To plan a homemade training routine with hardly any material, we do not need to complicate our lives. Today there are many elements that we can acquire at a low cost in stores like Decathlon or Amazon and with which we can make a mini gym at home that hardly takes up space.

Working with bands of resistance will be a highly effective exercise, since we can buy them with different resistances and thereby achieve optimal physical conditioning without leaving home and in a very versatile way.

Why work with resistance bands?

Working with bands of resistance will allow us to learn to better control our body and the movements of certain exercises that perform the same work with weights or machines, since the bands provide us with a continuous tension throughout the movement.

In addition, as we have already mentioned, the bands of resistance suppose a low economic cost and occupy little space at home (and we can take them anywhere.

Full body routine of nine exercises to perform at home with elastic bands

To train at home you do not have to spend a lot of money on gym equipment and equipment. For little money we can acquire elastic bands with which to work our entire body.

Opening of shoulders to gain mobility

This exercise will serve us both to work the shoulder muscles and their mobility, since sometimes we can meet people who have some kind of functional limitation in the shoulder joint , and perform this exercise in a regular way can help them improve in this aspect.

The way to do it is simple:

  1. We start from a standing position (we can also do it sitting but with our back resting on the back of a chair or on a wall) and we take the elastic band with both hands, each at one end.
  2. We place our arms stretched up on the head, keeping the elastic band caught.
  3. The movement to be made consists in progressively opening the arms, without arching the back or leaning forward, so that little by little the elastic band will generate tension. We will carry out this movement as far as our mobility or our strength allows, taking into account the tension generated by the band.
  4. We will return to the initial position trying to maintain the tension in the band at all times, controlling the movement.

Squat and vertical shoulder press

In this exercise we are going to combine the work of the lower train with that of the upper train by means of squats and the military press, although in this case we will do the latter with the elastic bands.

  1. We will begin by adopting an initial squat position in the low position, that is, as if we were placed in cuncles. Our feet should be placed, treading the elastic band, separated at a distance no greater than the width of our shoulders. Each end of the band will hold it with one hand.
  2. The next step is to perform the eccentric movement of the squat .
  3. And finally perform a overhead overhead .
  4. To undo the movement we must remember that we must try to maintain the tension of the elastic band at all times.

Side stride with elastic band

Through this exercise we will mainly affect the hip abductors in a simple way:

  1. We will stand with our feet slightly more than the width of our shoulders and create a triangle with the elastic band in such a way that we take both ends with our hands at the height of our groin and stepping on it with our feet.
  2. In a controlled manner, we will slide one of our feet so that the stride will be more a sliding movement than the classic one of the front strides. As we go down, we will be placing as tension increases in the band.
  3. We will return to the initial position trying to maintain tension in the band.

Rowing with elastic band

For this exercise, the elastic bands will give us several options to hold them: we can perform the standing exercise while treading the band (for which we must adopt a position very similar to the one we adopted when we performed rowing with a bar at 90 degrees ) or we can hold the elastic band on the handle of some door (closing the door and placing us on the other side, so that the band is “caught” with the door).

To make it easier, I recommend using the second option, to hold the band with the door handle.

  1. We will start from a half-squat position, with which we will also add leg and butt work to this exercise, and grab each end of the elastic band with one hand.
  2. To perform the traction movement we will try to keep the elbows as close as possible to our body and in the final part of the movement we will try to join both scapulas making a scapular retraction (in this way we will intensify the exercise).
  3. To return to the starting point we will do it controlling the tension of the bandand avoiding that it pulls us without control.

Leg work, core and stabilization

This time we will make a composite movement that will allow us to work the legs (by performing the classical strides) while working stability and core (through an exercise similar to the press pallof).

To be able to carry out the movement that implies stability and core work, we willneed to anchor the elastic band to a fixed point again, so I suggest repeating the action of holding it with the door handle.

  1. To start the movement we will stand sideways to the door and a sufficient distance so that the elastic band already generates a certain tension facing the core work that we intend to perform. It is important to get behind the latch, since when performing the stride, the elastic band will be at the height of this or slightly ahead.
  2. When performing the stride forward movement, the tension caused by the elastic band will pull us to one side, so it will be important here the stabilization work of the gluteus medius and the core work to avoid turning.It is also important that when we do the movement of the stride we will stretch our arms to the height of our chest to generate tension and instability in the same way as when we worked the pallof press.
  3. We will hold the position for four or five seconds and return to the starting point, always trying to maintain tension in the band.

In the video we can see the part of the exercise corresponding to the pallof press. We would do this movement immediately after having made the stride forward.

Deadlift to one leg plus paddle

For this movement we are going to combine two exercises such as the deadlift to one leg , with which we will continue to work on stability as well as back and buttocks , and rowing.

  1. For the initial position, we will stand up as we step on the elastic band with one of our feet.
  2. In the first part of the movement, the one corresponding to the dead weight to one leg, we must perform it by controlling our balance very well . The final position in this movement should be to stand on the leg that is treading the elastic band and with our back and the other leg formed a straight line parallel to the ground.
  3. Once we have made the movement of the dead weight to one leg, we would perform the part corresponding to the oar. And here we have two options: either perform only one repetition or make several before returning to the starting position.
  4. To return to the starting position, we must control the balance part again.

If we find it very difficult to perform the deadlift on one leg, we can start with the classical variant of bipodal support, as we see in the video.

Triceps extension

This exercise can be done standing or sitting, although if we do it standing we will be able to work also our core while avoiding balance or arching our backs. We are going to do the standing version of this exercise.

  1. Starting from the standing position, we will step with both feet on the elastic band and grasp the two ends with the same hand and pass the band behind our back .
  2. As if it were a classic extension of the triceps, we will try to realize the complete extension of the elastic band on our head.
  3. By controlling the tension of the band, we will return to the initial position.

Buttocks kick with elastic band

With our elastic band, we are going to work the buttocks with this simple exercise that people usually perform in the gym with a pulley or in the multipower machine.

  1. Placed in quadruped position on the floor, we will grasp the two ends of the elastic band with our hands and the band on the floor of one of our feet.
  2. Trying to keep the balance (yes, this is another exercise that also allows us to work this aspect), the movement to perform is to extend the leg where we have placed the elastic band back, as if we were giving a kick (hence the name of “glute kick”).
  3. Again, by controlling the tension of the band, we will return to the starting position.

Contraction of pectoral with elastic band

With the help of our elastic band, we will now exercise the pectorals with an exercise similar to that performed in the gym on the chest contractor.

  1. Taking each end of the band with one hand and passing the band behind us, the initial position would be “cross arms” (here the tension of the band will be minimal).
  2. The movement to perform is to try to join our hands in front of us , with arms stretched at chest height, always controlling the tension of the band.
  3. The final part of the movement will be to open the cross arms again, keeping the elastic band at all times.

Biceps curl with elastic band

And as the last movement of this simple full body routine with elastic band, a biceps curl , which we will have two ways of doing: either holding each end of the band with one hand or holding both ends with one hand.

  1. Regardless of how we decide to perform the exercise (one or two hands), the starting position is similar: standing, stepping on the elastic band with one or two feet.
  2. The movement to perform is the same as if we were working with a bar or dumbbell doing a bicep curl, only when working with an elastic band, it is easier to regulate the tension (more or less band length or with one more band hard) with which we work.

Why is it good to work with elastic bands?

The work with elastic bands has some advantages over working with weights or bars, as for example that it is easier to regulate the workload or that they are a very useful alternative for those who start training after an injury or for those who have never trained and have a lack of muscle tone and can not work with weights (this way they will gain physical shape and general muscle strength).