One of the best things about working out at home is the convenience. Having the ability to work out on your own terms has great benefits, like what you have to wear (or not wear) the type of music you listen to or television you watch. The list can go on ad nauseum. But the largest setback about working out at home is the cost of setting up a worthwhile facility.

Whether starting out or already well on your way, one of the required components to your gym will be core-strength equipment. A lot of people will have an exercise ball, and a lot of these balls will start collecting dust after a bit of time. The reason has nothing to do with the ball itself, which provides a decent workout. But people need variety in their workouts and strength training is no exception. With resistance bands, the home-gym crowd can expand their strength workouts beyond the core.

Most, if not all popular brands of bands (also called tubing) have different resistance levels, but you will have to buy several sets. For example, an orange band might make for more resistance and a blue band for less. The different colors typically have different tubing thickness, which is really where the resistance levels come into play. Regardless of the resistance coding, to properly equip your home facility with the bands, you should stock more than one resistance type in order to add variety and completeness to your workout.

The superior-quality brands come with clips so that you add different resistance bands (or even multiple bands) without having to change the handles. While this benefit by itself does not reduce overall cost to a significant degree, it means you can enjoy the consistency of your own handles, which may be nothing more than a personal preference.

The benefits of elastic resistance over traditional free weights is that the bands eliminate the joint pain that traditionally follows a good, deep free weight session. As well, there is no momentum with elastic bands as the resistance increases as the elastic stretches. By the way, it is this momentum that leads to free weight injuries.

Compared to bow resistance that machines like the Bowflex use, elastic resistance is more direct. Does this matter? To some, it might. For the same reasons that some bodybuilders will not use Nautilus-type equipment at the fitness center, some might prefer the elastic over bow resistance machines. The reasons might vary depending on personal opinions, but the similarity between the two is that the bow machines use fly wheels and pulley systems just as those machines at the gym use. Therefore, it is save to conclude that some prefer a more direct workout. Just as the free weights provide a more direct workout, so do the bands.

A third and final comparison can be drawn to gravity workouts and systems. While gravity provides great resistance whether with pull-ups, sit-ups, etc., the weight is consistent. In other words, your body weight does not change throughout your set and you will be pushing or pulling the same weight regardless of your range. With bands, the more the tubing stretches, the more the resistance increases. This means that your muscle encounters greater resistance at its weakest point; when it is fully stretched. As a result, with bands you can improve strength and build more muscle.

FitChimp.com recommends the Bodylastics system. Even at $45.95, Bodylastics provides a comprehensive system of four bands and up to 44 lbs of resistance per side. The costliest system costs $99.81 and comes with an additional four bands and up to 127 lbs of resistance. Regardless of the system you choose, you will certainly enjoy a more comprehensive strength workout at home.