Examples of Resistance Exercise

If you want to get stronger, you need to do some type of resistance exercise. When you perform a resistance exercise, you push or pull against an opposing force, which causes minor breakdowns in your muscles. Your muscles then repair themselves, growing stronger in the process. You can choose from several forms of resistance exercise, or do exercises from each category to vary your workouts.

  1. Free Weights

    • Free weights include tools such as barbells, dumbbells and kettlebells. Free weights may provide the best way to strengthen your muscles, according to the American Council on Exercise, but only if you use proper form. Because you must balance the weights while performing the exercises, incorrect form can lead to injuries. On the other hand, the need to balance the weights often engages additional muscles as stabilizers. You can perform free-weight exercises such as squats, deadlifts and biceps curls while standing, or lie on a bench to do bench presses, flyes and triceps extensions, among many others. Kettlebell swings offer a significant calorie burn while strengthening several muscles.

    Machines

    • To use a weight machine you typically insert a pin at the desired level in a weight stack, then push or pull a handle, cable or a resistance plate to raise the weights. Machines can be beneficial for newcomers because you can’t drop the weights on your body and, depending on the machine, using incorrect form may be impossible. You can work your legs by pressing your feet against the resistance plate of a leg press machine, or by pressing down on the pad of a leg curl station. To work your upper body, your many options include putting a lat bar on a high pulley to do lat pulldowns, pressing against a pec deck to replicate flyes, or using a multi-purpose machine to perform a variety of rows and presses.

    Body Weight

    • Body-weight exercises use all or part of your body weight, along with gravity, as the resistance. When you do standard pullups or chin-ups, for example, you lift all of your body weight. Body-weight exercises can be handy because you need little or no equipment to complete a full routine, which may include pushups, situps, squats, lunges and other exercises. You can also vary the amount of resistance for many body-weight exercises. For example, you lift about two-thirds of your weight when you do a standard pushup, but you can increase the resistance by elevating your feet, or decrease your load by raising your hands.

    Resistance Band

    • Resistance bands are tight rubber bands that can strengthen your muscles efficiently even though you’re not pushing or pulling heavy weights. Instead, you’ll often anchor the band, then pull on the other end, with the band itself providing the resistance. For other exercises you’ll hold opposite ends of the band in your hands, then pull your hands in different directions to stretch the band. You can anchor the band below one or both feet to perform exercises such as lateral raises or squats. Wrap the band around both ankles, then move one leg against the band’s resistance to perform leg adduction and abduction exercises. Hold the band in both hands above your head, then move your hands down and to the sides to replicate lat pulldowns.