This blog will be a helpful guide of how to do lower body workouts with resistance bands.

No matter what athletic activity you prefer, having a stronger more defined lower will increase your performance and make you look great too. Achieving or maintaining strong and lean legs should be a high priority for everyone whether it’s the middle of winter or prime bikini season. Athletes of all levels want to improve endurance, explosive speed, foot quickness, and vertical jump ability. Basketball players can jump higher, skiers can go faster and runners can endure longer runs with a regular lower body resistance band workout.

Lower Body Resistance Band Exercises

Lower body exercises using resistance bands will build solid muscle in your legs without the wear on your joints like with free weights. Regular weightlifting workouts for legs exercises can put excessive strain on your knees, hips, and ankles during the process of building bigger quads, hamstrings and calf muscles. Lower body exercises using resistance bands are effective, non-weight bearing and portable, so you can do a full lower body workout or just a targeted toning session anywhere including at home, at the gym or on the road. In addition, exercising with a lower body resistance band provides incredible versatility allowing hundreds of different workouts for any muscle you want to target.


Band Squats

Lower body resistance band squats are fantastic for toning and building strength in your quadriceps, glutes and your entire lower body. If free weight squats cause joint or lower back pain, then you will enjoy resistance band squats; they are non-weight bearing (ie don’t make you fight gravity) and thus put less wear and tear on your joints. Try our Booty Band Kit for resistance bands exercises that are easy to implement into your squat routine.

Instructions for squats with exercise bands:

  1. With your feet hips width apart, place your feet on top of the resistance band and hold the band in each hand.

  2. Raise the squat bands overhead to engage your arms and shoulders for an additional challenge

  3. Maintain a straight spine while keeping your chest up, back flat, head straight and your elbows back.

  4. If you’ve never done a squat on the squat rack, bend your legs as if you were about to sit in a chair. Just make sure your knees never travel past your toes to avoid straining you knees.

  5. Perform 3 to 4 sets with 10 - 12 repetitions.




Lunges

The lunge is an effective lower body resistance band workout that builds strength in your core, glutes, hamstrings, and quads.  

Instructions for lunges with resistance bands:

  1. Position your feet with one foot in front of the other. Stand on the band with the front foot.

  2. Grasp the end of the resistance band with your hands and raise your hands up to shoulder height. Alternatively, if the band is long enough you can put it around your shoulders and hold the bands for stability.

  3. Keep your head and chest up, back straight and your elbows back.

  4. Lower your hips until your front thigh is nearly parallel to the floor.

  5. Next, raise your hips and straighten out the front leg.

  6. Ensure your knee stays over your toes as you lower and rise up through the movement.

  7. Perform 2 to 4 sets of 10 - 15 repetitions.



Hamstring Curl (Lying)

This exercise directly targets your hamstrings and core.

Instructions for lying hamstring curls with exercise bands:

  1. Secure the bands to a low lying anchor point (such as a door with a door anchor).

  2. Wrap the band around your ankles (or use ankle straps) and lay down three to four feet away from the anchor point.

  3. Keep your back flat and glutes clenched.

  4. Keep your hips down and bend both legs together as you pull your heels towards your butt.

  5. Perform 2 to 4 sets of 10 - 15 repetitions.

 

Leg Adduction (Standing)

Including leg adductions into your lower body resistance band workout will target the stubborn areas of the inner and outer thighs. Yayyy.


Instructions for standing leg adduction with exercise bands:

  1. Anchor a resistance band to a low lying anchor point.

  2. Stand with your side facing the support and wrap the other end of the band around your right outer ankle. You can also do this from a seated position for additional security.

  3. Take a wide stance with a quarter squat and swing the active ankle across your body past your standing (or resting) leg while squeezing your thighs.

  4. Return to the starting position while maintaining the level of resistance.  

  5. Perform 2 to 4 sets of 10 - 15 repetitions for each side.


Donkey Kicks

Donkey Kicks are a great exercise to firm your Glutes. Using a lower body resistance band will increase the tension throughout your range of motion as you kick through each rep.

