Tip: Two Drills to Fire Up Your Backside

Resistance bands have a lot of uses for hardcore lifters. They can be used for...

• Warming up and priming muscles before an intense lifting session.
• Adding resistance to certain free weight exercises to manipulate load and intensity.
• High-rep accessory work for the arms, shoulders, and upper back to finish off workouts with a nasty pump.

The exercises below are two of the best for firing up your hams, glutes, and upper back before any deadlift or upper body workout.

Romanian Deadlift With Band

Romanian (or stiff leg) deadlifts with a band are great for "grooving" the hip hinge pattern and waking up your glutes and hammies before deadlifting.

Bentover Row With Band

This might be my all-time favorite band drill. It gets the blood flowing to your lats, lower/mid traps, and biceps in a big way, perfect for priming your body before you get into an upper body workout.

Sets & Reps

Use both of these as part of a warm-up for 2-4 sets of 10-20 reps. Or use them as high-rep finishers: Time how long it takes you to complete 100 reps of either exercise and then try to beat your time the following workout.