For those of you who take pleasure in jumping aboard the exercise bandwagon, this is for you.
Mini bands, or resistance bands are now the most carried around workout essential. And not just because packing a 6kg dumbbell into your gym back is completely illogical.
For a number of years the mini band has been used in physical therapy; but now they’ve become a favoured item on the gym floor for two reasons: they’re a great tool for providing resistance through the full range of motion of an exercise, as well as helping to activate key stabiliser muscles in the hips and shoulders.
ACTIVATE?
If you sit for prolonged periods of time, such as at a desk your glutes are in a constant, lengthened state. This can lead to the muscles in the glutes ‘switching off’ and possible lower back problems. Incorporating mini band drills into your workouts can help prevent this and possibly fix lower back issues you may be experiencing.
CORE BLIMEY!
When used in conjunction with other exercises mini bands can help activate the core, which only improves and supports your other fitness activities.
More often than not people consider the core to be just the abdominal muscles. However it consists of these and more: hip abductors/ adductors, hip flexors, the pelvic floor, and lumbar spine are all part of the core.
MINI EXERCISES, MAX RESULTS
Exercises such as mini band lateral walking; hip external rotations; squats and hip bridges are some of my top exercises (check these on Women's Health Instagram later this week).
I will often use the mini band with clients to ensure their glutes, and more specifically the gluteus medius, the muscle responsible for abducting the hip, is activated and ‘woken up’.
Strengthening the gluteus medius stabilizes the hip and helps maintain proper tracking in the knee joint by reducing lateral stress on the knee. This is great if you play any sport, run, lunge, walk or just about anything else you use your legs for.
HERE’S HOW:
Lateral walking with mini band
- Step both feet inside the mini band and position on the laces of your trainers
- Stand up tall with your shoulder blades back and hands on hips
- While keeping legs straight step to the right
- Slowly follow with the left foot keeping your feet shoulder width apart
- Repeat this 10 times to the left and then 10 to the right to return to your starting point
- Focus on keeping feet parallel and maintain tension on the band throughout
Hip bridge with mini band
- Lie on your back with your heels flat on the floor shoulder width apart
- Pull on the mini band and position above both knees
- Without letting your knees turn in slowly squeeze glutes to lift hips off the floor
- Keep your arms flat on the floor by your side
- Slowly lower your hips back to the floor
- Repeat this 15 times
- Keep your knees pushed against the band throughout
Mini band external rotations
- Place the mini band above your knees
- Sit down into a semi-squat position: feet flat on the floor with your weight in your heels, butt back, chest up and eyes looking forward
- Keep the right knee still and slowly turn the left knee inwards
- Push against the band with the left knee to return to start position
- Repeat this 10-15 times
- Then repeat on opposite leg
Don't forget the major advantage of a mini band is that it can be used anywhere – on the sports field, at home, in the gym or even when on holiday. Great news for hotel hoppers and those always on the go