Bowflex Revolution Home Gym (Refurbished) Review

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(More customer reviews)This review may sound a little negative, but . .well, I'll explain. I do use this machine pretty regularly and enjoy working out on it. But it ain't cheap, and it ain't perfect, either, especially if you're a complete novice to weightlifting.

Over the years, I've worked out in gyms and I've worked out at home both with older Bowflex power-rod models and with this one. I'm about the furthest thing there is from a walking mile of muscle, but I try to at least maintain a basic fitness level. Overall, I prefer lifting in a gym with a friend as a spotter, for a lot of reasons -- working out with a friend helps educate you about proper lifting technique, the buddy system works as motivator, and many of the most efficient excercises for muscle gain -- deadlifts, military press, squats -- require either free weights or a dedicated Smith machine, and can't be performed on this machine.

But if you don't have any friends to lift with you and there aren't any gyms nearby, or if (like me) you simply don't have the time to make it to the gym regularly, you can get a decent workout with a bowflex system. I've had this machine for about three years now, and I use it fairly consistently (usually in six month on/ six month off cycles, as I watch my belly fat expand and retract). If you do choose to get a home gym system, this one is a good choice. It does let you fit a lot of exercises into a small space, and it's great for working out at home safely without a spotter -- essentially, it functions as a combination cable machine and adjustable-weight dumbbell set, with some qualifications (as noted below). You can do a lot of basic exercises on it -- incline and decline bench; leg presses, extensions, and curls; preacher curl, resisted crunches; chest and shoulder flies; it doubles effectively as a weighted rowing machine. Overall, you can hit pretty much any individual muscle group in the body with this thing.

As to durability and construction, this machine has also stood up reasonably well over time, despite several moves and long periods of daily use; the "power rods" on my old bowflex lost a fair bit of their elasticity over time, but the the resistance plates on this machine are (as far as I can tell) just as tough now as they were when I purchased the thing. You will probably need at least two people to put the thing together (unless you're fit enough already to make it redundant). You'll have to do some partial disassembly when moving it through a doorway, too -- the horizontal rod on which the plates fit sticks out too much to fit through a standard doorway -- but all that takes is ten minutes or so with the included allen wrenches (make sure to keep all the tools it ships with in a bag somewhere, so you can disassemble it later if you need to move). It does creak a little on some exercises, but overall the construction has held up pretty well (so far). [Edit: shortly after I wrote this review, i.e., after using the machine on and off for about three years, one of the plastic parts snapped while I was changing out plates. I contacted the company and was shipped a replacement part within the week, no charge or question, as it was still under warranty, but I'm not sure the refurbished models come with that warranty, so that's something to be aware of].

The main problem with this machine is that it's hard to hit groups of muscles at once, and that's the best way to build overall strength. You can't do squats or deadlifts on it or a number of other compound exercises -- they've got an isolation excercise for every muscle, but it's harder to do whole-body workouts on them. (You can *try* to mimic deadlift and press on it, but you end up straining at odd angles that beg for injury). I've had to buy a chin-up bar to do pullups, and I generally have to do dips between my kitchen counters. This is a problem for two reasons: isolation exercises are less time-efficient -- working out each body part separately takes a lot longer than working them together in compound exercises like deadlifts and presses -- and there's a second problem that shows up after you've been using this for a few months. If you don't plan your workout carefully, an unbalanced set of isolation exercises can overdevelop your strength in one area and underdevelop another, creating a potential risk of injury. To explain, I've strained my arms once or twice on this machine because I'd let my bench press get so far out in front of my chest fly that it became difficult to pull the strap handles in to position for the press. So you have to pay attention and plan your excercises carefully, for even muscular development. That's something you have to do with any workout plan, of course, and in some ways is a problem general to any machine-based exercise program, but you'll want to pay especial attention to it with the Bowflex machines.

The chief advantage of this "revolution' model over the more standard "power rod" bowflex model is that the "power rod" basic model has an additional flaw that's kinda hard to explain -- the tension on the rod increases slowly as you do each excercise, so if you pick, say, the two "fifty pound" rods, you're only getting 100 pounds of resistance at the peak of the curve, and a lot less at the start and finish. The Revolution solves that by using, basically, plastic plates filled with rubber bands, that you twist as you do the motion, providing constant resistance. Of the two, the "revolution" style machine is a lot closer to providing a "weight-like" workout, and the power rod model is a lot closer to total crap (but also a lot cheaper).

Finally, the "resistance plates" have an additional shortcoming: the smallest increment is five pounds per side. A lot of weight training programs (Starting Strength, etc.) try to have you increase resistance in five-pound increments from session to session -- so you need 2.5-lb weights to do that (2.5 on each side), and you can't do that with this machine. Again, you can compensate for it by just working out longer with lighter weights before making the ten-pound jump, but again, it's something you have to compensate for, and it could end up slowing down your training a bit relative to the rate of gain you'd have with free weights in a gym. I'd advise going to the gym with a partner first -- a knowledgeable friend or a personal trainer -- before buying this machine. It's the best way to learn exercises, learn how to structure your own workout plan, etc. If you don't know proper form, there's a fair chance all you'll do when you get the home gym machine is flail around for a while and try unsuccessfully to ape the guy in the videos, because you won't know what you're doing. Because this system lets you do so many different exercises, it's really easy to do silly or unbalanced workout programs on it, and even easier to do the right exercises in the wrong way (and doing things with improper form can get you injured, which generally derails newbie lifters). You can get this knowledge on your own if you're willing to put in the research time, but it's generally more effective to learn with a coach (just like it's better to learn a martial art from an instructor than from a DVD).

That said, the main thing is just working out consistently, every other day. If having a home gym system in your house (or spending over a grand on an excercise machine) means you'll work out more consistently, it might be worth getting. If you're not self-motivated to work out every day, I'd find a partner and go to the gym with him or her every other day instead.

If, on the other hand, despite all the caveats above, you like working out at home instead of in a gym (I do), you can get a decent workout on this machine. There are a lot of benefits to working out at home, too -- you don't have to compete for the machines, you can work out at any time at all, you can work out without having to find a lifting partner for safety, you don't have to waste time travelling to and from the gym, and so forth.

All in all -- if you're a novice to weightlifting, the best thing you can do is get a friend and go to the gym regularly together. If that isn't an option for whatever reason, or if you aren't a novice and/or know you would just prefer to work out at home, period; and if you're strongly self-motivated to work out regularly; then you can get a very good workout on this machine. You'll only get out what you put in, but if you have the dedication to consistently push yourself, you can get decent results with this thing.

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Product Description:
The Bowflex Revolution home gym is the smoothest, most versatile equipment we have ever designed. Over 100 exercises with up to 400 variations. Designed to work every major body zone, and support every workout routine, strength level and fitness goal. Patented SpiraFlex Resistance Technology duplicates the benefits of free weights. 220 lbs. of resistance standard (upgradeable to 300 lbs.) for upper body workouts. Up to 600 lbs. (with upgrade) of resistance for lower body workouts. Freedom Arms adjust 170-degrees to work muscles from various angles. Leg press station with a range and power unheard of in a home gym. Cardio Workout - Built-in rowing machine for calorie-burning, cardiovascular warm-up and cool-down. The space-efficient design easily fits in areas and rooms with normal ceiling heights. Comes complete with: Preacher Curl Attachment; 5 Position Foot Harness; Hand Grips; Leg Press Plate; Instructional Manual; DVD Workout Video.