Ryan West's 5-Day Resistance Band Workout Schedule
By: Ryan West
It has finally happened. I have resolved the inner battle within my head on what the “5 Day Workout Schedule” should look like. In full disclosure I have grappled with this very topic for the last 25 years.
Seriously, when I started working out full time in the Spring of 1993, the person who taught me the ropes of gym etiquette was hell bent on me understanding the importance of laying out your exercise week for consistency.
For someone who is a self-described organizer, it is kind of a perfect match, always tweaking the workout week to make it a little better. Let me stress that I am in no way saying I am perfect but I am always striving towards the perfect workout week. Well at least 49 weeks a year, as I always seem to have three lost weeks where I fall off the program. However, it is the quest for perfection that at least helps me be average, and guess what? That is just perfect.
There are some factors to the 5 Day Workout Schedule that may not be on your radar. First, we are trying to match odd numbers with odd numbers, which always makes it harder to organize to a perfect formula – I warned you above about my perfectionism.
Second, I always categorize the body parts that I focus the workout on into 7 buckets (again with the odd numbers). Those include Bicep, Triceps, Back, Shoulders, Chest, Legs and Abs. If you are wondering about Glutes, those get picked up with Legs. Basically, I have just covered your rear end.
So, when you apply the 7 body parts to the 5 days you have to get creative. If you're wondering why, it is because you really want to keep as much balance as possible throughout your fitness week. Having one day that is overloaded is a fast track towards derailing your fitness train. Why? Because having just one day that is out of the ordinary in your fitness week makes you overthink it and you can and most likely will avoid that day, and it becomes a domino effect from there.
Let’s talk about the equipment next because this is where the rubber meets the road. Let me preface this by saying that I am a big advocate for exercising in your place of residence. There are just too many opportunities to eliminate barriers by doing so. If you are saying to yourself, I don’t have any equipment and I don’t have the space for that, I have your answer.
Resistance Bands are the universal language of home fitness and the instrument that can help you get from where you're at to where you want to be be.
For this workout routine, you will need the SPRI Flat Band Loop, The Original Xertube, SPRI Superband, and the Xercuffs.
5-Day Workout Schedule:
Monday – Chest & Abs
4 Sets, 10 Reps of Banded pushups
4 Sets, 10 Reps of Standing Resistance Band Chest Press – Anchor
4 Sets, 10 Reps of Standing Resistance band Chest Fly – Anchor
5 Sets, 20 Reps of Banded Leg Raises
5 Sets, 20 Rep of Lying Bicycles – No equipment
Tuesday – Biceps & Triceps
4 Sets, 10 reps of Standing Resistance Band Curls
4 Sets, 10 Reps of Seated Resistance Band Preacher Curls – Anchor
4 Sets, 10 Reps of Standing Resistance Band One Arm Curls – Anchored Low
4 Sets, 15 Reps of Standing Resistance Band Tricep Kickdowns - Anchor High
4 Sets, 15 Reps of Standing Resistance Band Tricep Hammer Kickdowns - Anchor High
Wednesday – Legs & Abs
4 Sets, 10 Reps of Banded Squats
4 Sets, 10 Reps of Lying Banded Leg Lifts – alternate legs
4 Sets, 10 Reps of Kneeling Banded Donkey Kicks – alternate legs
8 Sets, 20 Reps of Seated Russian Twists – No Equipment
Thursday – Shoulders
4 Sets, 10 Reps of Standing Resistance Band Presses
4 Sets, 10 Reps of Standing Resistance Band Twists – Low Anchor, Alternate Arms
4 Sets, 10 Reps of Standing Shoulder Presses – No Equipment
Friday – Back & Abs
4 Sets, 10 Reps of Seated Resistance Rows – Overhand – Anchor
4 Sets, 10 Reps of Seated Resistance Rows – Underhand – Anchor
4 Sets, 10 Reps of Seated Resistance Rows – Close Hands – Anchor
5 Sets, 20 Reps of Banded Leg Raises
5 Sets, 20 Rep of Lying Bicycles – No equipment
You can also watch this video, to see Ryan West demonstrating how to do each exercise listed above.
This complete blueprint can be done in under 90 minutes a week and you may not know this but that is actually less than 1% of the total minutes in a week. The beauty with this workout is that it spreads things out so you are not overwhelmed. If you want to break it up and take Wednesday off, do it. This is a total body workout that can be done from your home, with little equipment, but offers a big return on investment. Don’t make it harder than it needs to be.
If you are curious on how some of these workouts are done you can check out my fitness platform, Fitness Made Easy. I created the platform to help make it easier for people to get to the actual exercise. After 25 years of fitness I have came to one simple conclusion, exercise is easy, getting yourself to the exercise is hard.
