Bowflex PR3000 Home Gym

The Bowflex PR3000 is the upgrade replacement for the Bowflex Blaze. It costs about the same, but looks much better although in terms of usage, there is really nothing to choose between them. It works very well, and as a low cost but good home personal trainer, there is nothing to beat it. It is well designed, and except for the fact that it comes with hand grips for the pull down instead of the cross bar, there is no complaints about this machine.

Bowflex makes very good, low cost home trainers, and they are usually well designed and robust in build. When you see the Bowflex name you know that even if the product is on the simple side, you get more than what you pay for.

There are a number of personal trainers in the Bowflex line, and the PR3000 is one of the best value for money ones. A closer look at it will show you why this is.

>>> Click here to get the Bowflex PR3000 Home Gym now! <<<

Bowflex PR3000 Features and Description

The Bowflex PR3000 is very similar to the PR1000 except that it is better designed. It also gives you more options and also looks much better than the PR1000. You can do more than 50 exercises on it and is more than sufficient for most people.

It uses the same power rod system that all Bowflex personal trainers do. This is an advantage in the sense that the whole unit weights considerably less than ones that come with weights. If you live in apartments this is a big thing because you wouldn’t want to cart 500 to 800 lbs of equipment. The seat is big and comfortable, and the whole machine is robustly made to last. You get a lifetime warranty on the power rods which leaves you thinking that this is a fit it and forget it, no hassles machine.

The Pros

The price is a very reasonable one. There is no way that you can get a cheaper machine that can do as much as this can. It is light, and gives you everything that you would expect from a home fitness trainer. You don’t even need a warranty on any of the parts because everything is mechanical and there is no one who has complained of anything breaking or wearing away even after years of use.

The Cons

Very little. If you want to nitpick you can say that the power rods just do not give you the same kind of resistance as weights would, and that the manual that comes with this machine only gives 27 exercises. You can also say that leg exercises are not as easy, and that some are not possible.

My Conclusion

At the price that you are getting the PR3000, there’s just no other competition. You get a really good machine that you can use for a full body workout. While the PR1000 is considerably cheaper, within just a couple of months it will leave you ruing the fact that you did not go for the PR3000 because it just does not support too many exercises.

The PR3000 however is much better, and apart from you wanting to get the extra two upgradeable power rods to bring the total resistance level to 410 lbs there’s nothing else that you can ever want. With regards to the exercises, it is true, the manual ships with one in which only 27 are given, but if you go to the Bowflex website and download the manual for the Bowflex Extreme, you can get more than 50 exercises, and the only difference between both models seem to be that the Extreme comes with a cross bar while this does not.

As a fitness equipment that will serve you for years and leave you fit and healthy, you really don’t need anything other than the PR3000.

>>> Click here to get the Bowflex PR3000 Home Gym now! <<<

Bowflex PR1000 Review

The Bowflex PR1000 is one of the cheapest personal home trainers that you can find. It costs only $450 and although it does not give you as much as even the Blaze does, it is adequate.

For a personal trainer at this price, there is really nothing much in terms of research that you need to do beyond finding out whether the product is actually useful or if it is just going to become junk in your home.

We have therefore reviewed the PR1000 to show you how effective it really is. The exercises that you can do with this machine is beyond the scope of this review, but a glance through the official website for Bowflex will let you know exactly what you can and cannot do.

>>> Click here to get the Bowflex PR1000 Home Gym Now! <<<

Bowflex PR1000 Features and Description

There is very little to describe in the PR1000. If you’ve seen one personal trainer, you’ve seen them all. The only difference would be in how comprehensive they are when it comes to the number of exercises that you can perform with them.

The PR1000 comes with a seat that can double as a rowing seat when you want it to. It is capable of supporting all the standard presses, pull downs, curls and ab exercises. You can even give your legs a workout.

The resistance is provided by twin bows, or power rods that actually work very well. Everything is built solidly of metal, and you never feel unstable when you are working out on it.

The Good

At the price that you are purchasing it there is really no arguments here. Everything works as they should, and although you may not be able to become a hunk, ever, with this machine, it is more than adequate for those who want to burn off those excess calories, and get stronger at the same time.

The Bad

There are only two things that are negative in this machine. One is that they offer only around 25 exercises which means that after a few months of using it you will regret not having gotten a better one.

Not that this model is not useful, just that for a beginner it is very good, but when you start using it for some time, and you want to go up, either in weight or in the number of exercises you do, this machine cannot support it.

The second negative is that the power rods do not give you the correct weight. You may therefore be pressing 210 lbs on the trainer, but if you go to a gym do not try with the same weight as the difference is considerable. If you are not going to do this however, there is really no issues at all.

