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This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in January of 2024. For the original video go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD7cTQtqP0k&t=754s
Mike: Today we're going to show you a complete beginner whole-body workout routine you can do with a set of resistance bands.
Brad: That's right, we have 10 exercises, you can do this workout perfectly, you can use it with a door anchor or the wall anchor. We'll explain it all and it works very well. Your typical resistance band set will come with five different color bands. Each color represents a different resistance or strength. They'll come with an ankle strap. We'll show you exactly how to use that near the end of the video. Another important component is an anchor. We have a door anchor that comes with the resistance bands, so you can use any door in your house, open it up, put the anchor in there, and then close the door, making sure it's tight. Then you have a nice support anchor.
Brad: So when you do your exercises, you have a good stretching resistance that you're going to get from different angles. You can put it at shoulder height, at the top of the door, or at the bottom of the door. As you'll see, those different angles can be used to your advantage to strengthen different muscle groups.
Mike: Another option you can use is the wall anchors created by Bob and Brad. Now you do have to mount it to a wall into a stud. You can see how long the screw actually is, so it'll not come out. If you order it from our website, it does come as a four-pack. On Amazon, it comes in athree-pack three pack.
Brad: So when you install these properly like we instruct, they actually hold up to 800 pounds, so you are not going to have a problem with them coming out unless you're a silverback gorilla.
Mike: Okay, first we're going to show a couple of exercises to work the pec muscles here. So I have two bands doubled up. You can do one band, however many can fit in the wall anchor here. I'm going to get a good stretch. I'm going to keep my arms out wide and then bring them together, almost touching my knuckles in front of me. It's kind of a flying motion. I'm not doing a pushup, I'm doing a fly. I like to have a nice staggered stance when I perform this exercise and I'm going to do 10 repetitions of this. And Brad, what else do you want to say about this?
Brad: I do want to mention not only a staggered stance but make sure your feet are wide apart about shoulder width wide. When I've worked with this with my wife, I really need to work with that. And then she said, oh yeah, I feel much more stable and strong with a good base, very critical.
Mike: Now another chest exercise you can do for more like a pushup is simply pushing out in front of you. You will be a little bit stronger with this. So maybe you use a different band than you were using for the flies. Again, you can do 10 to 15 repetitions, two to three sets.
Brad: Right, and I do want to emphasize, you know, Mike is using two bands for more resistance. The other way to get more resistance with the bands is simply to leave the bands on there and walk farther away. These bands are rated to go three times the length of them. They're very strong and you have to be careful. If you're walking way out and feel like, oh, maybe it's going to snap, simply put another band and go to two. You can go up to three bands with the wall anchor. I've tried four, but it's hard to get them in there. Three is probably the limit.
Mike: Okay, for this next exercise, I only need one side of the band for this. So I'm going to take one side of the band and put it into the wall anchor and it's going to stay in place. Now this is called a shoulder lateral raise. It's going to work the top shoulder muscles. I'm going to bring my arm out to the side. This gets a lot more challenging, I'm stepping further away. As you can see, I'm grunting a little bit more. I like to do 10 to 15 repetitions. Make sure to switch sides and do the other side with this exercise. Do not shrug the shoulder. Just simply raise out to the side and come back.
Brad: Right, think about good posture. Mike is standing here with the shoulders back, feet between them or underneath them as well as a wide base of support. Again, I want to review that. So should we go to the biceps next, Mike?
Mike: Sure.
Brad: All right, let's go to the biceps next. We're going to do bicep curls. With this, I'm going to actually use two bands because "curls for the girls." Anyway, get serious about it. I'm going to strap them to the bottom anchor. And this is the way I like to do them at home. I put them there, I face away from the wall, palms out, and then I'll step till I get the right resistance and I'll pull up and it really works well. Now you can do these from the middle anchor as well. You get a little more stretch on the shoulders and the biceps. Do whatever works best for you or you can actually do both.
Brad: Now if you really want to get strong and focus on that, this is what Bob always used to do. He'd double up and put both ends of the band in one hand. Get in the good wide stance and really worked that strong. I always stick with one in each hand and work a really modest exercise.
