At Last...a Bowflex Home Gym

After much time, research and contemplation :-$ (there goes my new lens), I finally decided to get a Bowflex and I got this Xtreme model although not their top of the line Xtreme model. What I like with the Xtreme XTLU as this is called is the small footprint. I believe that compared to the other models, this has the smallest base and I only need a 6'x8' area to work out. Not bad indeed.

I was deciding which kind of home gym to get, whether it's the Gold's gym or Weider Pro brand which has stacked weights and relatively larger than the Xtreme or just some free weights and a bench. Well, I considered safety a lot and even though I was used to using free weights so many years and pounds ago, I just don't want to gamble with it especially when exercising alone. The logical choice was then a 'power rod resistance type' of machine.

Anyway, the Bowflex was delivered Thursday and was packed in 7 boxes of assorted sizes and weights. Two boxes were really banged up and I'm not exaggerating. Thanks to UPS! Even the Styrofoam inside after opening it was reduced to bits and pieces. Fortunately, the Bowflex parts were all intact except for the plastic base that contains the power rods which has a chip. Not worth having it exchanged besides after assembling it, that part was covered up.

Missy's game face!

Assembly took about three hours but I did it all myself without any rush. That was my first workout. I was careful not to make a mistake lest I have to repeat some sub-assembles due to carelessness. The bolts alone were of different lengths and diameters. The same with the washers. There was just one caveat, there was a missing bolt of a particular size which I decided I'll just get from Home Depot. Not a big deal. One component of an assembly was installed the wrong way but it was not hard to figure out so I just reversed it. Man, American manufacturers should really learn poka-yoke (error-proofing) from the Japanese. That's why they're so much ahead in manufacturing capabilities and has almost negligible rejection rate but that's another story.

Anyway, do I need one? You bet I do. So far with diet and exercise which I started to do religiously (again!) since 2nd week of September, I've already lost 50 lbs. The only exercise machine I use was our Pro-Form stationary bike which I got probably 8 years ago and became a sort of ugly house decor and sometimes hanger rack. I'm at the point I need a machine to tone the muscles so to speak. Not to bulk up but more on conditioning and strengthening. I tried the Bowflex before in one of the Sears stores and I immediately liked it. After testing it again since I still have to make my own program, I realized this was a great buy and will certainly work to get the results I wanted considering every required variable is met.

The machine itself can be used to perform at least 65 exercises. The one I got included the leg extension assembly and the optional 310 lb. upgrade. Basic is only 210 lbs. of power rod resistance and can be upgraded up to 410 lbs. The good news is that I got this for about 50% off the retail price of Amazon.com with the upgrades and that included the shipping fee through one of Ebay's merchants. The kids seemed to like it too.

David is too serious here.