Just BUY one! A home gym that works!
Written: Mar 19 '03 (Updated Jun 21 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy to use, and it works!
Cons: expensive, may not really mimic weights
The Bottom Line: Probably the best home gym out there. Easy to use, quick switching between exercises. Expensive, but aren't you worth it?
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| tschorer's Full Review: Bowflex Power Pro XTL |
If you're like me you're looking around at reviews trying to decide just whether to buy one of these things or not. You've probably gotten their video, watched the informercials etc. JUST DO IT! I wasted a year hem'ing and haw'ing over this purchase.
I got my machine for $1349 delivered, this included the 310lb upgrade, lat and leg attachments. some special promotion they were running. Machine arrived sooner than promised...within three weeks. I used the 6week program included and lost 31lbs in 6wks while maintaining muscle mass, 4" off my waist. My wife was so impressed that she's started using the machine as well. So now(3mos later) I'm down almost 40lbs, real definition showing in all areas, and I'm in a size 33 pants (started at 38). Feeling better and looking better than perhaps I ever have. People who haven't seen me in months are amazed at the transformation.
Now, you will NOT look like the guy in their video in 6weeks, guaranteed. But if spending 1300bucks on a machine motivates you to work out, so be it!
The machine arrives impressively packed. If you have ANY doubts about keeping it, you MUST photograph the boxes to be able to get the machine back in there! This should not be a consideration as you can check ebay and see that folks are getting almost what they paid for them, and the buyer then picks the unit up. Machine took two hours or so to assemble, good instructions, good fit on all parts. To date I've had no problems with any components. I don't know about other reports of benches breaking, I was kneeling/bouncing on the middle of mine this morning and it wouldn't bend.
As the ads say, you really can move quickly from exercise to exercise, and if you're a former gym member like me you'll appreciate being able to zip through a workout without waiting. It is BIG, 7' tall, and about 8' long with the leg attach on. it can easily be folded, tipped and moved on it's attached casters...folding daily for storage might be a hassle, but I keep mine in the basement. I'd intended to keep it upstairs in my home office, but being adjacent to the bedroom, a 5 am workout would wake the wife! not the machine, the machine is silent, but I'm grunting and swearing and carrying on...so in the basement it will stay.
The exercises ARE effective, bench, shoulder press, leg extensions, curls...it goes on and on and they closely match gym machines. Whether the weights accurately represent freeweight values could be another matter. I can only curl 50% of my bowflex weight with freeweights, doing a concentration curl...no matter I'm still getting a good workout and good results. I don't know why, but I do NOT experience muscle or joint soreness the way I did with weights or other machines.
If I had known that the machine was going to stay in the basement, and was single, I'd have gone for a freeweight set or multi machine that would have been half as much money. But the machines ease of use makes it MUCH less intimidating for my wife, who likely would never use weights. If you have kids, a gym membership is simply impractical...to leave your spouse for a few hours to go workout...this machine lets you workout in .5-.75hrs at a time convenient to you.
The cons, not many. It IS expensive, but ebay resales helped ease my mind. The 6-week leanness plan needs to be updated. The calories dropped too low for me in the final two weeks and I stopped losing and stopped making strength gains, current fitness plans do NOT advocate extremely low cal diets (try body for life or Testosterone advantage plan as potential alternatives). The Rowing...the rowing is just NOT an effective exercise for me, this is not a good rowing machine...but the sliding seat is good for leg extensions.
**update!!* Well, after eight months with the machine I'm now down about 50lbs(and about 8"off my waist). and now I'm actually gaining weight in muscle. I added the squat attachment for $150 and it's a good investment, allowing squats, flat bench presses, curls and many more. The machine is still in excellent condition, not even chips in the paint where it's repeatedly been hit by the hardware during changes.
The reason for the update is that I began to notice uneven development in the bicep, that the bicep seemed to be developing more towards the shoulder, ditto for the pecs, the pectorals seem to be developing more towards the shoulder and not so much inside. I can only attribute this to the bending of the rods, maximum resistance is only present as the rods are fully bent. So in a bench press, for example, the pecs are working hardest at the beginning, when the resistance is less, as you straighten the arms, the tricep does relatively more work. In a curl, working clockwise from 6:00 to 12:00(fully contracted) the bicep is doing more work after the 9:00 position. I don't know if what I'm describing is "biomechanically accurate", but I've added a set of adjustable dumbells and it's improved my results and the speed of my workout.
So this may be the "rub" of the bowflex! That if you use it long enough you may outgrow it! If you're looking to get ,and stay, trim and toned this is a great machine. But if you really start looking for their spokesmodel's physique and some muscle size there may be no way around some kind of freeweight system...where a pound is a pound throughout the range of motion.
I'll post back at my 1yr anniversary (dec03). I still love the machine, and it was the catalyst for a real change not only in my physical appearance but my lifestyle. I still strongly recommend it with only one caveat, if you currently have lifting experience, and a complete home gym freeweight system(with a squatrack etc) then this machine may NOT be for you.
Whew, damn I'm long-winded!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
tschorer
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Reviews written: 24
Trusted by: 0 members
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