Full-body resistance band workout: 6 moves to get stronger | Woman & Home

This full-body resistance band workout can help you get stronger from home or in the gym in six exercises and 30 minutes, no weights required

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Take some resistance bands, your yoga mat, and 30 minutes out of your day to try this full-body resistance band workout - and thank us later. While we often think of weights for exercising at home, this simple session proves all you need is a set of stretchy rubber bands.

A set of the best resistance bands is potentially one of the most underrated pieces of kit, whether you like to do strength training exercises at home or in the gym. Not only are they just as effective as dumbbells and other weights for building strength and muscle, but they make a "great entry point to resistance training, as they often feel less intimidating than the weights and machines you find at the gym," says Emma Simarro, a certified personal trainer and women's strength specialist.

"They are versatile and lightweight, making them a useful and affordable piece of kit that you can take anywhere," she says. "They can also be used to learn new movement patterns and techniques before adding more weight and resistance." So, whether you're doing strength training at home for beginners or looking for an easy way to take your workout on holiday, a simple full-body resistance band workout could be the answer.

Yes, absolutely! As well as being budget-friendly, easy to store, beginner-friendly, and just as effective as dumbbells or kettlebells for a workout, you can use resistance bands to progressively overload your workouts, which is key for making progress. "To get stronger, you need to overload your muscles progressively and by increasing the band's resistance, you can make the exercises harder," explains Simarro.

"Resistance bands are also very effective at strengthening smaller muscle groups by isolating muscles that often get overlooked with traditional weightlifting. This is why they are widely used to help treat (and prevent) injuries."

So all in all, resistance bands are perfect for a full-body workout! Want to try one for yourself? Here are the six exercises Simarro recommends (and demonstrates below) for your next home workout.

Full set

Get your home workout done with a three-band set of varying resistances. As Emma Simarro says, it's important to make your exercises harder and increasing the resistance of your band (from 7kg to 15kg in this case) makes this easy to do. Plus, this set from Decathlon comes in cool colours and has a handy pouch to keep your bands safe.

Give it a go

Not fully convinced by a full-body resistance band workout? This set of light to heavy resistance bands is a budget-friendly way to see if it's for you. You'll miss out on premium quality and appearance - unlike the Decathlon set - but it certainly gets the job done.

With handles

A set of resistance bands with handles can make it easier to do a workout if you struggle with grip strength or hanging onto your bands. This colourful set from Myprotein has everything you need to get started, with resistance from 4 to 22kg.

The first exercise is a big full-body movement that "challenges both the lower body muscles like the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes, as well as the shoulders, triceps and the core", Simarro says.

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This second one is a great "posterior chain exercise", which means it targets the back of the body - the glutes, hamstrings, lower back, and core muscles.

A bent-over row works many of the muscles in the upper back, she says. "This includes the lats, rhomboids, traps, and posterior shoulder muscles, as well as the biceps and core."

Much like doing a push-up properly, this exercise is an excellent one for helping to maintain good posture.

To get the most benefit from your strength workouts (and in an ideal world), each resistance band workout would be 30 to 45 minutes long, says Simarro. "Aim for two to three full-body sessions a week and this should be plenty," she says.

But, how long you should lift weights for depends entirely on your fitness levels, goals, and lifestyle. "The best workout duration is the one that fits into your day," says the personal trainer. "Something is always better than nothing, and the good news is that resistance bands are so versatile, there's no set-up time, so you can grab and go."

Emma Simarro is a certified personal trainer, women's health coach, and the founder of Building Body Confidence, a business dedicated to helping women thrive in midlife. Through her personal coaching and online programmes she educates women on the benefits of strength training and helps them implement the lifestyle habits they need to navigate perimenopause and beyond with confidence.

Grace Walsh is woman&home's Health Channel Editor, working across the areas of fitness, nutrition, sleep, mental health, relationships, and sex. She is also a qualified fitness instructor. In 2025, she will be taking on her third marathon in Brighton, completing her first ultra marathon, and qualifying as a certified personal trainer and nutrition coach.

A digital journalist with over seven years experience as a writer and editor for UK publications, Grace has covered (almost) everything in the world of health and wellbeing with bylines in Cosmopolitan, Red, The i Paper, GoodtoKnow, and more.

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