Bowflex Tips

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I got the Ultimate 2 about 3 weeks ago and I am extremely impressed with it so far. I thought that learning the movements would be difficult but I was feeling the burn almost immediately.

If you have ever been to a gym in your life, you will find that the movements are basically the same with minor adjustments. Some specific differences are the way that the Ultimate 2 incorporates bench press. The machine’s bench only comes at an incline. In order to work different parts of the chest, you have to angle your arms differently to target the specific areas. For example, you have to push your arms straight out in order to work the middle of your chest. To work the upper portions of your chest, you have to angle your arms up slightly and to work the lower part of the chest, you have to angle your arms slightly lower. All of these small adjustments are explained very well in the manual. I found the best way to learn the movements is to place low resistance on the rods and try the exercise. It may take a few workouts to get it exactly right, but it shouldn’t take too long. The included DVD also has a guy explain each exercise as well as another guy performing the exercise.

As far as the resistance rods go…it does take a few workouts to get used to the resistance. I’ll explain the operation of the rods quickly. The rods are attached to the back of the machine and the resistance is delivered through a series of pulleys and cables. The Ultimate 2 comes with 310lbs. of resistance total. The weight is separated by have rods of different weight. Each side has one 5lb. rod, two 10 lb. rods, one 30 lb. rod, and two 50 lb. rods. you get the weight by doing some simple math and adding rods to the main pulley hook in the back of the machine. The way the rods work is by bending. It takes roughly 5 lbs of force to bend the 5 lb rod for example. This does lead to one of the complaints about the Bowflex series, the rod only delivers the full resistance at it’s maximum bend, or in terms of an exercise, at the end of a movement. For instance, you get the most weight with your arms fully extended on the bench press. The difference between the Bowflex and free weights is that with free weights you get the same weight throughout the exercise. I think that a common mistake of Bowflex users is putting too much resistance on the pulleys in an attempt to get more weight throughout the exercise. This action leads to the shakey resistance I have heard others complain about. I have not experienced the shakey resistance in any of my workouts. It is also important to maintain proper form and to do each movement at a medium pace. I find that my workouts are about an hour long but I could easily get them down to the 20 min. they hype on TV. The Bowflex workout is more of a circuit full body workout anyway, which I am not doing.

The warranty on the Bowflex is 13 years and it covers all of the cables, pulleys, grips, attachments, and clips. The rods have a separate warranty which is lifetime. I did some research on other products and most of them provide a lifetime warranty on the entire machine. Some in the warranty aspect, the Bowflex seems to be lacking the total lifetime deal.

I think the worse thing about the machine is the time required to assemble. The instructions are well written, but I needed more tools than what was provided. From start to finish, it took me about 8 hours to put the thing together. The machine also comes in 15 boxes. I think the boxes should have an individual packing list and the assembly instructions should say something like, “For step 1, refer to the contents of box 4.” I also wish they provided a “D-clip” for each strap, it would speed up the workouts. The “D-clip” is the way you attach the hand grips to the cables to do exercises.

Because I referred to the manual several times in this review, I’ll briefly highlight some of it’s contents. The manual includes descriptions of all the exercises along with some pictures. It is a good “during-workout” guide. The DVD provides better explanations. The manual also provides some different workout ideas and programs. The programs are: circuit training(which targets the whole body each workout), body building(high weight targeted at one body part per workout), strength training(increasing strength by increasing weight for each set during a workout), and cardio(works the heart…weight loss). It is good for someone just starting out who needs some help trying to decide what workout program they want to use. The manual also provides a diet plan with meals and daily calorie intake.

Overall, the Ultimate 2 is a great piece of equipment to get your home gym going. It looks great and is well constructed. The drawbacks of the machine are easily overcome by the benefits.

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