Expand-Your-Hand Bands

I was happy to receive my 12$ "rubber bands" and I was eager to try them out. I gave one to my friend who uses grips all the time so he can train his opposite muscle and not end up with a bad case of tendinitis. Well the strongest one of them broke on me the second day I was using it. I had the rubber bands in my room where barely any sun enters and I thought to myself "maybe thats just defective at least I have a couple of others". My friend told me the next day that his tore as well. I tried my luck with another one also (a red one I believe) and it also broke! This was a waste of 12 dollars. I went to Officemax and bought myself a big bag of thick rubber bands for like 5$. They work great, just fold it twice and it''s even harder to expand than the red version!

For those who are willing to purchase this product. Don''t waste your money on rubber bands with a silly sticker on it. Go to any store that sells rubber bands and buy the thickest and most durable ones you can find, that''s a better, cheaper, and more practical solution (you have so many rubber bands available to you in case one of them breaks.

I like these bands. I use these along with the Captains of Crush Hand Gripper No. 1 and the Gripmaster Exercise Tool, Light, to give my fingers and hands a good workout.

The workout is pretty straight forward. You put the bands around your fingers, place them just under the fingernails and try as many times as you can to expand your fingers outward.

It''s a good workout, too. I do the reps until I feel the "burn" in my fingers. I do two sets each hand about twice a week. Now I feel more dexterity with my fingers after using these bands. I''m using the blue bands now (see photos posted). The other bands (except the red ones) are really too weak to give my fingers any real type of workout.

I am not a doctor or hand specialist, but I do feel using these are a good workout. If you are a weight lifter, practicing martial artist, or especially a musician learning/playing a stringed instrument(s), etc., working with these bands will definitely be beneficial to you. I am happy with them so far.

Now while these bands, I feel, do give your fingers a good workout. These are still basically rubber bands. IronMind states these bands are specially treated. Good. I do follow the advice of IronMind in "keeping these bands in a drawer, out of light, and definitely out of direct sunlight -and also away from heat (so not in the glove box in your car during the summer, etc.)".

But I still have the question in my mind: How long will these bands last?

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Update: Monday June 14, 2010

"But I still have the question in my mind: How long will these bands last?"

The bands should last about a year and a half (give or take a few months).

I was using the blue bands (the next strongest after the red bands) about twice a week, keeping them in a drawer when not in use.

Then one day while I was using them, I noticed a small hole developed in one of the bands. I did another stretch and then Pop! No more band.

I recommend that if you''re going to use these bands, use just one (you get 10 bands, five different colors, 1 set of each color) at a time for both hands. You''ll get longer use out of them.

Buy Expand-Your-Hand Bands Now

I was a little skeptical about this product at first. Honestly, who wants to pay for some really big rubber bands? I went ahead and purchased a set of these when I was purchasing a few other things from Ironmind and honestly I use these more than most other products.

These bands provide 5 different strengths and so that you may vary the resistance. In addition, unlike everyday rubber bands these are extremely durable and the perfect size. The smaller bands also work great as a rehabilitation tool for people with wrist or hand injuries. If you work with your hands on a regular basis and constantly find some residual pain in your hands, wrists or forearms you must try these out.

Overall this is an amazing, portable, workout. Once you try these you will be truly amazed at the difference they make.

Read Best Reviews of Expand-Your-Hand Bands Here

I''m a big fan of IronMind''s Captains of Crush hand grippers. Little makes me happier than seeing that the US is still making some of the highest quality products available. The same can be said for the "Expand-Your-Hand Bands". Yeah they are simply rubber bands and it is conceivable that you could perform the same excercise with common inexpensive bands of inferior quality. That said, these bands ARE ideally suited for the task... For MOST hands. But for those with large hands, you may be dissapointed as I was. My digits can comfortably span 7 inches apart without bands. However with the bands on I was only able to achieve 5.5 inches of seperation between any two opposing digits before reaching what I believe to be the functional limit of these bands. I had the same experience with all the included bands (so I don''t think it was a limitation of my hand strength). I''m sure this product will be an excellent choice for most. But for those with large hands, you might want to explore other options. Hopefully in the future IronMind will release another line for varying sized hands.

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Like Mr Sprouffske, I got these bands along with a Captains of Crush gripper. I figured that with the gripper I would be working my hand muscles a certain way and it would be great to have something to work them in the exact opposite direction for greater mobility and strength. Hence these bands.

They work great! A lot of people work on computers all day long. Our hand muscles and wrists get tired, over-worked, and cramped from that work all day long. Even if you exercise regularly, your hands and forearms are still not getting a focused workout. That''s where Ironmind''s products come in. I have the ''Trainer'' gripper and these bands and have been using them for a little while now. I feel increased strength in my grip and my forearms.

I work out twice a week with these (usually on my two days off from gym workouts) and use both the gripper and these bands together for a comprehensive forearm and hand workout. Both these products are super convenient to pack on a trip out of town as well, since they are so compact. Whether you work out regularly with weights or not, you will benefit from these products as good gripping strength is fundamental to most everything we do. Plus it will, I suspect, keep you from getting painful arthritis as you grow older.