Health and fitness are undeniably important, but many people struggle to find time to go to the gym and fit a workout within their already busy schedule.
Resistance bands can go a long way toward solving this problem. Not only are they great for stretching and rehabilitating your body after injuries, but they’re a surprisingly effective way of building muscle, too. On top of that, they’re compact, easy to use, and affordable, making them the perfect way to get into fitness without having to make too much of an investment in space, time, and money.
Contents
Features to Consider in Good Resistance Bands
There are a massive number of resistance bands on the market today, and not all of them are worth purchasing. Some of them lack the resistance to be genuinely useful. Worse than that, some are outright dangerous, with a high risk of the band exploding and coming back at you in the middle of a workout. Thankfully, these problems can be avoided if you make your purchase carefully. Every resistance band discussed here meets high quality standards, but it’s not enough to just buy the highest-rated band on our list. There are a few considerations and characteristics that you’ll want to keep in mind while making your purchasing decision to ensure not only that the product is great, but that it’s perfect for your own unique needs.
What Style Is the Resistance Band?
“Resistance band” is not a monolithic term. In fact, it covers a wide array of products with a number of different ideal uses. Some resistance bands are modular tubes that are attachable to a number of different anchors and handles, while others are one-piece loops that you use on their own. Some resistance band kits will come with everything you need to get any exercise imaginable done, from padded handles, to ankle straps, to door anchors. Others, however, are more bare-bones in their offering.
What Type of Workout Is the Resistance Band Designed For?
Most bands can serve multiple uses, but in general, tube-style bands are best for general use and upper-body workouts, while loops are best for lower-body exercises and assisted pullups, depending on their size and resistance level. There is a lot of crossover that depends on the specifics of each band, though—there are always exceptions to the rule, and some loops are great for the upper body while others aren’t. The same is true of only certain tubes being adequate for lower-body fitness, so be sure not to overlook exercise selection and what you’re planning to do when making your purchase.
What Strength Level Is the Resistance Band Designed For?
The resistance offered by these bands is highly variable, so merely purchasing any band suited for the workout you have planned won’t cut it. The ideal resistance level depends not only on how you intend to use your resistance bands, but your own personal strength. Even a professional bodybuilder wouldn’t use the same resistance level for their legs and their arms, so no matter your fitness level you’ll have to take multiple factors into account when deciding on the proper resistance level to purchase.
Top 5 Best Resistance Bands 2024
1. Best Overall Pick: LUYATA Resistance Bands Set
Editor’s Rating:
Design Features
LUYATA leaves no stone unturned when it comes to everything they’ve packed into this comprehensive set. Firstly, you’ll get five tube-style resistance bands—in ten-pound increments from ten to fifty pounds—that will be great for the bulk of your stretching and small muscle group workouts. On top of that, they include five more loop bands that are great for training your legs and butt. They throw in a door anchor—great for rows and much more—as well as a set of handles and foot loops. Together, these items let you do just about anything that can be done with resistance bands. They even go as far as to add a jump rope to help you round out your band training with some cardio—which, while a somewhat confusing inclusion, is another strong point in favor of this kit’s value.
Who Should Buy This Resistance Band?
The only drawback with this kit is that the extra light and light loop resistance bands, which are primarily meant to be used on the strong, large muscles of the lower body, don’t have enough resistance to be effective. If you’re recovering from a very serious injury, they might offer some rehabilitative use, but for nearly anyone else they’ll be so weak that you’ll hardly notice they’re there. The tube-style bands don’t suffer from this problem, though. Even the lowest should get quite a bit of use in your workout repertoire, especially due to the fact that you can stack the bands together for as much as 150 pounds of total resistance.
- Band hooks are labeled with resistances to enable easy switches on the fly
- This kit is filled with extras, including multiple handles, foot loops, a door anchor, and even more in addition to the ten bands
- Stackable tubes allow you to reach high levels of resistance, and to fine-tune low ones with various combinations
- Two of the five loop bands offer too low of a resistance to be useful for anything other than rehabilitation.
