Resistance Bands workouts

The "easiest" way to burn more calories all day long is to have more muscle. I know many of us can't make it to the gym on a regular basis for a number of reasons but you can do a lot with resistance bands and the like. Hopefully with the ideas I've posted below, you can start incorporating some resistance band exercises into your daily workouts and start some strength training.

Don't have resistance bands? I love the sets I've gotten from Beachbody and highly recommend them. To order your set, visit http://tiny.cc/CoachG.

Ok let's get to it. I recommend picking a few upper body and a few lower body workouts each time. You should have a total of 8 exercises and do each exercise in 2 sets of 10-15 reps. Just make sure you jump rope or do some kind of warm up before your workout and finish with a gooooood stretch :-)

Upper body:
see http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/exercise_demos.asp?exercise_type=upper for demos of these and other exercises

Bicep curls (one of my faves!)
Chest press
Front raises
Lateral raises (another fave)
Tricep extensions (lifts on the Spark page)
Tricep rows
Lower body:
see http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/exercise_demos.asp?exercise_type=lower for demos of these and other exercises

Abduction
Adduction
Leg curls
Squats (looooove squats!)
Seated leg extensions (standing version is on this page as well!)
Single leg squats
Single leg hip flexon

Now I know most of these are listed as "beginner" exercises but if you keep increasing the strength of the resistance bands or shorten the band, it will in effect increase the difficulty of the exercise. Also, when possible, try doing these sitting on an exercise ball - having to balance will work your core!

My favorite combination of these exercises is:

Warm up / Cardio (typically TurboJam 20 minute)
Bicep curls
Lateral raises
Tricep extensions
Tricep rows
Abduction / Adduction
Leg curls
Seated leg extensions
Squats
Nice long stretch

Try mixing and matching! Can't wait to hear what works best for you!!