Hey all,
I have to get back into the habit of working out. Does anyone here have a home gym like a bowflex or Soloflex ?
I have both. Both of those are supposed to replace a whole roomful of equipment, and/but they simply don`t IME.
The Bowflex oughta be better than it is; the cables bind in their pulleys and that just kills it for me. It`s OK for some stuff (when that isn`t happening), but IMO a plate-loaded Lat Pulldown Machine with auxiliary pulleys (i.e., a low pulley station on the "other side") would be *much* better. I use the latter pretty much *every* workout, but the Bowflex just sits in the corner waiting for me to throw it away (I`d lent it to my late father and got it back when he passed, neither of us found it satisfactory). I really wanted to love that thing, even replaced the pulleys a few times, never did get it fully sorted out.
IF you get a Bowflex that doesn`t bind...and stays that way, mine was OK when new...then it might be OK, but it`s not All That IMO. IME it sure won`t replace a gym full of equipment the way some expect.
The Soloflex is good for *some* things but it`s not All That either and many people might not like it for the handful of things I use mine for.
I find it works *GREAT* for me for Incline Benchpresses. I can`t do regular ones but I can do them great on the Soloflex. I thought I`d do much better using dumbbells, but for some reason the Soloflex is my "Benching station", it`s just that good *for me*.
It`s also fine for Leg extensions.
It`s decidedly suboptimal but useable for Leg Curls, but 1) the flat bench is all wrong for those; I pile up other pads to change it so my back is OK, and 2) the progressive strength curve of the Soloflex`s bands is all wrong for those (oughta be hard at the beginning and then get lighter; Soloflex is like Nautilus and it`s one of the few things Arthur Jones got wrong).
I do not find it satisfactory for arm/shoulder/anything else work.
I use it for Pullups/Chins, but would probably prefer a bent/cambered bar instead of its straight one for those. It`s OK though, no worse than any other straight-bar pullup station. But you don`t need to buy a Soloflex to do chinups
I use mine primarly as an adjustable bench with a "spine" I can grab hold of when doing ab work. That`s what I use it for most, pretty expensive for what I get out of it.
I`d get:
- An adjustable bench
- A set of adjustable Dumbbells (Powerblocks are great unless you drop them as hard as I do
)
- The Lat Pulldown Machine with auxiliary pulley and some handles/bars
- A set of elastic Resistance Bands
- The Strength Training Anatomy series of books by Frederic Delavier (he`s wrong about Training Frequency/Volume, at least for me, but right about indispensible info on what the muscles do and how they work)
That last one is crucial, I should`ve put it first. I genuinely believe that knowing what you`re doing is the most important thing. The vast majority of "info" out there deserves those scare-quotes.
In the same vein, I heartily endorse the books/website of Clarence Bass. Ditto for Dick Winnett, but much of his info isn`t free.
Some people like the Total Gym and other such devices. It didn`t appeal to me, but that`s just me.
Learn how your muscles work. Learn how to train them effectively and ease into some kind of routine that you can/will stick with. Even just doing bodyweight movements is a whole lot better than not exercising regularly, so don`t let the lack of equipment hold you back.
Study those books by Delavier, and the info from Bass. Really *learn* it, as opposed to "just reading it", and you`ll be so far ahead of most trainers you can`t imagine.
I know this mile-long post wasn`t the answer you were hoping for, and I`m sure that "what does [Accumulator] know?!?" comes to mind. But I`ve been at this stuff religiously for decades and I`ve made most of the mistakes, including buying the wrong stuff and going about it all wrong by listening to "what everybody knows".