2. Best Premium Pick: Tribe Resistance Bands Set
Editor’s Rating:
Design Features
The Tribe Resistance Bands Set is similar in its contents to the one sold by LUTAYA, but differs in a few key aspects. The number of included accessories isn’t quite as over the top, but you’ll still find everything you need here. The barebones low-tier 45-pound set includes three tubes, a set of handles and ankle straps, and a door anchor. If you go for the 105-pound set you get two more tubes on top of that. The 150-pound set caps things off with more tubes and a set of premium, higher-quality handles that might be worth the cost of upgrading if you’re experiencing discomfort with your resistance bands.
They also offer options that include looped bands, which round the kit out and make it great for leg workouts, too. But where Tribe really differs is in its quality. The total package from LUTAYA looks better from the outside – and they’re pretty close, all things considered – but Tribe focuses on quality over quantity. No product on this list is poorly made, but the Tribe Resistance Band Set is full of especially durable products that feel solid and heavy in the hand while remaining comfortable and easy to use.
Who Should Buy This Resistance Band?
The sets sold by Tribe differ greatly, so make sure you pick the right one. They all contain the high-quality tube-style bands that Tribe makes so well, so any of the choices will be great for upper-body workouts. The heaviest of the individual bands maxes out at 35 pounds of resistance, but the well-built modular clips and handles make it easy to combine them for up to 105 pounds of resistance.
If you’re going to spend a serious amount of time and effort using resistance bands in your lower-body training, you should opt for one of the sets that includes loop bands. A few of these bands are too low-resistance to be very useful, but a majority of them will be effective additions to your home gym. If you choose the complete Tribe set, you should be equipped with almost every resistance and style of band that you could ever want.
- Comes in a choice of different sets with total resistance levels between 5 and 150 pounds
- Optional loop bands allow you to further increase the variety of exercises you can do
- Latex tubing is twice as thick as most of its competitors, making it durable enough to last through years of use
- Basic levels of this kit don’t include any looped bands, reducing their effectiveness for lower-body strength exercises
- The lightest of the loops doesn’t offer enough resistance to be useful
3. Best Budget Pick: Black Mountain Resistance Band Set
Editor’s Rating:
Design Features
This set has five resistance bands, each of which has a relatively low resistance level. This comes with pros and cons—on one hand, it allows you to fine-tune your workout more than, say, a group of bands that bottoms out at 20 pounds of resistance, but this comes at a cost of a far lower total possible resistance. To that end, the kit does include a surprisingly helpful card that lays out the total combined resistance for each possible combination of bands. This makes this kit perfectly designed for movements that use small muscle groups (which are made easier by the inclusion of ankle straps and a door anchor), but less than perfect for leg, back, and chest exercises.
Who Should Buy This Resistance Band?
While the Black Mountain Resistance Band Set might seem too good to be true on the outside when you consider its price, it’s not without flaws. The construction quality is a bit lower here than it is in more expensive offerings, which is reflected both in the durability and comfort of the product. It’s not going to be so annoying to use that you can’t stand it, and the tubes won’t snap after a few uses, but there are higher-quality options. There are a few situations in which this kit would be your best choice, though—especially for the price. Its large number of tubes at low resistances make it ideal for fine-tuning your resistance for stretching, rehabilitation, or anyone with relatively low strength levels—including children.
- The stackable set of low-resistance bands makes this perfect kit for stretching or getting your body back into working order after an injury
- The kit comes with a handy reference card that shows you the combined resistance when you add multiple bands together
- Included straps and handles are a nice touch, even if they feel a bit cheap
- The lowest-resistance bands are too weak for anything but stretching and rehabilitation
- The highest-resistance band only offers 30 pounds, which won’t be enough for stronger buyers
4. Best for High Resistance: Bodylastics Resistance Bands Set
Editor’s Rating:
Design Features
Again, this kit seems almost identical to its competition at first glance, but a closer look reveals several key differences. The biggest thing that stands out with the Bodylastics Resistance Bands set is its resistance—by clipping together every tube-style band in their highest-tier offering, you can reach a combined 400-pound resistance. This is more than enough for all but the strongest athletes, but the Bodylastics kit is durable enough to withstand it. They give you more handles and straps than you could ever want, the strongest attachment system around, and a fallback safety mechanism that keeps four hundred pounds of pressure from flying back at your face in the unlikely event that your tubes snap.
Who Should Buy This Resistance Band?
