Best Resistance Bands for Pilates & Stretching
Using resistance bands for Pilates and stretching is an excellent way to gain strength as well as flexibility, allowing you to progress more deeply into your practice.
Unlike weights or Pilates machines, a resistance band is a cheap and simple tool which is easy to carry with you anywhere so you never miss a workout.
There are several types of resistance bands for Pilates, suitable for stretching as well as strength exercises. In this guide we take a look at 4 of the best Pilates bands money can buy.
Can you use resistance bands for Pilates?
Using exercise bands for Pilates and stretching will help you to increase your flexibility and strength in key areas which are difficult to target using regular weights or machines.
Pilates bands come in a wide variety of resistance levels, from very light to super heavy. This means you can gradually switch up to heavier bands as you get stronger over time.
Instead of buying an expensive Pilates machine, which can cost thousands, buying a cheap resistance band gives you almost unlimited options for Pilates and stretching exercises at home, for a tiny fraction of the price.
Training with resistance bands is also much safer than weights, with a much lower likelihood of injuring yourself or putting stress on your joints.
4 Best Pilates Bands for Stretching
Below are the four most popular kinds of stretching bands for Pilates which you can use for your home workout or take along to your Pilates class:
#1 Resistance Loop Bands for Pilates
A resistance loop band allows you to add resistance to almost any movement because it can easily be looped around your body or attached to an anchor point.
Using a looped resistance band for stretching or strength exercises lets you hit every muscle group from any angle, so it’s one of the best tools for increasing your strength and flexibility for Pilates.
The bands are 208cm in circumference and are available in 5 different resistance levels.
Here’s a short video from our YouTube channel showing you a few of the exercises you can do with a Pilates resistance band:
#2 Pilates Stretching Bands
These 1.2m or 2m long stretching bands are ideal for Pilates because they can be easily used to add resistance to any movement or stretching exercise.
You can use a Pilates band to stretch out your hamstrings by looping the band around your foot and pulling your leg back while lying down, as shown below.
From this same position you can also exercise your leg muscles by retracting your leg and then kicking out against the resistance of the band.
Read our full workout guide to see 24 of the best strength and stretching exercises with this type of resistance band.
#3 Resistance Bands for Glutes & Core
Using mini resistance loops is one of the best ways to exercise your glute and core muscles. This is because they can be easily looped around your legs – either around the knees, ankles or feet – to provide concentric resistance.
This will allow you to target your glute muscles and the deep muscles around your hips and groin which are so important for Pilates.
Mini bands are also great for working your abdominal and core muscles – check out our guide to the best resistance band ab exercises to find out more.
Here is a video showing you the best glute and hip exercises you can do with this band:
#4 Resistance Tubes with Handles
Resistance tubes come with soft foam handles, making them the most comfortable type of band to use for Pilates and stretching exercises.
They also include a door anchor which allows you to fix the band at any point along a door frame, like this:
The resistance tubes are 1.3m long and they’re available in four resistance levels.
Below is a video demonstrating a few of the exercises you can do with this band, or you can see our full resistance tube workout guide.
All of our resistance bands for Pilates & stretching are made from 100% natural latex, which is eco-friendly and the best kind of material for long-lasting elasticity. Check out our online shop to see our full range of resistance bands.
