Resistance Tubes Review

By WLR's Personal Trainer, Nicola Glanville PTI REP Level 3

• A great piece of kit for a total body toning work-out
• More muscle means more calories will get burned every day
• Fits in your hand/man bag
• Adjustable level of resistance

Resistance tubing has a million and one applications. These are fab bits of kit and they fit into your hand/man bag! When I write an exercise program I mainly use tubing to exercise the core and upper back muscles. Many of my clients work for long hours at a computer and this can be extremely stressful for the upper back and neck muscles. A great way to use tubing is for pulling exercises that strengthen the back muscles (see examples below).

Another great thing about tubing is that you can alter the intensity of an exercise by adjusting the amount of tubing that you use. For example if you are doing a bicep curl with the tubing running under your feet, you can alter the position of your feet on the tubing to reduce or increase the length of the tubing running to your hands; this allows you to modify the level of resistance and the difficulty of the exercise.

The most effective way to exercise with tubing is to use it with a stability ball. Let me explain, all movement should be generated from the core muscles. When we try to push or pull a heavy object we often focus on using our arms and forget to engage our core. To help us to focus on what our hips are doing and therefore to maintain a neutral spine (link to ‘Core Activation’ – stability ball exercise above), we can complete pulling and pushing exercises on a stability ball.

The following exercises and a great deal of others can be completed without a stability ball. Just remember to stand tall and draw your tummy muscles in to engage your core muscles throughout the exercises.

Exercise 1

Stability ball Seated Row

Wrap the tubing around an immovable object. Grip the ends of the tubing in each hand and sit tall on a stability ball facing the origin of the tubing. Start with your arms straight. Pull the tubing by bending your arms and drawing your elbow back until they are horizontally and vertically level with your shoulders. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and then return to the start position. Complete 2 x 15 repetitions.

Exercise 2

Stability Ball Twist

Wrap the tubing around an immovable object. Grip the ends of the tubing in both hand and sit tall on a stability ball sideways on to the origin of the tubing. Hold your arms out in front of you at shoulder level and, using your abdominal muscles, rotate your torso away from the origin of the tubing, pulling the tubing tight as you do so. Ensure that you are focusing on using your tummy muscles to turn your body. Return to start position. Complete 2 x 15 repetitions.