Bowflex Max Trainer: any owners here?

[James Burke]

Still holding on to my New Year's resolution from two years ago and I'm ready to take it to the next level. I do a lot of walking outdoors during the nicer weather but now that winter weather is looming ever near, I want to stay consistent with my daily regimen.

I've had my eye on a couple of elliptical trainers but I'm also considering the Bowflex Max trainer. It isn't really an elliptical but it is similar.

I was just wondering if anybody here had the Bowflex Max, and if so, what are your thoughts.



Thanks,

JB

 

[OldPaint]

dont buy NEW........ look around ebay, craiglist......be suprised how many have bought expensive equipment and it becomes a clothes rack)))) wife has a electric treed mill, NEW it was $1000 or better, she got it for $200. i have a muscle disease and need to work my quads in my thighs.......went to physical therapy few times and they put me on a machine.........i could sit, with my back on a vertical padded section i could push my back against and then push up with my thighs.......looking thru craigslist one day i ran across a PILTA MACHINE. now this thing NEW IS OVER $800.00!!!! i got it for $100. its made to be used horizontal, but i just sat it up VERTICALLY, in my garage......and at a slight angle i can lean all my weight on it and then push up with my thighs......and when my lags get to where i cant i sit on a seat....
and here it is on amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Stamina-Aero..._3?_encoding=UTF8&refRID=GZ2Z5S1ES59WBB8YCTXC

 

[WildWestDesigns]

When I saw this post, I made sure to snap a picture later on today at my dad's home gym to show a portion of it, when I went to check in on them today. This is his "hobby" for sure. In general, this stuff helps stretch out your life be a few more years, but improves the quality of your life far greater.

As to the Bowflex (or any equipment you are looking at), what is your specific goal?

I do seem to recall (no pun intended) that there have been quite a few recalls with Bowflex equipment, but I could be remembering wrong.

 

[James Burke]

When I saw this post, I made sure to snap a picture later on today at my dad's home gym to show a portion of it, when I went to check in on them today. This is his "hobby" for sure.

I am in awe! That is the coolest home gym I've ever seen.

In general, this stuff helps stretch out your life be a few more years, but improves the quality of your life far greater.

Longevity is just a fringe benefit. It's the quality of life I'm after, for sure. My mom passed away this past week and it's been a wild ride these past 10 months. Two of the residents at her assisted care home were ten and twenty years her senior, and they could practically prance around the home like spring fawns. Sadly, mom never kept moving after a knee replacement, and then it all went downhill from there.

So, in a nutshell, keeping fit physically AND mentally can deliver some very big payoffs later in life. And even in the event of a potentially serious illness, it surely helps to have that advantage.

...what is your specific goal?

Right now, I'm in need of getting something set up for cardio workouts when I can't get outdoors and do my normal walking routine due to bad weather. The local college has an indoor track that is open to the community for walking. And while that is awesome, I'd like something I can do here at home without disrupting my schedule (btw...I work from home).

The Bowflex Max trainer looks like it might be more practical and comfortable (for me) than an elliptical. I'm only 5'4" and it seems that all the ellipticals I've tried feel too awkward with their long range of handle motion. I'm not set entirely on Bowflex, so if somebody else makes something similar, I'd surely consider it.

As stated above, I've been sticking to my New Year's resolution I made two years ago with weight loss and getting back into shape. In the past, our fitness equipment has been the proverbial clothes rack, but now that I'm 50, all that has changed. Instead of running to the doctor for some pills for arthritis and a few other maladies, I began to make some serious changes with eating habits and activity levels.

My "old man's" gym, as I call it, has been a wonderful. I basically focus on cardio, strength/endurance training, and range of motion training. My daughter has blessed me with three awesome little grandsons that are 27 months old and younger (seriously...and there are no twins, either!) and I plan on being able to wrestle on the floor with them as they get older...so that's why I'm trying to get a head start on them!

Yep...I've been scouring Craigslist and eBay for the goods.


Thanks,

JB

 

[WildWestDesigns]

If you are trying to keep with weight loss, you might want to add in some light to moderate weights as well. Not just aerobic workouts. Muscle mass helps burn fat even at rest compared to aerobics alone.

As far as aerobic goes, might take a look at the Arc Trainer from Cybex. That's what my parents have and they really like it. I like the Precor stair stepper as well, but depending on body type, stair steppers aren't the best.