With that in mind, the increased resistance comes with an increased cost. On top of that, the safety features and perfect O-ring clip for attachments are all well and good, but they’re basically overkill unless you’re actually using all of those heavy-duty bands. If you don’t need anywhere close to 400 pounds of resistance, nothing else really makes this kit stand out for the price. That’s not to say that it’s not excellent—any purchaser of resistance bands will be satisfied with the Bodylastics Resistance Bands Set—but that there are better options for the price for a majority of users. If you need incredibly high levels of resistance this is the kit for you, but others should look elsewhere.
- With a maximum stackable resistance of up to 400 pounds, this kit offers more resistance than any other on our list
- The premium kits come with an excess of handles, straps, and anchors
- The O-ring clip ensures that the massive stack of bands stays put
- Inner woven cords protect you from a nasty surprise if a tube breaks
- The cheaper options aren’t really anything special—they’re solid resistance bands, but you can get a better package for the price.
- If you do select the top-of-the-line kit, this is the most expensive resistance band set on our list
5. Best Beginner Pick: TheraBand Resistance Band Set
Editor’s Rating:
Design Features
These are relatively large loop bands, so you won’t be restricted to using them on smaller muscles. They might not be the perfect tool for your back, glutes, or arms, but they’ll work in a pinch—along with being exceptional for grip training and rehabilitation. This affordable package gives you three latex bands in three resistance levels. They’re wide enough that they can be wrapped around the legs, but also thin enough that you can bunch the material together in your hands and use them as you would a tube band.
Their size and shape would make them perfect for glute exercises, but they’re not really offered in a high enough resistance for them to be suitable for that use case. They would be great for lower-body stretching, warming up, or rehabilitation—but they fall short when it comes to strength-building considerations.
Who Should Buy This Resistance Band?
Which is, in fact, the biggest problem with the set as a whole. Even with smaller muscles, which don’t need nearly as much resistance to be effectively trained, the TheraBand set falls a little bit short. There’s no resistance band exercise that you won’t be able to do with this set, but there are also very few exercises that are going to be a perfect sit for this set. The TheraBand Resistance Band Set is a jack of all trades, but a master of none. Still, that makes it the absolute best choice for pure beginners working on a budget, while also making the set great for rehabilitation. It’s also a great choice if you’re looking for resistance bands for children, too.
- Unbelievably cheap, especially when you consider their high quality
- There is a surprisingly comprehensive range of resistances for such a basic kit
- They even do a fairly good job with light glute and other lower-body workouts
- This set doesn’t contain any tube bands, which limits its usefulness
- Resistance is too low for serious strength training
Top 2 Best Resistance Bands for Glutes 2024
1. Best Premium Pick: Recredo Booty Bands
Editor’s Rating:
Design Features
Recredo’s Booty Bands distinguish themselves from the competition in a number of ways. Many resistance bands marketed towards the glutes are little more than large, high-resistance loop bands that aren’t differentiated in any other way that might make them more suitable for lower-body workouts. That’s not the case here. Instead of large, tight, strong bands that would rub against and dig into your thighs, Recredo’s bands are wide, thick, and soft—while not sacrificing performance.
Who Should Buy This Resistance Band?
The small, medium, and large bands cover a wide range of resistance levels that should suit nearly any exerciser. That being said, Recredo (uniquely on this list) makes no attempt to measure the resistance level of these bands. This isn’t a deal-breaker, as the physical size of each band lets you determine which is stronger at a glance, but this added specificity would be nice even if its absence doesn’t really harm the product. You’ll get a feel for their resistance levels eventually, and they’re within a range that makes the product the best resistance band for squats and other lower-body exercises for most people.
- As some of the widest, thickest, and plushest resistance bands around, they don’t uncomfortably squeeze your legs like many do
- Interior stretchy lining provides added durability while not restriction motion
- Non-slip edges keep the bands in place
- The resistance level isn’t expressed in pounds, so it’s difficult to quantify your workout
2. Best Budget Pick: Letsfit Resistance Loop Bands
Editor’s Rating:
Design Features
The first thing you’ll notice when comparing these bands to the Recredo loops is that Letsfit has taken a much different aesthetic approach to glute bands. But, strip away the exterior stylings and you’ll find a remarkably similar product. Sure, it’s not as comfortable, and sure, they don’t look quite as nice, but you get two more bands for about a third of the price. Admittedly, they’re a little bit less well-built on a practical level, too, but they’re not some cheap, ugly knock-off that’s going to snap the first time you use it. Letsfits are still more comfortable and more effective than most of the competition, making them a great budget alternative to the best-in-class Recredo.
