Band Only Muscle Building Workout

Is it possible to build and maintain muscle mass at home? Skinny-kid-turned-rugby-coach Tom MacCormick thinks so. In his article about building and maintaining muscle at home MacCormick outlines the basic principles of metabolic stress training as a means to maximize your workouts and retain your gains with little to no gym equipment.

The idea is to create as much tension on any given muscle as possible, not necessarily with weight, but by driving resistance. This can be translated to your workouts by way of higher rep schemes, shorter rest periods, and techniques that boost intensity like circuits, super-sets, partial reps etc. The key is to make sure you are using specific loads around your 30-rep max (or heavier) and training to failure.

The workout below incorporates 6 key movement patterns: squat pattern, hip hinge, horizontal push, horizontal pull, vertical push and vertical pull. Requiring only your bodyweight and resistance bands, it can be done virtually anywhere, at any time making it nearly impossible to skip your workout. Since this routine incorporates higher rep ranges, it’s crucial that you push your sets close to failure to ensure optimal training.

You can find more free limited equipment workouts in our bodyweight workouts and home-based workouts sections.

Band Only Muscle Building Workout

Editor’s Notes:

• AMRAP = As Many Reps As Possible
• RIR = Reps In Reserve
• Tempo is listed as four numbers (e.g. 4211). Each number corresponds to a phase of the lift. The first number is always the lowering/lengthening phase. So, 4211 on split squats means, lower in 4 seconds, pause for 2 seconds at the bottom, lift in 1 second, hold at the top for 1 second…repeat for the next rep. On chin ups, 2010, means lower in 2 seconds, no pause at the bottom, lift in 1 second, no pause at the top.