Dangerous and ridiculous. This system was recalled for a reason!
Written: Sep 15 '06 (Updated Sep 15 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Exercise sitting, you may get a bit of benefit from the gym bar
Cons: Dangerous, ineffective, ridiculous breathing exercises, was recalled, inflated claims
The Bottom Line: Breathe your way to a thinner you! NOT! This system is dangerous and ineffective. You may firm up a bit from resistance exercises but not from dragon breathing!
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| PattyTherre's Full Review: Body Flex Exercise Program |
I have used many exercise gadgets, widgets, and thingys and the BodyFlex Exercise System ranks up there with those ab belts that are supposed to melt fat off your abs with electrical vibrations.
While there is some benefit to be had with the BodyFlex Gym Bar, note that the first version, which I owned, was recalled due to the many, many accidents it caused. I was slapped in the face by the rubber cord part of the bar more times than I care to remember. The new version is not any better that I can see so I am issuing a warning to be very, very careful when you use the Gym Bar. Heck, wear a full face helmet!
About the BodyFlex Exercise System
This is what the official website for the BodyFlex Exercise System has to say about this system:
Only Minutes A Day, While Sitting Down
You can do the BodyFlex program in just minutes per day, all while sitting on your couch and watching your favorite television program. This includes the deep breathing and the GymBar resistance exercises.
So Easy, Virtually Anyone Can Do It
The entire BodyFlex program was designed to be done while sitting down. Once you've learned the secret of BodyFlex breathing, the exercises are easy to follow and there are no complicated machines to put together. Best of all, the GymBar's unique rolling feature that adds approximately 5 lbs per roll allows you to progress and keep losing inches as you get stronger.
Any red flags pop up for you reading the above? Just minutes a day…all while sitting down…deep breathing will make you fit…
What The BodyFlex Exercise System Is
Greer Childers founded this system and is the star of the videos. She is a young looking 59 years old and a size 4 and claims it is all because she uses the BodyFlex System minutes a day - sitting down.
I say that is pure bull. I love shortcuts when it comes to fitness but breathing and moving a little while sitting in an easy chair will not a fit person make. Not by itself anyway.
The System
The system consists of the Gym Bar which is a hard plastic bar with a stretchy rubber "U" shaped band at the bottom. The band is attached to the bar through holes on the side. This band has been known to snap out of the holes in the Gym Bar and cause injury (another reason it was recalled) so use caution. On the bar are pictures of the sitting down exercises you are to perform. You can separate the bar into two halves for storage, then snap it back together when you want to use it.
You get three workouts either on three VHS tapes or one CD. These include "Getting Started", The Workout", and "Target Toning Workouts". You also get a little quick start meal plan pamphlet, a measuring tape, and a nylon carry bag.
My Experience
When I bought this system, it was much more expensive because it had yet to be recalled and questioned. I loved the idea of being able to breathe my way to a fitter body and to be able to sit on my couch and get fit. Of course, I knew in the back of my mind that, realistically, I could not get truly fit by breathing and sitting but I was willing to give it a try.
The introduction was so silly. Apparently, we don't breathe from our diaphragms and that somehow makes us out of shape. So Greer leads us through a serious of the most ridiculous breathing exercises I ever witnessed or tried (And I did Lamaze!). You look so ridiculous and you feel like you're going to pass out. The idea is to blow out all the air in your lungs like a dragon would fire. You do that until your chest practically collapses, then you hold your breathe and, when you are about to die, you make a screaming sound and inhale.
It reminded me of some sort of exorcism.
Once you get through the breathing, you use the gym bar, sitting down, with your feet or butt on the rubber band and your hands on the bar. You can do some arm work and some waist work while sitting. But that band easily rolls off your feet and snaps at you and you really must be careful when stretching it.
When you become proficient at the few exercises given, you can roll the bar around the band making it shorter, increasing the resistance. More scary band worries. It has a tendency to unravel and snap even more when it is wrapped around the bar.
My husband always said I should be careful when he saw me breathing fire and stretching with the bar but I didn't listen. I wished I had after the thing slapped me straight in the eyes and left me with two black eyes and eye irritation for 10 days. And yet I persisted!
I had to know if the breathing and the few exercises designed to target the biceps, triceps, waist, abs, and hips would do anything at all for my fitness level.
I used the system for three weeks, then gave up the breathing part and just used the gym bar as a resistance band. You can firm up a little if you use the gym bar on high resistance and do many reps of stretching to the side or lifting the bar above your head. Your legs are totally uninvolved and get absolutely no benefit at all from this system.
