Thread: bowflex???

Not when you can get a two year gym membership for the price of one.

DO NOT BUY THE BOWFLEX...it is the most expense clothes hanger I have ever bought. I got it when i new practically nothing about weight training so I was dumb enough not to ask anyone what they thought of it before hand. The wierd thing about the bowlfex is is that u will end up using more and more resistance on it as you progress through your workouts but as soon as you use some actual free weights that do work and add size, you wonder where all of your strength went from using the bowflex..I hope that what i wrote makes sense.

Originally posted by Budz08
DO NOT BUY THE BOWFLEX...it is the most expense clothes hanger I have ever bought. I got it when i new practically nothing about weight training so I was dumb enough not to ask anyone what they thought of it before hand. The wierd thing about the bowlfex is is that u will end up using more and more resistance on it as you progress through your workouts but as soon as you use some actual free weights that do work and add size, you wonder where all of your strength went from using the bowflex..I hope that what i wrote makes sense.

Exactly. I have one and I had been working out with it for quite a while. On it I could bench 180. Then one day one of my friends wanted me to prove that I could put up 180, so I went to his house and barely put up 120 It's really weird like that.

I've said this before: The Bowflex DOES work, but Free Weights work about 10 times better, they're cheaper too. So forget about the bowflex!

IMO, you get a much more efficient workout with freeweights than a Bowflex.

ok thnx alot for your replays

I think 410,000 Bowsucks were recalled due to safety issues causing injuries, if that is the exact number or not you'd have to search. Free weights are also significantly less expensive. I bought my Olympic set for $99.

yea they recalled them because the lat tower was falling on people when they were using it and when the bench is in inclined position and people would be penching it can collapse one them. I got my recall slip in the mail about 2-3 weeks ago I'm not even going to bother sending it in.

Freeweights are a lot better but if you got a bowflex and use it right you can make progress. Back in high school I didn't have access to a gym but had a bowflex at home (gift). After using the bowflex for about 3 months I actually went to a gym and saw quite a difference from the last time I had been in a gym using freeweights. Bench went from 135 to 185. But I wouldn't recommend getting a bowflex, they're really expensive and not as good as freeweights.

Dragon, starting off if you use any sort of work out equipment you will see benefits. I personally think you'd make alot less progress use bow than free. But yeah, they definitely arent as good as free weights

These kinds of home gymns have never really been popular with body builders because they just dont allow you to put on muscle mass like free weights do. I bought a soloflex in the early 80's, not long after they first came out. Frankly for the first 10 years or so I didnt use it much. I was single, had a gymn membership, and most of all had the time to use it. Then I got married, got injured bad at work, and started useing the soloflex for rehab.

The soloflex helped me a lot, "in fact I'll be on it in about 15 mins". No its not as good as free weights but I think such home gymns have their place. As long as you use them that is. I have a job where muscle strength is actually a pre-requisite for survival. Ive had a few street battles where that soloflex might have been the difference between living and dieing, and certainly between winning and loseing.

I'd have two recomendations for anyone about to buy one of these home machines. #1, Got to E-bay or look at your local newspaper and buy one used. Most of these machines end up as clothes racks for people who buy them thinking they are a "quick fix" to get them into shape. They use them twice and then sell them. You can get one for 1/2 the price of new ones.

My 2nd piece of advice is even if you buy one get a big dumbell tree and load it with free weight dumbells. Its important to go at the muscles with free weight as well as with the machine and will help you immensley. I do about 1/2 my workout with dumbells and the other 1/2 with my soloflex and have gotten much better results mixing the resistance..............Rich

The Bowflex can get to over $1,000 I'm told, thats insane.

