BowFlex verses others (1 Viewer)

[James Slade]

I want to buy a piece of home equipment. I have a long commute and just don't have time to go to the gym. I have recently lost some weight and would like to get into better shape. I don't find too many people who say bad things about the BowFlex besides the cost, which is too much for me. I am looking for ideas about something similar. I have recently seen advertisements for the Crossbow by Weider. It seems a lot cheaper and looks like it might be as good. Does anyone have experience with these machines or others that you would recommend?

 

[Matt Stryker]

James - Some of the articles I have read have given very favorable reviews to the Weider and even the Bandflex (an Ebay staple). I'm in the same boat as you as far as not wanting a gym, but something at home, and no way am I dropping $2K+ on a Bowflex.

Not sure about Canada, but in the US Sears carries a lot of the Weider stuff in store, so you can crawl over it and check it out.

 

[Masood Ali]

Why not start out with a weight bench and see if you have enough discipline to stick with a lifting regimen? You can get a decent one for around $150 with some weights included.

 

[Greg O' Connel]

I just bought a Weider Crossbow recently and am very satisfied with it. It's overall construction is flimsier than the Bowflex, but that's to be exptected with it's much cheaper price. I'd say go for it.

If you do buy a Crossbow, and your local Sears brick and mortar doesn't carry it (not all do) buy it from Sears.com not from the Weider website. Shipping from Sears.com cost me $35, the Crossbow website wanted $100.

 

[Jonas Pearson]

I'm in the same boat schedule wise, I have to lift at home. I know nothing about those machines, I would recommend starting with a weight bench, straight bar weight set, and dumbells. You can gradually add more stuff as you advance - I've slowly built a sweet home gym. Machines are great for some specialized exercises, but they have to restrict your range of motion. I have been into this for a couple of years, I'm now to the point where I can BP my weight 10 times and do 15 pull-ups in one shot.

Good Luck.

 

[D. Scott MacDonald]

I had a Bowflex and liked it, but I ended up selling it for a couple of reasons:

1) The rods seemed to loose their flex over time and to wear unevenly. For example, two 10 lb rods and a 5 lb rod provided alamost half the resitance of a single 30 lb rod.

2) I have long arms (36 inches) and was unable to get a good back workout due to limited range of motion.

3) I hated constantly changing those rods.

Instead I bought a good bench and a pair of powerblocks (a collapsable dumbells). I like the free wieghts better except for two things:

1) I find that a leg workout with freeweights stress my joints a lot.

2) Due to the construction of the powerblocks I'm still unable to get a good back workout.

On a positive side, I found that the resale market for bowflexes in my area is very hot, so if you can buy a used one, you can usually sell it for no loss at all.

 

[Armando Zamora]

This is the bench that I have been using for approximately 4 years. .
If I recall, it set me back $200. I think I bought it at The Sports Authority. I like the bench because it allows me to workout without a partner since it has a so-called built-in "spotter". It can utilize both standard and Olympic weights (attachments are included to accommodate the bigger holes on Olympic weights). It also comes with an attachment for doing squats. It doesn’t have that big of a footprint (45”x65”) and is pretty solidly built. I have used it pretty extensively since I purchased it and have been quite pleased. Using free-weights allows me to utilize my full range of motion.

 

[Nathan Patrick]

I started using the crossbow in the middle of January. I have been very pleased with the purchase. I would say however it takes about 45 minutes to get an adequate workout. I have no experience with the bowflex. I am beginning to see some increase in muscle mass. I don't do any leg excercises on it because I run almost daily.

My only gripe is I think a lot of strain is placed on the wrists for some of the exercises. I have small wrists however.

I like the machine as it is a great alternative to free weights without having to use the spotter. I also like the fact the machine forces you to use stabalizer muscles. I noticed this the first time I used the machine.

 

[Brian Johnson]

I like the machine as it is a great alternative to free weights without having to use the spotter. I also like the fact the machine forces you to use stabalizer muscles.

Actually. Its just the opposite. Machines do the "stabalizing" for you.
They are great for beginners as it basically forces correct movement.
Its a popular theory (at bodybuilding.com forums) that free weights are the way to go as it forces your stabalizers to kick in.
Example, with the machine bench press, all you are doing is pushing the weight up. Do a bench with a barbell and many more muscles kick in allowing you to balance the weight,lift both sides equally,etc. (not to mention hit the chest muscles harder due to limited motion on the machine press)
On the other hand, any workout is better than no workout, if you like machines then by all means use them.


P.S. Check http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html for a great site with detailed instruction on how to perform most exercises (machines or free) I built my entire workout from this site, making sure I wasn't hitting a bodypart too hard, or not hitting one enough.

 

[Nathan Patrick]

With this particular machine, you do the stabalizing. This isn't like a standard machine bench press, because you have free range of motion. When I first used this machine and did chest presses machine my hands/arms were shaking. Now they don't shake nearly as much. Thanks for the link, I will check it out.

 

[Armando Zamora]

Brian,

thanks for the web link. Very informative.