind your back and over your shoulders holding your arms out in front of you. Now give me 20 squats. If that’s too easy, pick a stronger resistance band or pull tighter on the band to create more tension. If you are doing it right, I guarantee by the twentieth one you’re going to feel it.

What’s best for fat burning – interval training or cardio training? If you read a lot of fitness blogs you will see that expert opinions seem to differ on the subject. The truth might not be black and white. Interval training alternates high intensity cardio workouts with periods of reduced activity whereas traditional steady state cardio is more consistent. Some say that interval training is more likely to induce weight loss than moderate training at a steady rate. There is no doubt that interval training supports weight loss and there have been many studies to back up the results but that doesn’t mean a steady state cardio routine won’t work for you. One of my rules of thumb has always been that an exercise routine you can stick with and perform regularly is the best routine for you even if it is not necessarily the one selected by professionals for extreme results. It all depends what your goals are. After all today’s popular trend is tomorrow’s old approach and there is always a newer, better way to do something.

One advantage I will cite for interval training is that you can get a great workout in a shorter amount of time. The variety is also good for keeping the mind engaged on the exercise and relieving boredom. Interval training is a good stress buster because your mind is active the whole time thinking about timing and what exercise to move to next so you have less time to focus on things that might be worrying you. Running on the treadmill for an hour at a time gives you plenty of time to let your mind wander back to everyday problems. Exercise bands lend themselves well to interval training.

If you opt for steady state cardio training, experts recommend working up to the highest heart rate you can maintain and then try to stay there for 20 or 30 minutes or longer depending on your fitness level. Interval training can be used to introduce variety to your cardio workout but if a steady cardio workout is what you prefer there is no really good reason not to stick to it.

When you are working with exercise bands, a good plan is to start with 10 minutes of cardio (skip rope or running on a treadmill) then go into your resistance routines. End with 5-10 minutes of stretching. You can introduce interval training by alternating the easier exercises with the harder ones or by alternating one rep tightening the bands to add more resistance and one rep with the bands slightly looser to lessen resistance.

Understanding the primary muscle groups in your arms, shoulders and back will help you develop  a better upper body workout.  Here are the primary muscle groups in the upper body:

Deltoids and Rotator Cuffs

The deltoid muscle wraps around the top of your arms providing range of motion for reaching up, reaching down and reaching out and the rotator cuff provides range of motion in the shoulder joint allowing you swing your arm around in circles. Therefore exercises that cause these movements will target the deltoid and rotator cuff. Lateral raises and lateral pull downs are good exercises for isolating the deltoids.

Trapezius and Latissimus Dorsi

The Latissimus dorsi runs down the length of your back and the trapezius spans the width of your back. These large back muscles provide the strength you draw on to open a heavy door or pull a heavy load. To work this muscle group, stand tall and straight, tighten the abdomen for added support to the back and pull the exercise bands straight back keeping arms level with your waist.

Rhomboids and Erector Spinae

The rhomboids are beneath the trapezius in the center of your back. Practice sitting up straight with a straight back and pull your shoulders back as though you are trying to hold a golf ball between y our shoulder blades and you will feel the rhomboids working. The erector spinae is a long muscle that runs down your spine and helps to keep your spine straight. Through all your workouts, maintain a straight back and focus on holding your shoulders down and back. To work the Rhomboids, pull the bands straight back and feel your shoulder blades move towards each other.

Pectorals

These are the chest muscles. Chest presses will help you isolate the pectorals. Opening arms wide or lifting arms straight up in front of the body to chest height will also work the pectorals.

Biceps, Triceps and Forearm muscles

The biceps, located on the front of the upper arm help you pull and the triceps, located on the back side of the upper arm, help you push.  While working the arms, don’t forget about the wrist flexors and wrist extensors that run from the elbow to the wrist. Hold a light weight in your hand and flex the hand first down and then up. Still holding the small weight, turn the hand from side to side using wrist and forearm movements rather than the elbow or shoulder.  Working the wrist will help prevent tendonitis if you spend a lot of time texting, typing of video gaming.

Whenever you are pulling up or pulling down on a resistance band you are working all the muscles in the upper body to some degree. For maximum efficiency on a tight time schedule look for exercises that work more than one muscle group at a time. For better muscle development, look for exercises that isolate a single muscle and focus on it for 2-3 sets of 10 or 12 repetitions.

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Working out at home is convenient and private and what’s more it’s always available to you. No need to find time to drive to the gym, simply work out in front of your favorite TV show, while dinner is cooking or just to be around while the kids do their homework.

1. Target every muscle group

Working out at home where no-one is looking sometimes makes it tempting to skimp on the routine. It’s easy to leave out the harder exercises and focus on the easier ones. But it’s those harder exercises, the ones that cause you to breathe a little more heavily or reach a little deeper, that make the difference between progress and lack of progress. Strong arms are great, but strong arms and a strong core are even better. When you develop your routine, think about every muscle group and choose routines that target hamstrings as well as quadriceps, triceps as well as biceps, work the obliques as well as the abs and so on. If there is one exercise you particularly dislike, see if you can find another one that targets the same muscle group, that way you will be more likely to follow through. Target each muscle group at least every other time you workout. You can target upper body one day and lower body the next (do abs every day for best results), but make sure you hit every muscle group in each part of the body.

