Tib Bands Review

The Tib Bands (by the Tib Bar Guy) are resistance bands that hook up to a cloth shoe to strengthen my ankles and surrounding muscles.

When I first got this it was kinda strange looking but once I got the hang of it, it really is effective and I gives me a good muscle burn.

It’s a good alternative to bulky tib and ankle trainers because it’s compact and it’s also very affordable.

Let’s check it out!

Unboxing

Here’s everything that comes in the box.

Two handles, four resistance bands, four carabiners, and a shoe.

I can see this being useful for rehab, runners who want to prevent shin splints, and people doing the Knees Over Toes program.

Specs

• Shoe: One size fits all, straps down with velcro

• Resistance bands: Covered in sleeves to protect the bands, stackable for progressive overload

• Handles: Rubber grip

• Carabiners: Heavy duty

• Travel bag: Everything fits inside a small travel bag

What Are Tib Bands?

The Tib Bands are a set of resistance bands and shoe, that are compact enough to take anywhere, yet strong enough to strengthen my ankles and surrounding muscles.

I can attach the bands to any solid post like my weight rack or hold them with handles to provide resistance in multiple ankle ranges of motion.

I’ve used them to do tib raises, ankle circles, and resisted eversion and inversion exercises.

Top Benefits of Tib Bands

Progressive Overload

With the Tib Bands having four resistance bands, I can increase the load of the exercises by stacking bands together.

In the picture above, I attached two resistance bands to the back of the shoe while doing tib raises.

This forces my toes down so I have to use my Anterior Tibialis muscle (shin muscle) to point my toes up against the resistance bands.

As I get stronger, I can continue stacking resistance bands so I can keep progressing.

Portable

Everything that comes in this kit can fit in a small travel bag.

The bag you see above is filled so it doesn’t take much space at all, making it easy to use this anywhere.

RELATED: Knees Over Toes Equipment

Best Features of Tib Bands

Resistance Bands

Like I said earlier, there’s 4 resistance bands and they’re stackable.

And if you haven’t used ankle trainers before, you don’t need a lot of resistance to get those shin and ankles muscles struggling.

So this is more than enough resistance for most mortals.

The bands have safety sleeves on them that protect the resistance bands.

I first saw this type of sleeved bands when I tested the Stroops Resistance 90 system and they definitely work to extend the life of the bands.

And they’re more safe than loop resistance bands because it they were to snap, the sleeve is there to protect me.

At the end of each band, there is a D-ring so I can connect one end to the shoe and the other to a handle.

Overall, the bands feel solid and provide plenty of resistance to strengthen my ankles.

Shoe

The shoe is not the best looking piece of equipment I own but because it’s made out of cloth, it’s easy to fold and takes up no space.

It has 6 grommets on the bottom and 2 under toes.

Those are there so I can clip on the bands to the shoe to get different angles of resistance.

Here’s what the shoe looks like when I open up the velcro strap.

It’s universal so it can be used by any shoe size and the velcro strap keeps my foot secured in place.

This is what the bottom looks like…

From this view you can see the two grommets that sit right below my toes.

Getting the Tib Bands shoe on my shoe is straight forward.

I put my shoe on it, then overlap the straps and velcro it down tightly.

Now depending on what muscle(s) I want to work, I anchor the bands and clip them to any grommet I want.

In the pic above, I’m working on eversion so I clipped the bands to the grommet right below my toes.

Here I’m doing tib raises with the band anchored to my rack.

I clipped the bands to both grommets below my toes and do my tib raises to strengthen my Tibialis Anterior.

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Exercises With The Tib Bands

Dorsiflexion (Tib Raises)

I can do tib raises two ways…

The first one is by anchoring down a band to my rack or any solid post, then clipping it to the bottom grommets below my toes.

This gives me a hands off way to do tib raises.

The other way is by using the handles that come with the Tib Bands.

For this setup, I clip bands to the grommets on the heel of the shoe and pull the bands up.

This causes my foot to point down so my Anterior Tibialis muscle has to fight that resistance when I try to bring my toes up.

Inversion

For inversion, I anchor the bands to my upright.

I’m using one of the bands that comes with the kit as my anchor strap.

Then I clip it to the little toe side of the shoe and turn my foot inward against resistance.

Eversio

It’s the same setup for eversion except I’m clipping it to the big toe side.

From here, I turn my foot outward against resistance.

Tib Bands Pros & Cons

Pros

• Price: Economical compared to other ankle and tib trainers

• Resistance bands: Quality bands with protection sleeves that can be stacked for more resistance

• Shoe: One size fits all, multiple anchor points to target different muscles around the ankle

• Handles: I can either anchor the bands down or use the handles

• Portable: Take up minimal space so they can be easily taken anywhere

Cons

• Velcro: May wear out over time like anything velcro does, but it’ll be a while before I have to replace it

Tib Bands Price

The Tib Bar Guy currently sells the Tib Bands for $49.99

Products that fall in this same category usually sell for $100 so I’d say this is a good.

Keep reading below and I’ll help you knock off a few extra bucks 😉

Tib Bar Guy Discount Code

Here’s how to get a discount on the Tib Bands…

This will give you a 10% discount.

Just click the red button below to reveal my exclusive coupon code.

Tib Bands Alternatives

Tib Bar Guy Solo Tib Bar

The Solo Tib Bar is a plate loaded alternative to the Tib Bands that lets me work my ankles through multiple angles.

I strap it to my foot and can either use it with weight plates or dumbbells.

Like the Tib Bands, it doesn’t take up a lot of space but it’s not as portable because it requires weight for resistance.

Anterior Tib Machine

The anterior tib machine is mainly used to strengthen the Tibialis Anterior muscle.

This is helpful to reduce shin splits and to strengthen the muscle in the front of your leg.

It’s a very good isolation machine but only works in one plane of motion.

EXPLORE MORE: Tib Bar Guy Nordic Bench Review

My Experience Using The Tib Bands

I’ve tested many ankle and tib trainers but all of them were plate loaded so using bands was new to me.

One thing about the Tib Bands is that they are much easier to set up and less clunky than using weight plates.

All I do is clip the bands to a grommet and I’m ready to go.

As far as the exercises go, the pump is real and I like that I have multiple bands so I can stack them to make workouts more difficult.

Are Tib Bands Worth It?

I can see this being very useful for runners that want to strengthen their ankles and prevent shin splints.

For the Knees Over Toes community, this is effective to train the Tibialis Anterior muscle which is important in reducing knee pain.

And for those involved in rehab, the shoe gives you a solid base to anchor down bands to strengthen any tissue around the ankle.

If you’re someone that falls into those populations, then the price and quality of the Tib Bands is well worth it.