Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Stokes.
Hi Stephen, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Two8 Bands didn’t start in a factory. It started on a field.
I played running back in the CFL. That career taught me what the body can do when it’s trained right, and what falls apart when it isn’t. When my playing days ended, I moved into coaching at the high school level in California. Football, track, performance work. That’s when the real education began.
I kept seeing the same pattern. Talented athletes losing seasons to the same problems. Bad movement. Tight hips. Weak posterior chains. Mechanics nobody had ever taken the time to fix. They didn’t need more grind. They needed better tools and a better foundation.
I went looking for those tools and couldn’t find anything I respected. Most resistance bands on the market were cheap plastic with no thought behind them. Throwaway gear sold on price. So I built what I wished I had.
That product became Two8 Bands. A premium resistance band system with the Two8 signature design, an NFC chip, and a companion movement app that delivers real coaching. Not just a band. A whole way to train.
Today we sell on two8.shop and Amazon. We work with high school programs, college athletes, and adults who care about how they move. We’re building Two8 into a full ecosystem. The bands are the entry point. The coaching is the value.
Every customer gets a coach. That’s the rule. That’s the difference.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Smooth isn’t the word.
Building a premium product brand in a category dominated by cheap competitors is a daily test of conviction. The struggles weren’t dramatic. They were quiet, expensive, and constant.
Capital was the first one. I funded early production myself. Every dollar in the business came from a decision to not spend it somewhere else. There’s no safety net when you bet on your own product.
Manufacturing was the next one. I learned it in real time. Materials. Tolerances. Quality control. Supply chains. Every lesson came with a cost attached. I shipped product I wasn’t proud of in the early days because I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Fixing that took years.
Then the platforms. Amazon, Shopify, Veeqo, ad systems, analytics, fulfillment. I built the whole operation myself before I had a team to hand it to. There’s no shortcut for that part. You either learn it or you stay small.
The hardest fight wasn’t operational though. It was the message. Resistance bands are a race to the bottom category. Cheap plastic, low margins, no story. We’re the opposite of that. Staying premium when the easy money is in cutting corners takes a different kind of discipline. Refusing to discount, refusing to chase trends, refusing to let the brand sound like everyone else. That fight never ends. It just gets sharper.
The other piece nobody talks about. Solitude. Founders carry weight that doesn’t show up on a P&L. The doubt. The risk. The pressure to be right when nobody around you fully understands the bet. You either build a system to manage that, or it manages you.
None of it was smooth. All of it was worth it.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I build training tools for people who care how they move.
Two8 Bands is the Rolls Royce of resistance bands. A premium resistance band system designed by a coach, built for athletes, and used by everyone from high school programs to adults who want their body to work as well at fifty as it did at 25.
The product itself is what we’re known for. The Two8 signature design. A matte black magnetic gift box. An NFC chip embedded in every set that opens directly into our movement app. Real coaching. Real progressions. Not a PDF and a wave goodbye.
What I specialize in is the part most fitness brands skip. Movement. The mechanics underneath the workout. How the hip is supposed to fire. How the foot is supposed to land. How the chain connects from the ground up. Most people aren’t out of shape. They’re out of sync. I built Two8 to fix that.
What sets us apart is the ecosystem. Most brands sell you a product and disappear. We sell you a product and stay with you. Every customer gets a coach. That’s the operating principle of the whole company. The bands are the entry point. The coaching is the value. The transformation is the result.
What I’m most proud of isn’t the product or the platform. It’s the message I keep getting back. Athletes who stopped getting hurt. Adults who finally feel strong again. Coaches who tell me their whole program changed because of one tool. That’s the scoreboard that matters.
We didn’t build Two8 to be the biggest in the category. We built it to be the best. The kind of brand people don’t outgrow. The kind of training they don’t quit. The kind of product that earns a spot in the gym bag for life.
Built by coaches. Athlete approved. Designed to outlast trends.
That’s what we do. That’s what we’re known for. That’s what we’re not going to compromise on.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
A few things keep me sharp.
Alex Hormozi for the business side. Nobody breaks down offers, leverage, and customer value cleaner than he does. His content cuts through the noise most marketing creates.
Myron Golden for the mindset and the sales philosophy. He teaches selling as service, which lines up with how I think about coaching. You’re not pushing product. You’re moving someone toward a better version of themselves.
The Bible stays in regular rotation. The lessons are timeless. Discipline, stewardship, work ethic, leadership, faith under pressure. Every business challenge I’ve faced has a parallel in there somewhere. When the noise gets loud, scripture brings the signal back.
Beyond that, I lean on conversations more than content. Other founders. Other coaches. The athletes I’ve worked with. Real feedback from real people moves the needle more than any podcast.
The tools matter. The teachers matter more. The doing matters most.
Pricing:
- Two8 Bands $58 (the Rolls Royce of resistance bands)
- If We Knew Better, We’d Move Better: Vol 1. $9.99
Contact Info:
- Website: https://two8.shop
- Instagram: @two8bands
- Facebook: @two8bands
- LinkedIn: @two8bands
- Twitter: @two8bands
- Youtube: @two8bands
- Other: https://two8.mvt.so
