Fitness

DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE RESISTANCE BAND.

Resistance bands are amazing.

IMO, they are the most undervalued equipment and best kept secret in the fitness market. You can get a complete pack for 15 dollars, and it’s like purchasing an entire at-home gym that can be easily stored in a basket or drawer. If I can fit resistance bands in my postage stamp apartment, then anyone can.

Resistance bands are also a great way to practice form and strengthen your muscles without compromising your joints. They hit a huge range of muscles to get that #definition, and BEST PART, you can do all your resistance band workouts ~~~*AT HOME*~~~

If this post were a musical, NOW is the time where I would break into a ballad about resistance bands that would finish with a #killer key change, but alas, it’s a blog and I do not have a chorus.

……. #athlete

Look man, when I first wanted to get strong, I was confused. Dazed. Wandering. LOST. But one day, I had a stroke of luck and discovered resistance bands.

Prior to getting down with heavy weights at a gym, I spent a solid FOUR MONTHS doing exclusively resistance band workouts. I didn’t start using them with the intent of committing to a consistent resistance band routine, but the workouts were quick enough to do over my lunch break, I felt strong when I used the bands, and it was the first time I had ever observed my body looking physically stronger which kept me motivated and coming back. Plus, because I wasn’t doing HIIT and cardio all the time, the inflammation in my body was going down, making me feel so much better inside and out. I distinctly remember C insisting on taking a picture of my arms at brunch one morning, about two months into my resistance band workouts, to show me my new muscles.

It didn’t take long before my manly man C was doing resistance band workouts with me 😊

I still use resistance bands all the time. And I mean, ALL THE TIME. The very nature of the band allows progression as your muscles get stronger (extending the band further, increasing resistance), and they’re great for increasing flexibility. Oh and bonus, they’re great for traveling! Another benefit of starting with resistance band workouts was that by the time I was ready to go back to a gym, I felt stronger and more confident which made it more fun to be at the gym.

NOT EVEN SPONSORED (lol) I JUST LOVE EM SO MUCH OKAY? Okay.

So let’s get you going, shall we? 😊

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First, order these bands from Amazon. They’re FIFTEEN DOLLARS. Friends, I have spent more money than that on a beer. Don’t mess around with the pretty sets or the influencer branded beauties. Trust me, I KNOW they’re tempting, but stay strong.

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15 to 20 MINUTES

If you’re completely new to working out, or you’ve been without a routine for some time, start by committing to your new band babies 15 minutes a day three days a week (we’ll get into scaling below as you advance/if you’re already advanced). Please, PLEASE, take out a pen right now and write in the days and times you will be doing your fifteen minutes workouts. If you’re not a morning person, don’t schedule them for 6am. If you come home from work exhausted, don’t write them in for 6pm. Find a time when you’ll actually show up, write it on a post-it or your notes app. Hang that post-it somewhere easy to reference. Or send it to me and I’ll hunt you down to find out if you’re sticking to it 😊

Okay so you’ve got your bands and you’ve got your minutes. Now let’s get you a workout!

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There will be three progressions to the first phase of this series: beginner, intermediate, and advanced (Round 1 and Round 2). At the end of this post, you’ll be able to click on an option to get your PDF download to create/track your workouts (either on your phone or you can print out a physical copy).

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The resistance bands will be used in an EMOM workout format. If you don’t know what an EMOM workout is (I didn’t) click here for an explanation.

Now unless you’re TOTALLY new to working out (S/O to you and this exciting step if you are!!) I would like to challenge you to set up your own workouts using the PDF downloads as templates. The reasoning behind this is as follows: 1.) You know your body best, 2.) You know your goals best, and 3.) Remember that I’m trying to set you up for LIFE here and creating your own workouts is a v important skill!! If you have weak triceps, maybe you should incorporate two triceps-focused moves into arm day instead of one. If your triceps are jacked out of their minds, maybe you should (stop showing off, you muscley beast) leave out triceps-focused moves altogether.

Don’t worry, I have provided some pre-populated templates for those of you who want to start with a little more guidance.

Almost all resistance bands that you buy will come with a guide of different moves that you can perform with the bands. In addition, I’ve provided a list of some of my favorite resistance band/body weight moves for each progression. To get started, click on your progression below! If you’re not sure which one to start with, feel free to shoot me a DM, and I can help you figure it out.

EMOM stands for Every Minute On the Minute, and the youths pronounce it eeeee-mom. An EMOM workout is broken into minute-long intervals. 15 minute EMOM workout = 15 intervals. Each minute is assigned an exercise and number of reps. You have the entire minute to complete the reps and whatever time you have left over is your rest time.

