Killer upper body resistance band workout

Ensure you get a great upper body resistance band workout to keep packing on muscle when you don’t have access to weights. I always prefer free weights, but when I am traveling or not able to get to the gym, I have to make sure I get a great pump from using resistance bands.

Grab your bands and get ready for a workout that will blast the muscles in your upper body.

I prefer resistance bands that have handles to make them easier to use. Also, I like resistance bands that come in a variety of options for tension. This allows you to adjust the resistance depending on the muscle group you are working out. For example, you’ll find bands that are labeled with their equivalent weight resistance. It’s questionable how accurate those labels really are, but it is a good indication of difficulty for you.

Another way to ensure you are making the most of your band exercises is to make sure you perform every rep with strict form, complete control, and using a slow tempo to allow your muscles to stay under constant tension.

Can resistance band workouts lead to gains?

Yes. Although I will always recommend big compound moves with free weights to skinny people trying to gain mass, bands can definitely contribute to this goal. As mentioned above, it’s important to control each rep and really get the most from each exercise. There are many ways to build muscle without weights. The fundamentals of training for mass stay the same whether you use free weights, bands, or no weights at all.

Band workouts for upper body

With band workouts, when building muscle, I treat each training session the same as I would if I were using free weights. This means that I still follow 10 sets of 10 reps for each main exercise and I work out complementary muscle groups when choosing which muscles to work out together for each workout.

The following workout ideas are written with those fundamental principles in mind. This represents a 3 day workout routine designed for gaining mass in the upper body with resistance bands.

Workout #1: Back and Biceps

Back

My favorite back exercise with bands is the seated band row. This looks similar to a seated cable row, except you are obviously going to use bands instead. You can perform these as outlined in the video below. A common concern I hear is that some people feel there is not enough resistance when doing this exercise.

One way to create more tension with the bands is to shorten them so you feel more resistance. Luckily, you don’t have to cut the band to accomplish this. Instead, start by placing the middle of the band over the top of your feet. Then wrap both ends around the bottom of your feet and back up toward your torso between your feet. This will make the move more challenging for you.

Biceps

The most obvious exercise here is the bicep curl. Standing on the band provides the anchor you need to perform the bicep curl as you stand. However, a twist I like to use to really dial up the challenge is to curl each arm individually while the other arm is paused at the half-way point of a curl, in an isometric hold. Basically, you want to pause the other arm when your forearm is parallel with the ground.

This boosts your time under tension, giving your biceps a huge signal to grow.

Workout #2: Triceps and Chest

Triceps

My choice of tricep exercise depends on the availability of an attachment point. That means, if I have a secure and stable point to anchor my bands, I will choose a different exercise than if I don’t have access to that. Many resistance band sets come with anchors that you can use in doors. So, here are my go-to band exercises for triceps.

• If you have an anchor- I prefer the tricep pushdown. Anchor the band high and use the band to perform a pushdown as you would with a cable.
• If you don’t have an anchor- step on the band, bend over at the torso and perform a kickback. Otherwise, don’t bend over and instead perform an overhead extension.

This is a great video from Athlean-X with a variety of ideas.

Chest

Pushups are a great and complete exercise for any upper body resistance band workout. An easy way to make the pushup more challenging for muscle growth is to place the band in your hands and around your back, so that each rep is against the tension of the band on your back. You may need to wrap the band around your hand or knot it to make it shorter to give you resistance throughout the rep.

If you find this difficult to do, using an anchor, you can do a pushing movement with the band anchored behind your back and pushing forward.

Workout #3: Shoulders and Abs

Shoulders

This next exercise is by far my favorite band exercise. It’s the reason I started to appreciate bands and realized how you can use them creatively. Try the resistance band tension lateral raise. I have never felt such a fantastic burn from a resistance band workout before. See the video below at the 14:07 timestamp to see the exact exercise. One arm is lifting while the other arm stays paused at the middle of the raise, keeping your shoulder muscles under tension for longer than a traditional side lateral raise.

Abs

Finally, while I prefer to do crunches, if you want to incorporate a band in your ab workout, try the resistance band lifting exercise. The name isn’t very descriptive unfortunately, but you can see how to perform this exercise at the 32:10 mark in the video below. It’s kind of like the opposite of the woodchopper lift.

The exercise does a good job of engaging your core and also continuing to work your shoulder, which makes it perfect for this particular workout routine.

The video below has a walkthrough of the shoulder and ab workouts above, but it also has a TON of other band workout ideas. The description allows you to find the workout for you and skip ahead in the video.

I found this video when I was traveling and needed help figuring out how to maximize my resistance band workout for my upper body. It’s awesome!

What are your thoughts? Questions? Let me know in the comments!