The CrossBow Takes Aim at My Body
Written: Mar 03 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Smooth, quiet and comfortable; good range of exercises
Cons: Complex assembly; fussy cable clips
The Bottom Line: For the money, this is a good choice... providing you have the space and initiative.
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| pvreditor's Full Review: Weider Crossbow Platinum Home Gym |
My wife is the queen of the exercise machines in our household. We have several bits of equipment spreading out across the floor of our basement and a gigantic ball rolling around our living room, and when she started talking about yet another piece of equipment, I was highly skeptical. Somehow, she talked me into getting the Weider CrossBow, an ungainly exercise contraption that does, in fact, slightly resemble a crossbow.
The Weider CrossBow uses composite rods of various thicknesses to provide resistance for your muscles. The rods are bent through a complicated series of pullies and cables that you use to get your workout. We bought ours at Sears for $499 and the whole thing came shipped in a large and very heavy cardboard carton. The carton was so heavy that we left it in our station wagon when we got home and unloaded the contents of the carton piece-by-piece to get it into the house.
My wife and I are very handy with tools and directions, but I must say that we puzzled over some of the illustrations in the CrossBow’s assembly manual. We eventually figured everything out and there was just the right amount of hardware to build the unit. Ours came with the “Lat Tower,” which I understand may be an option. Overall, it took us 2.5 hours of concentrated construction effort to assemble our CrossBow, much less than the assembly times other reviewers have reported here on Epinions.
We found one broken component during assembly: the multichannel plastic piece that supports the composite rods. The part worked well enough to finish the assembly and to use the machine, but we complained to Weider, which in turn forwarded us to Sears. Sears took our complaint over the phone and we received a replacement part within a few days, which pleasantly surprised the hell out of me.
Once assembled, the CrossBow has a tower that stands about 82 inches tall and the composite rods have a span of nearly 60 inches. There is a long beam perpendicular to the tower that has a convertible bench/seat, and at the end of this beam is a leg lift mechanism with four comfortable pads. The beam folds upright when you want to minimize the floor space taken by the CrossBow, but I find that the spin-on bolt that holds the bench upright is very fussy about threading into its hole. We leave the unit in its ready-to-use attitude, as we have the floor space in our basement. With the beam on the floor, the CrossBow is about 72 inches long.
Winding through the entire device are vinyl-covered steel cables that wend their way through a series of pullies and eventually to each end of one of the composite rods. This rod, which has a rating of 10 pounds, has two large U-channels at each end into which the other rods can be moved. The more rods you slip into the U-channels, the more resistance you have for your exercises. The basic unit that I have has the 10-pound rod with the U-channel plus the following complement of rods: one each of 10-, 20- and 40-pound rods and two 80-pound rods. In addition, we got a mail-in form for a free “Powerpak” that includes a 100-pound rod. We received our Powerpak yesterday, although it is not yet installed.
Overall, I am impressed with the quality of the materials used to assemble the Weider CrossBow. The metal pieces feel substantial and everything pretty much works smoothly and quietly. The device came with a variety of handles, straps, belts and a bar, all of which clip onto the end of the cables.
The CrossBow’s seat is covered with a fairly thin-feeling vinyl and it has some padding. It is comfortable for working out but I’m concerned that it will not hold up to the rigors of daily use for more than a few months — time will tell. The seat consists of a small, square sliding pad that has a quick-fitting for a longer padded bench. It is easy to connect and remove the bench as necessary. The smaller part of this two-piece bench can slide back and forth on the metal beam, which facilitates certain exercises such as rowing.
The CrossBow also came with a rather boring video that demonstrates many of the exercises and there is also a large poster that shows the many exercises you can do with this machine. I wish I had the body of the guy demonstrating the device! (And I wish that my wife had the body of the woman also seen in the demonstrations!!)
I’ve now been using the CrossBow for three weeks and, although I have always exercised a little, I can definitely feel the added workout I’ve been getting. Since many of the exercises are for the upper body, I already see and feel a difference there, although nothing about this machine will help me with the 10 pounds of extra weight at my waist — only serious dieting will dump that unwanted passenger.
There are exercises for the lower body, most obviously the leg-lift mechanism. There are other exercises for the legs but these mostly involve a little ankle belt that you attach and then swing your leg in various directions. I’ve found that all the changing of directions means that there is a lot of clipping and unclipping of the straps, belts and handles, all of which take time and are made slightly awkward by the cable clips.
In fact, the occasionally balky cable clips are one of the biggest negatives about the CrossBow. It seems like I’m always clipping and unclipping something and the cable clips seem to never open quite as wide as necessary. It’s a minor complaint but one that I face several times whenever I use the CrossBow.
One other lower-body exercise that the CrossBow permits involves a big belt that you run behind your back, connecting to the clips on either side. You then pump your legs back and forth with your feet planted on a steel plate where the bench rail meets the tower. This is the same spot where I keep my feet when doing simulated rowing exercises on the CrossBow. This machine can do a reasonable simulation of rowing that works all the usual rowing muscles, which gives me a good full-body workout.
Our CrossBow came with the “lat bar” that can be used for a variety of curls and lifts. However, I don’t use it much so far — I find it more comfortable to use the various straps and handles for most exercises.
I’ve been exercising on this thing daily, mostly doing curls for the biceps, presses for the triceps and a variety of other upper-body exercises. I definitely feel the difference in my pecs, lats and other back/shoulder muscles, accompanied by the pleasant ache that comes the day after exercise. The problem with this and any other exercise device is finding the incentive — the willpower — to continuously use it over time. If it gets abandoned, it will be just a large piece of clutter in my basement that will gnaw at my psyche more than its cost chewed at my wallet. So far, so good… but long-term is the key and I’m not there yet.
The positives about the Weider CrossBow are that it is relatively low cost for its quality and breadth of exercises, it is well-built, and it is blessedly quiet when using it. (I didn’t want an exercise machine with a lot of clanging and banging steel weights.) This last attribute may make it a good all-around exercise machine for an apartment or condo, where banging weights may make your neighbors want to take up arms against you.
On the negative side is that the CrossBow consumes a lot of space, is fairly complex to assemble and involves some fussing with clips to change exercises. But the biggest negative is finding the willpower to use the machine regularly and that is something we each face individually. I find no particular pleasure in using the CrossBow, but it is not hard to use and it is generally comfortable.
So far, with three weeks of exercise under my belt (so to speak), I’m pleased with my Weider CrossBow and like what it is doing for me. For an exercise machine with a comprehensive array of exercises, the CrossBow is both reasonably priced and good quality, a mix that will reduce any future angst if I stop using it.
Recommended:
Yes
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