Tone Your Entire Body With This Resistance Band Workout From Master Trainer Charlee Atkins
Welcome to Week One of Well+Good’s (Re)New Year Challenge! For Workout Two, Charlee Atkins—CSCS and SoulCycle master instructor—is sharing a total-body routine using one of her favorite tools: a miniband.
“Bands add extra resistance, increasing the intensity of any exercise,” says Atkins. “I started using them because I could take them on the road with me. I quickly became a fan of just how much they enhance the workout and better your form overall.”
Atkins likes the first move of each routine to be a primer for what’s to come. This time, ease into Full Body Le Sweat with Atkins' go-to shoulder activation move. Her trainer tip? Make sure to keep resistance on the band through the entire movement.
Scroll down to see the 5 moves Atkins swears by to sculpt your arms, core, butt, and legs using a resistance band.
Full-Body Banded Le Sweat
For this workout, you'll need some space in your apartment to get sweaty, a miniband, and a yoga mat. Do the entire workout once through, resting 30 seconds between sets and 1 minute between each move.
1. Shoulder activation
Do: 3 sets of 10 reps
Stand with feet at shoulder-width distance, elbows bent at 90 degrees next to your side, with the exercise band around wrists. Making two fists and keeping tension on the band, pulse forearms out two inches to each side. Then, extend arms straight in front of chest, complete five pulses. Next, raise arms directly overhead, biceps by ears and palms facing in. Return back to start, doing each pulse again, for one rep.
2. Curtsy kickback with leg lift
Do: 3 sets of 6 reps
Start with feet slightly wider than shoulder-width distance with miniband around thighs, hands clasped in front of chest. Sending glutes back, lower down into a squat. Step left leg behind right and lower into a curtsy lunge, keeping front knee aligned with the ankle. As you stand up through the front leg, use the glutes to kick the left leg back up about six inches on the back diagonal. Return to starting position; repeat on opposite side for one rep.
3. Banded bear crawl
Do: 3 sets of 8 reps
Start in tabletop position—wrists below shoulders and knees under hips—with toes tucked under, knee lifted a few inches off the ground, and miniband placed around wrists. Using opposite arm and legs, begin moving forward. Crawl to the top of your mat, and then back to the starting position. That's one rep. Alternate starting side for each rep.
4. Banded bicycle crunch
Do: 3 sets of 10 reps
Lie on your back with hands behind your head and miniband around the arches of the feet. Lift shoulder blades off the mat. Bend one knee, bringing it toward the chest, while extending the other leg straight. Simultaneously, twist at the trunk through the obliques by bringing opposite shoulder towards opposite knee. Repeat on opposite side for one rep.
5. Push-up to superwoman
Do: 3 sets of 8 reps
Start laying on the ground with miniband around ankles, hands next to chest below armpits. Keep tension on miniband throughout entire movement. Extend arms, pressing up to top of push-up position. Lower back down to mat. Reach arms straight out over head while lifting thighs up off the mat, squeezing the glutes. Lower back to start for one rep.
Jumpstart your 2018 wellness routines with these pro health and nutrition tips, plus intel on how to detoxify gently.
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