2. Develop a Habit

It takes discipline to exercise every day. An easy way to develop the exercise habit is to make time at the same time every day, whether it is in the morning before you go to work or after dinner while the TV is on (exercising too close to bed time may cause trouble getting to sleep). If you can keep motivated for the first two to three weeks, the chances are high that you will be able to continue without faltering. Once your body gets used to regular exercise, you will feel your body craving it if you stop for any reason, so persevere until you reach that point. You’ll know when you’re there.

3. Journal Your Progress

Measuring success is important. Don’t let the word “journal” fool you. It can be a simple Excel spreadsheet or a piece of paper stuck to the fridge door. But measuring results is a powerful motivator for sticking to the program. There’s nothing better than seeing in black and white that you have increased your bicep measurement and decreased your waist measurement. Taking a before picture gives you a visual baseline for comparing results and can if you are brave enough to stick the picture on your bathroom mirror, it can be a great incentive to keep working.

For awesome results with your in-home workout, check out our book at [insert link], which provides a comprehensive and varied set of full body workout routines designed with an in-home workout in mind.

In a time crunch? Working out regularly takes dedication and… let’s face it… it takes time. But there is no reason to let your muscles atrophy when you are pushed for time and have to squeeze in shorter workout sessions. Exercise bands are the perfect way to get in a “quickie” workout and tide you over until you have the time do your full workout – but don’t make a habit of it though! You know won’t respect yourself if you start to backslide…

Ten Minute Workouts

If you only have ten minutes you can target a single muscle group such as arms, legs or abs and increase the intensity of the workout by varying speed and resistance. Here are a couple of ideas guaranteed to burn calories and tone muscles even if you don’t have much time to spare.

Slow Down

Instead of doing 2 sets of 12 repetitions counting 2 down and 2 up, do one set of 12 repetitions counting 4 down and 4 up. Slowing down the reps forces the muscles to work harder. You will feel the difference.  To ensure proper breathing, exhale when you exert the effort and inhale while you are preparing to exert effort. So if you are working your biceps by pulling the bands towards you, exhale when you pull up or in.

Increase the Resistance

Increasing the resistance in your workout similarly makes muscles work harder over the same amount of time. Exercise bands lend themselves easily to adaptation. To increase the resistance, shorten the band by changing your grip on the band. You can also move further away from the door, forcing you to pull harder on the band to bring it towards you. Our book [insert link to sales page] contains exercises for every muscle group in the body and each exercise has variations for increased or decreased intensity. If time is of the essence, simply follow the increased intensity examples for maximum benefit. For a quick calorie burn on a tight timeline, do several sets of jumping jacks between reps or as you switch from one exercise to another.

Experts agree that a short workout is better than no workout at all, so even when time is at a premium and there are a million and one things to get done, taking a few minutes out of a busy day to tone and strengthen will help you stay focused, remain less stressed, and keep those muscles in shape.

When you work out it is important to give your body the right nutrition. You need energy in the form of carbohydrates to get you through the workout, protein to help build muscle, and water to stay hydrated.  Here are nutrition five tips to ensure that your body performs at its best while working out.

Tip #1 Drink More Water

You have heard the experts say this over and over and that’s because it really is important to drink water. Your body is made up of 60% water. The ratio of water in your muscles is even higher at 70%. In order to burn fat, tone muscles and stay hydrated, drinking water is absolutely essential. If you are not in the water habit, start out with small sips throughout the day and build up to about 2 litres a day. You will find your body adapts more quickly with fewer urges to use the bathroom when you sip water throughout the day.

Tip #2 Get More Electrolytes

Your body loses electrolytes while working out, so replacing them is important for post-workout recovery. Sports drinks are designed to deliver electrolytes, but watch out for high sugar content which you don’t need. There are some great recovery drinks that are low in sugar and high in vitamins and electrolytes, so read the labels when making your choice. Another ingredient to look out for in sports drinks is caffeine – the absence of it that is. You can also find trace mineral and electrolyte tablets that can be taken with plain water.

Tip # 3 Take Glutamine Supplements

Glutamine is an amino acid found in muscles. It is used to metabolise protein and preserve muscle tissue. A hard workout depletes glutamine and so a supplement can replenish glutamine supplies in the body and may help to reduce fatigue as well as speed recovery after your workout. Glutamine capsules are available in most drug stores and health food stores.

Tip #4 Get in the Protein Shake Habit

Building muscle requires plenty of protein. Look around at your lifestyle and analyse how much protein you actually consume. If you eat a lot of fast food and prepared food chances are high you are not getting enough protein in your diet unless you are making a conscientious effort to do so. Protein shakes are a quick and easy way to deliver a lot of protein to your body in a highly digestible form. Compare ingredients and nutritional facts on protein shake mixes. You want one that is high in protein and low in sugar.

Tip # 5 Read Labels

It’s amazing how many assumptions we make about the food we eat. Don’t trust the advertising on the front of the package – read the ingredients and the nutritional composition of the food. For example, chicken sausages sound healthy but are often made from as much fat as pork sausages. And imitation “krab” sounds like a healthy seafood alternative but actually contains corn syrup and wheat starch in addition to pulverized Pollock and so the carbohydrate content in this crab substitute can be high.

When you eat smartly your body will notice the difference and you will see results.