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I love them! Resistance tubes are sometimes thought of as “not real equipment,” or too simple to really be effective, but the truth is, tubing is awesome. And since this happened to be the subject of my morning radio chat (airing every Friday morning on WIMA-AM Lima), I thought I’d share with you, my readers, what I raved about to my listeners.
Resistance tubes are terrific. They are inexpensive, portable, easy to use, and relatively cheap to replace. And can you think of any other piece of equipment (besides the TRX) that can give you a total body workout? They are the ideal choice for home use, travel, or as part of your gym routine. (Cheap and easy: 5 low-cost items every home gym needs)
Any exercise you do with a fixed machine, free weights, or a cable system can be duplicated using resistance tubing. Throw in a stability ball or weight bench, and you have all you need to get a great, total body workout.
In general, a tube’s color gives some indication of how much resistance it provides. For example:
Yellow – very easy
Green – easy
Blue – somewhat difficult
Red – difficult
Grey – very difficult
Black – NFL football players use these ;0)
If you haven’t used resistance tubing, a great book to have on hand is “The Great Stretch Tubing Handbook” – chock full of pictures and detailed descriptions of nearly any exercise you can think of. Available at Amazon. 
If you haven’t used resistance tubing before, begin by replacing one or two of your strength training exercises with a tubing exercise. For example, bicep curls using dumbbells can easily be switched to bicep curls using a resistance tube. Simply place the tube under your feet (make sure you wear athletic shoes), grasp the handles in each hand, keep elbows tucked in close to the body, and using the tube as resistance, do 10-12 bicep curls.
Start with single joint exercises before progressing to more complicated, multiple joint exercises or combination exercise.
For example:
Tricep extensions and bicep curls before learning overhead presses; Hip extensions before squats; Flyes before ax chops, etc.
It is also best to learn with a lower resistance tube, such as yellow, green, or blue, before progressing to higher resistance tubes.
The same rule of thumb for increasing resistance applies to tubing: if the 10th or 12th repetition is easy, it is time to either add more repetitions, or increase the resistance. If you can’t complete at least 6 reps with good form, the resistance is too much – switch to a more elastic tube.