If you are one of the people who is obsessed with maintaining the highly standard shape and tone of your Glutes and Hips, today you can use one of the effective workouts, so that you can easily activate these muscles in no time with Banded Squats.
The resistance band squat is a great opportunity, so you can start quickly with a simple movement that generate great results, however their is another exercise that can perform for glute strength, like band squat jumps, but it is a bit more advanced and challenging compared to the standard squat, and both will generate roughly the same muscles results.
Another essential idea is that you need to practice by performing the correct steps of the squat with a band before you start thinking about adding more weights or heavy resistance to your routine.
In this article will discuss the right steps of how to perform banded squats, the benefits you can get from the exercise, what other working muscles gain strength during your performance, how to use banded squats in power lifting, and how easy it is to workout at home or during your vacation, to keep yourself fit all the time.
Banded Squats Exercises
These are different exercises that can be practiced with a resistance band that targets Activation Glutes and improve mobility of the hips, as well as other muscles that will be highlighted in the details of each exercise.
Banded Squats with Loops
This workout helps to increase the flexibility of your knees and maintain their correct of motion, the strength of the quadriceps, in addition, it partially engages and toned the abdominal muscles. The internal pressure on the knees generated by the band activates the gluteus maximus muscle.
Here are the steps for the workouts:
- Put your feet through a short/mini band and pull it up slightly above your knee.
- Then stand straight with your feet flat on the floor, feet at shoulder width apart. (Tip to stand on non-slippery ground to maintain stability during your workout)
- Now lower your hips to the floor to be in a seated position, with your knees bent, while engaging the tension generated from band pulled over your legs and knees.
- Return to the starting position, keeping your knees slightly pressed outward against the band so you don’t fall.
Banded Squats with Side Leg Lift
This is one variation type of banded squat that works on the hips abductors and hamstrings muscle. The steps as the following:
- Begin with the same steps as doing a banded squat exercise by placing the band loop through you, slightly above the level of your knees. (starting position)
- Slowly lower your hips to the ground.
- Return your hip to the previous position by returning to the starting position by standing straight, then raise the left leg to the left side while keeping your knees straight.
- Return your left leg to a standing position on the floor, about shoulder width apart.
- Repeat the squat position, then switch and raise the right leg on the right side, without bending your knees.
Hips Abductors: means a motion that moves your leg out to the sides.
Banded Butterfly Squats
There are other variations of band squats out there that provide a challenge by engaging the calf muscles and quadriceps, and working to stretching the hip abductors.
- Put your legs through the band loop, just slightly above your knee.
- Stand with your back straight and your feet flat on the floor at shoulder width.
- Slowly lower your buttocks onto the floor in a seated position, knees bent, until your thighs are parallel to the floor.
- While in this position, gently lift your heels off the floor, then open both legs (knees outward) slightly, to engage more tension of the resistance band.
- Bring your knees back inward and place your feet flat on the floor.
- Stand-up your body to be straight, as in starting position.
Split Squat with Booty Band
This is a great exercise position, to increase muscle intensity, to shape the glutes and grow the quad fibers.
- Add a resistance band between your ankles. Put your feet about shoulder width apart. (starting position)
- Change your body position to a split squat position, by placing your right foot forward, and your left foot extended backward.
- Lower your body until your right knee is bent at a 90-degree angle, while making sure your left knee is not touching the ground.
- Hold this position for 30 seconds and feel the resistance of the band.
- Return to the starting position, standing straight and keeping your feet shoulder width apart.
- Repeat the squat split this time, by switching legs, setting your left foot forward, and right foot extended backward.
Banded Squats Benefits
Cause by just adding a simple piece of equipment into your squat exercises, the added value of the band in return is considered huge.
So what’s the use of banded squats? Here are some of the benefits you can gain:
- The Squat Band really works, by following the simple motion of the exercise, you will actually burn the fat in your body.
- The standard band squat is one of the easiest and most straightforward exercises that you can perform to strengthen your body.
- It can also be considered a great warm-up for your muscles, if you are using a lighter resistance band.
- Squatting isn’t the only exercise you can perform with a band, you can make use of and include your biceps curl and a rowing motion workouts.
