Resistance Bands Vs Large Loop Bands Which is Better?
Last Updated June 16, 2024
In this blog, I'm going to take a look at the traditional resistance bands vs large loop bands so that you can decide which one you would like to use for your home training. ❤️
👍 Traditional resistance bands. What I mean by traditional is that they’re just simple bands that you attach handles onto or use something like a door stopper to use it for your home training. 🎉
| Image | Product | Detail | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Boldfit Resistance Band, Set of 5 |
| Price |
 | Cosco Stretch Resistance Band | Set of 5 |
| Price |
 | SLOVIC Resistance Tube (1 Year Warranty) |
| Price |
Which type of resistance band is best?
First why to use them? One reasons is that they are a great supplement to doing my isolation-based exercises.
😊These include exercises such as the bicep curls and tricep extensions. Of course, there are many other exercises you can do, these are just some of the main ones I use them for.
They are also great for your upper body compound movements, especially the pull movements. Some of my favourite compound movements include bent-over rows, deadlifts, overhead presses, as well as pull-apart. ✨
I love to do this with bands in the standing overhead press. The reason is that if you are lifting really heavy weights, getting something like dumbbells up to your shoulder height in a standing position could be a cause for injury.
✨ So, by using bands, there’s no heavy lifting from the floor up to your shoulders, allowing you to easily get in place and then do the pushing overhead.
✅ At the beginning of the exercise, or where they’re at your shoulders, you’re going to have the least amount of resistance, and as you press up overhead, you gain a lot more resistance in the band, meaning that you have a different strength curve.
But honestly, if you have something like roughed-up shoulders or you want just a different way of training your shoulders. Then supplement with resistance bands.
Resistance Bands Vs Large Loop Bands Which is Better?
Moving on, the traditional resistance bands might be one of the cheapest items you can buy for your home fitness training. When compared to resistance loop bands, there’s nothing that beats the traditional resistance bands, even though they usually come with more attachments. ❤️
They also have metal little carabiners on them, and they are not just one big loop in itself. For some reason, they’re always a lot cheaper overall.
This may be because of the loop bands being thicker as you raise the resistance, but just note that the regular traditional resistance bands tend to be a lot cheaper.
Also, when buying traditional resistance bands, I usually get more attachments that I can put on them.
Now, this can be a PRO or CON based on how much stuff you want to have in your home training, but for me, the attachments allow me to make my exercises just that much better.
For example, bicep curls with attachments for the handles are far better than the resistance loop bands when just doing something like bicep curls.
✅ Yes, you do need to put the attachments on them, but honestly, it’s a lot more comfortable when doing the movement. Following up, the traditional resistance bands are a lot easier on your hands overall.
👍 I found that the additional attachments allow for this to be a bit easier on your hands. If you’re someone who has their hands scuffed up pretty quickly, then I highly recommend the traditional resistance bands to start.
Maybe move to loop resistance bands later.
😊 Regular resistance bands are much easier to scale up and add more resistance to: Because they don’t get bulkier. They are just easy to clip onto the ends of the resistance bands and use, and you can get up to something like 150 pounds of resistance, and that’s easy to set up with this style.
With the resistance loop bands, you’re going to have thick bands and that can be hard to deal with and do certain exercises well. 🔥
Traditional resistance bands – Cons.
#1 Not For Assistance-based work:
✅ To start, these bands are not well-suited for assistance-based work.
While great for many compound movements and isolated exercises, doing things like assisted pull-ups is difficult with them, or maybe even assisted dips.
They’re not built for that. Yes, they could work for you, but honestly, this is where the loop bands shine and the traditional just isn’t.
#2 Hassle To Organize:
✅ There are more parts you have to deal with. When emptying a bag of resistance bands, you have to remember to put them back and keep them in order.
While a minor con, again, you do have to put them in a bag that already has resistance bands in them. It can be hard to get everything back in the bag that they give you.
You might need to buy your separate bag, but just note when you have all the additional attachments, especially ones that aren’t needed.
It can just be a hassle having the extra ones around.
