Bowflex home gyms are synonymous in the minds of many people with late night television infomercials and promises of a stronger, better-looking you. The skeptic in you might wonder if a Bowflex gym can really give you rippling muscles like a traditional training program with free weights can. Depending on your overall workout goals, Bowflex home gyms can be effective weight training devices.
Tension Instead of Weight
Bowflex home gyms utilize tensioned rods or discs as a form of resistance for the exercise. Free weights create resistance by the actual weight on the barbell you lift, so the resistance remains the same throughout the exercise. On Bowflex machines with power rods, the amount of resistance you experience increases from zero to the maximum weight as the rods bend. This may not be a desirable feature on exercises like the leg curl, in which you want the maximum weight at the beginning of the repetition.
Range of Movement
Conditioning specialist Josh Henkin asserts that free weights are superior to a Bowflex if you want to be able to accomplish a wide range of movements with your workout routine. The workout stations on the Bowflex isolate your muscles and the exercise cables can only be pulled over a specific range of movement. This is good if you are new to weight training and need guidance to keep proper form, but as you become more advanced at lifting it can be prohibitive to building fully developed muscles.
Time Saving
One advantage of a Bowflex home gym is its compact nature and the speed with which you can change the resistance level on the equipment. This allows you to quickly move between exercises and keep your heart rate elevated. Circuit training in this way reduces the amount of time you have to spend working out and increases the amount of calories you burn. Free weights require much more time to change the weight because you need to carefully remove and add the weight plates between exercises.
Safety
Bowflex gyms have an edge over free weights, particularly the lifting of heavy free weights, when it comes to your safety. "The New York Times" reported in June 2010 that men and women suffered around 970,000 weight lifting injuries from free weights between 1990 and 2007. Most of these injuries occurred when the person crushed a body part under a weight. Because the Bowflex does not have any heavy weights, you do not have to worry about dropping a barbell on your neck when you performing your one repetition maximum for the bench press.
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