

“Part of the benefit of the bands is resisting the pull as that further develops the muscle,” he adds. You can also try moving your hands closer together or stepping further away from the anchor point.Īnother common mistake? Letting the band snap back inward without control. If pulling the band feels too easy, try folding it in half to create more resistance. “They are a replacement for weights, but they should still be taxing,” he says. Take note if your band feels too loose or easy to pull on, Lehnert says, as that’s a sign there isn’t enough resistance. You could also pull both arms down at the same time, keeping tension in the band. Release your arm slowly back to the top and repeat. As you keep one arm steady at the top, pull the band down on another side until you get to a 90-degree angle. Hold onto a resistance band with both hands.

Bent-Over RowsĬurry says you can do this move standing up or while kneeling to mimic the lat pulldown machine at the gym. Here are trainer-recommended back exercises to help get you started. “This gives you a good workout, provides muscular strengthening, and is not too fatiguing,” he says. Lehnert recommends doing most resistance band exercises for three sets of 10 to start, but you can add more reps as you build strength. “We use our back muscles in many day-to-day activities, including pulling and lifting, so stronger muscles mean that we can do those tasks with less effort.” A stronger back might also ease and prevent back pain, he says, which is great since about 80% of people will experience lower back pain at some point in life (including me rn). “ Exercising back muscles is important for functional reasons as well as for injury prevention,” Lehnert explains. Whichever you choose, using it to do resistance band back exercises on a regular basis is an excellent idea.

Some bands are a single piece of rubber while others are a loop or circle. Resistance bands are light, portable, and come in various thicknesses and lengths depending on the difficulty level you’re looking for, says Danny Lehnert, CSCS, a certified strength and conditioning specialist. But when you have access to a resistance band, you’ll find that the stretchy workout tool makes it easy to target multiple muscle groups at once - including key back muscles like your traps, lats, and rhomboids - and that’s whether you’re at the gym or at home in your living room. People love glute and ab and arm workouts, after all. The muscles of the back tend to be forgotten about.
