Now the weather’s starting to take a turn, you may find your motivation to train starting to slip. But you shouldn’t let the darker days derail your progress. With just a resistance band a little space, and these eight simple upper exercises, you can still keep your fitness goals in check on those days you aren’t feeling up to braving the cold.
Resistance bands don’t always get the credit they deserve. While they might not build muscle quite like dumbbells or barbells – which make it easier to progressively increase weight – they can still create plenty of tension to challenge your muscles. After all, your body doesn’t know the difference between a band or a barbell; as long as you train with enough intensity, you’ll stimulate growth.
You won’t need to worry about losing any upper body progress, as this workout targets it all – the biceps, triceps, shoulders, back, and chest. You’ll want a long loop resistance band and you're aiming for three rounds of the workout in total. Perform each exercise for 12-15 reps and then rest for 30-45 seconds in between each one. If your band is too light, aka you don’t feel there’s enough resistance, just stand on it to make it shorter, as this will make it feel heavier. Watch the video above so you know exactly how to master each move. Here’s the workout:
- Banded bicep curls
- Half kneeling overhead tricep extension
- Half kneeling chest flyers
- Bent over reverse flyes
- Banded push-ups
- Renegade row
- Bent over rows
- Single arm overhead press
Remember, the key for building muscle and getting stronger is progressive overload, and there are a few ways you can do that with bands: buy heavier bands, slowing down the reps, increasing the reps or reducing your rest times – anything that can make the workout feel 'harder'. Need a similar workout for your lower body? Check out five-move workout.
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