Why don't band colors match between brands?

Buy a second pack of bands and you may find the colors no longer line up with the first. That is normal. Searching for this piece turned up no shared color code that makers follow, and two published ranges show how far apart they can sit.

Two ranges, two orders

In one maker's range, measured in a lab at the same stretch, green pulled less than blue¹. In another maker's listing, blue sits below green, and red appears twice, near the bottom and near the top². Neither maker is wrong. Each color is only a place in that maker's own line.

A color carries no pull of its own. One research team working with colored tubing put it plainly: precise figures cannot come from the color coding³.

Why the printed number does not rescue it

A number on the pack looks firmer than a color. It has its own limits.

• It describes one stretch. A band pulls harder the further it stretches⁴, and one maker gives its figures at a stretch of double the band's length². Your band reaches other lengths in every rep.
• It can run high. When one maker's bands were measured, its published figures were found to be overestimates¹.
• It can be an estimate. One maker describes its own figures as reasonable estimates, because bands vary in manufacture².

So a printed number is useful for comparing bands inside one range. It is weak for comparing two ranges, and it cannot tell you how much help you get at any point in a rep.

What to do with mixed bands

1. Put them all in one line. Stretch each band with your hands and order them from lightest to heaviest.
2. Test the close calls in the lift. If two feel alike, use each for a set on separate days and see which gives you more reps.
3. Keep your own list. Write the order down, with a name that lets you tell each band apart.

That list is the only scale that holds up across brands. When you add a band, find its place in the line and leave the chart in the box. For pull-ups, one test set will find your starting band.