I love creating workouts with minimal equipment, because that means you have no excuses!
It is always a battle to find the time to workout, let alone get to the gym and create the workout.
This workout is an at home leg workout with just a resistance band.
This takes the guessing out of writing a good workout but also takes out the travel time to the gym.
You can get in an incredible workout at home, if not better than one in the gym.
People think we need to spend hours in the gym or burn a certain number of calories, and that is not the case!
I am going to show you how to get in a great workout in 20 minutes, at home, with limited equipment!
Table of Contents
I chose this piece of equipment because it is so versatile!
You can use it to work any muscle in your body by just being creative, and that is what I am going to teach you.
All of these movements can be done without the band to be made easier, but the extra resistance is going to help build muscle and burn more calories.
The other great thing about resistance bands is that they force the body to work in both directions.
With bodyweight or dumbbells, the muscles are really only working in the lifting phase of an exercise.
For example, a squat. The leg muscles are really only working as you stand up out of the squat, not as you lower.
But with resistance bands, the muscles have to work in both the lower and the lifting phase of the exercise because of the resistance of the band!
2 sets:
• 15 Single leg, leg press
• 15 Squats
2 sets:
• 12 Single leg front lunge
• 12 Good mornings
2 sets:
• 20 Kickbacks
• 20 Side steps
Great exercise to work the legs and glutes – just be sure to get the band situated correctly on your foot. Otherwise..it is a dangerous disaster waiting to happen!
Form: Grab your band and lay flat on your back. Place one foot in the band and one leg stays flat on the floor. Hold one handle in each hand and press the foot in the band out straight towards the floor and then return back to bent position! You want to make sure you are driving with your heel!
Modifications: Make things harder by tightening the resistance on the band.
Squats are one of the basic exercises we can chose to resist or not. They are also the basis of strength – anyone can do a squat! You might start by just sitting into a chair and standing up, and then progressing to doing it standing without weight. But either way, a squat is a squat and we do it multiple times a day just sitting down and standing up.
Form: Place the band on the floor and step on it (evening) with both feet. Make sure feet are shoulder width apart and you are holding the handles 1 in each hand. Perform a squat holding the handles up at your shoulders. make sure to keep the weight in your heels!
Modifications: Add more resistance to the band my crossing it or holding it overhead to make it harder.
Lunges are a great exercise to focus on one leg more than the other, without taking balance into account. The key to lunges is to drive into the HEEL of the front foot. This means you are stepping out, dropping straight down, and then driving through the heel of the front foot to push you back into your standing position. Many people don’t understand this, and thus drive into their toe and have knee pain. Always remember to drive into the heel to keep pressure off the knees.
Form: Get into a split stance lunge (one foot in front of the other in a lunge position) with the band placed under the front foot. Hold one handle in each hand and keep them up at your shoulders as you drop down into a lunge and stand back up. Make sure your back knee hits the floor every time!
Modifications: If you need more resistance you can cross your band or hold the handles over your head!
A great hamstring exercise that is greatly under appreciated! A good morning is just bending over like you are going to shut the car door with you butt, except you have weight loaded on the chest or back. This just allows the trunk to do the heavy lifting instead of holding weights at your sides.
Form: Handles of the band go under your feet and the band goes behind your neck/upper back in a standing position. Keeping your knees slightly bent you are going to hip hinge (bend only at the waist) and stand back up. Keep your core tight and back flat and make sure you feel it all in your hamstrings!
Modifications: Crossing the band is going to give you more resistance, if you need to make it easier you can hold the handles, place the band under your feet and add less tension on the band.
Kickbacks not only target the glutes (which, I mean, do we need another reason for an exercise?) but they also can help build strength in the lower back. By making sure you have a straight spine and a braced core, the lower back erector muscles will help stabilize so you can focus on the working muscle (the glutes).
Form: Set down in all 4’s with the handles in each hand and the band around one foot. Keeping your back flat and your core pulled in you are going to kickback with your foot until your knee is fully extended and then place back down on the floor. Make sure you pushing back and up with your heel to engage your glutes.
Modifications: No modifications here.
This exercise is also one to target the good ole glutes of glory. Just make sure you keep your knees slightly bent and tension on the band, because that burn you feel in your booty is what is working!
Form: Tie the band right above your knees, make sure it is tight and hold the handles. Keep your knees slightly bent and you are stepping from side to side. Leading with the knee and engaging the outsides of your glutes. Make sure you don’t drag your foot and you are stepping wide enough to feel the resistance!
Modifications: No modifications here.
It is incredibly important to warm-up and cool down whenever you are exercising! If you need a dynamic warm up or a post workout stretching routine you can check out my blog posts!