 

[James Burke]

If you are trying to keep with weight loss, you might want to add in some light to moderate weights as well. As far as aerobic goes, might take a look at the Arc Trainer from Cybex. That's what my parents have and they really like it. I like the Precor stair stepper as well, but depending on body type, stair steppers aren't the best.

Yep...I've already put together a nice set of plate-loaded weight equipment. And besides increasing strength, resistance (weight) training helps to increase bone density as well.

I like the Precor stair stepper as well, but depending on body type, stair steppers aren't the best.

There appears to be ton of Precor and other high-end stuff on Craigslist in my area. It looks like I have my homework cut out for next week.


Thanks again,

JB

 

[bob]

... In general, this stuff helps stretch out your life be a few more years, but improves the quality of your life far greater...

Unknowable. Especially the former.

Attempts to predict an alternate future, one that would have transpired had you but done this or that, are not only futile they are fallacious.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Unknowable. Especially the former.

Attempts to predict an alternate future, one that would have transpired had you but done this or that, are not only futile they are fallacious.

"bob" considering my education is in hard science, there is enough "evidence" ("evidence" in terms of the scientific method anyway) to support that exercise (and proper nutrition) extend the quality of people's lives compared to if they did absolutely nothing. If you do bad nutrition, zero to no exercise, imagine what they can cause your vital organs? Health problems etc that can lead to an early death?

Sure genetics can override a portion of that as well, rather it's good or bad genetics.

Like any other "machine", our bodies will degrade if we don't keep up with things. Pure and simple. Eventually, no matter how well we keep up with things, we do just expire, but I would rather expire being as mobile as I can be versus bed ridden like my grandmother that just died last year at 101 (almost 102). She was wanting to die for a very long time as well. Some gene in her was like the energizer bunny though and she just kept going and going and going.

She would have been the poster child for KFC and long life.

 

[OldPaint]

the point bob is masking is no matter what science says.......i have know to many people(me for 1) who ate & exercised to the max..........in ther 30-50's and wind up up with medical problems totally unrelated to doing all to live longer. we were vegetarians from the late 80's........did TAI CHI for 5 years with the same sensa. studied chinese medicine, in that same time and had it all working well.
we continued the TAI CHI AND VEGGIE life stlyle in to the 21st century. I WILL SAY......... that doing this in the 80's, without it, i wouldnt be here today. 1st thing to happen that i never thought would......i got BLADDER CANCER 2004 diagnosed. stage 1, which is good and had 1 surgery, got rid of it for 16 months. THEN IT STARTED.........every 4 months iam having a surgery to remove tumors in my bladder. now doing this will wear you down. i fought it till 2009 and have been cancer free since. in the same period of time(while doing the sugeries)i noticed my strength in my arms and walking was getting harder and short distances before i had to sit. it took another couple years to get it diagnosed and turns out i have INCLUSIVE BODY MYOCITIS. was mis-diagnosed with lupus at 1st......and since 2012.....have been taking drugs for it. it is a RARE DISEASE, INCURABLE, can be held in remission, so more muscle isnt lost, but can not rebuild muscle that has been lost. iam the guy who you called when you wanted a refrigerator, car or car engine moved!!!!! now opening a 1/2 gallon of milk takes all my effort, let alone i need both hands to pick it up. and am 71.......age would have a little something to do with it))))))
another story for ya, iam VA patient. we had a doctor at the clinic i had spoke to him a few times he did the X-RAYS and was bout 35-45 6 ft + 170-180 pound, ran couple miles every morning, didnt smoke. came to work one day at the VA was walking in to the XRAY room, grabbed his chest, and that was it.................with all the doctors in the place, he was gone.......

 

[WildWestDesigns]

the point bob is masking is no matter what science says.......i have know to many people(me for 1) who ate & exercised to the max..........in ther 30-50's and wind up up with medical problems totally unrelated to doing all to live longer.

I knew a kid back in college that was my age. Had a heart attack when he was 20. Good friend of mine. Health nut to the nth degree.

My grandfather, found out about a bad heart, given just a few yrs to live. Mom was a little girl. Did exercise to strength the heart that he could. Lived to see me turn 13, before it got him (27 yrs after he was told about his heart issue).

