Unlock these 9 impressive Exercises with Resistance Bands

Looking to unlock new skills and exercises? This article will go over how to use resistance bands to help unlock 9 impressive calisthenics exercises and skills, ranging from beginner, to advanced, to pro.

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Feb 9, 20220 comments

Unlock these 9 impressive Exercises with Resistance Bands

Depending on your experience level, certain exercises in calisthenics may lend themselves to being more challenging for you than others. Maybe you find yourself being stuck and frustrated, trying to make progress and achieve a certain goal you’ve set for yourself, but just can’t seem to break the plateau. In this case, resistance bands might just be the perfect solution you haven’t tried yet.

This article will go over how to use resistance bands to help unlock 9 impressive calisthenics exercises and skills, ranging from beginner, to advanced, to pro.

calisthenics athlete stretching with resistance band

Firstly, why can resistance bands help with unlocking exercises and skills?

When used correctly, resistance bands can offer support on exercises to make them easier. The tension of the band can effectively reduce the load of your body weight, making exercises less intense. The major benefit of resistance bands is that they allow you to experience what the desired exercises actually feel like (while being less intense). Instead of building up to a skill with regressions or the exercise, bands give you the opportunity to already achieve the exercise in an easier way, training your mind muscle connection and motor skills, and can bridge the gap to unlocking the real version of that certain exercise.

calisthenics athlete doing full planche with resistance band

Here are the exercises we will go over in this article. Skip ahead to the exercise that you are looking for help in!

Beginner: Pull Ups, Push Ups, Dips

Advanced: Muscle Ups, Front Lever, One Arm Pull Up

Pro: Planche, Hefesto, One Arm Front Lever

Useful tip: For demonstrations and clarifications of the following exercises, check out this video on our YouTube channel, where some of our athletes demonstrate the right way to using resistance bands in your workout!

Beginner Level: Pull Ups, Push Ups and Dips

If you’re just getting started in Calisthenics, then it is understandable if the basic exercises can be challenging. Not to worry! With resistance bands you can make all 3 of the classic basic exercises suitable to your level.

Pull Ups:

Tie the resistance band of your choice to the bar, and place your feet in the loop. In this way the load of your bodyweight will be reduced, and you’ll be able to pull yourself up.

Push-Ups:

Tie the resistance band of your choice to the bar, and wrap the loop around your chest while in a pushup position. In this way, you’ll be able to push up more easily. If push ups are easy for you, then they can also be made harder with resistance bands. Simply wrap both ends of the band around your hands while in pushup-position, with the band behind your back.

Dips:

Loop each end of the resistance band around your hands. Grip the dip bars while putting your knees into the resistance band. In this way, Dips will be much easier to perform.

Training Tip: To maximal progress in building strength, a minimum amount of repetitions is ideal. If you can only perform 1 or 2 reps per set of an exercise, you might not progress as quickly as if you were to do 10. By making the exercise easier with resistance bands, you’ll be able to get the necessary amount of training volume.

Advanced Level: Muscle Ups, Front Lever and One Arm Pull Up

Muscle Ups:

Just like with the pull ups, tie the band to the bar and place your feet inside the loop. Now simply pull up as explosively as you can in order to get above the bar.

Front Lever:

Wrap the resistance band around your waist and griping each end of the band against a lower bar. Perform the assisted front lever for multiple sets of 10-15 seconds for best results.

One Arm Pullup:

As with the pull ups, tie the band the the bar, place your feet inside the loop and try to pull yourself up with one arm. The band can be very useful for the OAP as it allows you to understand the technique and mechanics required.

Pro Level: Planche, Hefesto and One Arm Front Lever

Planche:

Tie the band of your choice to a bar and place the loop around your waist. This will give you support when doing your tuck, straddle, or full planche holds.

Hefesto:

Bands can also be useful for unlocking the Hefesto as they allow you to perform exercises like pelican curls which translate directly to the skill.

One Arm Front Lever:

Similarly to the ordinary Front Lever, use the band to assist you around your waist and/or feet while in the Front Lever position. Only this time, you can attempt it with only one arm! Bands can also be useful for this still in doing unilateral band pull downs. Tie the band to the bar, and with a straight arm pull the band down to your waist through the entire range of motion.

Info: If you’re looking for more exercises to do with resistance bands, have a look at our other article on 10 Calisthenics Exercises with Resistance Bands.

Reminder! Check out this video on our YouTube channel, where some of our athletes demonstrate the right way of using resistance bands in your workout!

Hopefully this article has shown you all the great benefits of Resistance Bands, and how you can effectively use them to unlock countless exercises. Hopefully you will have also seen how versatile Resistance Bands can be, so feel free to be creative and come up with your own exercises! Have a browse of our Resistance Bands and achieve your goals today!