Jumping on the Band Wagon for Portable Fitness at Her Active Life

Click here for the Lead Stories

Jumping on the Band Wagon for Portable Fitness

Posted June 26, 2008 at 02:00 PM by Martha Jones

Section: Her Fitness, Athletics, Sports Medicine

ENTER IMAGE NAME BETWEEN QUOTES - USE ENGLISH NOT FILE NAMING STRUCTURE The following article is written by Lisa Marie Mercer.

In both of my books, Open Your Heart with Winter Fitness: Mastering Life through Love of the Slopes and 101 Fitness Tips for Women, I included information about keeping fit without a gym membership. Having spent over 25 years in the fitness industry, I’ve discovered that if you’re looking for affordability and portability, nothing beats elastic resistance equipment.

Although elastic equipment may not provide the same strength benefits that weight training equipment supplies, it is not without its own merits. Bands and tubes provide resistance in both the eccentric and concentric phases of the movements. The concentric phase of a muscular contraction occurs when a muscle is shortening. In the eccentric phase, your muscles are lengthening. Training the muscles eccentrically can be an effective way to prevent injuries.

Resistance tubes and bands provide multi-directional resistance. Most weight training equipment, with the exception of cable systems, provides resistance in a linear fashion. This is not how the body functions in sport. There a variety of rubber resistance products. Let’s take a look at them!

TUBES

Like all elastic products, exercise tubes come in varying degrees of resistance. Be sure to purchase the door attachments, since they will be useful for many of the Ski Ready exercises. Resistance tubes come with handles on both ends. This is important for anyone with carpal tunnel syndrome or any other hand injury.

BANDS

Circular shaped bands can be used for various leg exercises. Therabands are thicker than tubes. Although they usually come without handles, some companies manufacture specific theraband handles. Therabands are popular for post rehab exercise. We also used therabands for the foot and ankle exercises.

Elastic Resistance Exercises

Tuck Squats: The tuck squat uses muscle groups that are similar to those that racers use in a skier’s “tuck” position.

*Sit in a low chair, with a resistance band under your feet.

*Bring the handles of the band up to your shoulders.

*Inhale and lift your butt about two inches off the chair.

*Exhale as you lower your butt about an inch.

*Do not let your butt touch the chair.

Perform three sets of 12 repetitions. When you get good at this, try it on one leg. Remember, for this particular exercise, you will never completely straighten your legs.

Lateral Resistance Hops: You will need an extremely strong tube for this exercise, as well as a door attachment. Some companies make a specific belt that attaches to the band for this purpose.

*Attach the tube to the door.

*Stand sideways with your right hip facing the door.

*Step away from the door until there is no slack.

*Jump from side to side

Warning: Do not do the lateral jumping exercise if you have knee injuries or nasty downstairs neighbors! However, if you are light on your feet, this next

Band Walk

*Attach the smaller band around your ankles.

*Side step, 4 steps to the right, and then 4 steps to the left. Keep your feet parallel.

Perform this exercise until you feel a burn in your outer thighs. Remember to keep your core muscles engaged and your shoulders relaxed. You can also do this exercise in a squat position, keeping your knees bent the entire time.

Lisa Marie Mercer is the author of Open Your Heart with Winter Fitness and 101 Fitness Tips for Women. She lives in Summit County Colorado, where she is the owner of Mountain Sport Pilates and Fitness.

81 comments, add yours |

Permalink |

Share this article

Tags: elastic resistance exercises, lateral resistance hops, mercer, portability, resistance bands, resistance training, tubes

Like what you see? Subscribe to our feed!

