Resistance band - difficulties with reverse chops

Hello, first post here!

I recently bought my first resistance band, the black one from Freeletic’s own store (15-38kg, 35-85lb to be exact).

First workout something was called a reverse chop where you have your band underneath one foot and with both hands extend the band infront of you and over your head, towards the opposite side of the foot which is holding the band.
It might be just because of either lack of strength or inexperience with resistance bands, but I had no chance of getting the band anywhere close to that height, perhaps to chest level or so. Any more than that and I started to worry about the band snapping.
Not being able to extend it above my head makes me wonder if the workout is even effective or completely useless.

Any tips on how to improve this workout? Should I buy a band with lower resistance or just try to force it a bit more to see how far it stretches?

First workout that I have had this kinda technical issue with so far (+1month in), great app!

Ps. For some weird reason I can’t find the workout under the Explore section on the app.
Edit: the resistance band used in the video was black too, but it didn’t look as thick and had no text on it like the ones you can buy from the store.

  • Joel

Hi @Joels :slight_smile:
You try this exercise with the most difficult strength band. I’m not sure … Is there a band with more resistance? I guess not. :wink:
Tri it with a lower resistance. I’m sure this will fix your issues getting it overhead :slight_smile:

Thanks for the reply.

I looked it up and this black band is supposed to be the medium resistance band, green and blue are strong and very strong.

This is the link to the product I am talking about Freeletics Resistance Band - Medium | Freeletics Essentials

It’s not only the strength however, this band definitely looks shorter than the ones used in the workouts.

It’s a bit disappointing that the app is including these workouts although it seems like some of them would either not be possible to do at all because of the length, or simply too difficult to do for beginners because of no recommendation on band resistance.

I’m said to have decent strength in my shoulders and arms - and I use the red strength band for this exercise - with light traction. And I’m really struggling with 16 repetitions.

To make a recommendation here is like a lottery (as with KB and DB). If the exercise with your resistance band isn’t feasible for you, I would either get a lighter resistance band or skip the exercise.

Quite possible. My black resistance band is definitely shorter and wider.