bowlex October 02, 2010

i enjoy this bowflex i really would of like to get the home gym one but i just cant afford it but this one is pretty good for what its worth

Does what it should July 05, 2010

I used to own a bowflex very similar to this many years ago. Back then it kept me in really good shape and my biggest mistake was updraging to a bowflex ultimate. The difference in the workout and speed was noticeable and i stopped using it. After a while it got sold and here we are about 5 years later and about 60 lbs heavier. I weigh in at 245lbs @ 6ft. After looking myself in the mirror I recaled how well I did with this style of bowflex and bought it while on sale. Here we are 2 weeks later and things are going well, dropped five pounds while working out for about 45 minutes a day. The first week took some adjusting to remembering how to do the different workouts. With a bowflex to be sucessful form is key more so then weight and reps. I know I would have even dropped more pounds if I worked harder on diet, but I have been taking baby steps to get off the soda and sweets.

I highly recommend looking into the bowflex Itrainer if they still make it. I had my old copy and use it to create and print out workout routines for the week. The machine is very sturdy and took about 2 hours to put together. If you orgainze yourself better you might cut off about 30 minutes. I could talk about all the pro's but there is no need. The machine does everything that you would expect it to and probably more.

Here are two cons instead: 1) should include short handles. For taller folks you'll find your long arms keep you from getting a good stretch on lat pulldowns. In the past this machine can with short strps so that on those type of excercises you didn't have 6 inches of useless strap reducing the effectiveness of the exercise. I went out and bought a secondary pair of high quality handles to solve this issue. Don't skimp here as you can seriously hurt yourself if a cheap pair of handles snaps on you. 2) Seat rollers not as good as past setups. When your doing aerobic rows or leg press you might notice the glide changes depending on how you shift your weight. The rubber rollers are cheap relative to past bowflexed I have used and actually seem to rub improperly against the rail. Not a huge problem, but does interfere with the flow of that particular workout. I know of no fix other than to just be thoughtful of how you center your weight on the seat. This may become less of an issue as I loose wight, we will see!

Overall, highly effective machine and if you put forth the effort you will see the rewards. I say this as a past bowflex owner who was very sucessful using one of these machines and a current owner starting to get back on track. The limitations about this machine are not the machine itself, but your effort in getting off the sofa and working out.

Good starter set for a home gym June 30, 2010

This is a great weight set to get you started on a excercise routine.  It's really easy to increase and decrease the weight.  Doesn't clank around like metal weights.  Good for people on a light excercise routine that's easy on the joints.  The drawback is that you'll run out of weights for bench press and upper back excercises.  Good value for the price.

Surpassed my expectancy of this product! October 02, 2009

Found it very easy to assemble, especially since I verified that all parts were in fact included in the box and then proceeded to organize these parts for easy assembly. I work full time therefore put it together at night after dinner which took a total of 4 hours.  User manual with exercise sets and actual work outs are great. No bother with heavy weights to change inbetween sets, just smooth change settings. Very happy and extremely satisfied with my purchase...and Sears had the best price!