Full Body Resistance Band Living Room Workout

Resistance bands and a few other items are on my list of Living Room Workout Must Haves.  Of course there is a lot you can do with no equipment but if are ready to kick up your living room workout game add these to your shopping list!  

My favorite resistance bands are the Black Mountain ones that have a nice soft handle and come with a door anchor.  You can buy them on Amazon (where I buy pretty much everything in life.  I wish they paid me like my grocery store).  I suggest you start with medium or heavy.  If you don’t get one with a door anchor you can easily make one out of an old sock (don’t rewind the video if you don't want to be grossed out by where that sock came from). If you are like me, you have a ton lonely mismatched socks lying around anyway.

If you already have a resistance band, try this Full Body Workout now!
*you can find more details below the video*

Squat w/ band resistance
Stand on band with feet slightly wider than shoulder width. Holding a handle in each hand, bring the top of the band over each shoulder. Squat down as low as you can go with your chest up and core engage, sitting back on your heels to ensure your knees don’t go too far past your toes. Press through your heels and rise back up to start position and repeat for 12 to 15 reps.

Overhead Press
Stand over the center of a tube band with feet shoulder-width apart. Grip each handle, positioning your hands at shoulder level with palms facing each other so your thumbs touch your shoulders. Press straight up, rotating your palms forward as you fully extend your arms. Lower back down slowly and repeat for 12-15 reps.

Hamstring Curl
Lie belly down and loop a band around your ankle, anchoring the other end to a door or support. Scoot away from the anchor to create tension. Tighten your core and bend your leg at the knee, bringing your heel toward your glutes as far as you can comfortably go. Slowly return your leg to starting position and repeat for 12 to 15 reps, then switch sides.

Band Press 
Anchor the band waist height. Stand facing away from the door with legs hip width apart and a slight bend in your knees. Grab the band with both hands, arms extended and palms facing each other. Standing nice and tall, with your tailbone tucked and core engaged, bend at the elbow and pull the handles into your waist, squeezing your shoulder blades together. Slowly return to starting position and repeat for 12 to 15 reps.

Pallof Press
Anchor the band at the height of your breast bone. Turn your body so your left side is in line with the band.  Pull the band using both hands into the center of your chest. Push the band straight out in front of you, keeping your body in a straight-line with no rotation. Hold it in front for a 2 count, then slowly return the band to your chest. Do not allow the band to rotate your upper body back towards the machine. Repeat for 12-15 reps, then switch sides.

Band Row
Anchor the band waist height. Stand facing the door with legs hip width apart and a slight bend in your knees. Grab the band with both hands, arms extended and palms facing each other. Standing nice and tall, with your tailbone tucked and core engaged, bend at the elbow and pull the handles into your waist, squeezing your shoulder blades together. Slowly return to starting position and repeat for 12 to 15 reps.

Lat Pull Downs
Anchor the band to the top of the door, pulling the free ends down at your sides. Kneel facing the anchor so the bands are positioned in front of you, gripping each end with arms extended overhead and hands slightly wider than shoulder-width. Bending the elbows, pull the band down toward your shoulders while contracting your back muscles. Once the hands reach your shoulders, slowly raise them back to the starting position and repeat for 12-15 reps.

Repeat the circuit 2-3 times through.

As always, when designing my workouts I used this Plug and Play template as a guide.  I can’t stress enough, using movement patterns to design your workout is the most efficient way to make sure you are training your whole body the right way. If a pattern is missing in a workout, you are failing to train your entire body. If a pattern is consistently missing from your workouts, you are setting yourself up for muscle imbalances and inevitably injury.

For this workout, I pulled one from each category and viola! This time I arranged them in the order that minimized how many times I needed to move the resistance band anchor.  Efficiency is number one in my book! The combination are really endless. This was just one example.  You can find a bunch more resistance band exercises here.