A patient turns up with a green band from a sports shop, tells you it feels nothing like the green one you handed them last week, and they are right. Same colour, different band, different pull. If you prescribe bands for a living, you have had this conversation about resistance band colours more than once.
TL;DR
- Band colours are set by each manufacturer. There is no shared standard.
- Meglio runs five steps: yellow, red, green, blue and black (which is really dark grey).
- Start most patients on yellow or red and move up when the last few reps stop feeling like work.
- The same ladder applies across our 1.5m bands, 2m bands and 23m and 46m rolls.
- Every band in the range is latex-free.
Resistance band colours are each manufacturer's own ladder from the lightest pull to the heaviest, with no industry standard behind them, so a green band from one brand can pull quite differently from a green band from another. The colours are a sorting system, not a unit of measurement. Say that out loud to patients, because most assume the colours work like shoe sizes.
Why resistance band colours are not standardised
Nobody owns the colour code. Each brand picks its own colours, decides how many steps the ladder has, and settles on how much heavier each step is than the one below. Some ranges have more steps than ours, some fewer, and some carry on past black.
So "green" tells you where a band sits in one brand's range and nothing more. If a patient buys a top-up online without checking the brand, the colour they recognise may land them a step lighter or heavier than you intended. Rarely dangerous, but it makes your progression notes meaningless. The fix is to prescribe by brand and colour together, and to stock one range so the ladder stays consistent across every patient you see.
Meglio's colour ladder, from Extra Light to Extra Heavy
Our ladder has five steps and they read the same way across every format we sell. Here is how it runs on the 1.5m individually packed bands, priced per band:
- Yellow is Extra Light, at £3.40
- Red is Light, at £3.99
- Green is Medium, at £4.45
- Blue is Heavy, at £4.79
- Black (dark grey in the hand) is Extra Heavy, at £5.20
The 46m rolls follow the same five colours, from £44.99 for yellow up to £78.20 for black, and the 23m rolls run from £32.99 to £47.99 across the same steps. The 2m bands sit at £3.99 for yellow through to £6.49 for black. Prices on site include VAT.
Why our black is dark grey, and why black means different things elsewhere
Pick up a Meglio Extra Heavy band and you will notice it is not black. It is a dark grey, and we list it as "Black - Dark Grey" on the product page because that is what it looks like. Better to call it what it is than have you think the band has faded.
Black is also the colour most likely to trip people up between brands. In our range it is the top step. In other ranges black can sit below heavier colours, or not appear at all. So when a patient says they have been doing their exercises with a black band at home, ask which brand before you nod approvingly.
It happens inside our own catalogue too. Our hand therapy putty runs pink, yellow, red, green, blue, with pink as the softest, so a yellow putty and a yellow band are not the same step. Colour only means something once you know which ladder it belongs to.
How to prescribe a starting colour
There is no formula for this, and anyone who sells you one is guessing. What most clinicians do is pick a colour that lets the patient finish the target set with good form and a little effort left over, then check it again at the next appointment. A few rules of thumb that hold up in clinic:
- Small muscle groups and early post-operative or post-injury work usually start on yellow or red. Rotator cuff, ankle, wrist and anything the patient is anxious about loading.
- Larger groups such as glutes, hamstrings and lats can often start on green, and sometimes blue for a patient who was already active.
- Older or deconditioned patients generally do better starting a step lighter than you think.
- If you are choosing between two colours, pick the lighter one. It is easier to move someone up than to talk them down.
If you are a patient reading this rather than a clinician, ask your physio or GP which colour to start on rather than guessing from the colour of your last one.
When to move up a colour
Progress the colour when the final two or three reps of the prescribed set stop feeling like work and form stays clean through the whole range.
Before you change colour, remember you have other levers. Gripping further along the band shortens the working length and increases the resistance, and slowing the lowering phase does something similar. A patient sitting between two colours can often get another week or two out of the lighter one by changing grip or tempo. Once they do move up, write down the brand as well as the colour. Their notes should say Meglio blue, not just blue.
When a coloured band is the wrong choice
Sometimes the whole ladder is wrong for the job. If the patient needs load beyond the black band, a flat resistance band is no longer the tool. Doubling bands up works for a session or two, but the resistance becomes hard to describe and harder to reproduce, and cable machines or dumbbells make more sense.
If the exercise is a closed-chain lower limb movement such as a lateral walk or a clamshell, a looped band is easier than a flat length that has to be tied. And if the goal is grip or hand strength, therapy putty does the job better than a band.
The evidence linking exact band tensions to outcomes is mixed and limited, so treat the colour as a starting point for clinical judgement rather than a prescription in itself.
Bands, 2m lengths or rolls: which format for a clinic
The 1.5m individually packed band is the standard take-home length, long enough for most limb work and short enough for a coat pocket. The 2m version suits taller patients and anything anchored under a foot.
Rolls are for departments that hand out bands daily. A 46m roll of yellow at £44.99 gives you about thirty 1.5m lengths. Two 46m rolls save 8%, three save 11% and five save 15%, and the basket does the sums without a code. A single 46m roll of green, blue or black clears the £60 free UK delivery threshold on its own. The 1.5m and 2m bands have their own ladder: 15% off from 12 units, 35% from 24 and 50% from 48.
If you are not yet sure which colours you will use most, the Resistance Band Trial Pack at £9.99 for the 1.5m set is a cheap way to feel the ladder before you commit to rolls. Returns run to 90 days if you get the colour wrong.
Frequently asked questions
Are resistance band colours the same across all brands?
No. Each manufacturer sets its own colour ladder and its own number of steps, so the same colour can mean a different resistance from one brand to the next. Meglio uses yellow, red, green, blue and black, from Extra Light to Extra Heavy. Always note the brand alongside the colour.
Which resistance band colour should a beginner start with?
Most people start on yellow (Extra Light) or red (Light), particularly for small muscle groups or early rehab. Larger muscle groups such as the glutes can often start on green. If in doubt, choose the lighter colour and progress once the last few reps of a set feel easy.
Is a black resistance band the strongest?
In Meglio's range, yes. Black, which is actually a dark grey, is our Extra Heavy step and the top of the ladder. In other brands black may sit lower with heavier colours above it, so check the brand before assuming.
Are Meglio resistance bands latex-free?
Yes. The whole resistance band range is latex-free, including the 1.5m and 2m bands and the 23m and 46m rolls.
Stock one range and write the brand next to the colour in every set of notes. It saves a great many confused conversations about green bands. If you want a ladder that stays the same from the band in a patient's pocket to the roll on the department wall, start with the Meglio resistance bands collection.