Who Should Buy This Resistance Band?
Though best for glute exercises, a few aspects of this set’s design make it a well-rounded choice suitable for just about any resistance band workout. The bands don’t vary in width, which means that you won’t have to take that into consideration when planning your workout. With some band sets, the high-resistance options are so thick that they can’t be bunched up in your hands, or the low-resistance bands are so thin that they’ll dig into your thighs if you try to use them for lower-body workouts. This isn’t the case here, so you’re free to choose the best band based on its resistance level instead of its form factor. As a result, the Letsfit Resistance Loop Bands set is a great beginner option, even if it is of a high enough quality that it can be much more than that.
- Amazingly good value for a well-made set of loop bands
- Their compact size makes them an excellent travel set
- The set’s wide range of resistance fits a variety of exercise selections and strength levels
- The extra-light band doesn’t offer enough resistance for the glutes, outside of stretching and rehabilitation
- Though not uncomfortable by any means, they don’t feel nearly as nice as the plush Recredo
Top 3 Best Resistance Bands for Assisted Pullups 2024
1. Best Overall Pick: SUNPOW Assistance Bands
Editor’s Rating:
Design Features
Each of SUNPOW’s loop-style resistance bands is incredibly long and comes with a set of elastics to keep it in place while not being used. They’re made of hypoallergenic latex, a durable and stretchy material that is sure to provide all the assistance you need to help pull yourself over the bar. The resistance of each band can be seen at a glance, both by the images on the bands or by glancing at their width, so you won’t have to pull out an instruction manual while switching between them.
Who Should Buy This Resistance Band?
This set is a perfect one-size-fits-all grouping of resistance bands for anyone who wants to master pullups—one of the best all-around muscle-building exercises out there—but doesn’t have the strength to get started on their own. Almost anyone will be able to complete at least a few pullups with the strongest band, and as time goes on you can use move down to weaker and weaker bands. Doing this while increasing rep counts will ensure that you’ll be experiencing the progressive overload that you need to build strength, until the day comes when you don’t need an assistance band at all.
Even once you’re at this point, the bands won’t just collect dust. Some of the higher-resistance bands might be too powerful for many other exercises, but the middle-range ones make great lower-body resistance bands, and the ones on the low end of the spectrum aren’t so pitifully weak that they can’t be used for upper-body workouts. You may need to loop them around a few times to make them fit uses other than assisting with pullups, but they’ll get the job done.
- SUNPOW’s band set has a huge range of resistances, making it perfect for pullup trainees at any strength level
- Lifetime warranty and free replacement policy in the unlikely event that a band does snap
- Helpful chart that allows you to optimize assistance by choosing the correct band from the set
- Adequate for other exercises, too
- It’s too easy to lose grip and accidentally let go of these bands, especially during a sweaty workout
2. Best Budget Pick: Draper’s Strength Heavy Duty Pull Up Assist Band
Editor’s Rating:
Design Features
The Heavy Duty Pull Up Assist Bands offered by Draper’s Strength are premium resistance bands. Though generally following the same style as the ones sold by SUNPOW, they’ve put a bit more attention into the quality of the construction. That’s not to say that the SUNPOW bands are poorly made—rather, the Draper’s Strength Pull Up Bands are another excellent choice that sacrifices a bit of value for a slightly improved user experience, while also being available at higher resistances for high-level athletes.
Who Should Buy This Resistance Band?
The heavier Draper’s bands will provide enough assistance to just about anyone, while the lower-resistance offerings are good for someone who might be able to complete an unassisted pullup or two, but wants the added benefit of being able to push through a few additional assisted reps. The heaviest-duty strap could even work for banded barbell deadlifts, although it might even be too strong for pullups. If it takes too much work out of the equation, the exercise will fail to build muscle entirely. On the other hand, this makes it perfectly ideal for rehabilitation, and for those with very little upper-body strength. Without taking price into consideration, these bands are as good as or better than those offered by SUNPOW. But, with some of these individual bands costing more than that entire set, value needs to be taken into account too.
