Bodylastics ***MAX TENSION Heavy Duty Resistance Bands System with User Book & DVD

I am a gym loving female living in an an urban area. The gyms in the area are small and overcrowded. My fitness goal is to become and stay firm and jiggle free, an appearance usually referred to as 'toned'. This requires a higher number of reps per set. If you've ever tried to do 3 sets of 15-20 reps in a slow and controlled manner in small and crowded gym, you probably been subjected to 'the stare'. You've just sat down, and are starting your first set, and one or more 'people in a hurry' form a line in front of you, and proceed to stare you down until you get off or let them work in. I always let people work in of course, and end up spending my limited time waiting for others.

So, I decided to create a home gym.

In my small urban 1 bedroom, I do not have room for the Lifefitness home cable system of my dreams, so I had to look at other forms of resistance exercises. I already have a commercial quality Lifecycle, so my cardio was covered. I couldn't decide between the Bodylastics clip system and the Deluxe Spri Xertubes, so I bought a set of both. This has been working well, and I'm able to move quickly between the two brands depending on what I'm doing at the moment.

The Bodylastics Max set with DVD is a quality set. The DVD is basically a cardio/resistance all in one workout, rather than a tutorial on how to use the bands, so keep that in mind. You are given a one year membership to their exercise demonstration website, which is helpful, but a little dry and basic. I would rather have the DVD go over the exercises in depth, really showing and discussing how to use the bands. If I could go back, I would have ordered the set without the DVD.

I have pretty strong legs, and ordered the Max set with the 23lb black band for that reason. I am currently using the blue band, (19lbs) on one leg, and the red/yellow combo, (18lbs total) on the other leg for laying down hamstring curls, and will graduate to the black band at some point to push myself.

Why separate bands for each leg? Well, with the door anchor set up you will need at least 4-5 feet in front of the door just for a standing or sitting exercise alone. With a laying down exercise, you will need to probably double that depending on your height, and I don't have that kind of room in front of my door. I have a unique solution, that I will not describe, as it involves the specific layout of my home, but it allows me to stretch out completely and involves using separate bands for each leg. The system is very versatile that way, and you may have to come up with your own creative solutions to make it work for you.

The handles are very sturdy and comfortable, as are the ankle straps. I wouldn't have minded a little more padding on the ankle straps, and when you do leg exercises with tougher resistance you will see what I mean. I recommend thicker knee socks for comfort. Yep, they're goofy looking, but hey, you're at home.

I keep the storage bag looped around my stationary bike handle, and you could keep it looped around anything at arm level. This allows you see into it and dig around easily. The ankle straps and handles are kept in the convenient side pocket of the storage bag, making it easy and quick to find them when I'm doing switch-outs.

The door anchor is solid and large, much more substantial that the SPRI door anchor. I use only a 3 hinge door for absolute safety, and it has worked flawlessly.

All in all, I am very satisfied with this product, and would buy it again. I am already seeing results!

I think that this product is great. Since I am in the military and I don't have time to make it to the gym like I want, I can always get in a good workout in while in the office.

The only downside to this product is the DVD that comes with the product is not really an instructional video.

I would recommend this product to anyone who like to workout without using weight.

James

This product has given me much better results than going to the gym. I can do all the exercises that I can in the gym plus much more. This product is very conveinent and easy to use, I just go home from work and work out whenever I want to in my living room. This has definately been one of the best things I've purchased in a long time.

I started using the bands this week, so I have not had much exposure to give a rave review. But out of the box it is easy to set up. The DVD is really only for the circuit training with 3 circuits totalling about 35mins. There's the book which I flipped through and the website which I have accessed but I haven't gone into much detail - after all it's one year free membership.
The actual items are well made. The clips are metal so there's little concern of them breaking and the weight is engraved on each end so you know what's what. The bands are made of a high quality material that appear to be able to stand up to the stress they're about to get from me... I'll try to update in another couple weeks.

I bought these to workout with P90x and I'm glad I did. While I'm saving for my ironmaster adjustable dumb bells these fill in quite well, especially since I work out of town alot and I can use these in my hotel room.

You can see and feel the quality in these bands. The door anchor works like it should. If you are looking for bands, these are the ones to get. Top quality. The only complaint I have is when doing overhead shoulder presses the clips and material around the bands rubs the outside of my shoulders, so I have to wear a sweat shirt to keep from getting a rug burn type abrasion when doing those exercises. That is a minor point considering how well made these bands are.

Loved this product. I brought it to Japan during a business trip and everyday i was having a good workout in my hotel room.
In japan, the hotels do not have gyms unless you stay in a 5 star. So having the bands can be really helpful!

I recommend this product to anyone looking for more resistance than you can get from yoga type bands. I have been using this to replace the band that came with the Wii EA sports program. They work great. You use the hand grips that come with the original band though or you can't hold the remote effectively.