It’s kind of funny how things work out sometimes. Not too long ago, I made the decision to finally add a set of resistance bands to my training equipment, and boy am I glad I did. Recently, BodyBuilding.com posted an article about resistance bands, and so I thought I would share that as well as share my own resistance band overview video that I posted to YouTube and Rumble recently.
Resistance bands are a great way to supplement the exercises you can already perform with your existing equipment or even be a way to jumpstart your own home gym. There are a lot of companies who make resistance bands, and you can find them in a variety of sizes, resistances, and price ranges. My only recommendations would be as follows:
Get a set that has a wide resistance range. Different exercises are going to require different starting resistances. For instance, you wouldn’t use the same weight for bench press as you do for skull crushers. It is going to be more expensive, but you’ll be much happier with the versatility and range of exercises you can do with an entire set.
At least one of your bands should be a 12″. Most band you’ve probably used and seen are the standard 41″ bands, but if you want to do monster walks or banded squats, you’ll need a 12″ band.
You can find the set of resistance bands that I discussed in my video here.
In the near future, I’ll be working on a video which covers different exercises you can do with resistance bands to give yourself a total body workout! Stay tuned!
Until next time! Cheers!
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As I was working out this morning and had a moment of reflection, I realized that over my years of training, I’ve developed a healthy library of exercises that I’m able to recall fairly easily. In addition, I am able to think of good alternate exercises to perform in the event that I do not have all of the equipment required to execute a particular exercise or movement. However, many people do not yet have this experience to lean upon, or maybe you do and you’re looking to expand your encyclopedia of knowledge. Therefore, I wanted to take a little bit of time to document some tools that you can use and reference as you build or expand upon your own internal library of exercises to perform in the gym or at home. These tools contain a great amount of nutrition information as well, which I have found extremely useful over the years. A disclaimer before we begin – the literature referenced, while geared towards men, can absolutely be useful to women as well, I assure you!
First up is a book that has been with me for a long, long time: Banish Your Belly. When I first started working out, I was working at a place called Portillo’s Hot Dogs. One day, I started a conversation with my manager at the time explaining how I had started my fitness journey, and he recommended this book. I thought nothing of it at the time, but then a few days later, he actually bought it for me. I’ll never forget it, and am eternally grateful. This book has been invaluable over the years, as it is a great reference for upper body, lower body, and mid-section exercises. It also provides nutrition tips and other guidance for how to “live leaner.” The information in here is really just the tip of the iceberg, but the exercise archive and explanations contained therein make it all very accessible and worth the purchase.
Next up is a book I picked up while perusing the library one day while specifically on the hunt for information regarding natural bodybuilding: The Natural Bodybuilding Bible by Tyler English. After picking it up, I found out that one of my training partners actually had this too! I can’t recommend this book enough to people who want to focus on the bodybuilding aspect of fitness. The information, especially on nutrition, is easy to understand and extremely useful. In fact, I’ve used the information in this book to construct an Excel spreadsheet that I still use today for individuals I’ve consulted regarding their caloric intake. The reason this book is so effective is mainly due to the fact that the author put the nutrition and fitness academic information into practice, and then wrote about his own experiences as he connected it to the journey of bodybuilding. What results is an expertly crafted, real experience that drives home the importance of working hard in the gym AND on your nutritional self-awareness to move forward with your fitness goals. Not only that, but the exercise archive here is also superb, as it spends a bit more time covering training frequency as well. The content about contest prep might not be for everyone, but the other information in here is well worth the price of admission.
And finally, I’d like to reference a great website you can go to for an extensive exercise library with demonstrations, and that is: Exercise Library – Frontline Strength.
The site was created by my workout partner, Jonah Saller, and is a treasure trove of great exercise information. I highly recommend perusing his library, as you might find an exercise that you want to try or integrate into your own routine.
And that’s it! Thanks for reading!
Don’t forget to follow me on social media – you can find all the platforms I’m a part of by clicking here.
Until next time!
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About a month ago, I got a bug. A bug to continue a journey I honestly started a long time ago, but never saw to completion. A journey that has been put on hold too many times to count. A bug that has, over time, reminded me over and over and over that I have a dream waiting to be unleashed. What is that bug? That journey? To do just this – to share my fitness journey with more people than just those I work out with and live with. To share the knowledge and experience I’ve obtained over the years and through my certification so that others may learn that it is possible to realize gains and make progress at ANY age. Seems easy enough; seems exciting enough. So why the constant back seat designation?
I have been a participant in a fitness geared lifestyle for a long time, and it didn’t start off with fanfare or an amazing origin story that will go down in legend. It honestly started out because I was bored at school. In my junior year of college at the University of Illinois at Chicago, I had a brutal 3 hour gap between classes one semester. Over time, I got bored at that time and was looking for something to do on campus to pass the time. I’m not entirely sure on what the thought process was that led me to go to the gym, but eventually I made it there. Taking a quick tour, I saw the equipment, the people pressing large amounts of weight, the people playing racquetball, the people on the treadmill, and I thought, “wow, this looks like fun!” And so it began. I can remember the first time I tried to do a bench press with nothing more than 95 pounds, and I just about became a viral video of a person dumping the weight off of both sides of the barbell in comedic fashion because I could hardly press the weight. Eventually, however, I trained myself in the different exercises and it then became a contest in how much weight could I move? After seeing the physical results come in over time, I couldn’t help but think of how good I looked…how good it all made me feel. It was at that point, I was hooked, and I’ve been hooked ever since.
Fast forward about 18 years, and a lot has happened. Friends have come and gone. I’ve gotten married. I’ve had kids. Moved twice. Faced countless challenges. The one thing that I’ve stuck to? Fitness. So I’ve seen a lot; tried a lot; failed a lot, but also have succeeded a lot. So, back to the original question: why the constant back seat designation? Over the years, individual personal trainers, online fitness geared websites, and social media influencers have flooded the market and the internet. That makes the proposition of jumping into this pond a bit…intimidating, despite my experience and drive. What’s changed? Not quite sure, but I have a guess as to what it is. I have always respected, supported, and looked up to my wife for doing a complete about-face with her career and being true to herself. She was in a line of work she just did not like; she was not fulfilled in any capacity by her career. So she took a stand, took charge, and turned everything around. She went from being a forensic scientist to being a fashion design graduate who now teaches sewing at art centers, schools, and also privately (check out @jenniferbournehanna on Instagram). I look up to what she did, and as I was watching her do a craft project in our dining room while taking video to post on social media to promote herself, I said, “wow….It’s doable. Anything is possible, and she has proven that. Time to get down to business.”
So here I am, on a journey to help others, and on a journey for myself. Whether or not you decide to join me is just that – your decision. Like I said, there are plenty of fitness driven websites, companies, and influencers out there to choose from, but if you choose to join me, I hope that you enjoy what I bring to the table and learn a thing or two from my experiences and knowledge. Exercises, nutrition, diets, supplements, industry news, frequently debated topics, you name it, I either will have the experience, knowledge, or the drive to do the research in order to cover it with a unique perspective.
perpetual Hypertrophy 