Make Your Own Exercise Bands from Recycled T-Shirts

One of my high school classes for students with autism uses exercise bands for upper body strengthening and endurance, as well as an age-appropriate activity to relieve stress.  However, providing classy, name-brand Theraband for several students to use during a group session can get a little pricey, so we're trying another type of bands to start out the new year--made from recycled t-shirts.

Look for an extra-large men's t-shirt, preferably clean.  Measure and mark several inches from the edge
(my first bandwidth was 6").

 Cut through one layer at a time.

Single band--25" from side to side

 Here are three bands and an additional smaller band made from the sleeve of the shirt.

Snip a little border design at the edge of the smaller band and it becomes a cute ponytail  holder.

Of course, these bands don't stretch as uniformly as commercially-made products and I think you'd have to hunt around to find t-shirts with different stretch resistance, but it does provide decent resistance when exercising the arms and hands.  Let's see how it works this year.