Update: as of this date (3/14/2013) still going strongI was hesitant to purchase exercise bands (I prefer free weights at the gym), but I am doing P90X at home. It didn''t make sense for me to purchase a ton of free weights, so I purchased these as an alternative. I am very happy with my choice.
First why I like the exercise bands themselves for those of you not sure about trying bands. They are incredibly versatile with this set, you have enough resistance to range from approx 5 or 8lbs to about 50lbs. P90X, in particular, demonstrates how to use the bands as an alternative to free weights. I never really thought to use bands before, but they are just as effective, if not more, and a lot easier to travel with and store. A good suggestion I learned from P90X is that instead of changing the band color for more or less resistance, you can shorten or lengthen the loop you stand.
Now my thoughts on this particular set: I like this set because it includes the ankle straps (haven''t used yet) and the door connector (excellent for doing a modified pull-up...well, pull-down), as well as a weight chart and travel bag. Another reason I went with this set was that I thought I may want to double up bands to offer differing resistance. This set allows you to clip on more than one band at a time to the handles. I have not done this yet, and am not sure if I even will. I am so far doing well with adjusting the loop of the bands to increase resistance. There are additional moves that might benefit from doubling up bands if loops won''t work...but I haven''t gotten there yet.
The handles are durable and cushy, yet easy to grip. The straps can rub/scratch your wrists from certain angles, but that is kind of the case with most bands. I have seen other handles that are just one piece with no strap, so I am guessing those aren''t as bad. I guess that just comes with the territory of choosing bands vs free weights.
I am overall very happy with the purchase they are light, easy to store, incredibly versatile, and durable. My only thought is that I should have gone with a set with a different handle. Not a huge concern though.Everything works fine, however, there is NO WAY they give you the resistance specified in the description. Id guess maybe 1/2 of what they state. I have been using the 3 hardest bands together, and noticed that the bands become less resistant over time. Like streching a balloon before blowing it up. The bands appear to be good quality, and I never fear i''d break them. I have a feeling I will need more bands soon to increase the weight. FYI Im a muscular 150 lbs. With that said, there is no way I am doing 226lbs of resistance.
Update 11/21/12 Well I have been using these for over a year. I got alot of use out these bands. But now the handles are starting to rip on the outside from all the stress I put these through. After the initial streching of the bands, they do appear to become less resistant, but that seems to have now plattoed. I plan on purchasing another set soon. I have changed my initial rate from 3 to 4 stars.These bands seem to hold up well to long term use and the attachments are nice, the only problem I have is that I am using them with P90X and they don''t provide enough resistance without grouping them together, to simulate pull ups I put all the bands together and could still use more resistance, but by doing that it seems to work well, just be prepared to modify how you use the bands because in most cases using 1 by itself wont provide enough resistance.These bands are identical to the first five bands (color and weight wise) as the Crossfit #7 by Body Bands. They''re not super strong, but they''re reasonable for people who are trying to familiarize themselves with the basic rudiments of resistance bands. It comes with a much better clip system than the cheaper gym323 set, and better door anchors. I''m going to give what I consider to be stretching for distance comfort levels. Meaning: How far the band feels like it can stretch before it might break. These are straight line pulls, one end clipped to a stable source then slowly pulling the other end attached to a handle. YELLOW and BLUE about 12 feet, RED about 11 feet, and GREEN and BLACK about 9 feet. So just to close. If you''re going to get one of the GYM323 Sets, get this one.


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