Resistance Band Training

Resistance Band workouts are a great way to tone the muscles without using weights. They are inexpensive, rubber bands that come in a variety of resistances depending on your fitness level. These bands allow you to exercise every large muscle group in your whole body, like the deltoids, biceps, triceps, chest, latissimus, and obliques. With the bands you can hit all angles of the muscle by just alternating your movements. You can use resistance bands safely on your own, and they bring a great variety to your workout. Unlike lifting weights that make your muscles stiff and bulky, resistance bands help boost your stamina, flexibility, range of motion, and they give you a nice shape without looking too buff.  

The following picture holds just a few of the many exercises you can do with the resistance band. Pick about 10 exercises, focusing on any part of the body, and do 3 sets of the workout, with a minute break in-between each set.

TRX Workout

The TRX suspension band, short for total-body resistance exercise, is a great way to get an all-in-one workout that combines both flexibility and strength training. This training technique was invented by a former U.S. Navy Seal to bring a challenge to your workouts by using gravity and your own body weight. It is unnecessary to use weights to build muscle when can use your own body weight through suspension training. TRX bands allow you to incorporate different areas of your body with exercises that focus on all angles of the muscle. For example, just a simple move like the bicep curl that you do with normal dumbbells can become a bicep-core stabilization exercise with the help of the TRX bands. It is important to know, that when doing a suspension workout, your movements need to be slow and controlled so the muscle tension will last longer; therefor, building more muscle and endurance.

(Do 3 sets of the workout with a 2 minute break in between each set)

Kettle Ball Workout

The kettle bell is a cannon ball shaped weight with wide handle.  Used by many in Russia, it is now just beginning to make its way into America. These weights give you the benefits of a dumbbell workout and increase your grip strength due to the wide grip handles. The kettle bells are suitable for working major muscle groups with explosive exercises, which burn body fat and build power at the same time. Since most of the kettle bell weight is beneath the handle, it makes the kettle bell hard to control. Due to this, your grip strength and your core are forced to work harder. In the workout below, you will be working your core, lower back, arms, legs, and grip strength with just one kettle bell.

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(Find a kettle bell that suits your strength, between 10 or 20 pounds should be good, and do 3 sets of the workout; 10 reps per exercise and a 2 minute break in-between each set.)