A Guide to Choosing & Buying the Best Resistance Bands!

There are many different resistance bands available out there, and normally that

would be a good thing, variety is after all the spice of life! Unfortunately they vary

massively when it comes to quality, durability, and honesty.

This guide will help you find top quality bands every time, by looking for important

factors before you purchase.

Factor 1: What are the bands/tubes made of?

The very first thing you should look at when buying a resistance band or resistance

band kit, above all else, is how the bands are made.

There are two main ways of making the tubular resistance bands, which are the

bands you will need for workout programs such as P90X, and for creating a home

gym.

The most common bands are one piece bands, which are made with moulded

latex/rubber. The technical term for these bands is "Extruded". These are the bands

you should avoid if you want them to last.

Extruded bands, because they are just a single piece of latex, will tear easier if they

get a tiny nick or tear in them, which is not good news, and could also be

dangerous!

The best bands, are Multi Layered bands, which are made by dipping a long thin rod

in to a vat of latex many times until the desired thickness is achieved, which creates

many bonded layers and an extremely strong long lasting band with better physical

properties and tear resistance. The last few dips are in coloured latex for easy

identification. These layers are made up of concentric circles, like a target (see

image below). The technical term for this process is called "continuous dipping".

Very few brands use the layering process as it is costly and much more time

consuming, however many, such as the cheap type found on eBay and Amazon, will

pretend that their bands are dipped or layered in order to fool the consumer in to

thinking they have a bargain, when in actual fact they have just purchased cheap

bands worth a quarter of what they paid. This is all because of well known Asian

trade sites like Alibaba.com and DHGate.com.

In Asia, well known worldwide as the home of the largest network of expert

counterfeiters on the planet, you can find almost anything at a cheap price, and

most of what is for sale is cheap for a reason! Brand name consumer electronics

such as HTC, Razer, Bose, Sony and more can be found at silly prices on Alibaba,

and are always fake, as are the £3000 Gibson guitars being sold for a few hundred

dollars, jewellery, supplements, and the list goes on! This also applies to resistance

bands! Of course there are some honest traders on these sites, but there are also

many con artists and it is hard to tell the difference without travelling to China to

inspect the goods for yourself or getting a sample first.

Because people shopping for exercise bands cannot see inside the band, and likely

would not know what to look for even if they could, they can't see any difference in

looks between the poor quality ones and the high quality ones, because to the

untrained eye they all look the same, and so they just buy the cheapest, such is

human nature!

The only way to know for sure is to ask the seller for a clear photo of the inside of a

band, which should show the many bonded layers. If they cannot do this move on

until you find a seller who can.

So, rule number one is …

BUY ONLY LAYERED BANDS, AND ALWAYS ASK FOR PROOF THAT THEY

ARE LAYERED BEFORE YOU MAKE A PAYMENT!

Factor 2: How safe are the bands?

Are the bands simply rubber tubes or do they have a safety sleeve to prevent injury,

wear, etc?

Try to buy bands that have a sleeve if you can. Whilst not essential it will stop you

getting hurt if a band snaps, as they will fly towards you at a very high speed if they

do. I have personally been hit by a broken band in the stomach, and it left a very

nasty bruise. I have never been shot, but when it hit I fell to my knees as if I had

been. Not an experience I want to have again! In a worst case scenario I suppose

you could lose an eye, and obviously it will not be the sellers fault if that happens.

A sleeve will contain the band within it, preventing it from hitting you should it snap.

It will also prevent wear and tear on the outside of the band so it will last a lot longer.

Factor 3: How honestly have the bands been rated?

The amount of sellers out there using misleading tension ratings is crazy, and this gives resistance bands/tubes a bad name! Forums end up full of people who believe that because they bought some bands that offered little resistance that they must all be bad. It is time this borderline illegal activity ended!

The thicker a band is, the more resistance (tensile force) a band is capable of producing, however there is no easy or exact way for a user to rate a bands resistance before buying without using measuring equipment, so they fall for the usual tricks.

This is because most people very wrongly presume that all bands are rated in the same way, this could not be further from the truth! What one seller states as being a 50 Lb band could be far thicker or thinner than another sellers 50 Lb band, depending on how it was rated and how honest the retailer is.

The tension of a band, just like with anything that stretches, varies. The more you stretch it the more resistance it will give you. This fact leaves the door wide open for sellers to legally rate bands any way they choose, and many sellers when giving ratings for their bands tend to use the tension rating of the band stretched almost to the maximum, just before it breaks, which is incredibly misleading to customers as it makes thin low tension bands sound far better than they really are.

Visual Comparisons

For a visual comparison, below is a side by side comparison of an ElastiTone standard black band, which has an average rating of 49.5 Lb, shown on the left, and a competitor band rated as being 50 Lb, on the right.

As you can clearly see, the walls of the ElastiTone black band are much wider than the competitor band, even though the competitors gave their band a higher tension rating...

The ElastiTone band reached a resistance of almost 50 Lb when stretched just halfway, but the competitor band could only manage a reading of 50 Lb when stretched up to the point were it would likely have broken if stretched much further!

For another comparison, below is a side by side of the ElastiTone "Black Mamba" resistance tube on the left, and a competitors "Black Sniper" on the right. The Sniper is advertised as being "Extreme tension".

As you can see from the image, the ElastiTone "Black Mamba" band is the true king of extreme bands, nothing else compares!

Factor 4: Is there a durable clip system?

Another thing to look at when buying resistance bands is if there is a clip system,

and if so how strong is it? If they do not have a clip system and instead just have

handles attached to the bands, then don't waste your money, because you will be

stuck with just one max resistance level per band forever.

