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Pull-ups

Which band should I start with for pull-ups?

Start with the lightest band that lets you do five full reps with good form. Your own reps find that band. Its color and the number on the pack cannot.

Reckoner Written by Reckoner

Pull-up bands are sold by color and by a number on the pack. Neither can choose for you, because neither says how much help you will get. Your own reps can. Put the bands you own in order, lightest to heaviest, and let one test set find your starting point.

Color and the pack cannot choose for you

A band pulls harder the further it stretches1. So the help changes inside every rep. You get the most at the bottom, where the band is longest, and the least near the bar.

Color does not settle it either. One research team noted that color coded bands cannot give a precise tension2. The colors do not agree between makers. In one range measured in a lab, green is lighter than blue3. In another maker's listing, green is heavier than blue, and red appears twice4.

The printed figures are no firmer. When one maker's bands were measured, its published figures came out too high3. Another maker calls its own figures reasonable estimates4.

What you can trust is the order of your own bands: this one is harder to stretch than that one. Your bands, lightest to heaviest, are your ladder.

Find your band with one test set

Warm up first, then work through these steps.

  1. Put your bands in order. Stretch each one with your hands and line them up from lightest to heaviest. The heaviest band gives you the most help.
  2. Set up on a band from the middle of the line. Pass it over the bar and back through itself, then pull it snug. Step in from a box and set it under the middle of one foot, never your knee. Keep that foot flat and pressing down.
  3. Do one set of full reps. Start from straight arms with your shoulders set. Pull until your chin clears the bar, then lower slowly all the way down. End the set when a rep stops being full.
  4. Read the count. Fewer than five full reps means you need a heavier band. Five to seven means you have found it. Eight or more means you should try the next lighter band, and if that one gives you five, it is your band.

Rest fully between tries, and keep it to two or three test sets. Tired arms will point you to a heavier band than you need.

Full reps on a heavier band beat half reps on a lighter one

It is tempting to pick the lightest band you can move at all. Resist that. A meta-analysis comparing full and partial range found small differences that favor full range on most outcomes5. A full rep also keeps you practicing the whole movement, including the bottom, which is where a pull-up starts. The heavier band can feel like a step back. It is the right rung if it keeps every rep whole.

If your heaviest band is not enough

Loop two bands together and treat the pair as one more rung at the heavy end of your ladder. If your gym has an assisted pull-up machine, use it too. Its help is a number you can read and it stays the same through the rep.

Once you have your band, how many reps and sets to do is the next question.

Sources

  1. Patterson and colleagues, Physical Therapy, 2001. Material properties of Thera-Band tubing elastic tubing force changing with how far it is stretched; an older paper kept because it measures a material property
  2. Thomas, Muller and Busse, Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 2005. Quantification of tension in Thera-Band and Cando tubing at different strains and starting lengths the statement that precise quantification using color coded bands is not possible; an older paper kept because it measures a material property
  3. Uchida and colleagues, Journal of Physical Therapy Science, 2016. Thera-Band elastic band tension: reference values for physical activity eight colors measured across ten stretches, one maker's green below its blue, and that maker's published figures described as overestimates; over five years old and kept because it measures a material property
  4. Rogue Fitness, Rogue Fitness product listing, 2026. Rogue Monster Bands one maker's own listing, with blue below green, red used twice, and resistance described as a reasonable estimate at one stretched length
  5. Wolf and colleagues, International Journal of Strength and Conditioning, 2023. Partial vs full range of motion resistance training: a systematic review and meta-analysis a meta-analysis finding small differences that favor full range of motion on most outcomes
  6. Joondeph and Joondeph, Case Reports in Ophthalmological Medicine, 2013. Retinal detachment due to CrossFit training injury a single case of a band snapping during assisted pull-ups, with the authors' advice to inspect and replace bands and wear eye protection; over five years old and kept as the case on record
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