Amazing portable workout gear

This product is amazing. I recently did 5 weeks of bootcamp and we used these resistance tubes every time for biceps chest back and shoulders. Its amazing how effective these are and all the time you are just using your body weight. You can make it as easy or as difficult as you want. I had to get them. The green one was a little too light for me and the blue one is a little too tight for a beginner woman. Best part is you can take this lightweight exercise gear anywhere you want and have a good muscle toning workout. Think you can google up the different exercises you can do with these. Plus for the price it is so cheap you dont even need to think twice. More detail ...

Great Value

This is a great calf press. It is sturdy and works well. My only complaint is that it comes with standard weight posts and no adaptors for olympic plates (which is what are shown in the picture). I had to purchase those seperately. But for the price it is great.More detail ...

Pros and Cons

I just bought the Shake Weight at Wal-Mart for $19.95 in their As Seen On TV section to try it out. So far 9 out of 10 As Seen On TV items that I've bought have a been a joke. (Shoes Under was the only one I kept and even then I almost didn't because it was so flimsy.) I like to try out the product to see if it works and because it's Wal-Mart I have no problem returning it. I don't know how I'm going to do that with the Shake Weight because as far as I can see there's no way to test to see if it actually works. How long does it take to make my arms look better? (I think this is why there are virtually no reviews as yet people can't tell if it's working and they get tired of it before it's obvious that it is or isn't working.)



But here's what I've got so far:



"Feel the burn": It's true that your biceps do start to "burn" while you are using this product but I think that was from having them unnaturally clenched for 6 minutes straight while you shake yourself to death. (Yes this is how the product works your bicep muscles clench up and stay that way while you are doing this exercise.) I was always taught to do "reps" during strength training which allows the muscle to tense and rest every few seconds while you work it using resistance (i.e weights).



"It's a weight": No not really. It has a little bit of weight to it but there doesn't seem to be any resistance to this tool and it seems that 6 minutes of continuously having your tensed muscles shook would just hurt you (hence the "burn.") Not to mention that even if the product does work there's no way to add more weight to it and your muscles would quickly outgrow it. Then it's obsolete.



"Shaking": When did shaking fat to shrink it come back in style? Remember those old contraptions fat men in sweat shirts would be strapped into and it would shake their bellies in the hopes that it would make them smaller? There's a reason you don't see those anymore. They didn't work and they were dangerous.



"Dynamic Inertia": Go ahead Google it. You won't find it anywhere on the web unless it's in connection to the shake weight. When did a product get to coin new physics terminology? And exactly what does it mean?



"It looks silly and kinda perverted": The product doesn't claim this but almost everyone else does. The product does look like an elegant massage toy and face it you do look and feel silly shaking your arm fat everywhere. (Hey if you didn't have arm fat then you wouldn't be using it.) And perverted well there's even a spoof video on YouTube that is so R-rated that I refuse to discuss it further here.



Other reviews on the web: There are like 4 and I think they were all written by the people who make (or sell) the product. They have almost nothing negative to say about the Shake weight and one woman even claimed it made her boobs bigger. Yeah right.



And finally the Price: (This is maybe the only good thing about this item.) It seems as if the manufacturer can't agree on how much this thing should cost. Their infomercial lists it at a bargain at 19.99 plus shipping and handling (which I think is like another 7 or 8 bucks) and Wal-Mart has it simply for the 19.99. So what is up with their selling it on Amazon for almost double the price? Well it turns out that the the manufacturer isn't the one selling the item. jwwbooks4 is the company selling it through Amazon and I guess they're hoping to make a big profit. It's a little shady in my opinion.



Final Verdict: I guess I'm going to see if actually works. Hey I've got 90 days through Wal-Mart but I'm not going to hold my breath for results. If you do decide to try it go to Wal-Mart and save yourself the shipping and the handling through the infomercial or the extra 17 dollars they're charging through Amazon. Hey you do have the option to save yourself the headache altogether and don't bother to buy it at all. You can get a decent set of weights for about the same price.More detail ...

Serious home system

I recently purchased this system through Amazon. I work out at home in the AM before work. I was looking for a Smith machine so that I could lift heavy in the basement without the danger presented by free weights w/o a spotter. You'll find Smith machines cheaper than the Caribou but they fit in the category of "home gym" equipment. Commercial machines are generally a lot more expensive than the Caribou. I settled on Caribou because of the solid construction and flexibility to add on features later as my needs demand (such as a pec deck cable cross dip station).



The system delivers in 5 boxes weighing 485# (2 or 3 are more than 100#). I broke the heavy boxes down before taking the equipment to the basement. There are a lot of parts. This is not a hard machine to assemble but it took me 2.5 hours by myself. (I'm handy. Two people would have made the job a little easier but this is not hard to put together alone.)