Conclusion

As a cheap, for-beginners, personal trainer, the PR 1000 is hard to beat. If you are on the younger side, you may want to look at the Blaze. It does cost more, but it gives you more options, something that you may want a couple of months into your exercise regimen. If you are however getting this because it is as good a way as any of removing that extra couple of “middle age” inches round your waist, this is more than enough.

You may not want to become a hulk at this age, and if you are as busy as most of us are, you wouldn’t have the time anyway. The PR1000 is best here.

>>> Click here to get the Bowflex PR1000 Home Gym Now! <<<

Bowflex Blaze Home Gym

The Bowflex Blaze is the personal trainer from Bowflex. It is relatively compact, is cheap, and gives you most of the options that you will need for a personal home trainer. Of course if you are a person who is really serious about your workouts, you will have to go to a gym because it is just not possible to get a full body workout with just one machine, any machine.

At a shade under $800 it is one of the cheapest there is, and although you can get them online, Bowflex has discontinued this product.

There’s no issues with spares though as Bowflex itself agrees that it will be able to service the Blaze for years to come. Let us then take a closer look at the Blaze.

>>> Click here to get the Bowflex Blaze Home Gym now!<<<

Bowflex Blaze Description and Features

The Blaze gives you multiple devices in one, and the overall design is pretty standard for most personal trainers. The Blaze gives you 60 exercises and up to 210 lbs of resistance. This can however be upgraded twice, to 310 and 410 lbs respectively.

All the resistance is provided by the bows which Bowflex calls power rods. These rods are very very sturdy, and come with a lifetime warranty. The seat is adjustable so that you can use the same while you weight train, or do rowing exercises. You can even do cardiovascular exercises on the Blaze.

The Positives

It is cheap. There’s nothing else that needs to be said. Most of us who want to start out with some kind of physical fitness, but do not want to go to a gym because of the time lost, would like a personal trainer. It is only the cost that holds us back. The Blaze costs only $800 and even if it is not the best in the business, it is still more than adequate for anyone’s needs.

There’s nothing that can go wrong with the machine because everything is mechanical. The only weak point is the “power rod” but even here Bowflex gives it a “no-time-limit” warranty, so there are no issues there.

If you aren’t already familiar with how to use a personal trainer, you can use the DVD that comes with the unit. If you find that this is inadequate, you can download manuals for other machines from Bowflex’s other trainers and replicate the same exercises in yours.

The Problems

There’s nothing really negative about the Blaze. The price is good, and since everything is built of metal the chances of something conking off is very low. As mentioned above the power rods are the only weak link, because they do not translate to the exact weight. For example 50 lbs in the power rod will equal only 40 odd lbs in weight. This is however an issue only if you are switching between free weights and the Blaze. If you are only using the blaze there’s no problems as you will be working at a comfortable resistance level for you.

My Conclusion

The blaze is a very good buy. The only thing that can be a negative is that it is an out of production model. Yet Bowflex itself says that it will support the model for a number of years hence, and anyway there’s very little to break in the Blaze.

If you purchase it online you can get it for just under $800 which makes it tremendous value for money. If you just want to tone your body up, and get fit, then the blaze is more than sufficient for you.

>>> Click here to get the Bowflex Blaze Home Gym now!<<<

Bowflex Xtreme 2 SE

Bowflex makes a number of home fitness machines. Starting from as low as $450 they have machines for every budget. They however do not make the high end ones, restricting themselves to making machines that are meant for the average Joe, not the Hulk Hogans.

Each of these machines cater to a different market and at a different price. For the kind of features it offers they are all value for money. The Bowflex Xtreme 2 SE is one such machine. It is the new version and replaces the Bowflex Xtreme SE.

In terms of price difference, the Xtreme 2 SE costs only around $50 more than the one it is replacing. It looks very similar to the outgoing model except that it has a classier color scheme. Considering that it costs around $1350, it may not be the most expensive in the market, but still a little bit of background checking is called for when this much money is at stake. Let us therefore take a closer look at the machine.

>>> Click here to Shop for a Bowflex® Xtreme 2 SE Home Gym today! <<<

Bowflex Extreme 2 SE Description and Features

There is nothing new in the Xtreme 2 SE and it looks like any other home fitness model. It closely resembles all their other models, except perhaps the Revolution model. The differences in price are basically for two reasons, one is that the Xtreme 2 SE will give you more exercise options, and the second is that the more expensive ones look much better. Bowflex comes out with a really sexy black and red combination that looks really classy.

The seat is large and comfortable, and can even be used for the rowing exercises. It comes with a cross bar for the pull down exercises while the other models have double handgrips. Although the design as such is relatively similar for both the Xtreme and the Xtreme 2 SE the latter has a much better color scheme, and overall looks much better than the previous model.

