The deadlift is widely known as the king of all exercises and it very well deserves this acclaim. It’s one of the best exercises of all time and this time you can do it in the comfort of your own home with a resistance band. You can pretty much get all the benefits as you would get from a barbell deadlift except for the fact that lifting won’t be as heavy.
How To Do Resistance Band Deadlifts
To get the maximum benefit out of any exercise, you need to do it with the right form and technique, and resistance band deadlifts are no different. There are two variations in executing the resistance band deadlift.
First Variation
- Stand on both sides of the resistance band with the band running between your heel and your arch
- Keep your feet shoulder width apart and toes planted forward on the floor making sure you have some of the band sticking out on either end of your foot. This will make the handle for you to grab in a pronated grip
- Lean forward and bend at the knees, moving hips backward while maintaining posture and balance, grabbing the loops on either side of your feet
- Extend at the knees, contract and push the glutes forward while breathing out to come up to an upright position
- Pause at the upright position for a moment, while your core is working towards stabilising you.
Second Variation
Another variation of the resistance band deadlift involves standing on the inside of the resistance band, having it looped around your feet.
- Start with your feet a little bit wider than shoulder-width. Lean forward and bend at the knees, again moving your hips backwards while maintaining your posture and balance, this time grabbing the top portion of the resistance band at the middle of the band
- Extend at the knees, again contracting and pushing your glutes forward while breathing out, standing up to a vertical position
- Make sure to squeeze your lats and stick your chest out while in the vertical position. Pause at the vertical position for a moment, while your core is working towards stabilising you.
Resistance Band Deadlifts Benefits
Performing this exercise will have multiple benefits for which your body will thank you. Here’s why –
More Strength: you will increase muscle size and be able to perform everyday tasks with much more ease. That is especially because performing the deadlift involves muscles that enable you to do basic tasks such as carrying heavy grocery bags, helping your neighbour move out and even carrying your partner around.
Better Posture: As many of us spend countless hours in front of a computer screen we tend to hunch our backs. Performing resistance deadlifts can cause significant improvements to our posture and expunge those rounded shoulders. Deadlifts provide us with a strong back that improves our posture. But not only that, by constantly perfecting our form during the resistance band deadlift, we are able to fix our posture since perfecting the form in this exercise is paramount. And as a result, we can start walking and sitting upright again.
Increased Testosterone: Boosting testosterone is another terrific thing you can expect after doing the resistance band deadlift on a regular basis. Testosterone is a hormone that strengthens bones and improves muscle growth. The level of testosterone in the body increases after carrying out resistance trainings. However, the boost in testosterone while doing resistance band deadlift may not be as significant as executing heavy barbell deadlifts.
No Spotter: Resistance band deadlift is a very safe exercise. It does not involve heavy weights so you won’t have to worry about any kind of metal plates falling on you. You won’t even need a spotter for it. So your workouts will be safe and sound!
Prevent Back Pain: One of the few reasons you might not want to do a deadlift could be because you fear it might end up hurting your lower back. But did you know that carrying out deadlifts can prevent a lower back injury? The deadlift needs absolute control of your deep abdominals, your hips and your pelvis and this is very important for preventing lower back pain.
Multiple Muscle Workout: Since the deadlift is a compound movement, they’ll lead to more muscles being recruited in a single exercise. This will lead to a greater boost in testosterone, and multiple muscle activation. This will save you a lot of time as you wouldn’t have to do a bunch of isolation workouts.
Improved Grip Strength: Your grip strength will significantly be improved since your forearms have to do a lot of work to be holding on to the band from not falling out, therefore increasing your grip strength.
Burns Fat: And in case you didn’t know, resistance training burns more fat than training with no resistance. Your cardio-vascularity will be bettered. And building muscle will also boost your metabolism which will in turn cause you to lose more fat in the long run. So build muscle and lose fat at the same time? I consider that a win-win.
Resistance Band Deadlift Muscles Worked
With a regular workout, the muscles needed to execute the resistance band deadlift start becoming prominent.
Here are a few muscles which get worked up over the course:
Glutes, Hamstrings and Quads
At the beginning of the exercise, you move your hips backwards and during the lock-out, the glutes contract, enabling the hips to come forward. During the lock-out, when the knees straighten, the hamstrings support the glutes to extend the hips. The quadriceps muscles are also engaged when the knees are extended.
Upper and Lower Back
The muscles of the upper and lower back engaged during this workout are the lats, traps, rhomboids, and erector spinae. The lat muscles help you to retain the resistance band through the rep. The traps and rhomboid assist in keeping the shoulders in a neutral position that is necessary for the exercise.
The erector spinae keeps the back extended throughout. This is vital as the spine would be rounded otherwise. If the spine was rounded, it would face immense shear forces.
Core
The abdominals and obliques help in stabilisation. They prevent the spine from hyperextending (by the erector spinae).
Forearm
Your forearms have to work to prevent the band from falling off. This results in better grip strength as well.
Bottom Line
While you may not make as much strength gain as you would using a conventional barbell deadlift, you can still make some pretty serious gains.