Gorilla Strength Bands: A Review

Greetings,

After watching the ebay feedback reviews for well over a year, I purchased a set of these resistance bands. These bands were tailored to the needs of people in the combative arts. The bands are very strong and high quality. They put the leading name brand competitor to shame. And the price is so right, that I felt it unnecessary to try to arrange for a special limited time discount offer for the members here. If you compare cost and the amount of resistance offered with that of body lastics, you are receiving almost twice the amount of resistance. And the shipping is FREE. For those of you who are scent sensitive, these bands have a very strong rubber scent. For me that is a plus. It means I am getting the real thing.

Other niceties:

The door loop is top notch. The loop is lined so that the fiber does not bite into the bands.

The storage bag has a strong velcro closure and is lined, apparently to make it water resistant.

You can either purchase them through ebay or go search gorilla strength gear:

http://gorillastrengthgear.com/

I am not being paid in any way for this review.

mickey

Link to the product dude.

I thought you were talking about music! lol

I was gonna say Rammstein is great to train to! lol.

I will say this, they are easy enough to find in a google search and they look good to me because they use lock clips instead of rubber knots to attach the handles etc.

rubber knot ones are pure shyte.

Hi,

I put up the link in my initial post. Here it is again:

http://gorillastrengthgear.com/

mickey

Ok, here is my issue with bands:
At what point in the movement are you getting the resistance of the band?

Hi sanjuro ronin,

From what I have learned from the internet about resistance bands, it is when the length of the band doubles. So, you would have to be cognizant of that. I do find these bands to be more of a challenge compared to body lastics (this being the only other brand that I have tried).

Still, I cannot guarantee your satisfaction. I have read throughout the internet how guys who weight trained tend to stay away from resistance bands. They don’t like the feel.

I forgot to add, the resistance here is way better than that offered by a BowFlex.

mickey

[QUOTE=mickey;1143479]Hi sanjuro ronin,

From what I have learned from the internet about resistance bands, it is when the length of the band doubles. So, you would have to be cognizant of that. I do find these bands to be more of a challenge compared to body lastics (this being the only other brand that I have tried).

Still, I cannot guarantee your satisfaction. I have read throughout the internet how guys who weight trained tend to stay away from resistance bands. They don’t like the feel.

mickey[/QUOTE]

Probably because 50lbs is 50 lbs no matter at what point of the ROM.

Yes,

Fifty pounds is fifty pounds.

But these bands are off the hook!

Earlier this year, I actually have conducted a comparative between a looped resistance band (up to 30 pounds resistance) and a 35 pound weight while doing a simple bicep curl. I started with the band first. I estimated the proper distancing and did a set of 10. I relaxed for a while and I went to pick up the dumbell. It felt amazingly light. No kidding, here. Though the bands may not have a place with you, they do have their place and it is a good one.

mickey

[QUOTE=mickey;1143487]Yes,

Fifty pounds is fifty pounds.

But these bands are off the hook!

Earlier this year, I actually have conducted a comparative between a looped resistance band (up to 30 pounds resistance) and a 35 pound weight while doing a simple bicep curl. I started with the band first. I estimated the proper distancing and did a set of 10. I relaxed for a while and I went to pick up the dumbell. It felt amazingly light. No kidding, here. Though the bands may not have a place with you, they do have their place and it is a good one.

mickey[/QUOTE]

I am open to try anything bro, just curious that’s all.

Hi sanjuro ronin,

My review came about because I really like the product and because I know that there are some members here who use resistance bands and who might be interested in a better product. Nothing more, really.

For some reason I have been a fan of band/spring type resistance since my teens. It may have been inspired by my late father’s nickel plated expanders. Nevertheless, I do possess weights in the form of a Powerblock 9.0 Sport. Both types of resistance have their place. It really depends on the goals of the practitioner. You might get a kick out of something that pulls back when you pull it.

Terrell Owens works with both weights and bands. He works with weights during the off season and bands during the football season.

There is one thing that I did not mention in the review is that there is no training manual. You can get good training tips off u tube.

mickey

I stopped reading at:

6 reasons why resistance bands are better than free weights and weight machines.

Kidding (sort of). I did poke around the website.

Seems like they are better than nothing, but definitely not better at producing results than weights. Sure they are more portable.

They may be cool for traveling if you don’t have access to a gym. They don’t take up much space in a suitcase.

I’m not saying they’re useless, but there’s no way they would replace weight training.

Greetings,

It is nice having you back around, IronFist.

Here is another testimony:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqr0VQMCqmM

mickey

Greetings,

Last weekend I introduced one of my clients to these bands. He expressed interest in purchasing a Bowflex Select Tech dumbbell system. I decided to offer him a cheaper alternative.

Now, he is the same guy who inhales during pressing movements with weights I posted about a few years ago.. He has had a relationship with weight training that extends over a few decades. When I asked him how much weight he does biceps curls with, he told me he uses 50 pounds. Well, I gave him the band resistance that approximated that weight and… he was having trouble. We had to go lighter. When we went into the second exercise for the lats, he was already starting to bead up. We went through five exercises (for biceps, triceps, pectorals, lats, shoulders) 1 set of each. After which, he was drenched. He was very impressed with the resistance bands and with the speed with which one can go from one exercise to another. He was also impressed with the cost.

I think part of his exhaustion was due to the fact that this was a new experience for him and he was recruiting more muscle fibers to keep his body stable throughout some of the movements.

When I met with him a couple of days later, I asked if he wanted to work out with the bands again. Before he could verbally answer, his upper body jolted (typed with much laughter). I think once he gets used to it, he will be having fun. He has asked me to get a set for him. I found a believer!!!

mickey

you can play with those fancy pants rubber bands, or you can squat like a man.

http://www.elitefts.com/documents/squatting_with_bands.htm

he looks weak, like a bearded woman.

[QUOTE=bawang;1146951]you can play with those fancy pants rubber bands, or you can squat like a man.[/QUOTE]

You can use those rubber bands to develop your sacrifice throw.

or you can squat.

Bands can be useful for certain things, I use them a lot for rowing motions, pull throughs, face pulls and shoulder work at home, (mainly rehab prehab stuff), mostly because I cant be bothered getting the weights out of the shed at 7am in the morning, I have the lifeline bands, but they are not a replacement for weights in any way shape or form

The reason curls can feel heavier with a band is that past a certain point with a weight you are no longer really working against the resistance of the weight, especially at the top of the movement, or I should say the resistance decreases , of course with a band you are not working nearly as hard at the bottom of the movement, which is the reason elite powerlifters use them on their lifts, to add weight at the top of the movement and to accelerate against, amongst other things

Of course there are certain exercises that you cant do with weights that you can do with bands, and those exercises are very useful for even strong people (nod to bawang and the heavy squatters in the house)

[QUOTE=bawang;1146988]he looks weak, like a bearded woman.[/QUOTE]

My sister is not going to be very happy that you said that about her.