Remember those ab toner belt infomercials that promised to shrink your stomach muscles into a six-pack while you sit on the couch? While they were proven not to work, the fitness industry continues introducing products to make your workout more effective in less time. Enter resistance apparel, which claims to ramp up any activity from walking around the house to hardcore workouts. I have been wearing AGOGIE resistance band leggings for three months, and I love them.
First, the Basics…
Resistance leggings are pants with resistance bands inside them. The built-in bands create a layer of difficulty over the muscles. This resistance makes every movement that much harder. Inside each pair of pants, you’ll find eight resistance bands. Two bands run down each leg’s front and two down the back. The resistance bands stretch from your waist down to your ankle.
Working Out in Resistance Band Leggings
The AGOGIE Generation 2 has two different resistance levels, +20 and +40. The resistance levels affect how often and how long it is recommended that you wear them, and what types of exercises you can do. Being the competitive person I am, I couldn’t resist amping up to the +40 pants. The 40+ bands are thicker and create more resistance.
I wore the resistance leggings while doing my regular workout, but there was nothing ordinary about it. The cardio movements I usually tackle without much trouble became more challenging with resistance. Toward the end of my workout, I struggled to keep my legs up in the air for crunches. Every move that involved my lower body was more difficult. As I expected, my legs were sore for the next few days.
Over three months, I wore the leggings for two different workouts of varying difficulties to see how they worked.
Workout #1: 5 Mile Ride
I clipped in my shoes for a daily activity – a spin class. I took off for a ride in the +40s, and halfway through my five-mile ride, I felt wiped out. But it wasn’t my large muscle groups that felt tender. It was all the smaller muscles. When I finished the ride, my thighs were too exhausted to take a single step.
Workout #2: 30 Minute HIIT Class
The resistance leggings shined in a thirty-minute HIIT class, moving between short bursts of cardio and strength movements. The resistance made each movement feel like a mountain. Keeping up with the reps was challenging, and I was utterly exhausted by the end of the class. Excellent job, resistance leggings!
The Results
You can lift weights, do bodyweight workouts, or use resistance bands to challenge your muscles in several ways to get stronger. The AGOGIE pants are designed to work with your movement. So, every lower body muscle used during an exercise gets an extra challenge.
I suggest investing in a pair if you want to maximize an intense workout or add a bit of resistance to around-the-house activities. They would be great for yoga or even a long walk. Either way, I have my go-to pants for days when I want to stretch my muscles to the limit. I wash them and lay them out to air dry, and they are ready for my next session.
