The Bowflex Xtreme is designed as a compact, all-in-one fitness center capable of burning fat and revealing hard, lean muscle. Though many Bowflex users simply want to improve their overall conditioning and tone their bodies, the Bowflex Xtreme comes with a guide to bodybuilding for a more intense workout.
Features
Bodybuilding on the Bowflex Xtreme requires focusing on specific muscle groups while lifting high levels of resistance. During the program, you spread out your total body workout over three days. After three days of working out, you take a single day to rest and then return to the program the following day. This means that you will be working out on the Bowflex Xtreme no fewer than five times a week. Each exercise is done with two to four sets, and you should set the resistance so you reach muscle failure within eight to 12 repetitions.
Types
On the first day of the workout, you focus on your chest and shoulder muscles. You do this by performing the bench press, chest fly, seated shoulder press, crossover rear deltoid row, lateral shoulder raise and shoulder shrug exercises.
On day two, you work on your back and arms with the seated lat row, seated lat pull downs, biceps curl, reverse curl, triceps push down and triceps extension exercises. Day three completes the workout, targeting your legs and torso with the squat, leg extension, standing hip extension, leg curl, standing lower back extension, seated abdominal crunch and seated oblique abdominal exercises.
Benefits
The Bowflex Xtreme bodybuilding workout is a high-intensity workout that stimulates muscle growth by stressing your muscles to failure over a short period of time, typically 45 to 60 minutes per workout. According to the Muscle & Strength website, this type of workout greatly benefits people with square frames who naturally have some muscle mass. However, the frequency of the Bowflex Xtreme routine is also beneficial for persons with thinner frames because this body type needs regular workouts to stimulate muscle growth.
Expert Insight
Prior to using the Bowflex, it is common for users to be skeptical of its ability to stimulate large muscle growth. According to weight lifting experts John Henkins and Travis Van Slooten, the Bowflex can and does build muscle with regular use. However, both men note that machine has some draw backs for bodybuilding.
The first is that the resistance gradually increases as you reach the peak of a repetition. This is good for exercises such as the bench press, but can minimize your muscle gain in exercises like the leg curl, where you need the resistance to reduce at the point of muscle contraction. The second drawback is that the Bowflex Xtreme only comes standard with 210 lbs. of resistance. For a serious bodybuilder, this is likely to not be enough weight, and the machine will have to be upgraded.
Warning
Proper execution of each repetition is crucial for maximum muscle gain when using the Bowflex Xtreme. The muscle should be tightened before a repetition, squeezed through the repetition, fully cramped at the peak and then slowly resisted as the weight is returned. Bowflex advises using "a pace that would allow you to stop the movement instantly at any point in the rep." You must also work every muscle group in your body and never skip a rest day to achieve the best results possible with the Bowflex Xtreme.
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