REVIEW – I have been a bit of a fitness buff for years. Not that I’m a shredded influencer or anything, but I know my way around a gym, and I know what it takes to see results. At one point, I even had my personal training certificate. That has since lapsed as my career went in a different direction, but it’s still worth noting. So when I didn’t have time to go to the gym daily, I had to figure out ways to get a decent workout at home, which is easily done with as little as absolutely no equipment at all. Needless to say, I have tried all kinds of home workout apparatuses and programs over the years. The Gymproluxe band and bar set 2.0 sits in the resistance band category, which can be a great way to get a pretty amazing workout. Does it deliver then?
⬇︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: $157.00 (on sale at time of writing)
Where to buy: Gymproluxe
What is it?
The Gymproluxe band and bar set 2.0 is a resistance band workout device with varying weights depending on the combination of bands you want to use.
What’s included?
- x Premium Detachable Bar
- 1x Padded Exercise Belt
- 6x Adjustable Belt Tubes: 2 white tubes (10KG each) 2x Green tubes (15KG each) 2x black tubes (20KG each)
- 1x Gym Carry Bag
Design and features
The design of the GYMPROLUXE Band and Bar set is relatively straightforward. There is a neoprene “belt” with three anchor points on each side for the three different bands to attach to. On the other end of the bands are the handles with three anchor points for each of the bands. You then mix and match different combinations of bands to change the weight load. The handles are nylon loops with flimsy rubber tubes around them for grip. Then you have the bar, which comes in two separate pieces and screws together in the middle. I am always a bit leery of something that screws together in the middle but it seems very sturdy, and does not at all have any give at the connection point.
There is no manual included at all. You are required to scan a QR code that takes you to a webpage with a video library of exercises. I’m trying not to be too hyperbolic here, but I truly hate using my phone while working out. I am not a fan of this approach. There is also an app that you get free access to when you purchase the item. I will talk more about that later. Either way you look at it, you still have to use and be on your phone while working out. I know I’m old school when it comes to this, but I just don’t like having to take my phone into the gym at all. That said, I know this is more to be used at home and not in an actual gym, but the point still stands; you have to be on your phone while working out. I’m sure once you get the idea of the different exercises and know what you are going to do on different days, then you could leave the phone in the other room.
Most exercise items in this category have a rigid base that the bands connect to on the ends. Something you can stand on while performing many of the exercises, such as squats and deadlifts. Those would allow you to stand with your feet shoulder-width apart while doing said exercises. The gymproluxe just has a neoprene pad. It does allow for the pad to contour to your back while doing a bench press. But it rounds up on your knees and feet while trying to do anything with it on the floor. And it forces you to stand with your feet completely together. More on that later.
Because the neoprene pad wraps around the shoulders when doing bench press, and really starts to hurt after about two sets. A lot of pressure is being put on and around the shoulders. It’s not the worst thing in the world, but worth noting.
The handles, as I mentioned earlier, are just nylon straps with rubber surrounding them. I’m not even sure I would call these handles. In the sense that you grab onto them to perform exercises, then sure, they are handles. But the main issue is that they collapse into the crook of your hand. It does not feel great, in my opinion. I assume they are designed this way so that when you put the bar through them to perform movements in that fashion, they wrap around the bar. I just can’t help thinking it could have been designed in a different way that feels better when using the handles themselves.
There also seems to be no indication on the bands themselves of what weights they are. I was able to find it, but I had to check the website. This is another reason I think it should have come with some sort of user manual. For the record, the weights are: white tubes-10KG each, green tubes-15KG each, black tubes-20KG each. These sound like decent weights, but for some reason, they felt light to me. This could be because I’m short (at 5’7”), and the bands are not extending very far. But if you have to be a certain height to get a good workout with this, then I would say there is a flaw in the design. And let’s be very clear; I’m not crazy strong! I’m not a bodybuilder or powerlifter. Just your average Joe trying to stay in shape for kids and live.
The way the bands switch in the handle mechanism makes it very easy and quick to switch between different weights. That aspect is very well designed.
Performance
If we are going to discuss how the GYMPROLUXE Band and Bar set performs, I think it”s only fair to look at the exercises one at a time as they are presented in the online library.
It works ok for lying chest press. Like I said, it does start to rub on the outside of your shoulders. It’s uncomfortable, but not unbearable.
The GYMPROLUXE bands are pretty poor for flys. The way they instruct you to do them is with the pad sitting around and below your shoulders. You then grab the handles and pull upward and out at an angle. It feels unnatural and awkward.
Weighted push-ups are basically in the same bag as chest press. It adds a decent amount of required effort.
I quite like the GYMPROLUXE for barbell curls. The combination of different bands means you can progress well. Even if they feel light to begin with.
Personally, I think it’s terrible for hammer curls because of the way the band pulls on one side of the “handle.” It collapses around the top side of your hand and really puts tension on your wrist—and not good tension.
Shoulder shrugs are great but light. You could put some sort of block on the pad to lengthen the bands and get more stretch. Or, you know, not be so short.
The GYMPROLUXE works pretty well for lateral raises since these are weaker muscles to begin with. So even the light bands give enough resistance, and you can increase from there.