The Good

The Xtreme 2 SE is almost the same as the Xtreme SE which means that the machine has all the strengths of the outgoing model. It is compact, lightweight, and is good enough for 410 lbs of workouts. While this may not be good enough for some who want more weight, for the vast majority of us this is more than sufficient for any kind of exercise we want to do.

It looks really good which means that you need not worry about keeping it hidden, you can even keep it in your living room if you want to.

The Bad

The only negative that can be said about the Xtreme 2 SE is that it not only resembles the Xtreme SE, it also resembles the PR3000. This model costs only around $900 which means that you are paying nearly $450 for something that looks better, but gives very little added functionality.

Of course the PR3000 has cables everywhere, and is not as simple to use as the Xtreme, but you have to decide if this is worth the added cost.

My Recommendation

The decision on getting this machine is going to be split right down the middle. For many who just want a machine to work out on and are not too bothered about how it looks or how simple it is to operate, this machine may seem to be a little overpriced.

For others who not only want a machine that they can work out on, they want something that they do not have to be embarrassed to have in their home there is no other model that gives them this, but at the price that a Xtreme 2 SE can.

The best advise therefore would be for people to try it all out including the revolution model that looks even better than this, and gives even more functionality, but at a much higher cost. Just working out on them will give you an idea of which one you want to go with. You can then purchase online and save yourself some money.

>>> Click here to Shop for a Bowflex® Xtreme 2 SE Home Gym today! <<<

Bowflex Xtreme SE

This model is the outgoing model and is replaced by the Bowflex Xtreme 2 SE. This does not mean that you should not get this model as the new one and this share so many parts that there is really no difference between them.

You can purchase the Xtreme SE online for about $50 less than the newer Xtreme 2 SE and although any difference is a difference, it is our goal to find out if this model is better value for money than the newer one, especially as spares should not be an issue at all.

>>> Click here to Shop for a Bowflex® Xtreme SE Home Gym <<<

Bowflex Extreme SE Description and Features

The Bowflex Xtreme SE is very similar to all the other models in the Bowflex line with the only difference being in the ergonomics and looks. This is why while the PR1000 costs only $450 it also gives you only around 27 exercises that you can do on it. As you go up the price line, you can get much more, until when you reach the Revolution models you can pretty much do anything that you can do at the gym.

The only problem is that the Revolution models cost more than $2500.

The Extreme SE is therefore a compromise buy. You get to do as many as 60 or 70 exercises which is more than sufficient for most of us, and you get a much better looking machine than the PR series. The seat is multi configurable and you can even do the rowing exercises on it. They all use the trademark power rods that Bowflex uses to provide the resistance, and the addition of the crossbar on top for the pull down exercises is a big asset.

The Pros

It is a very simple machine that incorporates all the good from the PR series, but in a much better package. You don’t have cables all over the place, and the seats are much more ergonomic.

You also get colors other than black in this model. The power rod’s really work and are guaranteed for life which means that you will not have to replace them at all.

The Cons

The only thing that anyone can say about the Bowflex Extreme SE is that it is just a spruced up PR3000. In fact they both are so similar that apart from the cross bar on top, there is basically nothing functionally different between them.

Considering that the PR3000 costs only around $900 it seems like a lot extra money for very little extra functionality.

My Recommendation

The Xtreme SE suffers from two problems. One is that functionally it is very similar to the PR3000 which means that you might as well save yourself some money by going for the cheaper model. The other is that the newer one, the Xtreme 2 SE, although basically the same, looks so much better, and costs only $50 more that no one would opt for this model.

There is really no compelling reason to go with the Xtreme except if you are not able to purchase a Xtreme 2 for some reason.

>>> Click here to Shop for a Bowflex® Xtreme SE Home Gym <<<

Bowflex Ultimate 2

This model is Bowflex’s full body workout model. All their other models are compromise buys where you know that you cannot get a full body workout, and have to find innovative ways of using the same machine.

The Ultimate 2 on the other hand is a no compromise solution for all of your workout needs. It is as compact as the other models, but is so good that you will feel that you have a gym at home. You may or may not want to go with the extra attachments, as the basic model itself is more than sufficient.

The Ultimate also costs around $2500, which is quite a lot of money. There are a number of other makes that do not cost as much and use weights, which are supposedly better than the power rods that Bowflex uses, so some thought needs to be put into purchasing this model.

>>> Click here to get the Bowflex Ultimate® 2 Home Gym <<<

Bowflex Ultimate 2 Description and Features

The Bowflex Ultimate 2 is built along the same lines as all their other models. The difference is that this one is a full fledged personal trainer, and gives you the option of doing all the exercises that you can do at a gym.

Not only does this model have the rowing seat integrated with the machine, it also comes with the lat tower, leg extension and curl station, squat station, and preacher curl station. This basically rounds off everything that you can want in any personal trainer. Unlike the other models’ handgrips, this one also comes with the cross bar on top which makes pull down exercises more comfortable.

