Updated: October 21st, 2015
Resistance Bands: The Travelling Runner’s Best Friend

If you’re like many of the amateur runners I work with – ambitions in your training but pushed for time and often traveling with work and family commitments – this article is for you!

Living out of a suitcase sucks! However for many of us it’s an unfortunate reality that can often make training awkward. We know that our running needs additional regular strengthening exercises to help prevent injuries and enhance performance, but how do we that when you have no access to a gym…?

I have a love-hate relationship with my trusty set of resistance bands! The exercises I use them for cause me pain (the good kind), while I know I’m getting stronger and avoiding injury through using them regularly.

The routine described below makes my glutes burn but they build stronger hips and help to keep me injury free. Best of all, they fit in my pocket, and can go literally anywhere with me. I always suggest that my runners invest in a set so that they can maintain their hip strength when they go away on work or on holiday.

Resistance Band Hip Strengthening Routine

I like to give the routine below to my runners as a strengthening and maintenance session to continually develop the function of those all-important muscles around the hips. Dave Scott, six-time Ironman World Champion describes the routine – if it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for you and I 🙂

Here’s a great example of the Monster Walk exercise. You don’t need a field – I’ve been known to pace up and down a hotel room looking like a zombie with my bands on!

You can pick these resistance bands up from Amazon or your local Physical Therapist. I can’t recommend them highly enough as a versatile option for keeping your running strength work going even while you’re away on work, on a family holiday, or pretty much anywhere else!

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