For example, let’s say you’re doing an EMOM workout and your minute 1 move is 12 push-ups. You do 12 push-ups and it takes you 40 seconds. That means you have 20 seconds to rest before starting your next move!

If you were doing a 3-minute EMOM workout of push-ups, air-squats, and lunges, it could look something like this:

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Minute 0-1:       12 push-ups

Minute 1-2:       12 air-squats

Minute 2-3:       12 lunges.

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Simple enough right??

I know what you’re thinking… But Grit, what if the minute is up and I’ve only done 10 push-ups???

IT’S ALL OVER YOU’VE FAILED.

(just kidding)

They get incorporated into your next minute! So now your workout will look like this:

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Minute 0-1:       10 push-ups

Minute 1-2:       12 air-squats + 2 push-ups

Minute 2-3:       12 lunges.

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So as you can see, it’s a slippery slope, kids. You need to stay on your minute. If you find you’re slipping consistently in your EMOM workout, drop your reps, so you can complete your reps without sacrificing form and always feeling behind in your workouts.

If you can find fifteen dollars and fifteen minutes, then you can find fitness.

This series was inspired by a recent experience at my gym. The other day, a nice older fellow came up to me and asked what kind of athlete I was. I, of course, panicked and blurted out “I’m an engineer” (sometimes that social stigma does, in fact, come in handy) to which he muttered some niceties and slowly backed away.

Yeah, I could have handled that situation better, but me? Athlete? The concept is so foreign. Because I am definitely not, nor have I ever been, an athlete. In second grade, my parents tried enrolling me in sports. I played soccer in a local league. But they promptly stopped paying for my participation after I started using game time to practice eating grass in case of a Middle Eastern invasion (it was 2001, okay?) instead of kicking goals (scores? touchdowns?) or defending opponents (foes? tangos?). And during the football unit in gym class (and most other units tbh), the guys would yell at me saying that I needed to “actually move” in order to participate in the game.

I liked choir. I liked theater. I liked reading. I liked math. I did not like sports.

When I decided I wanted to give a go at “working out,” I had ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE as to what I was doing. First, I sold my soul to my Wii Fit (#MEMZ). That transitioned to home workout videos, running on treadmills, and going to gyms to do approximately one hundred crunches and one hundred 5lb bicep curls. Occasionally I’d throw in a new move, like bench press or row, and then proceed to do that ~100 times with a 5lb weight. My body wasn’t changing except for maybe getting smaller and I was definitely way too afraid of the machines and the heavier weights to change that.

About three years ago, I decided to get serious about getting stronger. I was eating more food and had the energy to really put on some muscle, but I had no idea where to start. I followed fitness influencers, but the concept of lifting weights in front of 100 expert strangers at a gym terrified me.

I wasn’t a gymnast in high school. I didn’t take weight lifting classes in college (puke), and I had no idea if I even had muscles under my skin. If I could have afforded a trainer, that would have been GREAT. But I couldn’t, and honestly, even if I could, I probably wouldn’t have known how to find one or have had the confidence to show up.

I tried a lot of things and wasted a lot of time and money before I eventually found some things that 1.) stuck and 2.) were effective. I eventually got myself into the weight room but jumping head first into an expensive gym membership led to a lot of let downs and feelings of failure.

So if you’re just starting your fitness journey, or if you’re looking to get stronger but don’t know how, this series will detail how we can all go from feeling clueless to feeling comfortable and cool, and the lessons I learned through trial and error. Best part? You can get started in 15 minutes for 15 dollars in the comfort of your home. Plus, I’ll be here for you every step of the way to provide accountability, guidance, support, and tasty treats to fuel your sweaty sessions 😊.

Now really quick, before we jump in, I want the intention of this series to be crystal clear. It is how to gradually strengthen your muscles up by integrating workouts into active living to set yourself up for training for life. This is for those of you who want to feel more firmly planted–in yourself, in your strength, and in your confidence. We will get stronger, and GROW: grow your capabilities, your muscles, and your confidence. You may lose weight and you may gain weight. But this is NOT a weight loss guide. 

I spent a lot of years trying to lose weight. But here’s the thing about weight loss: it’s never enough. If I dropped 5lbs, then I’d want to drop 10lb. My workouts left me weak instead of energized and strong.

If you’re trying to lose weight, I challenge you to ask yourself “why”. Because when I started reflecting on that question, I realized that what I was really pursuing was self-confidence and feeling healthful. And no number of pounds shed or cookies declined could bring me those things. But the first time I did 10 pull-ups at the gym? Finally nailing a pistol squat? My first sub 21-minute 5k? Now THAT made me feel cool and more importantly, it made me proud. And if I could get there, then anyone can.

So let’s make ourselves proud, shall we? 😊

Head back to the Plant. Landing Page to get started!