Resistance Bands to Help Your Body Get Fitter & Firmer

Whether you want to work out at home, but don’t have space for a full gym set up—in fact you’ve only got a drawer in which to store all your gym equipment—or are constantly travelling and don’t want to let your exercise programme slip, these tiny but mighty resistance bands could be just what you’ve been looking for.

The concept of resistance bands is fairly simple. The idea is that they’re a heavy duty rubber band that provides resistance for your body to work against. In this way, they can take the place of free weights—for example, you stand on one end and hold the other while you bicep curl. They can also replace machines—you can fix them to a door frame and do lat pull downs. Or simply use them to add resistance to simple movements. One tied around your legs while you squat helps to make a simple exercise a lot tougher.

Like weights, resistance bands come in different magnitudes. Generally, the thicker or tougher the rubber used, the more resistance a band is going to give. If you want to be able to take on a variety of exercises, try buying a variety of bands of different thicknesses. However, if you only have a couple, you can up the resistance by using more than one band at a time, by shortening it, or by doubling it over.

There are different types of resistance bands available. The simplest are just long ribbons of rubber that can be tied to form a circular band, or tied onto furniture. Others may be circles of rubber that can be easier to use if you regularly find yourself knotting bands around your ankles or knees. The most sophisticated come with hooks at the end that can be attached to a variety of accessories, including handles and ankle or wrist straps, offering a really versatile range of exercises.