The Heavy-Duty Resistance Loop Band Leg Workout

When it comes to training the legs, most people think that, unless you get under a heavy squat rack or leg press, there’s no way you can build any decent strength or size. This article sets out to prove them wrong. With the aid of a resistance loop band you’re about to discover how you can hit every muscle in the lower body for a hardcore leg workout that will leave you gasping.

The Exercises

Loop Band Squats

There is no escaping the fact that the squat is the number one exercise for the lower body. The reason is simple; the place the maximum amount of stress on your target muscles; the quadriceps, the glutes, and the hamstrings.

The key to getting an effective loop band squat workout is knowing where to grasp hold of the bands in order to maintain a constant and sufficient resistance on the band throughout the entire exercise. When you have the band at chest level, it will be loose in the bottom third of the squat. That means that there will be no resistance during that portion of the exercise.
To overcome this problem we will do the squat in an overhead position. Here’s how…

Select a challenging band color (green or black for experienced trainers) and place one end of the loop under your feet. Position your feet at shoulder width apart with your feet turned slightly outwards. Now grab the other ends of the loop band with an overhand grip and clean it to your shoulders. Next, press overhead until you are in a locked out overhead should press position.

This is your start position for the squat. Keep your head looking straight ahead and your spine in a neutral position. Now begin the squat movement by dropping at the hips. Follow with the knees, going down to slightly lower than a position where your thighs are parallel to the floor.

Push into the heels to power back up to the start position in one smooth section. Make sure that your arms remain locked out throughout the entire movement.

Doing squats with the loop band will help to correct a lot of the form problems that many people encounter when doing squats with a weight on their back. Chief among these is rounding the back and leaning forward. The fact that your arms are overhead in the resistance loop band squat makes it impossible to get into this incorrect (and dangerous) positioning.

Here is the suggested rep range…

Set One – 20 reps
Set Two – 10 reps
Set Three – 10 reps
Set Four – 15 reps

On sets two and three, use the next color band up for added resistance. On the fourth set, go back to the original band color but do your reps twice as fast, being sure to maintain proper form. Imagine that your body is a piston and that you are cranking the reps out effortlessly.

Band Deadlift

Many people do deadlifts for their back. The reality is that they are second only to the squat in terms of strengthening and developing the muscles of your lower body, especially the lower kinetic chain. Again, you will want to select a challenging color resistance for this exercise. Double the band over and place it under your feet, which should be set a little wider than shoulder-width apart. Bend your knees to come down and grab the tops of the band with a neutral grip (palms facing each other). You need to ensure that your feet are wide enough apart that the band only reaches up to your ankles.

Now, maintaining a neutral spine and upright torso, drop your butt down as if you were in the bottom of a squat position. Next, simply stand up to a fully erect position. Lower and repeat.

When you do traditional barbell deadlifts, you are weaker through the first third of the movement and stronger through the last third. With loop band deadlifts, however, the reverse is true. You are stronger at the start. Then, as the band stretches the exercise gets harder until it is the hardest at the top position. This more closely mimics our natural strength curve, making the band deadlift a more functional exercise than its free weight counterpart.

Perform the same rep scheme as you did on the loop band squat:

Set One – 20 reps
Set Two – 10 reps
Set Three – 10 reps
Set Four – 15 reps

Once again, try to increase the resistance with a heavier color-coded band on sets two and three. Then, on the last set revert back to the original weight but do the reps twice as fast with good form.

Stiff-Legged Deadlift

The stiff-legged deadlift transfers the majority of the focus of the exercise to the back of your upper legs – the hamstrings and the glutes. The key to the proper execution of this exercise is to keep your back in a neutral position the whole time (do not round the back to allow you to get lower). With the stiff-legged deadlift, you do not bend your knees.

Stand on one end of the band with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Now grab the other end of the band with a neutral grip and loop the band around your wrists several times in order to shorten it. This will ensure that you will have resistance from the bottom of the stiff-legged deadlift right through to the endpoint.

Start from a fully erect position then lower without bending your knees or allowing your back to round. You should be able to go down until your hands come down to the level of your shins. However, if you are not flexible enough only come down as far as you can without rounding your back. Make sure, also, that your hands remain in close to your legs at all times.
To straighten, hinge your hips as your powerfully squeeze your butt cheeks together. Control your rep speed on the way down and then explode on the way back up.

Your rep pattern is the same as the other exercises in the workout:

Set One – 20 reps
Set Two – 10 reps
Set Three – 10 reps
Set Four – 15 reps

As before, increase the resistance in the second and third reps. Then go back to your original color band for the last set, but perform your reps at a faster speed, without sacrificing your exercise form.

Single Leg Resisted Lunge

Get down into a lunge position with your rear lower leg resting on the floor. Place the doubled over resistance loop band under the midsole of your front foot and hold the end with a neutral grip. Now push backward with the hamstrings to come up to a straightened front leg position. The rear leg will lift up to approximately a 60-degree angle. Remember that you are not pushing up with the quads here. Rather, you are pushing back with the hamstrings.
As you do this exercise, be sure to squeeze your glutes.

You will complete the same rep scheme as with the other 3 exercises:

Set One – 20 reps
Set Two – 10 reps
Set Three – 10 reps
Set Four – 15 reps

Once more, increase the band color on sets two and three. Then go back to the original color on the last set but speed up the reps.

Conclusion
This 4-exercise leg workout is extremely challenging. You will be doing a total of 16 sets to work the quads, hamstrings, and glutes. The next day you will feel the effects – especially on the backs of your upper legs.

Give this one a try – it is bound to make you a band believer!