Many of my clients have asked me that question. They see the Bowflex infomercial and those hot Bowflex bodies on the models and wonder if they can look like this.
See, the real answer is that no home gym, no matter how well built or sophisticated, will give you the results you want. Unless you are willing to exercise and strive to get in shape. On the other hand, you don’t have to spend hours training. There are certain training protocols that will allow you to train for 5 to 7 minutes 3 to 4 times a week and get a full body workout. But I’ll delve into that later in this article.
Let’s get practical, okay – the Bowflex isn’t really that much different than any other home exercise or fitness equipment. If you train with it consistently, you will burn more body fat and accumulate more muscle size, muscle building machine. It doesn’t matter how much the infomercial or the marketing folks behind Bowflex want you to believe that. If you don’t exercise, you won’t get any results – end of story.
Now I know there are still some of you wondering if the Bowflex really works, and the question has more to do with the fact that it doesn’t use free weights to provide resistance. Bowflex uses what they call “Power Rods”. While this home exercise equipment seems strange, it can be a versatile gym equipment. Essentially it is a hybrid between cable machines and resistance bands. It does not use gravity or body weight for resistance, unlike traditional home fitness equipment, and this makes it unique.
The standard Bowflex muscle machine comes with resistance levels ranging from 5 pounds to 410 pounds.
Here are some questions my clients recently asked me about the Bowflex:
1. Does the Bowflex really work to burn body fat and get a body like those guys and girls from the infomercials?
Burning body fat is more of a diet thing, but a good strength training program will help you build up more muscle, which in turn burns more body fat.
2. Does the Bowflex really work in 20 minutes a day working only three days a week as advertised?
While it is possible to use isometric exercise to get a great workout in a short amount of time. To burn body fat you will need to supplement your strength training with a good diet and cardiovascular training. Cardio can be something as simple as riding a bike, taking a walk, or even jumping rope.
The Bowflex home gym is great fitness equipment, but it is way too expensive and there are other cheap home gyms or inexpensive exercise equipment that can give you the same or better results available on the market today.