Getting Ripped With Resistance Bands

The Beginners ABC to Getting Ripped With Resistance Bands

There’s no secret sauce – or complicated ingredients to getting ripped with resistance bands. Even if you are a complete beginner to the world of exercise.

By adding a couple of resistance bands to a strength training routine consisting of traditional bodyweight exercises like push-ups and pull-ups – you’ll bring a completely new dimension to the table. Read on and discover exactly how to use resistance bands for maximum results on your road to a ripped body!

Getting Ripped With Resistance Bands: Five Killer Exercises for Big Results

Here are five of the best resistance band exercises you can do to train your entire body and burn a lot of calories in no time:

1. Band Back Rows

This is a fantastic exercise for overall back and bicep development. Here is how to do it:

 1. Attach the band against something sturdy – for example, on a band door anchor.

2. Grab the band with one hand and step back to create tension.

3. Arch your back, bring your chest out, and row through your elbow until you feel an intense contraction in your back.

4. Return to the starting position slowly and repeat. Then, repeat with your other arm.

2. Resistance Band Squat

This is a full-body exercise that primarily trains your quads and glutes. Here is how to do it:

1. Grab a long looped resistance band and step on it with both feet. Keep them at shoulder-width level.

2. Bring the band up and loop it over your shoulders to create some tension.

3. Bring your chest out, point your toes slightly forward, and descend as if you were to sit into a chair.

4. Go down as comfortably as you can and then push through the heels to get back up.

3. Band Chest Press

This is one of the best exercises for your chest, anterior shoulder heads, and triceps. Here is one way to do it:

1. Take a resistance band with handles and run it through something sturdy, such as a steel pipe or a door anchor. 

2. Grab both handles and turn around.

3. Step forward to create some band tension, bring your elbows to your sides, and raise them slightly. Don’t flare them up.

4. Bring your chest out and push through your elbows to extend both arms forward.

5. Hold the contraction for a moment and return to the starting position.

4. Band Bicep Curls

One of the best isolation exercises for the bicep muscles. Here is one variation:

1. Take a resistance band with handles, step on its mid-point, and have both handles by your sides.

2. Straighten your body, bring your shoulders back, and slowly curl up until you feel an intense bicep contraction.

3. Hold for a moment and extend your arms.

4. Keep repeating.

5. Band Tricep Extensions

Bands offer numerous fantastic ways to isolate our triceps. Here is one way to do extensions:

1. Attach a resistance band to something sturdy above your head.

2. Grab the band with both hands and step back to create tension.

3. With both arms to your sides and bent at the elbows, extend your arms simultaneously by activating your triceps.

4. Once your arms are entirely straight, hold the position for a second and then release. Keep repeating.

A Circuit Resistance Band Workout Routine to Get Ripped

Now that we’ve gone over some of the most effective exercises, let’s put them together into a compact calorie-blasting whole body workout. The goal is to push yourself near your limits on every activity, rest for ten to twenty seconds, and jump on the next one. Here is how it might look:

Band back rows -> (15 seconds rest) -> Resistance band squats (15 seconds rest) -> Band chest press -> (15 seconds rest) -> Band bicep curl -> (15 seconds rest) -> Band tricep extensions -> 1-2 minutes of rest

Once you finish a round, take a bit of time to recover and do another round of sets. Do a total of three to five rounds, depending on your fitness level and available time. 

This is a fantastic whole-body dynamic workout that won’t take you much time; it will burn a lot of calories and help you get ripped.

Three Vital Elements Of Getting Ripped Effectively

Besides training productively and consistently, we also need to pay attention to other factors if we ever hope to get ripped. Here they are:

1. Good Nutrition

Fat loss comes down to one irrefutable fact: creating an energy deficit (1). We need to consume fewer calories than we burn, and the best way to achieve this is to control our nutrition and track our calories. 

That way, the body has no other choice but to tap into its stored body fat reserves and get the remaining energy it needs to keep functioning well.

However, to do this effectively and retain our muscle mass, we should lose weight at a gradual rate – around 0.5 to one percent body weight per week (2). That way, we can lose mostly fat and achieve our goal – to get ripped.

A good way to achieve this weight loss rate is to maintain a small to moderate calorie deficit of 300 to 500 calories per day. You can calculate your daily energy expenditure with an online calculator and use an app such as MyFitnessPal to track your daily intake and ensure that you’re eating below maintenance, but not too little.

2. Cardio

Cardio is beneficial for fat loss but not mandatory. 

The truth is, cardio allows us to burn calories and more easily put ourselves in a calorie deficit needed for fat loss. For example, if you burn 300 calories per cardio session and do four of them, that would result in an extra 1,200 calories getting burned every week.

3. Sleep

While often neglected, adequate sleep is vital for fat loss. One 2010 study illustrates that perfectly (3). Researchers examined how sleep length influenced the ratio of fat and muscle loss during caloric restriction.

They found that when the subjects spent 8.5 hours in bed every night, they lost muscle and fat at roughly 50/50. But, when the same subjects were forced to spend only 5.5 hours in bed per night, they lost fat and muscle at a ratio of 20/80.

How The Amount of Sleep Impact Our Muscle Loss

According to most research, we should aim for seven to nine hours of sleep per night.

Final Words: Get Ripped Using Resistance Band Training

So, now you know how to get ripped using resistance bands. Doing this workout routine regularly, while also keeping a focus on your diet, sleep – and endurance training like doing cardio, getting ripped is far within reach even for a beginner. Resistance bands can replace exercise equipment like the bench press, free weights, barbell, and several other typical gym equipment.

The program will challenge several of your muscle groups, building muscle all the way from your upper body to your lower body.

Do you want to learn about other effective ways to get ripped?

Well, check out my at-home strength training article collection, LOADED with actionable tips and health hacks, sprinkled with some bodybuilding salt on top!

See you there!

Other Helpful Resources

References

  1. Rate of weight loss can be predicted by patient characteristics and intervention strategies. J Acad Nutr Diet. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2013 Jan 1.
  2. Defining the Optimal Dietary Approach for Safe, Effective and Sustainable Weight Loss in Overweight and Obese Adults. Healthcare (Basel). 2018 Jun 28;6(3):73. Doi: 10.3390/healthcare6030073.
  3. Insufficient sleep undermines dietary efforts to reduce adiposity. Ann Intern Med. 2010 Oct 5;153(7):435-41. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-153-7-201010050-00006.