Actually most independant magazine reviews of the bowflex praise it as working your stabilizer muscles. Many people cheat on free weights by doing the old "jerk and lift" routine which avoids working the stabilizer muscles the way they should be worked.
Actually most independant magazine reviews of the bowflex praise it as working your stabilizer muscles. Many people cheat on free weights by doing the old "jerk and lift" routine which avoids working the stabilizer muscles the way they should be worked.
actually goober, i believe the BF also makes u use your stabilizer muscles. someone correct me if i'm wrong 
Actually they were never real cheap. Bowflex was owned by Schwinn when I first encountered them in 92 while working in a bicycle shop that sold Schwinn. The cheapest one back then was $799 and they only had two models.
RossMAN
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I got the lat pulldown and leg extension attachments.. I think mine came to $1399 and they threw in 2 extra 50lb power rods (not that I will be pushing that kind of weight any time soon).
Free weights do not suck. They are better than any other conventional machine, as you're not limited to a single movement in one given direction. And as for the discipline/weak arm, i think i'll go off on a limb here and say that you didn't work your way up from the lighter weights. You can't start with heavy weights and expect both your arms to put out enough force to push them efficiently and effectively.
And this reminds me of what is done with free weights as well.... Nothing new btw.
Actually I agree with him. I injured my shoulder in high school and ever since then my right arm has been stronger than my left. With free weights I have always had a hard time working both arms. With my BF this is not a problem.
<<Free weights do not suck. They are better than any other conventional machine, as you're not limited to a single movement in one given direction. And as for the discipline/weak arm, i think i'll go off on a limb here and say that you didn't work your way up from the lighter weights. You can't start with heavy weights and expect both your arms to put out enough force to push them efficiently and effectively. >>
Free weights do suck in a sense that it takes a lot of commitment and discipline. If you're able to have discipline then free weights are really good but the average joes are not disciplined. As for working light then going up to even the arms, it still doesn't work too well. Your right arm will still take over. I've tried it and plus others have told me to just go ahead and lift normally because the weaker hand will gradually catch up. This hasn't happened. I'm already feeling more soreness and burn isolating the arms doing bench press with the bowflex (in 2 days) than the whole summer last year doing free weights.
BTW gunfighter you still haven't told me what routine u like to do and advice on what workout i should do to get good upper body mass
Free weights do suck in a sense that it takes a lot of commitment and discipline. If you're able to have discipline then free weights are really good but the average joes are not disciplined. As for working light then going up to even the arms, it still doesn't work too well. Your right arm will still take over. I've tried it and plus others have told me to just go ahead and lift normally because the weaker hand will gradually catch up. This hasn't happened. I'm already feeling more soreness and burn isolating the arms doing bench press with the bowflex (in 2 days) than the whole summer last year doing free weights.
BTW gunfighter you still haven't told me what routine u like to do and advice on what workout i should do to get good upper body mass
Here's the routine I am doing right now... I'm more interested in toning up than in bulking up (I'm 6 foot tall and weigh 190 lbs so adding mass isn't a priority).
3 sets bench press
2 sets chest fly
3 sets shoulder press
3 sets lat pull (with lat rack)
3 sets of ab crunches
3 sets of seated row
3 sets of arm curls
2 sets of leg lifts
2 sets of leg curls
2 sets of squats.
I then supplement this with the occassional jog for cardio and some extra ab excersizes.
3 sets bench press
2 sets chest fly
3 sets shoulder press
3 sets lat pull (with lat rack)
3 sets of ab crunches
3 sets of seated row
3 sets of arm curls
2 sets of leg lifts
2 sets of leg curls
2 sets of squats.
I then supplement this with the occassional jog for cardio and some extra ab excersizes.
basically some of the leanest, ripped, and strongest people I know exclusively do pushup and pullups I think that is all one needs.
The problem today is people who want results fast but aren't willing to work for it. I bet half of you out there also subscribe (or regularly read) muscle magazines, buy crap loads of supplements, etc. If you want to work out and get really ripped, you gotta accept a few things: 1) it isn't going to come easy; it's going to require a lifestyle change, 2) machines and free weights both have their place, but professional body builders and power lifters almost exclusively use free weights for their primary training (there are a few exceptions though--lat pull down machines, leg machines, etc), 3) real body building isn't a little hobby you can pick up on the side and become good at over night.
Bowflex seems like a pretty cool machine, but I gotta say that a real bodybuilder would spend half or a quarter of that, buy some free weights, some benches, and set up a nice home gym. For $500 I was able to get a sweet decline/flat/incline/military bench, a 300 lb olympic weight set with 7' olympic 45 lb bar, power tower (for pullups/dips), curl bar, and a couple dumbells. This is enough to work out virtually every upper body muscle and some lower body muscles as well.
If you want a good source for weightlifting info, check out Arnold Scwarzenegger's book -- the modern encyclopedia of body building (or something like that). It's got advice from a lot of Mr. Olympia competitors and winners. If you don't know what Mr. Olympia is, and, you're reading this thread, you sicken me
Bowflex seems like a pretty cool machine, but I gotta say that a real bodybuilder would spend half or a quarter of that, buy some free weights, some benches, and set up a nice home gym. For $500 I was able to get a sweet decline/flat/incline/military bench, a 300 lb olympic weight set with 7' olympic 45 lb bar, power tower (for pullups/dips), curl bar, and a couple dumbells. This is enough to work out virtually every upper body muscle and some lower body muscles as well.
If you want a good source for weightlifting info, check out Arnold Scwarzenegger's book -- the modern encyclopedia of body building (or something like that). It's got advice from a lot of Mr. Olympia competitors and winners. If you don't know what Mr. Olympia is, and, you're reading this thread, you sicken me
Hey Sigurd. Isn't Olympia a crappy beer? Is Mr. Olympia the guy who can drink the most?
I agree with you on building. Everyone I have known that seriously used a Bowflex did it more for mild building and toning which is why I want one. My main hobby is cycling and tacking on 50 punds of upper body mass is useless whether it is muscle or fat.
I agree with you on building. Everyone I have known that seriously used a Bowflex did it more for mild building and toning which is why I want one. My main hobby is cycling and tacking on 50 punds of upper body mass is useless whether it is muscle or fat.
To me, the main attraction of getting a bowflex would be the space savings. Unless you've got a fairly large place, a complete set of machines just takes up way too much room. I lived with one of my friends for a year, and his place was pretty big, so we had the following:
Treadmill
Benchset
pull-down thing (sorry, I never bothered to learn the names... just did the exercises. It worked your shoulders though. )
leg-curl thing
dip-thing that you could also do hanging ab exercises from
dumbell set
All this stuff fit in a side area between his living room and kitchen. At the place I'm at now, there's no way we'd fit all that stuff into our place. Well, if we got rid of the TV, couches and dining room table, it might work.
Treadmill
Benchset
pull-down thing (sorry, I never bothered to learn the names... just did the exercises.
It worked your shoulders though. )leg-curl thing
dip-thing that you could also do hanging ab exercises from
dumbell set
All this stuff fit in a side area between his living room and kitchen. At the place I'm at now, there's no way we'd fit all that stuff into our place. Well, if we got rid of the TV, couches and dining room table, it might work.
For those of you that have ordered a bowflex... did it really take you 5-6 weeks to get it? I'm not a patient man so if I order something online I expect it to get here within 5-7 days at the most...
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