Crossbow/Bowflex
- Thread starter Frank C
- Start date
The bowflex is a great tool to add to your workout. Just do the same exercises that you do with free weights (depending on the model, the bench models are the best IMO). You might try the book "the bowflex body plan" also. I've been using the BF Ultimate for the last 15 months with excellent gains in size and strength (had a gym membership the previous 8 yrs.). Any full body ruitine that you would do with free weights can be done on the BF. It also forces you to stabilize the resistance much like free weights and doesn't lock you into a single plane of motion like most machines do (you already know this if you've tried one).
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They are gaining popularity in gyms. I bought mine at a gym supply store in Grand Junction Colorado and the owner of the store (a bodybuilder) said he has been selling them to some gyms in that area because the body builders like to use them for a change in resistance without being locked into a specific plane of motion like they are on a machine. He said some of them had three or four set up in an area of the gym.
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LOL, no thanks. I'll stick to 100% real iron.
Using the dumbbells will give you control and balence so it will get more and more safe. If you use machines you'll never get that, you'll always be unstable.
You're confusing the BF with machines that lock you into a prescribed plane of motion, you do have to "balance" the weight. It took me a few weeks of using it to get to where I could keep stable using it. It's a shame that "ironheads" are somewhat like the Harley owners that think "it's the only real motorcycle". Have you tried a BF (or a Ducati)? How long did you use it for? Can you speak from the experience of using both free weights and the BF for years (I can)? Or did you just write it off because it's in an infommercial and anything in one of those can't possibly be worthwhile? Or is it that it's not real "manly" iron? There's more than one way to skin a cat and you're only depriving yourself if you totally write off everything else as worthless.
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LOL - my info comes from people with letters after their names, put it that way.
I only do exercises that mimic real life practical tasks to improve functional streangth. Check out my program - http://www.fitness.com/forum/journal/r-lewis-my-workout-programs-18895.html
I only do exercises that mimic real life practical tasks to improve functional streangth. Check out my program - http://www.fitness.com/forum/journal/r-lewis-my-workout-programs-18895.html
Have those guys used the bowflex LOL!? Look, in reality billions of people have gotten through life just fine without ever having lifted weights. I have no real reason to lift other than my health and sanity and in reality I would get through life just fine without the extra strength. Lots of us lift just to get stronger or bigger and some just to attract the women. And when we talk about "real world" weight, are we talking about the awkward refridgerator or couch without the nice chrome bar we use when lifting weights? If you want to get good at lifting real world objects or real world tasks, lift real world objects. When lifting weights we strive for perfect form, but when was the last time you had to lift something heavy in the real world that wasn't awkward and off balance and didn't have to be carried? Training like a strongman is the best for that (or working for a moving service). And I do the same exercises that anyone would do w/ free weights, I just use the BF. Here's my setup:
You cant do step ups - the box would get in the way of the cable.
How far away from the machine does the cable some out? You need 2 meters to do a good wood chopper.
I'm pretty sure you can't lunge as you'd be pulled back or forward (depending on which way you were facing.)
Bulgarian split squat? doubt it.
Also the bowflex costs the same price as 3 years membership at my gym. The bowflex does not have a swimming pool and a bunch of hot girls running around ether!
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The way you interject "LOL" into things is HILARIOUS.
But I digress.
I had a Bowflex for about a year and a half, and I traded it for an adjustable bench/rack apparatus. I found the Bowflex to be satisfactory, but ultimately not worth what it cost. I could do a lot of the things I could on say a cable machine, which was cool, but I felt The BF could not give me what I really wanted, which was what I precieve as real strength. Give me a set of dl's and power cleans over some woodchoppers and chest flies anyday. If I had The BF today, I would probably exhaust the resistance for any of the lifts that I now find to be superior.
You mentioned that you needed something safe for your family to work out on, and I agree with that. The BF is definately safer and more foolproof, I would say. My family used to use the BF only occasionally, but now that we have the freeweights, they pretty much stay away.
Yeah, like I said in the post on the other forum, there are pros and cons to both free weights and the bowflex. The squat pullys have enough length to do squats, deadlifts, curls,shoulder shrugs etc... . But there are lots of things you can't do w/ fw that you can do on the BF like cable crossovers, alternating lat pulls, cable crunches, rowing (using legs) and two things I discovered, you can simulate arm wrestling and you can do resisted bridges (pelvic lifts) . I messed up my back doing power cleans when I was younger and have a bulged disc as a result, and heck, my ceiling isn't high enough anyhow. I had to quit heavy compression exercises like squats and deadlifts last year because of that disc and use the pelvic lift and leg press to replace them as best I can. My gym didn't have a pool w/ the hot girls, but I do have a cummunity pool about fifty yards from my house (I had my mobile home placed here so I could throw a towel over my shoulder and jump right in!). I personlly do strength training and have gained a lot of strength on the BF. I do have the resistance pegged on leg press (I do the resisted bridges first to pre-exaust the quads, and they really work the hams, lower back and glutes) and shoulder shrugs but thats about it.
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Yeah, like I said in the post on the other forum, there are pros and cons to both free weights and the bowflex. The squat pullys have enough length to do squats, deadlifts, curls,shoulder shrugs etc... . But there are lots of things you can't do w/ fw that you can do on the BF like cable crossovers, alternating lat pulls, cable crunches, rowing (using legs) and two things I discovered, you can simulate arm wrestling and you can do resisted bridges (pelvic lifts) . I messed up my back doing power cleans when I was younger and have a bulged disc as a result, and heck, my ceiling isn't high enough anyhow. I had to quit heavy compression exercises like squats and deadlifts last year because of that disc and use the pelvic lift and leg press to replace them as best I can. My gym didn't have a pool w/ the hot girls, but I do have a cummunity pool about fifty yards from my house (I had my mobile home placed here so I could throw a towel over my shoulder and jump right in!). I personlly do strength training and have gained a lot of strength on the BF. I do have the resistance pegged on leg press (I do the resisted bridges first to pre-exaust the quads) and shoulder shrugs but thats about it.
Here's a pic of me from a few weeks ago (still need to drop about 10lbs, I put on some nasty weight after my accident and not being able to lift or get around for so long
) It does show you can gain mass and strength on the BF though:
Here's a pic of me from a few weeks ago (still need to drop about 10lbs, I put on some nasty weight after my accident and not being able to lift or get around for so long
) It does show you can gain mass and strength on the BF though:
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When did I ever say in any previous post that It's better than free weights? In fact in the post on the other forum I said that the BF and a set of powerblocks would be a perfect combination, never once saying it was better than fw, just "different". And I did do squats and deadlifts on it until I felt that I pressing my luck and might rupture that disc (I was having pain on both free weights and BF). I am getting older and that's the last thing I need. But I would still use it even if I didn't have a back problem. I also didn't say that I chose it because I was worried about injury, I bought it because I had the cash and after the accident I knew I would be stuck at home on disability for a long time and I needed to work out to retain my sanity, and because it allows me to do a great variety of exercises. You'll note that in all of my other posts on this forum I suggest people use free weights, and the only time I bring up the BF is when someone asks about it, like the guy who started this thread.
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