The stronger your body is, the more resistant to injury you are. But, how do you get strong? Lift heavy things to force your muscles to adapt. Easy, right? Not really. Firstly, you need to do it consistently, and secondly, with a variety of functional movements that translate into everyday life! Otherwise, what's the point? That's the hard part! The part most don't understand, and often get wrong. For most, this involves being limited to one location (the gym), a monthly fee, and a ton of trial and error. It's a cumbersome and inconvenient system at best.

Throw in a global pandemic and all hell breaks loose! Suddenly gyms started closing their doors indefinitely, and all the sporting goods stores began running out of home gym equipment. Not to mention, many don’t have space to workout at home – or even store the equipment. Or money to afford it (many have lost their jobs). Work and life are too unpredictable to commit to rigid long-term plans. And besides that, if you're like me, then you also have past injuries that influence the way you are able to train. Popular training styles often neglect certain planes of movement, which put you at greater risk of re-injury in the long-term. Trust me, I have personally learnt this the hard way!

I needed away to keep strong and fit that stayed the same, regardless of whether I was at the gym with my workout partner, at home in my passage, at friends or family, or simply outdoors to stave off boredom. Which led me to explore using resistance bands as a substitute for free weights. They are compact, light, and capable of replicating the “weight” produced by free-weights. In fact, they even have a few added benefits that free-weights don’t – like variable resistance.

Very compact

Fits in a bag, goes anywhere, doesn't require home storage space.

Safe on joints

Variable load means less load on your joints in vulnerable positions.

Be consistent

Follow the same training plan at home, in the gym, or on the move.

Inexpensive

Way cheaper than a home gym, and it does heck of a lot more.

For all levels

Resistance bands can add, or reduce, load – i.e. assisted pull-ups.

No gym fees

With 140kg of "weight" in a bag, never need to set foot in a gym.

My training plan follows a 4-Day Push/Pull format. Which means that on one day you'll only do push exercises, while on the other you'll only do pull exercises. This approach allows you to train your whole body each day, without the risk of over-training. Each workout is structured to dedicate time to: (1) Warmup; (2) Mobility Circuit; (3) Strength/Stamina; (4) Metabolic Conditioning (i.e Cardio); and (4) Recovery.

Push and pull days also alternate between exercises using both arms/legs (bilateral) or only one arm/leg (unilateral) to overcome any pre-existing strength imbalances between the left/right sides of your body, ensuring they never resurface in the future! Furthermore, each push and pull day also alternates between a focus on developing strength (low reps, heavy load) and developing stamina (high reps, lighter load).

This results in a total of 8 individual workouts that should be cycled through in order, to achieve balanced strength and cardiovascular fitness. Here are a few examples of how you can fit them into your schedule, below...

Example 1

Focus: Structure and routine

WEEKDAY ||| WEEK #1 ||| WEEK #2

Monday ||| Workout #1 ||| Workout #5

Tuesday ||| Workout #2 ||| Workout #6

Wednesday ||| Rest day ||| Rest day

Thursday ||| Workout #3 ||| Workout #7

Friday ||| Workout #4 ||| Workout #8

Saturday ||| Rest day ||| Rest day

Sunday ||| Rest day ||| Rest day

Example 2

Focus: More rest and recovery

WEEKDAY ||| WEEK #1 ||| WEEK #2

Monday ||| Workout #1 ||| Rest day

Tuesday ||| Rest day ||| Workout #5

Wednesday ||| Workout #2 ||| Rest day

Thursday ||| Rest day ||| Workout #6

Friday ||| Workout #3 ||| Rest day

Saturday ||| Rest day ||| Workout #7

Sunday ||| Workout #4 ||| Rest day

Personally, I tend to prefer example 2, as I like to run or do a weighted ruck between workout days. That said, I designed this programme to adapt to the challenges of everyday life. So, more often than not, I end up following a mash-up of examples 2 and 3. I don't advise that you skip working out for longer than 2 days at a time, though, otherwise your body will have a little too much time to recover between sessions and you will progress very slowly.