Dad had cancer 8 yrs ago. Cemo, the works. Been a health nut his entirely life (the "hobby gym" should be a testament to that). They said for his age, they didn't want him to go back to working out (and then lightly) for about a year. He was back at it 4 months later. They attributed it to his already been in great shape when he started treatments, that helped with the bounce back.

Genetics plays a part and it's a big wild card. Not much anyone can do about that.

Depending on how good or how bad your genetics, doing exercise and nutrition can help out tremendously or a little bump up.

I'm not trying to downplay the wild card that is genetics, but how I'm reading "bob"'s comment (and it could be wrong, just how I'm reading it now) , it's almost why bother trying to maximize your chances? Still might get the bad end of the stick. Have to die of something, so why bother? That is what doesn't quite sit right with me.

 

[GAC05]

Good luck with this.
Be careful if you go with the Bow Flex - I think Harry Reid had an eye on one of those too......


wayne k
guam usa

 

[James Burke]

Well....

I stumbled onto a first-generation Bowflex tread climber this afternoon (TC-5 manually operated with no motor). They paid over $1,100 for it two years ago and only want $200, but it's just like new since they had health issues and could not continue using it.

It's extremely bare bones compared to what Bowflex currently offers. Mechanically, it is built better than the newer models (as is most anything, as they continue to cheapen the manufacture to keep competitive).

The newer models utilize gas shocks that raise and lower the treadles but this one uses a dependency linkage and some beefy-looking pillow block bearings. I'm not at all enamored by the sexy looks of their newer stuff. All I want is a arse kickin' workout whenever I can't get outdoors.

Thanks all...


JB

 

[bob]

"bob" considering my education is in hard science, there is enough "evidence" ("evidence" in terms of the scientific method anyway) to support that exercise (and proper nutrition) extend the quality of people's lives compared to if they did absolutely nothing. If you do bad nutrition, zero to no exercise, imagine what they can cause your vital organs? Health problems etc that can lead to an early death?...

Ok, let's do science. Your hypothesis is that exercise can extend the quality and perhaps the quantity of someone's life. Please describe your critical experiment.

If they didn't cove this in all of that hard science, perhaps a brief review: A critical experiment is one is capable of confirming an hypothesis and, at the same time, must be capable of disproving it. It must be predictive not descriptive. And, revisiting the notion of 'disproof', all it takes to disprove an hypothesis is one, as in one, counterexample. For example see the classic Michelson–Morley experiment in, I believe, 1897.

While typical statistical data might imply something is going on it does not serve to confirm such.

The dilemma here is how can something be predictive when the future is well nigh unknowable? The answer, unsatisfying as it might be, is the notion of 'law like statements'. When an hypothesis is confirmed to the point that denying it would be perverse, then it may enter the ranks of 'law like statements'. Right up there with the various physical laws under which the external reality seems to labor.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Doctors in Finland had done a study from nearly 16k same sex twins.

All participants were healthy when it began in 1975.

Bare in mind these were twins. That's about as good as controlling the genetic variable as one can get.

This study was conducted over a 20 yr time period

More the 30 min exercise, at least 6 times a month were classified as conditioning exercises (brisk walking)

Those that exercised less were considered occasional exercisers

Those that did nothing were considered sedentary

Within that 20 yrs, 1,253 died. Even considering other risk factors, the conclusion was that exercise was proved strongly protective, reducing death rate of conditioning exercises by 43% and occasional exercisers by 29%

Twins who exercised regularly were 56% less likely to die during the periods then their sedentary siblings. Those that occasionally exercised had a 39% lower death rate then their sedentary twin.

Harvard had a health newsletter that covered the health effects of exercise, they reference that study as well as others.


They had also referenced a randomized clinical trial of cardiac rehabilitation to see if walking can help with those that already have heart disease. It goes own to say meta-analysis of 48 trials in 8,946 patients showed that moderate exercise -typically walking or riding a stationary bicycle for 30 minutes 3 times a week - produced a 26% reduction in the risk of death from heart disease and a 20% reduction in the overall death rate.

Now I don't know the specifics on that one, so I'm inclined to say anecdotal without knowing more about what went on with it, just an interesting read none the less.

Ok, let's do science. Your hypothesis is that exercise can extend the quality and perhaps the quantity of someone's life. Please describe your critical experiment.