#3 Metal carabiners or hooks on the end:
For me, I don’t care if they’re on the ends of them when doing something like bent over rows with the bands or deadlifts, but some of you might not like it as they can flop around and even like hit you on the way down.
They don’t hurt or anything, but they could just be a minor annoyance.
This isn’t that big a CON, but know they do have the metal end pieces.
You could take them off, but putting them back on is a little more difficult than you might think and can be just an annoyance. 😊
The attachments make the exercises easier, especially something like bicep curls.
When you add that handle, it adds more length that you have to pull from, so the bands aren’t providing as much tension when you add the handle on it versus when you just have the entire band in your hand like the loop style. 🔥
So while you can still get a lot of resistance by adding on more bands, just note that the attachments you add on and the longer they are from the actual band itself.
The less tension you have for the exercise the more resistance to your training.
Traditional resistance bands – PROS
Let’s take a look at the loop-style bands and see why they are good for you in your home training.
#1 Doing assistance-based compound lifts.
Pull-ups. Many people can’t do them or do many of them. This is where the resistance loop bands shine.
Simply attach them to the pull-up bar that you are using, have them come down, put your feet in the band, and whatever resistance you need because it comes with like 5 different bands.
You can use it to help in getting back up to the top of the bar. However, don’t make it too easy on yourself.
Make sure you pick the proper band to allow you to keep progressing with your training until you are able to do as many pull-ups. They are also great for helping in exercises such as dips alongside pull-ups.
😊 So really, anytime your body weight is fully off the ground, this is where these resistance bands are the best.
#2 Loop-style resistance bands are great for compound pulling exercises.
These include your row-type movements, deadlifts, & pulls.
Now, I prefer the loop-style bands for the major pulling movements such as the rows and deadlifts, along with smaller movements. 🎉
These style movements are great with these bands. You can simply hold the band itself and do the pulling movements to get the job done.
You need no more attachments. Grab the band and go for it.
Easy to scale up by just grabbing more bands and pulling with them.
#3 Loop bands are easy to store and take care of.
If you’re travelling around, they’re super easy to throw in pretty much any bag and just go and travel with them. Where as with loop bands you have to watch out to not lose those attachments, or else you might just be stuck with bands that have no handles. 🔥
Loop Style Resistance Bands – CONS
#1 Bands get thick as you go up in resistance.
This means that combining the bands together can actually be pretty difficult, especially when you compare it to traditional-style resistance bands that have just the clips and handles.
When you are adding these thick bands, you’re going to have just a wad of resistance band in your hand.
If you think you can do it and have good grip strength, by all means, go ahead. But it’s really hard to get enough bands in your hand depending on what the exercise is. 😊
Pushing style exercises
When you do a lot of the pushing style exercises, for example, overhead press, the amount of pressure on the outside by your pinky that is placed on your hand can be quite drastic. For exercises such as the overhead press, a lot of pressure is put on the outside palm by your pinky, and this is a big con for me with these bands. ❤️
This is also true for things like bicep curls. If you’re not putting the entire band on your feet. But instead, you did the whole loop-style biceps curl.
A lot of pressure is now put in between your thumb and pointer finger. That can be a big issue, especially when you’re getting a lot of weight. 👍
When you’re pulling the band up for the bicep curl, it’s just putting a lot of pressure within the palm of your hand versus when you’re using traditional bands that have handles that do that and don’t go around the hand to provide that pressure.
So for me, this is why I like the regular bands over loop style bands, especially for certain exercises.🔥
😊 Those are some pros and cons between resistance bands and the resistance loop bands.
FASHNEX Resistance Bands
– Resistance: Extra Heavy, Range: 22.5 – 55 Kg (50-120 pounds) depends upon how much the band is stretched
I hope this helped you decide which one you want to go with—maybe you go with both or just one and the other. If I had to choose right now, I would pick the standard or regular resistance bands with the clips and everything over the resistance loop band.
Thanks for reading.
Also, check our other blogs –
1. (Buy This Not That!) Which resistance band is best in India?
2. 9 Cheap Calisthenics Equipment For Home
3. 7 Best Callisthenics Equipment India