They illustrate upright rows using the handles which I really do not care for. Again because the “handles” collapse around your fingers. If you feed the bar in the handles and use the bar for the upright rows it’s tons better.
So the way they want you to do shoulder press with this thing is a joke. They tell you to wrap the pad around your lower back, insert the bar into the handles, and push upward. The problem is that the pad slides up your back with every rep. A better way to do this I found was to sit with the pad under your butt on a bench, and you can press almost directly overhead. This approach I really liked actually.
The way they illustrate seated rows is also, let’s say, subpar, if I’m being nice. If you wrap the pad around your feet (as they instruct you to do), there is no tension whatsoever at the bottom of the rep. I know I’m short, so I understand that accounts for some of this issue. However, I think even someone taller than me would also find the same issue, as they are going to have longer arms. To make this exercise work, you have to augment the exercise. I found that if you put something between your feet and the pad to make the rep longer, it creates tension at the bottom, and you get a better stretch. I also put the barbell between the handles so I could do seated wide grip rows. This felt really good.
I personally have the same problem with their standing, bent rows. Because I’m short, there is virtually no tension on the bands whatsoever at the bottom of the rep. This is basically the same movement as a weather row; just standing. So you could modify it in the same fashion but then you are standing on something quite small and trying to balance. Just do these seated.
Tricep extensions were fine. If you position the pad behind your back on your shoulders correctly, you can very much simulate a skull crusher exercise using the bar.
Deadlifts are fine, but not great. Once again, (maybe because I’m vertically challenged), there was no tension at the bottom of the rep. And because you are stepping on the pad, you have to put your feet completely together. This is not how most people are going to do deadlifts. Maybe Romanian deadlifts, in which case this worked OK, but without tension at the bottom, it was less than ideal.
Donkey kicks were fine, but felt a little awkward. That could be a personal issue as I don’t normally do this exercise.
Split squats were decent. Once again, no work was being done at the bottom of the rep, but because you’re only doing one leg at a time, you get pretty good isolation at the top. It’s better than both feet together and trying to do regular squats with this.
I just don’t think I can condone anybody doing regular squats with this thing. You’re better off tossing it aside and doing bodyweight squats at high reps. With your feet completely together, you are getting a pretty good isolation of the quads, but your hamstrings are somewhat taken out of the movement, as are your hip flexors or anything else you might hit with a wider stance. Call me old-fashioned, but if you ask me, you should be doing squats with your feet shoulder-width apart. Their demo is fine, and you can do squats their way, but I would think many people, and trainers alike, would say that is not the way to do it.
Reverse lunges? I mean it’s fine. Because of the design of this thing and how it functions, you’re maybe doing an extra 20% work with each rep. I don’t really think it’s doing much here.
Praise where praise is due; this thing kind of shines when it comes to calf raises, though. Because you’re standing up straight and there’s constant tension on the bands, you’re doing a lot more work with each rep, and your calves feel it. The only downside here is that I like to do three variations of calf raises. One with my feet straight, one with my toes pointed inward, and the last with my toes pointed outward. Because of the way the bands are attached to the pad, you cannot really do reps with your toes pointed outward. But that’s a minor grip overall when it comes to this one particular exercise.
Now, when it comes to the app, I think it’s fine, but there is quite a bit of room for improvement. The videos are pretty low quality. If they’re giving these things away for free (the videos that is) it would be much easier if they just upload them to YouTube at a higher quality and create playlists of different workouts. There are a lot of different workouts to choose from which I do appreciate. Also, I do like that on each video you can mark as watched so you don’t do it again if you don’t want to. There are also unboxing videos that I guess they want you to watch when you first get the product. But why can’t you mark the unboxing videos and “how to” videos as watched and get them out of the feed and out of the way?
Final thoughts
Look, the quality of the GYMPROLUXE Band and Bar set seems really good. The bands feel very sturdy and the stitching seemed strong. The bar is also very sturdy for being two pieces that screw together in the center. It feels very well built. The only thing I have a huge problem with is the handles. The app is fine but I don’t prefer it. I would take a look at what they offer in there and then put together your own program. The gymproluxe band and bar set 2.0 is pretty good for a very select set of exercises, fine for some others, and subpar for many. Where I could see this being useful is if you’re traveling and don’t particularly care for working out in hotel gyms for some reason. Once you break down the bar it would not take up too much room in your luggage and you could get a decent workout in your room. Where I don’t see this being useful is trying to implement it as your only exercise equipment and thinking you are getting a gym-like workout with unparalleled hypertrophy.
What I like about the Gymproluxe Band and Bar set 2.0
- Very well built
- The app is easy to navigate
- Good for some exercises
What needs to be improved?
- Better quality videos in the app
- A rigid base to stand on so you can get a wider stance on most exercises
- Rigid handles
- A wider variety of band weights (heavier)
- Some sort of gene editing machine to make me taller?
Price: $157.00 (On sale at time of writing this. However this strangely seems to change daily. I refresh the page every day when I worked on this review and some days it’s $155, others its $152 or $153. I don’t really understand this, but that’s what I’m seeing.)
Where to buy: Gymproluxe
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Gymproluxe. Gymproluxe did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
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