Hello my Warriors! If you have been around my little corner of the web at all, it probably isn’t a surprise that I have a soft spot for home workouts. I have spent much of the last three and a half years out of the gym (blame a trans Atlantic move and global pandemic) working out from home. And I’ve managed just fine, thankyouverymuch. I will concede, though, that having a few key pieces to encourage variety in home workouts definitely helps.
My love for resistance bands knows no bounds. But when you are bored, looking for variety, or need a new way to add intensity to your home workout resistance bands don’t always cut it. A favorite tool of mine are sliders. They are meant to do just what their name implies: slide. You can use the ones designed to help move heavy furniture or you can DIY these. I’ve got more specific details in the video below.
Sliders are an amazing tool to have in your arsenal because they allow you to change the time under tension of some more basic exercises. Time under tension is fancy exercise physiologist lingo for how long your muscle spends contracting. And it is one of the ways to add intensity to a specific exercise.
Typically with strength training, we talk about adding weight to change the intensity of an exercise. More weight = more intensity. Simple and straightforward. And it works great when you have a seemingly endless rack of weights in front of you. When you are at home, though, and you don’t have the money to invest in all those weights or the space to store them, you gotta go another route.
By lengthening the time the muscle spends under tension, you increase the intensity of the exercise. You can lengthen the time under tension by changing the tempo (i.e. slowing down the speed), by adding a pause or hold in the lift, or by using sliders. When you properly use sliders, you have to have more active control of the portion of your body in motion. More active control usually means that you need to slow down.
It also usually means that you need to be more aware of the motion, which increases the mind-muscle connection. While this doesn’t necessarily have a time under tension benefit, it does mean more the muscle is properly engaged and working. Never a bad thing when it comes to strength training.
If you have never used sliders, I’ve got a quick informational video which demonstrates four common slider-based exercises. Below I’ve also listed a few other slider exercises to get you started. Let me know in the comments if you’ve ever tried these handy tools!
Full Body Slider Workout
Pec Flyes (chest, front shoulders, triceps, core): place one hand palm down in the middle of a slider and bring your body to a push-up ready position. Extend the hand on the slider out to the side, pause at the furthest comfortable reach, and bring back under shoulder.
Reach and Pull (lats, rhomboids, rear shoulders, core): start from the same set up as pec flyes. Extend the hand on the slider out above/in front of the head, pause at furthest comfortable reach, and pull hand back under shoulder. If this causes discomfort in the shoulder, you may reach out slightly from center.
Pikes (core, shoulders): place both knees or toes on sliders. Bring body to push-up ready position. Contract abdominals and pull legs in and up towards tummy, exhaling on the way. Inhale and push legs to start position.
Hamstring Curls (hamstrings, glutes, core): place heels on sliders. Bring body to a crunch ready position. Press hips up towards ceiling creating a bridge. Extend heel out maintaining core stability. Pull heels back in towards glutes.
Pistol Squats (quadriceps, glutes, calves, core): From standing, place one foot in the middle of a slider. Lower into a squat with base leg allowing the foot on the slider to reach front. Pause and return to start.
