I've decided to put my resistance bands to good use. They have been collecting dust in my closet for a while now. I've looked at the sticky for a recommended workout that Mel uses for her clients, but I can't seem to find any information for a couple of the exercises...."Inner-Outer thighs, butt kicks and Single-leg leg press/leg lift combo. I've searched the web and looked on You-tube, but haven't found any information. Can anyone recommend a really good book or dvd for resistance band workouts? I'd like to find these exercise and get some pointers on form, etc, for all of the exercises.

Hi Girly,

I'm taking a pilates class this summer (1x a week), and I've really been enjoying the toning benefits. The instructor recommended a couple dvds to me. She really likes the Stott's pilates series for correctness of form.

My favorite one is Stott's Total Body Sculpting Level 2. This is a resistance band workout. I bought my bands and dvd on ebay (separately). The dvd has a very long breathing warmup that I sometimes skip, but the workout itself with the bands is good.

Hi Rhonda! I wrote that workout so maybe I can help. The weird names are just ones I invented that made sense to me. I'm embarrassed to say that they undoubtedly have official names that I never bothered to find out.

The lying leg press/leg lift combo is just something I came up with to combine two exercises into one. You lie on your back on a mat with your legs straight and a band looped around the bottom of one foot. First you do a set of leg presses by raising your leg up to a 45 degree angle and bending your knee and doing leg presses against the resistance band, just like if you were on a leg press machine. Then you immediately do a set of straight leg leg raises with the band still looped around the bottom of your foot. Then do the same with the other leg, rest, and repeat the superset.

The inner/outer thigh/butt kick combo is also a superset. While you're standing, loop the band around your ankle and the other end around something strong and stationary, like a table leg. Inner thighs are an adductor movement, so you cross your foot with band over your other leg, moving from the outside in to the center of your body. For the outer thigh, you turn around with the band still on your ankle and do an abductor movement, starting with your leg in the center of your body and pressing outward. For the third movement, the butt kick, you face the table or wherever you looped the band and raise your leg straight back as far as you can (it's not really a kick but you see them called donkey kicks or butt kicks).

I know a picture is worth a thousand words so let me see if I can find something helpful.

Thank you, Meg! One quick question on this one...where should I be looping the other end of the band for resistance?

Outer thighs: Low Mount Abduction with Band

Inner thighs: Low Mount Adduction with Band

Leg lift (picture this with a band looped under your foot): Lying Single Leg Raises

Butt kicks - like this but with a straight, not bent leg: Low Mount Leg Curls with Band

I'm still looking for a demo of the leg press.

The Washington Post site where all these demos come from is an excellent resource for learning correct form and discovering new exercises - check it out! Exercise Demonstrations

You hold a handle in each hand (you may have to wrap them around your hands a few times to get enough resistance) and the middle of the band loops under your foot. Maybe that's the wrong way to describe it ... the middle of the band passes under your foot. Same with the leg lift. Sorry for the confusion! It's so hard to put exercises into words.