With a clip system you can add as many bands to the handles as you want using the

hooks or rings provided. The bands will have either a hook or ring on each end, and

the accessories, e.g. the handles, will have the opposite to whatever the bands have

to allow them to clip together.

For example you could add a 50lb and a 20lb band to the handles at the same time,

giving you 70lbs, but if the bands do not have a clip system, then you cannot do this

and will be limited not only by resistance levels but also by what exercises you can

perform, as the bands which have handles attached are pretty bad for using with

many leg exercises and are mostly only suited to upper body exercises.

Most of the bands you will see on eBay with a clip system use extremely poor

quality hooks, which seem to be designed for use on key rings and are not really

meant to be constantly pulled on and clipped / un-clipped. They are tiny, about

30mm long, and are a complete pain to attach and un-attach to the handles.

There are some that use bigger 60mm (6cm) hooks, but they are just very light

aluminium, with weak poorly made catches that eventually fail, and once a catch

fails the band then cannot be used because in most cases they are not replaceable.

A bands entire lifetime is only as good as the hooks on the end!

Try to buy bands with a clip system that uses large hooks of at least 70mm or

durable rings, which will enable easy and fast changes. ElastiTone uses rings on the

bands now, because they do not have any parts on them that can fail and should

last forever. The handles and straps have carbine hooks, which will last a long time

and ElastiTone will replace them for free if they do fail on you.

Factor 5: How are the hooks/rings attached?

If the band is attached directly to the hooks or rings, which is done by wrapping it

around the part and then feeding it back in to itself with a small slit in the band, and

then covering the slit in a rubber sleeve afterwards to make it look tidy and hide the

fact that the bands are poorly made, YOU SHOULD AVOID AT ALL COSTS as the

slit is always the first place to weaken and snap. These bands have a slit in them

before you even use them!

The hooks/rings should be attached to the bands using the safer and much stronger

method of slotting the band through a piece of extremely strong webbing, either

nylon or Polypropylene, both of which are way stronger than they need to be. This

webbing normally has a metal ring known as a grommet inserted in to it, which the

band is slotted through. A large piece of hard solid plastic is then inserted deep

inside the tube using special machinery, to stop the grommet from sliding off the end

of the band. This insert is impossible to remove without slicing up the band or the

correct tools, so there is no need to worry about it ever slipping off. There are no

sharp edges that come in to contact with either the band or user either, despite one

retailer claiming this.

Finally, once all this is done, the webbing is threaded around the hook/ring and sewn

up.

On the left below is a band that has been tied on to the hook and on the right is the

safer and much more durable method mentioned above. Of course if the bands

have a sleeve then it does not matter which method is used as the danger of a band

hitting you upon failure is eliminated.

Factor 6: What are the attachments like?

Another thing to look at is the attachments, e.g. the handles. If the handles are small

(about 11 - 12cm wide) then most people will find that they are too hard to use, as

the strap will rub against the side of the users hands during most exercises. Try to

find handles that are at least 13.5cm wide.

Comparison of an ElastiTone handle and a smaller fixed handle.

Also if you can find a set that has a padded door anchor and padded ankle straps,

even better!

The door anchor fits to any door, and you attach your bands to it to make them in to

a portable cable machine/home gym. If the loop were the bands fit through is not

padded, then the anchor will just rub against the bands, causing friction, which in

turn produces heat, which will damage the bands.

Factor 7: Is there a good returns policy and warranty period?

Finally, always buy from a seller that has a returns policy of at least 30 days so that

you can try the bands out and see if they are right for you. Beware of some sellers

that charge a "restocking" fee however for returning the bands.

A warranty is also a good idea, the longer the better. Some sellers offer a lifetime

warranty, though obviously this does not include wear and tear which is another

reason why a sleeve is a good idea.

OK, but where do I find a seller that offers all of the above without spending

hours researching?

The only retailer of resistance bands which offers all of the above mentioned

important factors is ElastiTone. They are not only heavy-duty but are also

affordable. There is also an optional 7th band called the "Black Mamba" which is the

highest rated band in the world at this time as far as I know. Feel free to look for

another!

Visit http://www.ElastiTone.com to view the sit

Below is a table of the top 5 brands below for you to compare and decide for

yourself which to buy!

ElastiTone Bodylastics Ripcords Lifeline USA B LINES

( P90X)

MULTI LAYERED TUBING YES YES NO YES NO

ANTI-SNAP YES YES NO NO NO

ANTI-WEAR SLEEVE

(Protects bands from scratches, nicks, abrasion, scuffs etc)

YES NO NO NO NO

INJURY PREVENTION SLEEVE

(Stops the band from hitting the user at great speed IF it snaps)

YES NO NO NO NO

STACKABLE BANDS

(User can use more than 1 band at a time to create more

resistance and combinations, essential for strong people in our

opinion)

YES

(Zinc plated Iron Carabiners on

the components, rings on the

bands)

YES

(Rings on the components, Aluminium

carabiners on the bands)

NO YES

(3 grooves in the plastic handles to hold the bands)

NO

CHARGE FREE LIFETIME DEFECTS WARRANTY

(Covers the user against manufacturer caused

defects/issues)

YES

No need to return defective

parts. All postage costs will be covered by ElastiTone. Warranty is

forever!

NO

No need to return parts but

customers must pay more

postage costs after 90 days for replacements to be sent to them.

NO

Customer must return defective products at their

own expense AND pay a

shipping fee for replacements.

NO

Customer must return defective products at their own expense.

UNKNOWN

No info shown on site that we can

find.

CHARGE FREE 100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEE

(excluding return shipping price)

YES

100 days!

NO

There is a restocking fee if

you are not satisfied.

YES

90 days

YES

90 days

YES

30 days

Best of luck, and stay healthy!

Dave