Mike: Next we're going to work the tricep muscles. They work on extending your elbow straight. I'm going to use bands from the top anchor. Brad will show an alternative version. Now I'm going to step away so I have some tension. I'm going to have a staggered stance again and I'm going to simply push my elbow straight. Notice I'm not pulling into my body at all. I'm just kind of pushing straight down. I'm also not bringing my arms way up, I'm keeping my elbows at the same point because that is the point of the tricep, to extend the elbow, again, you can do 10 to 15 repetitions, two to three sets, and Brad will show an alternative version you can do here.
Brad: Yep, you can simply put your back to the wall. And I like to do this because I can slide down to increase resistance. I keep my elbows on the wall. That reminds me to have stable elbows so they don't move. This isolates the triceps and then the farther down you slide, the more resistance you get and also you get some quadricep strengthening at the same time.
Mike: Okay, now we're going to work the lat and back muscles, as well as the scapular region a little bit. So I'm going to do a pull-down. It's kind of similar to doing a pull-up, but you're going in the opposite direction. I'm going to straighten my arms all the way and I'm going to squeeze my shoulder blades together as I pull down with this exercise. Go nice little and controlled. I like to do 10 to 15 repetitions of this. You can do more bands with this if you want. Most people's backs are pretty strong. If you have too many bands and you're on the floor like this, you might start sliding forward. So make sure you maybe have something in front of you if needed. Brad, do you want to show an alternate version of this?
Bob: You bet, notice Mike had really good back posture along with it. Now another way, and this is going to actually emphasize more on the latissimus dorsi. I like to do this one on a chair or a stool right below and then I'm going to put my back to the wall. I can do this with good posture and simply put my hands out to the side and pull down. This is a really nice way to isolate your lats. As a matter of fact, it's really hard to find anything at home to replicate this without getting a machine using some cable. So this is a big advantage for this particular exercise. I feel like I'm going to learn to fly.
Brad: All right, a nice way to get wrist strength is actually to take the band and you're going to take your foot and put it on top of that band, the other foot on the band shoulder width apart. And I'm only going to do one wrist at a time. I find it's a little easier to isolate and get a good strengthening exercise. You can put your forearm flat on your thigh or simply put it on the tabletop like I have here. And we're going to stretch into extension here a little bit. Make sure you have enough stretch on there. And then open up the fingers. That's going to give even more strength to that wrist and fingers. And then back down. Do 10 to 15 reps like this and you might as well just turn your hand over and strengthen the other side of the wrist and do 10 to 15 this way. You'll find that this direction you will be weaker if you're normal, which I think 99% of us are. And do that on both sides, it works really well.
Mike: The most important part of the exercise is to keep your forearm touching the mat or your leg the whole time. Otherwise, you're going to start cheating.
Brad: Yeah, if you start lifting your forearm, then you're not isolating anymore, it's working the bicep.
Mike: Okay, now we're going to show a couple of variations of leg exercises. I'm going to do a lunge and Brad is going to do a squat. For the lunge, I like to have a few bands here. I'm going to hold the handles, now, you can hold it at shoulder height. This might be enough resistance. I personally wrap it around my arms and then I will do lunges. You're not going to feel much as you go down, but as you go up, you're going to feel that resistance. I like to do 10 repetitions. Make sure to keep your feet firmly planted on this. Because if they're not, it'll fly up and sling at you. So make sure to have a firm foot on there and you're going to work both sides. Do 10 repetitions on each.
Brad: Actually, that is one big advantage of doing this using the wall anchor. I have it securely in the wall anchor. I like to face away from the wall. Same hand position that Mike mentioned. I'm going to go two feet wide and I'm just going to do a squat. And the resistance comes from the bands as I go up and to get more resistance, I simply step out. Or I could add another band on there as well. You can vary this and do the lunge as well. It has a different angle. It's not so vertical so it works different muscle groups. So you'll feel a difference. It's whatever works best for you.
Brad: All right, let's get to those calf muscles. That works really well with the wall anchor. Mich wilk demonstrate.