Essentially, the cornerstone of the system is fire breathing which is really painful to do and very awkward. I hated it. And I am used to deep breathing from performing yoga and other deep breathing methods. This is weird deep breathing. You push the air out of your body so hard that you literally feel faint. Then you hold it until you are about to die and take a big, huge screaming gulp and inhale deeply. You repeat that many, many times.
That part of the system, which is the most important, is the one I hated and I stopped doing. I continued on trying to make use of the resistance exercises with the gym bar and eventually tossed the whole thing in my Closet of Doom with my other useless exercise stuff. I was delighted to get a recall notice and an offer for a full refund if I mailed in the bar to an attorney's office by a certain date. I did and got a full refund. Sweet.
Apparently, the bar was causing too many accidents and people were getting hurt so it was recalled.
Greer is back and I see no changes in the gym bar but I hope something was done to safeguard people from snapping rubber bands and from the band dislodging from the bar.
I sure wouldn't trust the thing.
The price has gone from $39.99 (minus the bag, the third workout, and any diet info plus a huge amount of shipping) to $29.99 for the whole system. I guess she is almost giving this system away considering the problems with it.
Problems aside, the benefits of the gym bar are minimal and those who are very, very sedentary may get some benefit out of using the Gym Bar for resistance exercises. I honestly do not believe the dragon breathing helps anyone lose weight or inches. I didn't. I didn't lose an ounce nor an inch using this system alone exactly as directed.
I may have temporarily lost a pound or two from being in pain from the black eyes and other snaps of the band across my face but they came back when I was feeling better.
In my humble opinion, this system is ineffective at best, dangerous at worst.
FTC Charges Body Flex with False Advertising
You may want to read this before you purchase the Body Flex Exercise System. It recounts the false claims made by Greer Childers about the effectiveness of this system.
http://consumeraffairs.com/news03/bodyflex.html
The New Disclaimer
Taken from the BodyFlex website:
*RESULTS MAY VARY. TYPICAL RESULTS ARE 4.8 INCHES LOST ACROSS 6 BODY PARTS IN 14 DAYS. RESULTS BASED ON FOLLOWING THE COMPLETE BODY FLEX EXERCISE AND DIET PROGRAM. BODY FLEX PROGRAM IS DEEP BREATHING, EXERCISE AND 1600 CALORIE PER DAY MEAL PLAN. PARTICULAR EFFECTS OF INDIVIDUAL COMPONENTS HAVE NOT BEEN TESTED.
In other words, they don't know if the diet alone yielded the results since they did not test the individual components to see what caused the loss of inches. Good job covering their ... glutes.
Buying Info
The Body Flex Website is selling the whole system - Gym Bar, videos/CD, measuring tape, diet pamphlet, and nylon bag - for $29.99 for videos and $32.99 for the CD.
Some mass-market stores sell the system for around $30.00. Please, whatever you do, check to see if there is a date anywhere on the box. If the date is before 2005, you are getting left over recalled systems which could cause you injury. I can't see any difference in the Gym Bar to guide you - the new one looks exactly like the old one - so I don't even know if there were any changes made.
Conclusion
Not only do I not recommend this system, I am warning you not to try it. Of course, not everyone will be snapped by the band but even if not, the breathing that is taught can be dangerous for some individuals and the exercises can't possibly get you fit. You may see minimal changes if you use the bar on heavy resistance, meaning you roll the band over the bar several times. But the risk isn't worth the results.
While the bar is portable and can be snapped into two pieces and stored in the little bag and the exercises can be done in any chair (Don't do the breathing in front of people. They will call 911 thinking you're either having a health crisis or have been possessed.), this system is a grand waste of money.
I have read many "testimonials" from users saying they lost several inches simply using the breathing techniques on the CD. I can't say they are fake and that no one ever lost inches by doing breathing exercises but I think, if this was such a huge breakthrough, others would have jumped on the bandwagon by now and no reputable trainers are advocating this type of breathing to help their clients lose inches off their bodies. I don't even understand how the two relate!
For me, this was a dud on every level and a dangerous one at that!
1 star. Buy a sturdy resistance band like the Harbinger Heavy Resistance Exercise Cable and pick up the Thigh Master and get to work. These are two inexpensive but surprisingly effective little gadgets that actually DO work to firm you up. Add in a relaxing yoga or meditation CD for deep breathing and you have a more effective and safer exercise regime than The BodyFlex Exercise System.
Thanks to Openroad for adding this exercise "thingy" to the database for me to review.
Recommended:
No
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