- It better helps you tone your muscles, reshape the muscles of your glutes and hips, and increase the strength of your lower body.
- Increased better movement performance of your knees, while improving weak abductors.
- The bands provide a safe way to perform a resistance squats without putting more pressure on your lower back, which reducing the chances of injuries during your workouts.
Mistakes During Banded Squats
- The biggest mistake you can make while performing squatting is that your knees actually fall off than the right limits without even you noticing! The next day, you’ll likely feel a harmful pain in your knees.
- Add more resistance band/weight than you can tolerate once you start workout. The right way, it should gradually add more resistance as you exercise over time.
Banded Squats Muscles Worked
As you discover while go through the article, many of the muscles that engaged within banded squats, which worked primarily with the hamstrings and quadriceps, as well as the calf muscles, the Gluteus Medius (middle layer of the upper butt), and the hip flexors, with a slight engagement of the Abs Muscles.
Moreover, bands are used in various equipment to exercise the stomach and thighs.
Resistance Band Squats at Home
As you can see through the topics we discuss, how you can add the importance of the squat band as you transforming your body, especially in the lower body part, to increase more value.
Having a resistance band is a versatile piece of equipment for your workout needs at home, you can perform the workouts on your own time, to make a difference in your body shape.
All of the above exercises that we discussed can be done at home plus you can add:
Resistance Squat Jump Band
Bring a long band, tie one end of the band (which will be behind you) to a stable object (make sure it is secure and stable), wrap the other end of the band around your hips.
Now move forward a distance to keep the band slightly tighter, and then start by set yourself into a squat position.
While your thighs are parallel to the floor, start jump as high as you can, making sure to bend your legs as you land. Then repeat.
The idea of working out with the band, will make your jump more challenging, so you’ll have to increase your strength and contract muscles every time you jump.
Suggested 10 minute squat resistance band training session
Perform the complete session of the following exercise and rounds at home:
- Jump band exercise for 3 rounds.
- Squat with Loops for 4 rounds.
- Split Squat for 4 rounds X 2 (switch the legs).
Banded Squats Powerlifting
Before we start about power lifting, it is important to realize that even this type of exercise provides explosive strength to the muscles, the exercise is designed for advanced bodybuilders and not for beginners, because the techniques and steps used and the level of control during lifting must be high, otherwise you will expose your body to various injuries.
Moreover, the use of a resistance band in weightlifting is a practical exercise as it complements the natural strength of the muscles during exercise.
The reason behind this is, while the muscles contract during the lift, the more the band is stretched, gradually providing a natural ascending resistance force, so each time you lift higher the resistance increases to build more strong muscles.
Squat is one of the power lifting exercises that can be practiced with the band, but there are many other similar exercises types, such as the bench press, dead-lift and shoulder press.
The excitement of using band with lifting, since bands come with different resistance types range from light to heavy, so every time you practice, you can add more challenging weights as you build your muscle strength journey, simply by changing the bands not the weights.
Note: If you want to start doing lifting exercises at home and don’t have rack equipment, find a strong enough wooden/metal pole, connect the two ends of the pole with bands, then at the other end of each band, wrap it with two dumbbells together (so they don’t roll) Then you can start the lifting exercise you want, to naturally increase the lifting power.
Conclusion
As you’ll discover, band exercises are considered an added value to your workouts, as long as you perform the steps correctly, so you can control the intensity of your routine by gradually adding resistance, while your muscle strength builds up and grows, without adding unsafe pressure from regular weights.
There are two ways to increase the resistance of the bands, either to change the intensity type of the band from light to heavy as discussed before by using another band type, or you can add two dual band tubes of the same type.
There are many different benefits that you can gain with banded squats, either planning to warm up or strengthening muscles, improving lower body strength, muscle formation and coordination, It’s a multi-purpose so you can work out different muscles in the same workout session. You can burning your fat for a long training session over time and improve mobility and performance of your hips and joint muscles. All these benefits can be obtained through the resistance band in the squat.
In case you want to focus more on toning your Glutes, it’s another simple routine by performing the Glutes Bridge Workout without equipment.
In short, Banded squat works for all strength levels of people, be it beginner or advanced, which is a great help for your body development.