bowflex???

[pumpchaser]

Bowflex is as good as weights, it's just that many lifters have a mental block. I used weights for decades before switching to a Bowflex. As already mentioned in previous posts about this subject, resistance is resistance. Many including me, prefer the smoother feel of the Bowflex, and IMO the more rigorous and even resistance gives me a better pump than weights.

 

[Duncans Donuts]

At UPS we had a lot of weider crossbows shipped through us. Sometimes we'd unload feeders with 20 or 30 of them. Those things are enormously heavy, let me say; I hated having to see the cartoonish image of Joe Weider, bodybuilding's biggest fool, on the box.

 

[boflexion]

resistance training/hypertrophy

Greetings All,

I have been forwarded to this "debate" via a fellow Boflex user.

The idea that only Free Weights will provide the stimulus to yield the desired mass gains is both outdated and inaccurate. Your muscles do not have Free Weight endorsement contracts and, as such, could care less if you are lifting/moving rods, plates, Gummy Bears or donuts. They only respond to an apropriate stimulus, when so recruited, and, thus, begin the process of hypertrophy.

Anyone claiming to have used the Boflex to no effect is either fabricating a story or have used this piece of resistance technology improperly.

Here's how it should be used: with PROPER form, following the guidelines listed by the various manuals; with the PROPER cadence-3/3/3/-for movement (three at the fully extended position, three in the paused position, and three at the FULLY contracted position).

Likewise, one must adhere to proper rest, intensity of workout (working out to failure on each rep./set) and allow for proper recovery time.

Bouncing up and down, using mommentum, as used with Free Weights (which I class as cheating), cannot be done on the "Flex" with the idea of gaining the desired results.

I doubt ther are many anywhere who can apply this detail to a Boflex workout and max out the 410lbs. of resistance package on most exercises (including leg exercises, again, when PROPERLY done).

Neither the "Flex" nor Free Weights have any monopoly on the process of hypertrophy, anymore than supplements have relative to natural foods.

Equally, it all depends on your goals and your GENETICS. The vast majority of bodybuilders WILL NOT achieve MIKE MENTZER'S (et al) physique because we lack the genetics required to do so.

Thanks for indulging me.

 

[LAM]

Bowflex sucks ass.

show my one person with 20" arms, 30" quads and a 60" chest who got that way using pussy ass power rods or bands or whatever that thing uses...

 

[largepkg]

Priceless

 

[pumpchaser]

Lam has a certain monosyllabic charm. Weider berated Nautilus the same way, precisely for followers like Lam. If someone has the potential, trains hard with the Bow and diets properly, similar results will be seen in the future, with this and other futuristic machines. Open you minds, my small-minded ones. Joe loves ya, but it's time to smell the coffee.

 

[LAM]

Lam has a certain monosyllabic charm. Weider berated Nautilus the same way, precisely for followers like Lam. If someone has the potential, trains hard with the Bow and diets properly, similar results will be seen in the future, with this and other futuristic machines. Open you minds, my small-minded ones. Joe loves ya, but it's time to smell the coffee.

blah...blah...blah.....

 

[LAM]

If someone has the potential, trains hard with the Bow and diets properly, similar results will be seen in the future, with this and other futuristic machines.

So why don't you stop using free-weights buy a Bowflex take some before and after pictures and we will see how far you have progressed after a year ?

 

[CowPimp]

Is the bowflex useful, and can one see results in the form of strength increases and hypertrophy as a result of using it? I'm sure.

The question is, does the bowflex warrant the $800+ as opposed to the ~$250 that I have spent on my olympic bench & weights, adjustable olympic dumbells, pullup bar, and a few additional weights? I think not.

 

[pumpchaser]

Amazing, the limited mentality..are you saying that the $250 free weight set allows you to easily go to failure, with no danger whatsover, the way i can on the Bow? Are you saying that the $250 set folds into a tiny area of an apartment the way the Bow does? Can you easily move the weights around or move it out of your apt. easily on wheels, as i can with the Bow? Do weights have the better feel of the Bow? Do weights allow the many awesome exercises that can be done on the Bow that intensely fry areas of muscles in ways i'd never achieved with the restrictions of weights and gravity?

Know of what you speak first. When Joe Gold innovated with pulleys and strange contraptions in his gyms, he undoubtedly got the same head-scratching, negative grunts from the uninformed masses.

 

[CowPimp]

Amazing, the limited mentality..are you saying that the $250 free weight set allows you to easily go to failure, with no danger whatsover, the way i can on the Bow? Are you saying that the $250 set folds into a tiny area of an apartment the way the Bow does? Can you easily move the weights around or move it out of your apt. easily on wheels, as i can with the Bow? Do weights have the better feel of the Bow? Do weights allow the many awesome exercises that can be done on the Bow that intensely fry areas of muscles in ways i'd never achieved with the restrictions of weights and gravity?