Mike: So in order to work the calves, I need to put the band over my shoulder. Personally, if you're fine with keeping them in front of you at shoulder height and getting enough resistance, that's okay. I'm going to wrap it here and then I'm going to get resistance as I go up. And actually, you have to control yourself on the way down because it really wants to pull you back down. So it's really going to strengthen your calves. Again, three sets of 10 to 15 repetitions.
Brad: Right, so you get some eccentric strengthening on the way down. Big benefit plus your working balance as well, which is a really nice benefit you get from bands. Okay, the next thing we're going to focus on is quadricep and hamstringing strengthening. We're going to isolate it. This works really well to isolate it. We're going to use the ankle strap. If you remember I mentioned it at the beginning. Here's one of the reasons you can use it. I already have the ankle on the strap on this ankle. I'm going to actually use the higher anchor because it gives a better angle for the hamstring. Easily put that on there. It's nice to have a chair or stool on wheels so you can vary the resistance very easily by getting farther out again, and adding more bands if you need. Straighten the knee and I'm going to curl underneath, and the full range of motion. We're not going to do little cheating arcs like I call them. It's the full range out and curl it under. Now if you happen to get a hamstringing cramp with this, which if you haven't done these before, you might, you simply stop, straighten the knee out, lean forward, stretch it out, and then actually I would stop that exercise until the next day. Once the muscle cramps, it needs a break. It's just one of those little things that do happen to certain people.
Brad: Now to do the other one, the quadricep muscle, simply take the band out of the anchor there. I'm going to put the band in the bottom anchor. Now I do need to get the band to go between the legs of the chair. Okay, I'm going to work this, start at a 90-degree, angle in the knee, lift up slightly, and kick. Now this works out well because the strap around the ankle fastens it and stabilizes it to the band, to your ankle. So you can go up and back down and work your range just like this. Don't do them too fast. Just like I mentioned in the hamstrings. Out, hold for a second, and come back down. 10 to 15 of these as well.
Brad: Now continuing on taking advantage of the ankle strap, I'm going to actually leave it hooked up to the bottom anchor. I'm going to use something for balance, a stick. You can use whatever you want and maybe you won't need assistance for balance depending on your level. Again, I'm going to find the right resistance by the distance away from the wall or simply add resistance or a heavier band, abduction. Really important for that hip. If you're one of those waddle walkers, this can be a good exercise. Now the beauty of working on this is I'm strengthening my left hip, but at the same time, my right hip is working incredibly to maintain balance and stability. Make sure you don't cheat, in other words, don't lean to the side. This is not what you want to do. The upper trunk is strong and stable and we isolate this hip motion. Do 10 to 15, I guarantee you you'll feel it right in the hip.
Brad: Look at my toes, make sure they're pointed straight ahead and not turned out to the side. This is a tendency a lot of my patients do when I hip strengthen with them, I correct them and it works out well. So you can go hip abduction, step over the top of the band, and go into hip flexion with a straight knee, isolating the flexors. Then the crossover, the hip adduction to work the groin muscles on the inner thigh. And then last but not least, is hip extension. Good tall and strong trunk, kick behind you with a straight knee. Don't lean forward because it's cheating and we want to maintain that upright posture. You'll feel those butt muscles working and going to town really well with that. I'm getting tired, I need a break.
Brad: All right, with these hip exercises in all four directions, you're going to go 10 to 15 repetitions. If that gets too easy, add more resistance or add another set of 10 to 15, it's your choice.
Mike: And make sure to work both legs. Now throughout the week, if all these exercises are too much in one day, maybe just pick five on Monday, five on Tuesday, and then repeat Monday's workout on Friday. Pick and choose, just make sure you're working your entire body.
Brad: That's right, banding is such a wonderful workout, this is all I use is bands and body weight and it really works my balance, my strength, and stamina. I'm not turning into a Hulk, but I'm healthy.
Mike: So you'd like to check out more videos on how to use resistance bands, take a look at "How to Use Resistance Bands; Best Beginner Guide by Bob and Brad. Get Fit & Look Great!"
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