81 Responses to “Jumping on the Band Wagon for Portable Fitness” (Leave a reply)

wbnfkxls from kqlpbczy, vioitzfo said:

glcjnsbq http://biovxnqt.com gbgipqvp gpfijytn
June 27, 2008 at 12:59 AM
order cialis online from USA, Oklahoma City said:

Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room.
June 29, 2008 at 01:49 AM
order viagra from USA, Austin said:

How we treasure (and admire) the people who acknowledge us!
June 29, 2008 at 05:01 AM
soma from USA, Denver said:

An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought.
June 29, 2008 at 10:00 AM
glucophage crepesole caseage from USA, Las Vegas said:

The ‘Net is a waste of time, and that’s exactly what’s right about it.
June 29, 2008 at 01:36 PM
amlodipine from USA, Portland said:

I’ll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there’s evidence of any thinking going on inside it.
June 29, 2008 at 04:57 PM
tretinoin from USA, San Antonio said:

The function of science fiction is not always to predict the future but sometimes to prevent it.
June 29, 2008 at 05:02 PM
zyloprim from USA, Seattle said:

Reality is nothing but a collective hunch.
June 29, 2008 at 05:03 PM
keflex from USA, Chicago said:

I phoned my dad to tell him I had stopped smoking. He called me a quitter.
June 29, 2008 at 11:01 PM
cheap cialis from USA, Austin said:

Let not the sands of time get in your lunch.
June 29, 2008 at 11:03 PM
wellbutrin online referral chucker from USA, Milwaukee said:

Anyone who has gumption knows what it is, and anyone who hasn’t can never know what it is. So there is no need of defining it.
June 30, 2008 at 02:18 AM
buy carisoprodol online from USA, Milwaukee said:

Most advances in science come when a person for one reason or another is forced to change fields.
June 30, 2008 at 02:20 AM
losec from USA, San Diego said:

Newspapermen learn to call a murderer ‘an alleged murderer’ and the King of England ‘the alleged King of England’ to avoid libel suits.
June 30, 2008 at 06:11 AM
fexofenadine from USA, Oklahoma City said:

Summer afternoon - Summer afternoon… the two most beautiful words in the English language.
June 30, 2008 at 09:57 AM
celexa from USA, Seattle said:

It really doesn’t matter if the person who hurt you deserves to be forgiven. Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself. You have things to do and you want to move on.
June 30, 2008 at 01:35 PM
buspar from USA, San Jose said:

Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.
June 30, 2008 at 05:13 PM
sonata from USA, Baltimore said:

If a dog jumps in your lap, it is because he is fond of you; but if a cat does the same thing, it is because your lap is warmer.
June 30, 2008 at 09:17 PM
diazepam online from USA, Portland said:

I am not sincere, even when I say I am not.
July 1, 2008 at 12:42 AM
cheap fioricet from USA, Memphis said:

Worries go down better with soup than without.
July 1, 2008 at 04:22 AM
ultracet from USA, Houston said:

If it weren’t for baseball, many kids wouldn’t know what a millionaire looked like.
July 1, 2008 at 04:24 AM
order cialis from USA, San Diego said:

Every moment of one’s existence one is growing into more or retreating into less.
July 1, 2008 at 07:37 AM
desoxycompound from USA, San Antonio said:

That would be a good thing for them to cut on my tombstone: Wherever she went, including here, it was against her better judgment.
July 1, 2008 at 07:41 AM
derestrict from USA, Boston said:

Meetings are indispensable when you don’t want to do anything.
July 1, 2008 at 07:43 AM
buy vicodin online from USA, Indianapolis said:

When you make a world tolerable for yourself, you make a world tolerable for others.
July 1, 2008 at 12:53 PM
zestril from USA, Portland said:

You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.
July 1, 2008 at 04:20 PM
zanaflex from USA, Indianapolis said:

If you think you can win, you can win. Faith is necessary to victory.
July 1, 2008 at 04:22 PM
prozac from USA, Los Angeles said:

We are always in search of the redeeming formula, the crystallizing thought.
July 1, 2008 at 04:23 PM
benadryl from USA, New York said:

Noble life demands a noble architecture for noble uses of noble men. Lack of culture means what it has always meant: ignoble civilization and therefore imminent downfall.
July 1, 2008 at 08:20 PM
esomeprazole from USA, Philadelphia said:

Do not be awe struck by other people and try to copy them. Nobody can be you as efficiently as you can.
July 1, 2008 at 08:21 PM
zestril from USA, San Diego said:

There is an applause superior to that of the multitudes: one’s own.
July 2, 2008 at 12:03 AM
tenormin from USA, Indianapolis said:

True friends are those who really know you but love you anyway.
July 2, 2008 at 12:05 AM
strobolux from USA, Los Angeles said:

Nothing is as certain as that the vices of leisure are gotten rid of by being busy.
July 2, 2008 at 12:07 AM
minerals from USA, Austin said:

Creative work is play. It is free speculation using materials of one’s chosen form.
July 2, 2008 at 12:11 AM
teledu from USA, Seattle said:

If men could only know each other, they would neither idolize nor hate.
July 2, 2008 at 12:12 AM
vine from USA, Philadelphia said:

The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side.
July 2, 2008 at 12:14 AM
tnabqtez from ihlfkagd, cnabswxa said:

xzazxiaw http://tiatdzio.com ksjjrwga plzwxzwg
July 2, 2008 at 07:57 AM
generic cialis online from USA, San Diego said:

The freedom of all is essential to my freedom.
July 2, 2008 at 12:20 PM
cipro from USA, Fort Worth said:

Music with dinner is an insult both to the cook and the violinist.
July 2, 2008 at 03:54 PM
order cialis from USA, Philadelphia said:

With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
July 2, 2008 at 07:28 PM
carisoprodol online from USA, Oklahoma City said:

All love that has not friendship for its base, is like a mansion built upon sand.
July 2, 2008 at 11:10 PM
levitra online from USA, Columbus said:

The knowledge of the world is only to be acquired in the world, and not in a closet.
July 3, 2008 at 02:52 AM
levofloxacin from USA, Phoenix said:

The happiest is the person who suffers the least pain; the most miserable who enjoys the least pleasure.
July 3, 2008 at 06:18 AM
cheap tramadol online from USA, San Francisco said:

I have enjoyed greatly the second blooming… suddenly you find - at the age of 50, say - that a whole new life has opened before you.
July 3, 2008 at 09:57 AM
cozaar from USA, San Jose said:

Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today.
July 3, 2008 at 01:28 PM
sibutramine from USA, Baltimore said:

You never know how a horse will pull until you hook him up to a heavy load.
July 3, 2008 at 05:14 PM
generic hydrocodone from USA, San Antonio said:

Deeds, not words shall speak me.
July 3, 2008 at 08:47 PM
sonata from USA, Nashville-Davidson said:

Be a good listener. Your ears will never get you in trouble.
July 4, 2008 at 12:18 AM
xanax online from USA, Fort Worth said:

I feel very strongly that change is good because it stirs up the system.
July 4, 2008 at 03:54 AM
amoxycillin from USA, Phoenix said:

Hollywood is a place where they place you under contract instead of under observation.
July 4, 2008 at 07:28 AM
cheap phentermine online from USA, Las Vegas said:

I’m glad I didn’t have to fight in any war. I’m glad I didn’t have to pick up a gun. I’m glad I didn’t get killed or kill somebody. I hope my kids enjoy the same lack of manhood.
July 4, 2008 at 11:16 AM
metformin from USA, Columbus said:

It’s wonderful what we can do if we’re always doing.
July 4, 2008 at 02:23 PM
meridia online from USA, Boston said:

Nothing is so awesomely unfamiliar as the familiar that discloses itself at the end of a journey.
July 4, 2008 at 05:55 PM
gabapentin from USA, Nashville-Davidson said:

You always pass failure on the way to success.
July 4, 2008 at 09:30 PM
buy ultram from USA, Detroit said:

Make a decision, even if it’s wrong.
July 4, 2008 at 09:31 PM
cialis online from USA, San Francisco said:

The radical of one century is the conservative of the next. The radical invents the views. When he has worn them out the conservative adopts them.
July 5, 2008 at 01:27 AM
cheap hydrocodone festival equationally from USA, Phoenix said:

Humor is also a way of saying something serious.
July 5, 2008 at 05:15 AM
lunesta emotivity timeliness from USA, Portland said:

Facts are the enemy of truth.
July 5, 2008 at 05:15 AM
lunesta from USA, San Francisco said:

Nothing is more conducive to peace of mind than not having any opinions at all.
July 5, 2008 at 05:17 AM
morphologic from USA, San Antonio said:

Whenever evil befalls us, we ought to ask ourselves, after the first suffering, how we can turn it into good. So shall we take occasion, from one bitter root, to raise perhaps many flowers.
July 5, 2008 at 05:22 AM
circled from USA, San Francisco said:

It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.
July 5, 2008 at 05:23 AM
xyczvtcu from mqdjpjtz, qtoqsoti said:

ipnazoik http://qxnasehd.com kcxuxpxs uiryrhiu
July 5, 2008 at 01:36 PM
nasacort from USA, Chicago said:

You cannot make a man by standing a sheep on its hind legs. But by standing a flock of sheep in that position you can make a crowd of men.
July 5, 2008 at 06:22 PM
paxil from USA, Boston said:

Always be nice to those younger than you, because they are the ones who will be writing about you.
July 7, 2008 at 05:47 PM
sumatriptan from USA, Los Angeles said:

Resolve to edge in a little reading every day, if it is but a single sentence. If you gain fifteen minutes a day, it will make itself felt at the end of the year.
July 9, 2008 at 08:33 PM
diazepam from USA, Indianapolis said:

It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish.
July 11, 2008 at 09:23 PM
citalopram from USA, Denver said:

We all have strength enough to endure the misfortunes of others.
July 13, 2008 at 10:54 PM
phentermine from USA, Detroit said:

Be honorable yourself if you wish to associate with honorable people.
July 13, 2008 at 10:55 PM
levaquin from USA, Memphis said:

Never rely on the glory of the morning nor the smiles of your mother-in-law.
July 16, 2008 at 01:26 AM
cheap fioricet from USA, Chicago said:

What some people mistake for the high cost of living is really the cost of high living.
July 16, 2008 at 01:28 AM
glucophage from USA, Baltimore said:

There are sadistic scientists who hurry to hunt down errors instead of establishing the truth.
July 18, 2008 at 11:12 PM
cheap alprazolam from USA, Houston said:

Typos are very important to all written form. It gives the reader something to look for so they aren’t distracted by the total lack of content in your writing.
July 18, 2008 at 11:13 PM
cheap propecia from USA, Austin said:

Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute.
July 18, 2008 at 11:14 PM
buy fioricet from USA, Austin said:

As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.
July 18, 2008 at 11:17 PM
cheap alprazolam from USA, El Paso said:

If you believe the doctors, nothing is wholesome; if you believe the theologians, nothing is innocent; if you believe the military, nothing is safe.
July 18, 2008 at 11:18 PM
zqpuitck from ifhqueug, gqtjxpfr said:

uroszgxw http://poigsogn.com nwptxoct dqttvigg
July 19, 2008 at 06:39 AM
buy amoxicillin from USA, Las Vegas said:

Go often to the house of thy friend; for weeds soon choke up the unused path.
July 19, 2008 at 11:12 PM
ativan from USA, Austin said:

I was not a child prodigy, because a child prodigy is a child who knows as much when it is a child as it does when it grows up.
July 21, 2008 at 07:37 PM
fexofenadine from USA, Philadelphia said:

My mother loved children—she would have given anything if I had been one.
July 24, 2008 at 03:03 AM
generic paxil from USA, Dallas said:

I like coincidences. They make me wonder about destiny, and whether free will is an illusion or just a matter of perspective. They let me speculate on the idea of some master plan that, from time to time, we’re allowed to see out of the corner of our eye.
July 25, 2008 at 02:13 PM
order cialis online from USA, Houston said:

When you make a mistake, don’t look back at it long. Take the reason of the thing into your mind and then look forward. Mistakes are lessons of wisdom. The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power.
July 28, 2008 at 12:47 AM
Sport Serena from fl said:

Thank you Martha Jones for this information. I’ll try to get a copy of your book 101 Fitness Tips for Women.
BTW, can anyone tell me what’s going on here with all the replies?
September 27, 2008 at 09:47 AM