Know of what you speak first. When Joe Gold innovated with pulleys and strange contraptions in his gyms, he undoubtedly got the same head-scratching, negative grunts from the uninformed masses.

You should read my post more carefully before you get so defensive and assert that I have no knowledge about what I speak. I am allowed my opinion, as you are yours. I know what I speak of, and my opinion is perfectly valid. Also, I owned my statement: I said "I think," meaning that it is my opinion.

I have used a Bowflex. My friend has one which he uses if he doesn't have time to go the gym. I never said that there weren't appealing traits about it. I never said that my setup was vastly superior in any way. All I said is that I don't feel the several hundred dollars that separate the price of the two setups is worth it to me. I am a college student that has to pay his own tuition; that difference means a lot to me.

As well, I do not prefer the feel of the Bowflex. Although it does allow for a more natural motion than, for example, a smitch machine, I prefer totally free weights and always have. If you prefer the feel of the Bowflex, then by all means use it. Personally, I do not.

 

[pumpchaser]

Your term's dismissive vs. an opinion.

Yes, i prefer the feel of the Bowflex. However, the real issue is that they're in actuality comparable, vs. the outright dismissal of the thing.

 

[CowPimp]

I'm big on the use of opinion, which is less absolutist. However, your term i think not is a figure of speech rather than an actual opinion, and denotes arrogance vs. the humility claimed. No defensiveness here, rather, fatigue from the same ol same ol thinking.

Yes, i prefer the feel of the Bowflex. However, the real issue is that they're in actuality comparable, vs. the outright dismissal of the thing by so many, with dismissive terms like i think not.

You are totally disregarding the first paragraph in my first post:

"Is the bowflex useful, and can one see results in the form of strength increases and hypertrophy as a result of using it? I'm sure."

First, I stated that I think the Bowflex is useful. Then, I stated that I believe it's usefulness does not warrant the cost. I think that is a totally fair assesment.

I don't see how the statement "I think not" is a figure of speech, and you consider it to be arrogant. It couldn't be more clear. I stated a rhetorical question, and answered it with my opinon. All I did was try to phrase the second statement in that post the same way I phrased my first one.

All I have tried to do is voice my opinion and add it to the collective of opinions on this topic. Just because more people on these forums share my opinion does not mean that I have a "limited mentality" or that I am displaying "arrogance." I would apperciate it if you did not assert these things about me based on the fact that I don't find the cost of the Bowflex justified.

 

[pumpchaser]

I think not is not a nice way to couch things, however it's more the attitudes seen with others, just take a look..

 

[CowPimp]

I think not is not a nice way to couch things, however it's more the attitudes seen with others, just take a look..

Well I'm sorry you feel that way about my statement. My intention was not to sound how you perceived me. I tried to be as clear as possible, but there is always room for different interpretations.

I do understand what you are saying. Many people treat the Bowflex like a joke, when it does, in fact, have some very positive qualities about it. It's not on the same level as the thigh master, as some people have implied.

 

[pumpchaser]

TV infomercials' reputation makes everything look suspect. I get as good or better pump on the Bow as with weights, as well as development.

 

[Duncans Donuts]

I never liked the bowflex. I'd pick free weights over it anyday.

That said I'm sure someone could progress with it if the resistance was approrpiate..

 

[LAM]

I get as good or better pump on the Bow as with weights, as well as development.

and you've been lifting for how long, maybe a couple of years ? you are still a newbie to resistance training...

and a pump means nothing in terms of stimulating hypertrophy or increasing muscular, tendon or ligament strength...

 

[pumpchaser]

Some authorities with far more experience than you will say that pump means a lot, so it's certainly debatable despite your arrogant pronouncement.

A "newbie" as you call it, after 3 decades of weights and the good fortune to work out alongside several Mr. Universe runners up from the Caribbean as a teenager? Brilliant!

Like the Bow or not, it's not easily dismissed. The misinformed, who readily confuse it with the Weider crap because of a lack of analysis have to be smarter and dig a little deeper before readily dismissing it with general assumptions. Has it not occurred to you, after decades of this, that Weider's equipment's generally shoddy and derivative? The Bowflex Ultimate and Extreme series are gym quality.

Maybe it's time to wake up and smell the Primobolin..

 

[SlimShady]

Even if the Bow works as advertised, what advantages does it offer? For less money, you can get a decent set of free weights, a bench and some dumbells... and there is no debate about whether or not free weights work.

I think the only reason the Bow is even considered by so many newbies is because you can purchase it on a payment plan.

 

[pumpchaser]

Asking what it offers means you didn't bother to read the preceding posts..for some of us, some or all of the pros are compelling reasons that blow out weights, which become less desirable alternatives. When Joe Gold introduced bizarre pulley and weight contraptions, i'm sure he got predictable reactions from the masses without the vision thing.