The system is solid. 300# is easily handled. I don't have need for more but I'd bet another 200# is well within the range of this system.



My only complaint is that the system is a little small. You cannot use the supplied bench with the back upright to support shoulder presses (the bench cannot slide deeply enough into the rack to do that). I do shoulder presses without the bench back raised. The lat pull down and chinning bar are also lower than I'd like (I'm 6'2"). But I compensate by doing pull downs kneeling on the floor and chinning with legs bent 90 degrees at the knees. Frankly a bigger machine would have a hard time fitting into a home so I think this is why the dimensions are what they are. (This is the reason for four vice five stars.) However for bench presses and squats this is a full sized olympic system.



Finally this system doesn't come with weights. I recommend you either buy these used off eBay/Craigs List or look for a deal at Sports Authority. The money you pay to deliver the weights will probably exceed the cost of the weights themselves. (I got a 300# set including an olympic bar for $140 from Sports Authority. Beat that if you can!)



If you're serious about getting/staying in shape at home you cannot go wrong with this system. More detail ...

Well Built and an Excellent Value

During High School and in the military I did a lot of weight training. Ok I'm not 16 nor 21 anymore. I'm now in my 40's and am an active cyclist and skier. I bought this machine based upon the Consumer Reports write ups (it was rated number one) so my wife and I can quickly and easily do some strength training. My key requirements were size Lat and Leg exercises and Durability/Quality. Only way to review this is to break it down a bit:



Assembly: A lot of parts Directions are passable but not great. Biggest problem I had was determining which bolt for which hole. It took a good 4 hours to assemble and I'm pretty good at this kind of stuff.



Customer Support: Had a plate break in shipping and it took under 2 minutes to get to a human being. (you deal with body solid directly for support.) He made note that a plate was broken and asked me to finish assembly and give him a call back to make sure I didn't need anything else. I finished up and had no other issues. Called back to his direct extenision and he drop shipped the plate from the warehouse. I'd say that was great service.



Exercises:

Leg Exercises - Leg lift for Quads is great. The standing one legged hamstring curl took a bit to get used to but given the small size of the machine I'll take it.

Bench Press - Very smooth and you get two hand positions one for more inner pec and the other for more outer. Downside is that the start position is a little far back but now that I think about it I may have the bench arm on backwards. Doh!

Lats/Back - This is where I believe this machine earns it keep. It provides a Lat pulldown and a seated row position. This was key to me and it performs as expected. (note I'm using this for toning and not body building. A 160 pound stack works for me.)

Shoulders/Arms - The curl bar thats included does has a static handle so its not good for curls. You will need to purchase a bar that has rotating handles. Since I use dumbbells for these exercises it didn't matter much. I'm ordering a single rotating curl bar so my wife can add some exercises.



Overall I'd say its a great value for someone who wants a smaller in home machine to cover a lot of exercies and wants to add strength training to their workout. If your looking to get 'Pumped Up' you'd be better with Free weights or a Gym membership. I looked for a used one but they didn't last very long and had a pretty high resale value. I am certainly happy with my purchase and now need to flip that bench press attachment around.

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Great Product



This just arrived today. Took about 2 hours to assemble but it's pretty easy. I almost bought this from another site because they were going to assemble it (would've been 200 extra dollars for that) and I am very glad I did it myself.



This unit is extremely sturdy and well put together. I was a bit nervous to buy this because I have young kids I did not want to trash it. Believe me they couldn't! This is far too well-designed and durable.



Worked out for about an hour and I love it. Lots of exercises you can do (both muscular and cardio) and you can really feel it.



As others have noted on other models I can see how the weights (200 lbs) might not be enough but I am not looking to become the Incredible Hulk. This unit is perfect to stay fit and not let those holiday meals get the upper hand.



I really recommend this to anyone who wants to work at home and does not want to be bored with the same old routine (treadmill stationary bike etc.)



Great job Bowflex!More detail ...

Great small home gym

This home gym is small and compact. Designed really for general fitness and strength training not for huge body-building. It needs assembly but that only took me about 4hrs by myself. The only thing I would say is don't follow the pulley installation instructions. Place the cable and pulley on the machine in order of feeding the cable then tighten the pulley bolts to the machine.



This machine does just what you need as a home-fitness gym. It is compact and both my wife and I find it great to maintain tone without wanting huge bulk. It has 150lb in stacked weight which is fine for your general fitness needs. If you want larger weights then I would buy some free-weights but if you want a decent well put together home gym that works arms legs & chest then you can't go wrong with this machine.More detail ...