I need a little help here. i have been a user of free weights and joger for the time of my life. Yesterday I saw the infomercial on the bow flex for the first time,a dn I was as I was supposed to be impressed with what I saw. I then went to the web site and saw that the machine will a lot of exercises, exercises that alone (well basicly alone a 30 month old and 7 month old just dont spot well) are just dangerous should something go wrong, and that furhter impressed me. Do any of you have one of these or know anything...thought and impressions and working knowlege would be great.

I had one for a couple of years and recently traded it in for free weights. The cables are nice for doing the kind of exercises you ordinarily can't do with free weights, but I didn't see as much progress. They are nice to have, but I'd save your money and stick to free weights. You can do just as well if not better with them. :)

I had one for a couple of years and recently traded it in for free weights. The cables are nice for doing the kind of exercises you ordinarily can't do with free weights, but I didn't see as much progress. They are nice to have, but I'd save your money and stick to free weights. You can do just as well if not better with them. :)
Yes but as i get older i get nervous about not having a spotter....i understand that work out is more areobic as well...I am not looking to pump up just toned.

Well, they *are* very good to do things if you don't have a spotter. I always have my hubby around when I work out, but if you're alone a Bowflex would be good for that. Let me know if you have any more questions!

I have a bowflex which I got this summer. For me it's ideal because as you said, you don't need a spot. There are only 2 real drawbacks where I'm concerned. Neither poses much of a problem to me, but you might like to be aware. First off the cables sometimes get in the way, though you learn to work around them. Secondly, while it does mimic free weights better than any universal machine I've used, due to the free range of movenent not allowed by most other universal machines, it is always pulling back towards the pullies rather than straight down as gravity does on free weights. All in all I would recommend it over free weights if you don't have someone to spot your workouts. With free weights if you have no spotter you can never really push your last set to exhaustion, on straight bar bench press for example without risking the bar crushing you, whereas with bowflex you definately can.

One other thing which doesn't affect the workout is that I don't feel that the indicated resistance is equal to free weights. I can bench 220 on the bowflex for 6 - 8 for my last set, but with free weights I don't know that I can do 200. That's just something to keep in mind if you do get it, but not - in my mind - a factor with regards to whether or not to get it.

d7

I agree- the resistance definitely isn't as strong on the bowflex as with free weights. Same is true with the negative resistance. Like D7 said, if you were doing bicep curls,for example, the cables really take away from the negative resistance. I didn't like that at all. :down:

hmmm, I haven't noticed that about the negative resistance. I think I just release slowly and very controlled so it really shouldn't affect the workout. But it's been a while now since I've worked with free weights so you just might be right.

I never really noticed too much either- until I started working with free weights again. You still get it, but I really think it diminishes it.