SuperFlex Metabolic Muscle Matrix Lower Body 1.0

In the previous two blogs of the SuperFlex M3 (SFM3) series I covered four upper body workouts performed exclusively with SuperFlex bands. In this blog installment I’ll begin the lower body training in SuperFlex Metabolic Muscle Matrix Lower Body 1.0.

As in each segment for the upper body SFM3, I’ll include two different workouts—each for the LowerBody 1.0 and 2.0. These workouts will emphasis all primary muscles of the lower body including the quadriceps, hip abductors and adductors, gluteal complex, and hamstrings. Performing the exercises of the SFM3 on a regular basis will not only provide workload to impact your body composition and physique, but it will also help optimize multiple aspects of function in daily life and as an athlete.

Resistance Band Training

As mentioned in previous blogs, resistance band training has an incomplete reputation of being a “consolation” to weight training. However, this is far from reality as training with high quality resistance bands can provide a sufficient workload for the majority of training requirements. It’s all in how you perform resistance band exercises rather than just mindlessly pushing and pulling on a rubber band.

As with all of the SFM3 workouts, a common denominator is the use of high quality resistance bands. As previously clarified, this is not to say that bands are the only effective tool, or even the best one for every training situation that calls for external resistance. That known, I have collegiate and professional athletes performing these same workouts to complement their weight training as well as serve as their primary workout at certain stages of the year to sustain their health, performance, and career longevity.

Efficiency is Proficiency

One fundamental purpose, and exclusive value, of the SFM3 workouts is to give you a solution when resistance bands are all you have available or when physical impairment makes other forms of external resistance unwise or just impractical.

It’s very common for travel, or daily life, to interfere with getting to the gym. And with the SFM3 series you all but eliminate any reason to miss productive workouts. The effectiveness (or proficiency) of a workout is subordinate to its application and efficiency. The take-home message is that ‘resistance is resistance’ to your muscles and it is possible to train your entire body—any where and any time—with only high quality resistance bands when you know how to use their innate properties to your advantage. 

A Key Difference

The primary difference in training the upper body and the lower body with resistance bands is that we are dealing with gravity in the majority of the lower body exercises in addition to the resistance from the bands. Other than band-resisted, push-up variations, the majority of upper body exercises using resistance bands are not affected by gravitational load as much as just the resistance of the band. However, the majority of lower body exercises are loaded with a combination of one’s bodyweight in addition to the band. This must be taken into account when choosing the size of the band you use on each exercise. Using just your bodyweight alone on many of these exercises will be initially sufficient. And, in the case of your bodyweight providing enough loading, you will use the addition of a very light resistance band simply to help dial-in optimal mechanics and kinesthetic efficiency of the movement pattern and exercise.

Multi-Purpose Benefits

These 2 workouts Lower Body 1.0 and the upcoming Lower Body 2.0 are designed to provide both a strength and a conditioning effect. As with the SFM3 upper body workouts, regular application of each of these exercises will enhance mechanical integrity in other exercise variations and loading applications of lower body training such as conventional barbell exercises. Also, by mastering the exercises in SFM3, athletic performance will improve due to all of the multi-planar unilateral exercises, which are an integral part of athletic speed and agility training.

Though these workouts are designed as standalone sessions, the exercises can be excellent complements to conventional weight training either on the same day or alternated session to session. In future SuperFlex blog posts, I will cover how to design a program that combines weight training with SuperFlex resistance band exercises.

Unleash Your Potential,

Vince McConnell