The Good

Unlike all their cheaper models, this one is a full fledged home trainer. You can do 100+ exercises on it, and you do not need to get anything extra as this machine is more than enough for anyone. You can go up to 410 lbs of resistance, and everything is robustly built, and will last years.

It is also quite compact, a big thing in most home trainers, and can be folded back to occupy less than about 1.5 feet square. It also does not weight much as all the resistance is provided by the resistance rods, and not weights. This means that even people living in apartments and other rented accommodation can be able to use it safely.

The machine looks much better built, and has panels that mask all the unwieldy joints giving it a more sophisticated look. The black and red combination also works principally because of the way the combination has been used, tastefully and not overdone.

The Bad

While this model gives you much more in terms of whole package, in terms of sheer functionality alone, it is not that much more than the Xtreme 2 SE. Of course it looks much better, and also gives you more features that are integrated very well so that the whole package does not increase in size too much and can still be folded away easily.

But at nearly $1000 more you need to do some thinking as to whether this model is really what you want.

The Verdict

In this price range, getting a machine that not only does everything, but also looks great is not that difficult. Yet as a complete package there is a lot going for the Ultimate 2. The biggest plus is that they do not use weights. This means that the weight of the machine comes down drastically, something that you need to think about if you are going to put it in your appartment. Imagine having weights alone for 500 lbs apart from the weight of the machine and you will realize how much of a difference this is.

If you want a bare basics, fair looking and reasonably priced model the Xtreme 2 SE may be a better choice. If however you want something that gives you everything without you having to get extra accessories, then the Ultimate 2 makes a very good choice. The only thing is that if you are willing to shell out a couple of hundred more you can get the Bowflex Revolution, and that is one sexy machine.

Check them both out side by side so that you can make up your mind which one you want to go with.

>>> Click here to get the Bowflex Ultimate® 2 Home Gym <<<

Bowflex Revolution Home Gym

The Bowflex revolution is the top of the line product from Bowflex. The Revolution series has three different models in them the Regular, XP and FT.

There is absolutely no difference between the three models except that the Regular and XP come with a seat attached while the FT does not.

We will therefore be reviewing the FT model, as it is the cheapest of the three, and if you are interested in getting a separate seat, there are a number of places where you can get them starting from Bowflex itself.

>>> Click here to get the Bowflex Revolution with FREE Shipping <<<

Bowflex Revolution Description and Features

The Revolution series is different from the others in the Bowflex personal trainers in that it uses a revolutionary resistance system. Bowflex calls it the SpiraFlex system that attaches different bands that provide the resistance. This system is much better than the power rod system because it provides a consistent resistance throughout the range of motion.

The Freedom arms can move over 170 degrees meaning that you can pretty much get any exercise that you get at your gym here. For your lower body, you get a leg press plate and a shoulder harness that you put on. Although the exercises are a little different from what you would get at any gym, it is as effective, if not more.

Increasing and decreasing resistance is as simple as turning a knob. You can crank up to 300 lbs on the machine and can be upgraded to 380 lbs if you want to.

The Pros

If you are really serious about your personal fitness then the revolution series is for you. You can do more than 90 different exercises and this is more than sufficient for even the most enthusiastic among us.

The SpiraFlex system makes sure that you get a consistent resistance which means that you get a machine that is almost like one that has weights, but doesn’t. The arms on top can rotate over 170 degrees which means that you get more options when you exercise.

And lastly, this gives you the option of using both sides at the same time so that two people can exercise at the same time as long as they don’t want to do the same thing. The pulleys operate independently of each other so this is possible, although there may not be too many of us who actually would use this facility.

The Cons

Very very little. The bands tend to loosen after a little use which means that you will have to tighten them as you keep exercising. This just entails you turning a knob and is not a problem. You will also have to make sure that you allow it to “rest” as keeping them constantly stretched can make them loose and reduce their tension levels.

The biggest grouse though seems to be that the product ships with the inner cables loose which in most cases means that you will have to remove the entire outer panel and align them. The work is not too difficult albeit time consuming, and many people think that after paying close to $1400 they should not have to do this.

Conclusion

This is one of the best personal trainers in the market. Of course it costs more than others that are possible equally good from Bowflex itself, but in terms of a full body workout this is the only one for you.

The build is very good, and the only drawback apart from what is mentioned above is that you can only get it to 380 lbs. Yet as a machine that can be dismantled and assembled anywhere, and can even be used in apartments there is nothing close to it. It is like bringing your gym home with you, and if you have a corner where you can place it, there is nothing like it. Going for the FT means that its footprint is even smaller, and if you really like the seating position to workout, you can always get one at a later date.

>>> Click here to get the Bowflex Revolution with FREE Shipping <<<