If they didn't cove this in all of that hard science, perhaps a brief review: A critical experiment is one is capable of confirming an hypothesis and, at the same time, must be capable of disproving it. It must be predictive not descriptive. And, revisiting the notion of 'disproof', all it takes to disprove an hypothesis is one, as in one, counterexample. For example see the classic Michelson–Morley experiment in, I believe, 1897.

You forgot one important aspect. Repeatability. It must be able to be replicated. If it can't be replicated, even if it technically may be true, it fails on that alone.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

This is interesting.

I have always been one against cyclist cycling in heavy vehicular areas. Due to the free radicals that are present and the cyclist being at VO2 max.

However, there was a study by CEDAR that said that there is only 1% of cities in the World Health Organization's Ambient Air Pollution Database that had pollution levels high enough to negate those health benefits.

Interesting.

 

[Gino]

I don't think whether you exercise, eat healthy or have good genetics is gonna make you live longer or not. It might play a part, but as bob has said, it's not at all accurate. I do light exercise, am still fairly active while not at work and eat relatively.... what I think to be healthy. I am not particularly trying to extend my life cycle, but rather make it as good a one as I can with what I know for as long as I'm around. I have some health issues, but I work around them. For the most part, other than getting old, I still don't feel old. That's my goal, just to have a quality life as long as I can. I want my independence and not be on a whole lotta meds or be a bother to anyone else. When I go, I want it to be.... zippididoodah. Then again, I don't believe a lotta of these studies or experiments. They're all tainted to meet someone's/some company's needs..... monetarily. That's what runs the show.

 

[bannertime]

I was in the peak shape of my life. 24 years old, in the Army, running a comfortable 12 minute two mile, 250 push ups/situps a day, and eating healty, but diagnosed with hypertension. Doctors told me my heart could explode if I ran too hard. Had me taking 19 pills a day(multiple of the same ones). I've since gotten out and simply eat "healthy-ish." Most of those health problems are gone...at least they don't endanger my life now.

For me, simply being active in my work and watching my sugar/sodium intake has helped me. Striving to be the fittest person nearly killed me and gave me bad knees.

That being said, if I had a Bowflex given to me, I'd probably use it. Working out hard may have hurt me then, but not exercising now will hurt more when I want to retire and travel the world. I'll live as long as I'm intended to live. However, I still gotta do your part to make it til the end. You can't expect to sit in a chair and live to be 90.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I was in the peak shape of my life. 24 years old, in the Army, running a comfortable 12 minute two mile, 250 push ups/situps a day, and eating healty, but diagnosed with hypertension. Doctors told me my heart could explode if I ran too hard. Striving to be the fittest person nearly killed me and gave me bad knees.

Most people nowadays say that running is bad for you.

If nothing else, the joints aren't designed to sustain that much concussive force all the time in a sustained activity.

 

[petepaz]

with all that said....
i would see if there is a local store that sells the bowflex unit you are looking at so you can give it a whirl. make sure it works for you, give it a test drive. then go online and try and find a used one. save you a tone of money.. i owned a gym, i was a physical trainer and certified masseuse. i don't claim to know everything but i do know when it comes to exercise equipment no need to buy new when so many people have given up and you can buy their new stuff at used prices. also every piece of equipment is different and people are different don't go buy it till you try it

exercise is what you make of it. unless you have some sort of health issue preventing you from doing it you are better off by doing it. keeping your body moving is healthy. pumps the blood, lubes the joints and try to eat healthy. you don't have to go nuts but everything in moderation. think of your body as a car or one of your printers for that matter. if it just sits and doesn't get used regularly it will fail. parts will seize or clog. and if you don't care for it with the proper maintenance it will also fail. you can never guarantee you will live longer but it won't hurt.
also like Gino said it may just make your life how ever long it may be more comfortable. i say as long as i can move around (relatively pain free), feed my self and i'm not ******** my pants then i am a happy camper.

 

[Tim Aucoin]

We have this one at home. Don't use it as much as we should... but it does get used. One thing I will say about Bowflex is the their customer service is excellent. We had a belt slip on this (while within the two year warranty), and they sent out a brand new belt and provided detailed instructions on how to replace it. Now, I could also have had them send in a tech to do the job, but it was not so bad doing it myself. If I had to find a negative about it... it does get a little noisy as it is broken in. It is a good work out for sure!