The financing plan is a classic American revenue generating model that you're confusing with the efficacy of the machine.

Gentlemen, it's that time..In the words of Shakespeare, "'Tis time to take my leave, so as to fry my bis & tris".

Welcome, screaming and kicking, to the future..

 

[tjwes]

If the bowflex is so good how come Arnold didn`t use it?

Sell it to some unsuspecting kid, and join a well equipped gym...........NOW !! LOL

 

[SlimShady]

Asking what it offers means you didn't bother to read the preceding posts..for some of us, some or all of the pros are compelling reasons that blow out weights.....

The financing plan is a classic American revenue generating model that you're confusing with the efficacy of the machine.

I read all of the posts and I still see no advantages in a Bow vs Free Weights. What? You can tear it down and store it in a closet? You can actually do that with weights too, if you don't mind tearing down a bench each day.

I'm not confusing anything as far as the financing goes. I've seen the Bows for sale - "$29.95 Per Month" (or whatever the price is), all with a photo of some bodybuilder using the Bow. I'm saying the payment plan is what sells the machines, not the 'efficacy' .. Impulse purchases, not serious body builders.

If you've got a Bow and you like it, then that's good for you. Glad you use it.

 

[Duncans Donuts]

I don't understand how a bowflex has pros that blow "free weights" out of the water. What are they?

 

[pumpchaser]

Have already spent time going through this; beyond that, it's just a matter of your own willingness and ability to be open or close minded. Review posts #33 and #40; beyond that you're on your own.

 

[DOMS]

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

Your problem is that they make you look goofy?

The next time you're benching or squating near your peak, have someone take a picture. I think you'll find that biceps cable curls fit in just nicely.

 

[Duncans Donuts]

Have already spent time going through this; beyond that, it's just a matter of your own willingness and ability to be open or close minded. Review posts #33 and #40; beyond that you're on your own.

Having a difference of opinion based on the merits of result (the result being that the Bowflex is ineffective in comparison to free weights) does not divide us, the people who disagree with you, as being "close" minded. Likewise, just because you believe what you believe does not make you "open minded". You simply 'believe' in equipment that others find to be of lower quality.

I dispute being called narrow because I disagree with you. Your position that 'since Nautilus was attacked by Weider and people hated pully contractions, you're doing the same to the bowflex' is erroneous (at best). People are attacking the bowflex for the same reason that people still don't use machines; because they have valid beliefs (legitimate ones) that are contradictory to yours.

Really, I think Bowflex sucks ass to hades and back, but you are entitled to your beliefs as am I. Don't try and group me as being some kind of illogical trend-tracker who is simply incapable of reasoning because of my view.

 

[SlimShady]

I dispute being called narrow because I disagree with you. Your position that 'since Nautilus was attacked by Weider and people hated pully contractions, you're doing the same to the bowflex' is erroneous (at best). People are attacking the bowflex for the same reason that people still don't use machines; because they have valid beliefs (legitimate ones) that are contradictory to yours.

Really, I think Bowflex sucks ass to hades and back, but you are entitled to your beliefs as am I. Don't try and group me as being some kind of illogical trend-tracker who is simply incapable of reasoning because of my view.

Well said and nicely worded. I'm with you 100%. Just because I disagree with someone, doesn't mean I'm narrow minded. I think we might have a Bow salesman in posting in this thread.

 

[pumpchaser]

IMO you guys are boring, close minded and overly-critical of anything that isn't established. To use your desperate wording, i think your predictable opinions suck ass. Incidentally, it would be nice to see the moderator act on the dumb WWF language.

The narrowness is seen in the rapid, negative rush to judgement, while it's clear that there's a lack of any depth of knowledge on the subject: "Uh, i've seen these things come through on the conveyor belt at my work"??? Pithy analysis there dude! Right on board 100% with the negatives however-THAT'S the definition of narrow and sux ass. I'm not just referring to Bowflex, i see inflexibility and fear translated into anger with just about anything other than the holy grail, free weights. Don't worry, the masses, those without vision, will generally agree with you.

No mystery where some of the weightlifter stereotypes come from i'd say..

Mentzer was no favorite, but i have to respect the man for trying new things irregardless of the same kind of empty rhetoric from the masses. More power to him for not caring nor following, and for being one of the few not hypnotized by the perennially disturbing Arnold BS and self-promotion:
http://www.mikementzer.com/character.html

 

[LAM]

personally I "tried" to use a bowflex and it sucks ass. so I am talking for personal experience.

I have also NEVER seen anybody get huge and powerfull from using a bowflex. show me a video of a bowflex user who can bench 500 and squat 600 with free weights and maybe I'll change my mind a little about it's effectiveness at building functional strength...