Equipment setup
Training with resistance bands only
Bands are the most travel-friendly load you can carry. Tick bands as your only equipment and RepRoute builds the whole plan from band exercises — pull-aparts, banded squats, presses and rows.
Bands provide ascending resistance — easier at the bottom, harder at the top — which is the opposite of a free weight. It changes what they're good for.
Bands excel at pulling movements, pressing accessories and leg accessories. They struggle with heavy compound leg loading. RepRoute's band-only plans lean on what bands do well, because those are the exercises the catalogue actually has for them.
Progression with bands is honestly the weak spot of this setup: RepRoute progresses by adding reps and by the increment you set, but it has no concept of band tension — it can't know you moved from a red band to a black one. Stacking bands, slowing the tempo and adding reps are your levers, and you're driving them.
Sample 3-day week
| Day | Focus | Exercises |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Push + pull |
|
| Day 2 | Legs + glutes |
|
| Day 3 | Mixed |
|
Example exercises
Squats - With Bands
quadriceps
Band Pull-Apart
shoulders
Upright Row - With Bands
traps
Shoulder Press - With Bands
shoulders
Hip Lift with Band
glutes
Cross Over - With Bands
chest
Calf Raises - With Bands
calves
Band Skull Crusher
triceps
Common questions
Not really — they plateau fast for compound legs. They're an excellent travel solution for a week or three, or a permanent supplement to bodyweight training.
Add reps, slow the tempo, double up bands, or move to a heavier one. Do note that RepRoute can't see band tension — it has no idea you switched bands, so it won't adjust for it. Progression here is more manual than with weights.
RepRoute doesn't recommend products. A typical home setup is four or five loop bands of varying tensions plus an anchor.
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