Exercising With Bowflex

You heard of Bowflex, but haven't seen the infomercial. So when you see that spidery piece of equipment, you have to wonder what you could possibly do with it anyway. Lots.

The Bowflex Ultimate machines have 90+ exercises to build your abs, arms, legs and so on. The Xtreme also gives you exercises that build back and shoulder muscles. Several Bowflexes have built-in rowing machines for cardio warm ups, cool downs and overall calorie burning power. This sustained exercising builds up the heart and endurance, allowing you to keep going longer with less effort throughout your day.

If you need exercises for specific muscle groups, the Bowflex website offers the home gym comparison page so that you can see which of their products will be the right total home gym for you.

All Bowflex fitness equipment comes with an owner's manual/fitness guide. Available online to download for free, the manual gives a surprisingly unvarnished overview of each product.  In detail the guide lists how to set it up, what exercises can be done and precautions concerning both the equipment and exercise programs.

The fitness guide details one workout (three times a week) for beginners and another (four times a week) for more dedicated users. This one day on, one day off routine is commonly recommended by training professionals to allow muscles to recuperate from fatigue and microscopic tears and strain.

Specific areas of the body can be targeted. If you are interested in exercises for your legs, Bowflex can be used for leg curls, leg presses, lying leg extensions and others. Instruction from the fitness guide maximizes the results while minimizing possible overwork and overstraining action.

For a healthy and strong back, the Lat Pulldown and Lying Lat Fly work the upper back.

Interested in tightening and toning your pecs? Try out their traditional bench presses. You can use the Bowflex for other chest exercises such as the Resisted Punch and Chest Fly.

People looking for six-pack abs do the exercises for abdominal toning and strength. All the Bowflex fitness equipment can be used for Seated Ab Crunches, reverse crunches and seated oblique crunches.

To avoid wimpy arms, the fitness guides lead you through exercises such as triceps pushdown, single arm pushdowns and cross triceps extension. The only thing it doesn't have is a hot tub to soak your now aching muscles in.

No muscle group should be developed in isolation. As long as you are building your arms, don't overlook the shoulder exercises that Bowflex has to offer.  These include the seated shoulder press, and lateral shoulder shrugs. The shoulder rotator cuff internal rotation is not neglected either.

Aerobic exercises benefit the heart. Long absent from basic home gym setups, the Bowflex equipment provides a cardiovascular workout with Aerobic Rowing that comes built in with the Bowflex Ultimate 2, Ultimate and Sport models. Of course a brisk extended walk during the morning or evening hours in your neighborhood can yield similar results.

Working out in the home can be too much of a good thing.  Either the equipment gathers dust or a fitness buff becomes obsessed exercising too much. But, if you are short on time, you can circuit train at home with Bowflex. All it takes is just one workout three times a week for a time-crunched person who wants to look and feel their best.