Quote:
Originally Posted by CDSmith
I've thought about getting bowflex. I did the gym thing for many many years through the late 70's, 80's and into the mid to late 90's even.
I used to see commercials for the Weider "Crossbow", that looked like a badass machine too... but I don't see it being advertised any more. Anyone have an opinion on it or know about it? It looked to be superior in a lot of ways to the bowflex, and was better-priced as well.
As for breaking the bowflex, they are well-made. I don't see anyone breaking one, and their weight resistance can go quite high, up over 400 lbs in fact.
|
I've had a crossbow for about 5 years and I just broke the damn thing. Was doing an incline bench press and the backrest damn near folded in half. It's great for getting a full workout without the worry of working with free weights without a spotter, but I don't like the resistance curve on it. It gets harder the further into the exercise you go, so your muscles only get the real workout on the last half of the movement.
Another downside is the bars/bows wear out over time and get easier to bend. Never had a problem with my free weights getting lighter over time. They also seem to be quite sensitive to temperature changes getting much easier to bend the warmer it is. I've kept it so I can continue doing the exercises I'm not comfortable doing with free weights when alone, but my next machine will definitely be weight based.