Your workout partner may be impressed by barbells loaded up with plates but your body isn't. It doesn't know the weight on the bar, the number of sets you've done, or the amount of reps you're doing.
All it knows is resistance, and that it has to create enough tension to overcome it.
Progressive overload is the primary factor responsible for building strength and muscle: you have to add more stress to your system over time. The most common way to do this is to increase load (weight) or volume.
So the sets, reps, and weight are a nice, clean way for us to keep track of whether we're consistently overloading the body and not just doing random stuff. But what happens when you don't have access to your usual equipment?
You can still use progressive overload with bands. Ultimately, they're limited in their tension capabilities, but by manipulating other variables you can still overload your system.
Combining the Zercher position and split stance is an optimal way to do this. The standard Zercher position is when a barbell rests in front of you in the crooks of your elbows. But in this case, without access to a bar, we'll use the same position with a band.
By looping it underfoot and in the crooks of your elbows, you'll get a few benefits that traditional loading positions can't duplicate.
Here are three ways to keep progressing with bands. Do these for 3-5 sets of 5-10 reps. When you hit the top of the rep range, move to the next progression. When you hit 5 sets of 10 on the rear-foot elevated split squats, get a thicker band.
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