I wont say its totally worthless, but free weights are somewhat "natural" and are PROVEN to work. While the Bowflex and many other late night "health fad machines" are out there to suck your wallet dry.

but u can do 92+ diff excersices thast what i like about it , to do all excersices u need big space+money (more than 2000$)

Originally posted by nR_Kris
but u can do 92+ diff excersices thast what i like about it , to do all excersices u need big space+money (more than 2000$)

I only need 27.00 a month...
(gym membership)

Originally posted by nR_Kris
but u can do 92+ diff excersices thast what i like about it , to do all excersices u need big space+money (more than 2000$)

Bodybuilders dont need 92 different movements, neither do powerlifers or olympic lifters.

Basics build a body.

i see

If your goals are general fitness it might be a fine machine, other than being very expensive and something in the way in the homeplace.

But if you look at bodybuilders or even most models who lift, you see them in the gym lifting freeweights and using some machines, not rubber bands or bow-systems.

People always look for fancy pants solutions, when really all you need are the basics and consistency.

yeah, but if im gonna keep BB for the res of my life (i hope) at least 5 years more i spend like 300 dlls per year @ my gym so 5x300 =1500 so i could own something for that u know what i mean?

I look at things like that all the time, I am NOT the kind of person who enjoys losing or spending money.

However, I have discovered:

#1 I need the gym atmosphere, ability to make noise with plates, and walk around from a machine or station without playing with weights (annoyance and labor), and I need lots of equipment

#2 Lots of equipment takes up space and costs money

#3 I HATE cheap equipment or relying on machines for everything, I refuse to lower my workout standards to own an inferior peice of equipment.

Ballys should be $19 a month
Powerhouse is $29 a month with a 1 year commitment
Golds Gym and 24 Hour Fitless are overcrowded
World Gym $40 and worth every damn penny (for me anyway) Not overcrowded, excellent equipment and lots of it. I've even made a couple lifting buddies there which helps keep me motivated.

I really dont believe a machine for 1 year or even 5 years is going to make a difference. I know some machines I like and many more I hate. If you end up not liking it, you made a huge mistake financially, where a gym if you decide to be lazy you can quit and not be out much financially.

I will not use the cables much other than for cable crossovers, so I dont feel that a fixated point cable system is appropriate for a full workout either even though it allows for SOME freedom where many machines allow for none. I was much happer as a young kid with a bench and a cheap set of free weights, it provided something that I enjoyed doing for a few years of my childhood. I dont believe at all it would have been the same with some modern day machine that someone scammed so much money out of me that I could have bought a car.

Mentally, for me going to the gym is like going to work. I am going there to do something, where as at home I am at home to relax, so it doesn't work for me very well lifting at home. Not enough equipment, too noisy, too much a pain to change weights/expense of energy, the list is too long.

good post! ditto!
I like cables though.

well what can i say helpful tip bro thnx

I cringe when I see people doing bicep cable curls, then again hey it works for Markus Ruhl.

I've tried them, I feel my delts being used too much.
mostly bb curls for this kid...

i got my year gym membership for just $99

Originally posted by Mudge
I cringe when I see people doing bicep cable curls, then again hey it works for Markus Ruhl.

haha, why? I do them every once in a while... they seem alright.

I know, like I said they work for some people but I just dont like them myself and I think they look goofy.

Originally posted by Mudge
I know, like I said they work for some people but I just dont like them myself and I think they look goofy.

Originally Posted by Sweep14

Exactly. I have one and I had been working out with it for quite a while. On it I could bench 180. Then one day one of my friends wanted me to prove that I could put up 180, so I went to his house and barely put up 120 It's really weird like that.

I have to agree with this sentiment. At home on my Bowflex I currently bench (incline bench) 200 lbs x 8 reps (I could probably push out about 10 or so). I do seated leg curls on the bowflex at 210 lbs x 8 reps.

I stopped into a gym (on a business trip) and lifted free weights for the first time in some years. I was able to bench 8 reps at 145 lbs and do seated leg curls of 115 lbs x 8, so it seems to me that in pure comparison, a given resistance level on the bowflex is equivalent to about 2/3 as much on free weights.