You guys will be the death of me yet.

[DAPUNISHER]

I normally mountain bike, power kick, run, bball, that kind of thing, for my lower body. All this talk of squats made me add them. I have reiterated upon occasion, about my reluctance to join a gym, and I have a Soloflex that is 22yrs old now.

I use the Soloflex for Pull-ups, chin-ups, roman chair, incline sit-ups, and dips. I'm not a fan of the resistance bands, haven't used them in years for anything more than standing overhead press. the only other weight training I do is with an Olympic curl bar with a couple hundred lbs of plates, for obviously doing curls, French curls, and also bent over rows. I don't have my own dumb bells right now, and had to return the ones I was borrowing for months. So, I thought I'd try squats on the Soloflex.

I have been using 2x100lbs bands for warm up, then 4x100lbs bands for first work set, 4x100lbs+2x25lbs for the other 2-3 sets. There is simply no room for the 50lbs straps I have, the bars aren't long enough to accommodate the 2 100lbs + them on each side. This forces me to do more reps, but I bang them out fast so that the oxygen debt nails me hard. Its better than nothing, and will definitely gives a good HIIT and my quads and glutes take it fairly hard too.

Well, I am in the middle of a set with the "450lbs" <-----Who knows what that really means when BANG!!!! BAM!!!! BAM!!!! thudthud.. thud! and something slammed into the bar on my shoulders during this. I do a WTF!?! whipping around as best I can, and the bands are all over. I look around more and find this-

PIC 1

PIC 2

It measured 6/10th of an inch in diameter where it snapped.I guess I know the fatigue life of that 2 piece band attachment bar now. I don't like to think what it would have done if it hit me instead of the bar either.

If those pics don't show for you, I'll try the official AT pics host, I think I still have an account there.

 

[GenHoth]

Epic!

 

[skace]

Can't look at pics from work, so these bands (are they like cables?) snapped?! Wow, that sounds dangerous.

"I don't have my own dumb bells right now, and had to return the ones I was borrowing for months. So, I thought I'd try squats on the Soloflex."

Time to go get your own, they don't cost much

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: skace
Can't look at pics from work, so these bands (are they like cables?) snapped?! Wow, that sounds dangerous.

"I don't have my own dumb bells right now, and had to return the ones I was borrowing for months. So, I thought I'd try squats on the Soloflex."

Time to go get your own, they don't cost much

It was actually the high carbon steel bolt that snapped, I am writing up a e-mail to Soloflex including pics, to see what kind of feedback they offer. One of my questions, is if they have ever had a customer experience this. I imagine they won't disclose any info, particularly to the affirmative, for legal reasons.

It shipped with 400lbs in bands, you can't use all at once, so I picked up 2 100lbs bands after market that didn't ship with it, perhaps I exceeded the load capacity? Or the metal is just old, brittle, and fatigued, was the cause?

As to dumb bells, I am actually considering the iron pit down the road, or buying a cage, Olympic style barbell, so I can use my present plates, and more plates. But I want to see what Soloflex has to say first.

 

[scott916]

Wow, my pops has a Soloflex and I've always been much more leery of the bands. I'll be interested to see what you find out.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: scott916
Wow, my pops has a Soloflex and I've always been much more leery of the bands. I'll be interested to see what you find out.

Well, I ended up calling, the e-mail was rejected because of the attachments. The response was "The parts will suffer wear and tear over the course of years." No kidding?

I was able to get an answer about the maximum load ratings, and it was listed as 400lbs of straps and 500lbs of free weights. No way I would trust this thing with the free weight extension bars and even half that much weight. I only see up to 10lbs plates on their site too, so you couldn't get any where near that much on there unless one of the standard sizes for barbells fits properly.

As to the bands, I doubt they will just snap, but inspecting them for cracks and splits once in a while would be prudent. BTW, how long has your dad had his?