6 Easy Resistance Band Exercises to Give Your Whole Body a Workout (2024)

You'll be surprised by what a strip of elastic rubber can do for your exercise routine.

Rachel Shelasky

Rachel Shelasky has contributed travel, fashion, and fitness articles to a number of publications, including Real Simple. As president of her family's custom clothing company, Hollywood Fourth, Rachel has been profiled in Entrepreneur.com and The New York Times. Highlights: * President of a family-owned, custom apparel company, Hollywood Fourth * Worked as a travel editor and writer for lifestyle publications * Worked as a reporter for Real Simple, Life & Style, and Us Weekly

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Updated on May 16, 2023

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Isaac Winter

Fact checked byIsaac Winter

Isaac Winter is a fact-checker and writer for Real Simple, ensuring the accuracy of content published by rigorously researching content before publication and periodically when content needs to be updated. Highlights: Helped establish a food pantry in West Garfield Park as an AmeriCorps employee at Above and Beyond Family Recovery Center. Interviewed Heartland Alliance employees for oral history project conducted by the Lake Forest College History Department. Editorial Head of Lake Forest College's literary magazine, Tusitala, for two years.

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6 Easy Resistance Band Exercises to Give Your Whole Body a Workout (2)

If you wish to try some new at-home exercises, consider a stairs workout or a resistance band workout—a series of exercises completed with stretchy, elastic resistance bands. Using resistance bands can work arms, legs, abs, and more: Consider it a full-body workout, with only a resistance band (or a few) as equipment.

For those just learning how to start working out, resistance band exercises for beginners—paired with stretching exercises for recovery—can be a great place to start. Resistance band workouts are low-impact, which can protect joints, and resistance bands themselves are affordable, easy to find, and even easier to store.

Working out with resistance bands can include a range of exercises for a variety of body parts, making it an effective workout whether you have a home gym or are using your living room as a workout space. Workout videos can help as you learn to master the exercises, but you can also use these clear, simple diagrams to learn a few resistance band moves to get started. From a resistance band lunge to squats with a chest-working overhead press, these exercises will help you get stronger, one move at a time.

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The Resistance Band Routine

6 Easy Resistance Band Exercises to Give Your Whole Body a Workout (3)

Think you need a pile of weights to get in shape? Snap out of it and grab an exercise band instead. This portable piece of equipment may even be more effective than a set of dumbbells because it improves strength and balance. Plus, "you work in a full range of motion, so it targets muscles that you can miss with weights," says creator of this routine, Lawson Harris, CPT. Try these exercises three times a week.

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Move 1: Lunge With Bicep Curl

6 Easy Resistance Band Exercises to Give Your Whole Body a Workout (4)

(A) Place the center of the band under the instep of your left foot and position your right foot about two feet behind you.
(B) With an underhand grip on the resistance band's handles, perform a bicep curl while bending your knees to lower into a lunge position.
Complete 20 repetitions. Switch legs and repeat.

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Move 2: Hug-the-World Plié

6 Easy Resistance Band Exercises to Give Your Whole Body a Workout (5)

(A) Stand with feet wider than shoulder-width apart, toes out. Wrap the band around your back at bra level. Extend arms to sides, slightly curved, while holding the resistance band just shy of the handles.
(B) Bring fingertips together and bend knees until thighs are parallel to the floor. Open arms while returning to start.
Repeat 20 times.

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Move 3: Squat With Overhead Press

6 Easy Resistance Band Exercises to Give Your Whole Body a Workout (6)

(A) Stand in the middle of the band with feet parallel and shoulder-width apart. Hold handles at shoulder height, with palms facing away from you and elbows bent.
(B) Squat deeply while pressing your arms directly over your head. Keep your weight on your heels and resist the resistance band as you return to a standing position.
Repeat 20 times.

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Move 4: Crunch With Lat Pull-Down

6 Easy Resistance Band Exercises to Give Your Whole Body a Workout (7)

(A) Loop the band around a stable object, like a doorknob.
(B) Lie on your back, gripping the band's handles with arms extended. Raise your legs and bend your knees so your shins are parallel to the floor.
(C) Crunch your upper body forward while drawing your arms toward your knees. Roll back to starting position.
Repeat 20 times.

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Move 5: Side Lunge With Side Raise

6 Easy Resistance Band Exercises to Give Your Whole Body a Workout (8)

(A) Stand with feet wider than shoulder-width apart, one end of the resistance band under the left foot. Grip the other handle with the left hand.
(B) Step into a lunge with the right foot; sweep the left hand down toward the right foot.
(C) Push off with right foot to return to standing; raise right leg as you perform a lateral raise with left arm.
Repeat 20 times; switch sides.

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Move 6: Monkey

6 Easy Resistance Band Exercises to Give Your Whole Body a Workout (9)

(A) Stand on the center of the resistance band with your feet parallel and wider than shoulder-width apart, knees soft, and handles in your hands.
(B) Bend your torso to the right while drawing your left elbow upward. Alternate sides briskly.
Repeat 20 times. (And no cheating: Two sides equal one repetition!)

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