What should you look for when deciding which resistance bands to get? Durability, elasticity, and comfort spring to mind first, but you may also want to consider their style, tension range, material, and whether they come with extra accessories. To help you decide, we tested three different brands of resistance bands from Technogym MyProtein and MiraFit to see which is best.
When it comes to versatile and portable training kit, resistance bands are hard to beat. Perfect for times when weights or machines aren't an option, resistance bands are great for taking your favourite bodyweight exercises, such as squats, shoulder presses or bicep curls to a whole new level.
They can literally elevate any workout by providing a type of tension that's different from what weights can provide. This is because your muscles are under constant tension when using a resistance band, which ultimately helps you develop strength and, therefore, hypertrophy, the process where a muscle grows larger.
Not only that, we love resistance bands for their convenience factor. They take up next to no space whatsoever, making them a versatile and super convenient piece of home gym equipment.
The resistance bands
We deliberately selected three resistance bands that vary in price, with the Technogym Elastic Bands being the most expensive at £105. Slap-bang in the middle is the MyProtein Multi Use 11 Piece Set at £50, and surprisingly, the Mirafit Resistance Tube and Accessory Set is the cheapest at £30 despite being very well made with nylon covers and four different resistances to choose from.
The Technogym Elastic Bands (retailer link) are one of the most flexible, well-made and strongest bands Technogym have on their website. Like the MiraFit Resistance Tube and Accessory Set (retailer link), they are covered in a stretchy fabric outer casing to help prevent them from twisting whilst protecting them from snapping (if you’ve ever had a resistance band snap on you, it's a shock - a real shock!).
The MyProtein Multi Use 11 Piece Resistance Band Set (retailer link), on the other hand, is just your usual resistance tube, with no casing, yet still packs some advanced features, including three different attachments: two leg straps, two foam handles, and a door anchor – oh, and a nylon carry bag. There are a lot of resistance bands (five, to be precise) and attachments, especially given the price.
Performance
Let’s start with Technogym, a brand you'll be very familiar with if you’ve used the gym floor. The Technogym Elastic Bands are made from a quality and durable elastomer, with a woven fabric outer sleeve that prevents the bands from twisting and wear and tear. This sleeve also seems to eliminate the terrible rubber smell you may be used to with most resistance bands—a welcoming feature.
There are three different resistances, which you can easily identify by colour. They all have easy, firm grip handles that are non-slip, roomy, and comfortable to hold.
The bands are light, portable and easy to store, perfect for training at home or on the go. This three-band kit also comes with a detailed instruction manual, including links to free exercise demonstration videos, as well as subscription-based workouts on the company’s website and the Technogym app.
You get two months for free (nice!) and access to the Technogym Coach feature, which can design a bespoke "Precision Program," adapting to your progress and personal goals as you go along with your training.
I loved that you could play around with the attachments in the MiraFit Resistance Tube and Accessory Set. They allowed me to experiment further in my workouts thanks to the two detachable foam handles, two ankle straps, and the door anchor.
The lightest option is (20lb) and then goes up to 30lb to 50lb and all the way up to extra strong, which comes in at 60lb. The bands were all mega long, coming in at a 120cm length (unstretched), making them ideal for a wide range of user heights - compared to the MyProtein bands, which come in slightly shorter at 110cm.
The Mirafit bands were the only ones with a latex warning – advise against using them if you have a latex allergy. This didn’t affect their construction or resistance; these bands were designed for the strongest of strong and provided everything we needed to achieve a fast full-body workout.
Of all the resistance bands tested here, the MyProtein Multi Use 11 Piece Resistance Band Set was the most varied but the most fiddly. Although the add-ons may be a positive for some, especially the door anchor, there are a lot of options of strengths and I didn’t get on too well with the clip on the handles; they rattled and moved around too much.
The bands also aren’t covered like the Technogym and Mirafit options. It's not a deal-breaker, but the tubes don’t feel as nice to work with, especially when performing moves like chest flyes, where the band has to come in and across the body and, therefore, dig into the arms; the outer material casing feels so much nicer as it wraps around your shoulders rather than pinching in.
The upside of the Myprotein bands is the variety of strengths and lengths of each band, which are all colour-coded. The door anchor, which consists of a looped strap and a large, covered plastic bead on the opposite end, was also positive and easy to use.
I threaded the loop end between the door frame and door on its hinge side, then closed (well-locked) the door so the bead was securely pinned on the far side of the door. I gravitated toward using these bands more for warm-ups, accessory work, rehab, and prehab than strength work.
Which should I buy?
If you’re looking for excellent quality, variety, and a decent price tag, the Mirafit bands are a fantastic option, especially given their versatility, affordability, and comfort. They are flexible and durable, and the carabiners mean you can stack the bands to make them longer if you need to – or easily change the handles to the ankle straps.
I also liked that I could take the handle off (unlike the fixed handle of the Technogym bands) and feed the band through a wall bracket before clipping the handle back on; think back pulls, face pulls, or overhead tricep extensions using the wall as my anchor.
In reality, this set has everything for an all-in-one full-body workout, as well as a storage bag that carries all four bands and their accessories like a dream.
It’s time to give resistance bands a little bit more respect - it’s easy to look at resistance bands as simple and for ‘beginners’ - but with the right set, you’re in for an elevated workout that can be done anywhere and anytime.