- Available in resistances ranging from 2 to 200 pounds, making at least one of their choices suitable for any strength level or intended use
- Top of its class durability and safety
- Comes with one of the most helpful workout guides on the market, covering everything from weight loss, to rehab, to strength-building
- If you do want a whole set of resistance bands, this will end up costing more than most of its alternatives
3. Best Premium Pick: Serious Steel Assisted Pull-up Band
Editor’s Rating:
Design Features
The first thing that jumps out as a difference between the Serious Steel Assisted Pull-up Bands and its competition is the thickness of the bands. These are not compact travel bands to be used for stretching and rehabilitation, but rugged workout tools for the serious athlete. Their size, number of resistance options, and quality of construction make these bands a premium pick that can handle use and abuse for years. These bands are even coated with a convenient grippy, tacky, surface that ensures that you won’t lose control of the band and hurt yourself.
Who Should Buy This Resistance Band?
Serious Steel goes one step beyond even the most durable of its competitors with their assisted pullup bands. Make no mistake—this is a professional-grade product, not one for a first-time buyer of resistance bands. If you don’t know if bands are right for you, or if you’re not sure which resistance level to choose, you’d be better off buying one of the cheaper sets before you take the plunge into Serious Steel.
That being said, Serious Steel makes the highest-quality assisted pullup resistance bands, bar none. The heaviest band isn’t as strong as the one offered by Draper’s, and they’re all more expensive than those sold by SUNPOW, but they’ll last a lifetime and work as well as they did on the first day the entire time. Like the Draper’s bands, the heavier ones can even be used with barbell exercises, and some of the lighter ones will work great for upper- and lower-body workouts too—if not as comfortably as a good tube-style band would.
- Powder-coated to avoid the problems with a slippery grip that many cheap resistance bands suffer from
- So well-constructed that they should outlive you
- Lighter bands can serve as an acceptable band for other exercises
- Very expensive, especially if you’re not a high-level athlete
Guide to Buying the Best Resistance Bands
It’s not enough to just pick the number one selection on this list and be done with it—a well-educated purchaser of resistance bands needs to know their own strength, the fitness goals they want to achieve, and how these considerations match different styles and features of resistance bands. On top of all of that, you’ll want to be careful about taking many product reviews into account. Many of the most common complaints that show up for just about every resistance band should be taken with a grain of salt—reviewers say the bands were too weak, too strong, too long, or too short. In almost every case, this comes down to the purchaser choosing an unsuitable resistance band, not any inherent flaw in the equipment. To avoid these problems, study this guide alongside manufacturer recommendations before you make your purchase.
Styles
Resistance Tubes
This most basic type of resistance band is a stretchy tube that surrounds a resistance-providing inner core. If none of your bands offer enough resistance for your needs, you can even use more than one tube simultaneously for added tension. Often, but not always, sets of resistance tubes come with detachable handles and anchors that simplify this process by allowing you to grab as many tubes as you want without having to struggle with keeping them all together.
Loop Bands
Also called flat bands, super bands, or power bands, the wider and stronger of these resistance bands are the best choice for assisted pull-ups, but many of them can do double duty for other types of exercises. When similar in design but smaller, loop bands are also normally the band of choice for glute and other lower-body exercises. Even if you’re purchasing a band marketed to be used exclusively for any single purpose, there are usually a number of other ways that you can work them into your bodyweight exercise routine—and you can even use them to create additional resistance with dumbbells and barbells too.
Features and Specifications
Resistance Level
Absolute beginners to working out and anyone who is using resistance bands as part of a rehabilitation program should stick to the low end of the scale, while those who have a lot of experience exercising might find low-resistance bands to be too weak for their needs. It’s difficult to properly judge where you sit on this scale, so we recommend that most people purchase a comprehensive resistance band set with a wide range of resistance levels to start off, especially if they’ve never used bands before. On top of ensuring that the bands will be usable, the resistance level also affects what type of workouts the bands are best for. Strength workouts, especially for large muscles like the back and legs, should use higher weights, but stretching and rehabilitative exercises will benefit from low-resistance bands.
