bowflex?

has anyone had success with a bowflex? my brother wants to buy one and i was wondering if its a good idea?

~B

It is a good quality machine, because of that and its name you will pay a little more than say if oyu buy another machien that does esentially the same thing.  But then again there is a reason why the company can charge more for their product that esentially delivers the same.

I do not recommend it, It is overpriced and underpreforms. Best option is to find a reasonably priced local gym with free weights and a workout partner.

I own a bowflex and yes they are a bit over priced, however they come with a lifetime warranty for their resistance rods. I was lucky to have a 200 dollar off coupon for the bowflex i got. I have the xtreme which is around 900 dollars, so i was lucky to get it at 700.

As far as performance, I believe you can achieve what you want to achieve on it. Its a very sturdy piece of machinery. If your local gym is making you pay too much for being a member (like mine, i believe its something like 150 for registration + 40 dollars a month untill you turn 18+ then its 60 a month) then a bowflex would be a pretty good deal.
Shop around for them, and you will find a good price.

I dont know which bowflex machine you are interested in, but I purchased a bowflex treadclimber for about 1500 a few months ago and I absolutely love it.  Its a very intense hard cardio workout and has lifted my booty immensley.  It was overpriced yes, but I tend to keep my equipment for years, so I will get my money's worth out of it. (Ive had my treadmill for over 10 years). If I had the room I would invest in an extreme or something. But I dont have the room for it, so for now I will stick with my cardio machines and do my weights at the gym.

I have a bowflex XTL with leg attachment - an older one, the newer ones are even better. They have cardio (aerobic rowing & circuit training) & every excercise you can imagine. Ive had mine for 5 years... when I first bought it when I was about to start college I was 290 lbs at 6 feet tall & a size 26-28womens & got down to 210 & a size 14 in honestly less than a year. Great piece of equipment. I opted for it for the same reason I think it appeals to alot of people... going to the gym is a hassle. Waiting for machines, if your very very overweight its discouraging to go to a place where most of the people are fit & attractive, you turn red, sweat like crazy & huff & puff easily - its very hard. The bowflex is great because you can use it whenever you feel like it... without leaving, without having to put on gym clothes & sneakers, in the privacy of your own home where you dont feel self conscious of other people gawking. I do it in my PJs when I first get up sometimes lol. Its great. I just moved into a house last august where I have room to put it up again & I just started using it again to lose weight & get in shape & stay that way & realize how much I missed it. If your thinking about it & got the room for one, definitely get it. I got mine on Ebay for alot cheaper than what they wanted for the same model on the bowflex website. Gym memberships are great for some people, not me. If you have any questions or wanna know anything about it feel free to e-mail me :-)

I was interested in one of these and asked a lot of weightlifters out there about it and they all said it was a waste of money and I couldn't achieve what I wantd from it.   $700 would be YEARS of gym membership (with tons of equipment and classes)... or would be alot of freeweights, bench, treadmill, cheap bicycle, new running shoes... and so on. So initially I went with free weights & bench since we had a $300 treadmill already. Total spent was around $120.

That worked for a while but motivation was hard to keep.  I find it harder to work out at home with all the distractions around and also there's no one to be accountable to.

After last years beach trip and the pictures from it I had to do something different and the gym was finally the bite the bullet purchase.   We spent a lot of money for myself & my wife to go as well as total child care for all 3 of our kids for upto 2 hours a day.   Overkill but it made me a lot more motivated because of the pics and that I invested so much into the membership.

I've learned a lot at the gym and in another 4 or 5 months when the membership is up we won't be renewing.   However in that time I've now lost 40 pounds (now 195, I was 235), I've learned a lot about how to train my body in weightlifting, running, bicycling and so on... and I can apply myself more in the real world.

So my after the gym experience will be...

1. Running, I did the "Learn to Run" program here.  All it cost me was $25 for some new shoes and $5 for a stop watch.

2. Bicycling, I bought a $150 GMC denali road bike from walmart, I've learned a lot in the Spinning/RPM class at the gym and I have a bike trail as well as tons of streets to ride.

3. Weightlifting, I still have my bench and weights.

And hey that's plenty.