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No time to hit the gym? No problem. With six exercises, a mat, and a set of resistance bands, you can build your core strength anywhere. Even better? They’re convenient, cost-effective, and easy to find online or in-store at most sporting-goods stores.
Resistance bands offer a unique challenge to your workouts, working your muscles from different angles than you are used to. Unlike using a machine or even dumbbells, resistance bands help you maintain better posture because of the movement patterns you need to take on to maintain proper form.
Why Use Resistance Bands for Ab Workout?
When it comes to your abs, sometimes you just have to lift your own body weight. Using a resistance band, however, makes it harder because you can pull the band in different directions.
Resistance bands are a great way to make your ab routine harder and more effective. They build strength faster than bodyweight exercises.
Other benefits of Resistance Bands:
- Enhancing mobility
- Increase your flexibility
- Learning how to do pull-ups
- Weightlifting
Resistance bands can be used to strengthen, tone, and train various muscle groups.
Resistance bands are used by CrossFit competitors to warm up, complete accessory work, aid in training, or make training more difficult.
To add variety to your core workout and shape your trunk, try these six resistance band ab exercises.
1. Banded Bridge
If you're exercising your glutes against weights, the banded glute bridge is a popular addition to a resistance band workout regimen, a workout that includes various bridge variations, or just as a warmup exercise. Before beginning any fitness routines, remember to stretch.
- For this exercise, you'll need a resistance band. Wrap the band around your thighs and adjust it to the appropriate level of resistance for your fitness level.
- Lie on your back with your knees bent at a right angle and keep your arms at your sides.
- Squeeze your abdominal muscles tight as you slowly raise your hips off the floor.
- Hold for 5 seconds and repeat.
2. Standing Knee Tuck
The standing banded knee tuck involves more movement, hence making it a good warmup for an exercise regimen.
Using a resistance band wrapped around your ankles to bring your knee to your elbow develops quad strength and challenges your balance, which trains your core even more.
- Place the resistance band around the center of your feet and stand with your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart.
- Raise your left knee to your chest while crunching your right elbow on your left knee.
- Without rounding your shoulders, try to touch your knees to your elbows. Return to the starting location and repeat the process on the opposite side.
3. Bicycle Crunch
This activity works the abdominal muscles (six-pack muscles), obliques, and hip flexors, just like classic bicycle crunches. However, adding the band increases the resistance, allowing you to create more muscle.
- Seated, loop the band around your feet, knees bent, heels on the floor.
- As you lean back about 45 degrees, lightly touch your fingertips to the back of your ears to engage your core.
- Twist your waist to bring your right elbow to your right knee as the right leg straightens, and then twist it again to bring the left elbow to your right knee as the left leg straightens.
- And repeat.
4. Side Plank
It is one of the simplest exercises to work your obliques, the muscles that run along the sides of your core. Besides protecting your back, these muscles allow you to bend and rotate your trunk.
- With the resistance band looped around your ankles, begin in a high plank position. Transfer your weight to your right hand, stack your feet, and place your left hand on your hip.
- Raise your left foot off your right foot until your feet are hip-width apart, then hold for 30 seconds or as long as you can. Return back to the starting position and repeat the whole process on the opposite side.
5. Spiderman push up
Spiderman push-ups are a great way to improve upper-body strength, particularly in the triceps, forearms, deltoids, and upper pecs. It also helps with core strength and stability. You utilize core muscles to steady yourself more than a typical push-up because you lift your leg during the exercise.
- Start with the resistance band around your feet, wrists directly under shoulders, and core engaged in a high plank position.
- As you draw the right knee to contact the right elbow, lower your chest for a push-up. Return to starting position, then repeat for 1 rep on the other side.
6. Unilateral squat
Resistance bands are ideal for squats because they aid in controlling the squat movement from beginning to end.
They produce resistance when you lower into a squat, which is known as an eccentric movement, and resistance when you rise to a standing position, which is known as a concentric action.
- Loop the resistance band under the ball of your left foot and around your left wrist while you stand with feet slightly wider than hip-width apart and toes pointed forward.
- Extend your arms on the side and descend your hips into a squat while maintaining your chest high. Return to your original position.
- Perform reps on one side, then switch sides.
These six ab exercises are great for anyone who loves working out with resistance bands. They’re simple, but they’ll make your abs burn--and if you put enough intensity into them, it might even be unpleasant. But hey--exercise is supposed to be uncomfortable, right?
Now, what are you waiting for? Go get your sweat on!
