These resistance bands are nice, but wish they were shorter for what I wanted to use them for. I finally figured out what the black plain piece was for, to stick in a door, in order to use bands that way. I am mainly using the stronger black band with handles and red one to stretch, just using my hands. I guess I need two more handles. I really wanted the chair gym months ago, but HSN would take too long to ship it. The other three bands are okay to stretch together. The ankle strap is okay if you find the right place to use it. The directions do tell you not to wrap straps around any part of body, but I did it anyway. Sometimes you get tired of using the door! The metal hooks along with cloth piece attached to them are nice also, but cloth fits more comfortably having it hang from the larger part of hook.