Benefits of clip resistance band sets for home workouts:
If you’re training at home, it’s important that you can make your workouts progressive. This is because if you always use the same amount of resistance for the same amount of repetitions when you workout, you body learns to do this with less muscle fibers each time you do it. This means that while you can be maintaining your strength, you can still be losing muscle (strength is not all about your muscles-it’s also about how well your body co-ordinates the muscles you have, which is why you can maintain strength, but still lose muscle).
It’s because of this that I recommend clip resistance band kits, because they allow you to change or add more resistance as you get stronger over time, without your exercise kit taking over your home!
Bodylastics are by far the best example of these, but are only available from the USA via Amazon’s Global Shipping. This is fine and many of my clients have bought them from here, but I realised that not everyone would want to buy from USA due to the longer shipping time. I only like to recommend products that I actually have used myself, so I decided to buy an alternative set available in the UK, try them out, and review them.
I’m reviewing the Britsway Resistance Band Set, and will compare them to Bodylastics, which I consider to be the gold standard when it comes to resistance band sets.
Packing/storage:
As you can see, the Britsway package is smaller than the Bodylastics package. The storage bag it comes in feels very strong though.
Resistance bands:
Some cheaper band sets I’ve seen have contained bands that are not as long as the Bodylastics bands are, which can be a hinderance to some exercises. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Britsway bands are only a little bit shorter than Bodylastics bands.
The clips on Bodylastics bands are much more substantial, but again the Britsway clips are far better and stronger than I’ve seen in other cheaper sets. I had to fiddle with the fabric part of the end of the band to get it to sit nicely in the clips of the Britway bands though, which isn’t a huge issue, but worth reporting as it’s not an issue with Bodylastics.
I tested the band strength by performing biceps curls with both sets of bands as this would be an easy exercise to compare. Here’s what I found:
10 reps with the 8LBS Bodylastics band felt slightly harder than 10 reps with the 10LBS Britsway Bands
5 Reps with the 13LBS Bodylastics band felt significantly harder than 10 reps with the 20LBS Britsway Band.
Whether you see this as a benefit or a drawback will depend on your fitness level, and the actual resistance number is less important than being able to work your muscles to fatigue and progress your resistance over time. If you’re a stronger individual or want to get significantly stronger though, you’ll get more substantial resistance from the Bodylastics set. Nevertheless, I also tested some of the “heavier” Britsway bands out with a one arm chest press and they still felt strong in use.
Resistance band accessories:
The ankle straps in the Britsway set are by far the best quality pieces in the set. The Bodylastics straps are bigger, but the comfort, fit, and construction of the Brits Way straps are really impressive. The stitching in them is immaculate and they are nicely cushioned. I tried these out doing a single leg hamstring curl and they felt more than adequate for the task.
The Britsway door anchor seems very well constructed, and again I was impressed with how good it looked compared to other cheaper sets I’ve seen. It took me a couple of goes to get used to using the Britsway anchor as it seems slightly thicker at the area that the door closes on when compared to the Bodylastics anchor, which initially made me a bit nervous. It turned out to be fine, but I felt more confident using the Bodylastics anchor as there is a thinner area in front of the stitched part which fits really easily in any door frame I’ve used them on. When using it for the hamstring curl, it stayed perfectly in place and didn’t move.
Durability:
This one is hard for me to report on. I’ve used Bodylastics for over 10 years and I’ve only used the Brits Way set once, so only have my first impressions to go on so far.
Bodylastics have a patented system where a nylon cord runs inside the bands. This helps to make them stronger and in their words-“reduces the chance for injury if a band does actually break”. I have two Bodylastics sets, one of them is over 10 years old, that I’ve trained with myself, taken on holidays, trained clients with, and regularly loan to clients when they’re waiting for their own set to arrive. It’s still in amazing condition and hasn’t even come close to breaking. The accessories in a Bodylastics set are clearly more heavy duty than the Britsway accessories, but the Britsway accessories are better than any other cheaper set that I’ve seen.
Britsway claim on the product box that their bands have anti-snap technology, but they don’t say what exactly this anti-snap technology is.
I will report back on this as I use them more.
Conclusion:
Bodylastics are the best of the best when it comes to resistance bands. But, if you’re not sure if resistance band training is for you, or if you’re a beginner, then the Britsway band set would be a great way to get you started. Bodylastics bands have a range of resistances that mean anyone from beginner to advanced can use them, but you might not be willing or able to wait the time it would take to ship them from the USA, so in this case you may prefer to go for Britsway because they can be ordered on Amazon Prime and are stocked in the UK so can be shipped quickly.
Price point may also be a factor in decision making, a Bodylastics kit, shipped from the USA may cost upwards of £60 depending on the exchange rate, whereas the Britsway set will cost less than £30.
Lastly, please be aware that both sets of bands are made with latex, so will not be suitable if you have an allergy to latex.
-Steve Shreeve