Handles
There are multiple factors relating to tube-style resistance band handles that every buyer should take into account. Some resistance bands come with detachable nylon handles, while others have permanently-attached rubber ones. Detachable handles are typically preferable but tend to be more expensive. Some of these same considerations even come into play with superbands and minibands. Although they technically don’t have handles, making sure that your band fits comfortably in your hand or doesn’t grasp your legs too tightly will go a long way towards ensuring the product’s comfort and effectiveness.
Anchors
Many of the resistance band options out there offer bands and nothing else, but if you’re interested in opening up your workout possibilities even further, you should consider purchasing a set that contains a door anchor or purchasing one separately. These attach tube-style bands to your doorframe, making upper-body exercises in particular much easier and more useful. They’re less essential for other exercises, but if you want to build a big back, chest, or set of arms, be sure to buy resistance bands that will work with a door anchor.
Ankle Straps
Another helpful addition to many (but not all) resistance band kits is a set of ankle straps. These are often used in conjunction with anchors, and allow you to switch up the angle and resistance of your banded leg workouts. Though by no means essential to work out the hams and glutes, they open up a nearly unlimited array of lower-body exercises and should be considered by anyone who is focused on building up a strong and attractive lower body.
Workout Instructions
Many, but not all, of the resistance bands on this list come with a set of instructions for exercises. Though this isn’t an essential feature, especially when so many resistance band exercises can be found online, it can be a nice added bonus. They’re often customized for the particular bands, with small adjustments from the standard workouts that are designed to make the most out of the product.
Suitability Considerations
Upper Body
While most bands can be adapted to be used for nearly any target area, some are much more well-suited to specific exercises than others. You can strengthen your biceps, shoulders, chest, and back with just about any type of resistance band, but you’ll likely want to choose long, tube-style bands if these are the types of movements you’ll be doing. Make sure you get a high range of resistances, as you’ll need lighter bands for shoulder and arm workouts, while larger muscles like the chest and the back require heavier-duty bands.
Lower Body
Loop bands are the king of lower-body training, but they’re not all created equal. It’s not enough to just buy a looped band and call it a day. Some large loops are best for assisted bodyweight training even if they’re marketed as being designed for the legs and glutes, and others attempt to hit a sweet spot between all exercises, but they universally fall short of being perfect in every case. No one band, looped or otherwise, is the best fit for every exercise. If you’re focusing on the lower body, make sure that you get hold of a large, wide, strong, comfortable looped band that will let you work your thighs and butt as optimally as possible.
Assisted Pullups
Pullups are one of the best exercises around, offering a complete workout for nearly every area of the upper body, from the back, to the shoulders, to the biceps. For many, they’re too difficult to even attempt—but why should these wonderful exercises be excluded for those who aren’t able to consistently perform pullups? This is where resistance bands, and in particular large loop bands, come in handy. By looping one of these heavy-duty bands around you, these work against gravity to reduce the amount of effort it takes to hoist yourself above the bar. This lets you enjoy the benefits of pullups without the high strength floor that the workout normally requires. What’s more, with the muscle and strength you build, you’ll be able to do unassisted pullups in no time.
Gender
Some resistance bands are marketed specifically towards men or women, but there are never any actual meaningful differences between such products. Glute-sculpting bands in particular are often presented as being for women, both in marketing materials and in their aesthetics, but that’s about as far as the difference goes. For the purposes of resistance band workouts, men and women need the exact same features. The only real difference is that womens’ resistance bands are often sold at lower resistances—but most of the bands on the market are sold in a variety of resistances anyway, so that isn’t really relevant. You’ll be much better off ignoring these designations and buying the band that meets your needs based on the other criteria in this guide. If you’re a woman and that band is marketed to men, or vice versa, you won’t notice the difference.
The Bottom Line
Resistance bands can be a great home alternative to costly and time-consuming trips to the gym, or a perfect way to complement your existing exercise routine. The market for resistance bands is crowded, but the choices listed here stand out above the competition so long as you consider how your own needs mesh with each product before purchasing. Whether you’re looking to speed up rehabilitation from an injury, get a good stretch in, or put on some muscle, one of the resistance bands listed above will meet your needs perfectly.