At-home Resistance Band Workout

Hiking in Acadia National Park last April
Soooooo..... forgot to post yesterday!  But to make up for it, I'm sharing my BODYWEIGHT + RESISTANCE BAND WORKOUT that I did with two fellow shut-ins.  Many of the exercises in this workout come from my physical therapist.

I had back surgey last November (November 15th to be exact.... what a DAY that was...).  A microdisectomy, which is the slicing off of the herniated part of a spinal disc.  More detailed info about the surgery can be found here.   Mine was L5-S1, which means it was by the 5th vertebra of the lumbar section of the spine and was pinching my sciatic nerve.  You can learn more about sciatica here.  Moral of the story, chronic pain like this is NOT a joke.  I was dealing with it for two years before I finally decided that I wouldn't solve the problem with more conservative approaches.  Now, I am dealing with the residual nerve pain that happens even after surgey because the nerve was under pressure for so long and needs to regenerate.

Anywho, I've been in physical therapy since the surgery happened about four months ago and am still feeling residual nerve pain.  My workouts have been adapted because of this, but I'm working towards getting back to the strong and physical badass that I was before all of this started.  Can't wait to get back to basketball and mud runs!

Enough about me though, HERE'S THE WORKOUT (I've attached links to videos that might help you get proper positioning if the exercises are unfamiliar to you):


  • Warm-up: Nerve Flossing for me, but anyone else could just do some light dynamic stretching
*First superset - complete all exercises, rest and repeat for 2 more sets
  • Slow Bodyweight Squats with a Raised Heel x 20 [I would recommend to pause for 1 second at the bottom of your squat to increase the intensity of this exercise]
  • Split Squats x 15 each leg (focus on feeling in glutes, might need to hinge your upper body forward to engage the proper muscles)
  • Fire Hydrants with band above knees x 20 each side
  • Wall Sit x 60 sec
*Second superset - complete 3 sets
  • Banded Lateral Walks - pick a distance that is about a 30 second walk one direction, then do this distance back and forth twice (Band placement is important in this exercise.  For less resistance, place the band just below the knees.  To increase the challenge, move the band further down the legs, as seen in the demonstration video.)
  • Reverse Lunges with band above knees x 15 each leg (I would recommend slowing this exercise down and really focusing on controlling the motion.)
  • Standing Kickbacks with band x 15 each side
  • Clamshells with band x 15 each side

Enjoy & get your sweat on!
-Vicky

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