Instructions for donkey kicks with exercise bands:

  1. Secure the band to the door with the door anchor or another sturdy object. Alternatively, you can place your hand on one end of the band to secure it in place.

  2. Wrap the band around one foot and get down on your hands and knees four to five feet away from the anchor point.

  3. Push your leg back and up (just slightly) until it is straight and parallel to the floor.

Calf Exercises Using Resistance Bands

The calves comprise the posterior lower leg and are used for important activities such as walking, running and jumping. To effectively work the calves, you need to raise your heels up and squeeze your calf muscles. Using a lower body resistance band is a great way to keep you calves engaged through your entire set so that your lower body is never resting.

Resistance Band Calf Flexion


Instructions for resistance band calf flexion:

  1. Sit with your legs in front of you.

  2. Place the band around the balls of your feet.

  3. While keeping your knees bent, point and flex your foot up and forward, maintaining tension throughout the movement.

  4. Perform 2 - 4 sets of 10 to 15 reps.

One or Two Legged Calf Raise (Standing)

This exercise is a nice change from the 2 legged calf raise. It is sometimes beneficial to work each calf muscle one at a time to fully engage each leg individually.

Instructions for standing one-legged calf raises with exercise bands:

  1. Secure the bands to the bottom of a door with a door anchor.

  2. Face the door and bend down to grab both sides of the band with one hand.

  3. Put the other hand against the door and the inactive foot behind the calf(s) you intend to work.

  4. Keep your chest up, back straight and your head straight.

  5. Lift your heel off the floor, standing as high on your toes as possible.

  6. The arm holding the band should be straight and pointed at the door.

  7. Perform 2 - 4 sets of 10 to 15 reps.


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Calf Raise (Standing)

Adding this workout into your regular lower body exercises using resistance bands will add increased size and strength to your calves.

Instructions for standing calf raises with exercise bands:

  1. Secure the band(s) under your feet.

  2. Elevate your hands at or above your shoulders.

  3. Keep your head up and back straight while you perform the movement.

  4. Lift both heels off the floor, standing as high as possible on your toes.

  5. Perform 2 - 4 sets of 10 to 15 reps.

Resistance Band Hip Exercises

The hips are the support for all other lower body movements. Weak hips will lead to knee and foot issues that can lead to injuries that keep you out of the game. Incorporate these lower body resistance band exercises to ensure your hips stay strong and free from injury.

Lateral Walks


Instructions for lateral walks with exercise bands:

  1. Wrap a 12” booty resistance band around both knees.

  2. Start by getting into a semi-squat position.

  3. Shuffle laterally for twenty steps, keeping your toes facing forward and back straight.

  4. After twenty steps in one direction, stop and shuffle in the opposite direction until you reach where you started. For an increasingly difficult challenge, try doing these on stairs!

  5. Perform 4 sets.

Step-up Kickback

Instructions for lying hip flexion with exercise bands:

  1. Place a mini loop booty bands around your thighs.

  2. Step up on to an elevated surface with one leg. Take extra time to ensure you maintain your balance. If this part is too difficult for now then just stay on the ground and advance to step 3.

  3. Squeeze your glute muscles and keep both legs straight as you pull one directly back behind you.

  4. Return to starting position and repeat on both sides.

  5. Perform 2 - 4 sets of 10 to 15 reps.

Clam Shells

Instructions for clam shells with resistance bands:


  1. Place the band above both knees.

  2. Lie on the floor on one side with your knees bent and legs together.

  3. Your head can rest on your biceps.

  4. Keeping your feet together, pull your knees apart and rotate the top leg as wide as you can go.

  5. Lower your leg and repeat the motion.

  6. Rotate over and complete a set on the other leg.

  7. Perform 3 - 5 sets with 10 repetitions.

A lower body resistance band workout is a wonderful way to strengthen and tone your legs. You can easily start incorporating any of these workouts into your routine, whether you work out at home or in a gym.Try our mobile gym kit and start incorporating these exercises to get the results you want for your quads, hamstrings, and calves. Join the Rubberlution today and lock down your lower body band workouts anywhere!