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I recently purchased Bowflex’s newest entry to the home gym market: the Revolution.

Before I begin, I want to let you know that I am not a Bowflex employee, never have been. I am not being compensated for this item; I’m just a fitness enthusiast who wanted to share my experience with you so you can make a smart buying decision when it comes to this unit.

I was disappointed that you couldn’t try the machine before you bought it. I bought a Smooth Fitness elliptical machine that didn’t hit the mark about a year ago without getting a chance to use it first, but that’s another article. I strongly recommend that you use and become comfortable with any piece of exercise equipment before investing in it. In Bowflex’s case, that’s not possible, something executives should seriously think about. Bowflex allows you to try the machine for 6 weeks, but let’s be honest, the machine comes in five giant boxes. Repackaging all of your equipment into the exact boxes it came in and preparing it for shipping will be a painful and arduous task that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.

Before you make any purchasing decisions, I suggest you search online for unbiased reviews like this one. Seek the opinions of professional trainers, as well as amateurs like myself. Here are a couple of points I thought you should know before you decide to buy…

The Bowflex Revolution would be a good choice for you:

If you have an office at home and/or if you want comfort

If you don’t fancy fighting the primetime crowds at the gym, which start building up around 5:00 p.m. and last until 7:30 p.m.

If you have a lot of space in your house

If you are an intermediate or advanced user, or if you have a professional trainer, you can get started; I’ve been lifting weights for years and it took me a little getting used to.

If you are strong or don’t plan to move the machine: This machine is heavy and bulky. It has a folding feature, but it requires a fair amount of force. Moving and folding the machine can be dangerous for most people, my suggestion is don’t move or fold it unless necessary; still, be careful.

PROS:

The overall range of motion was fairly smooth, there was constant resistance throughout the exercise, for many of the exercises I found to be comparable to professional gym equipment

Versatility – If you’re an experienced weight trainer, the number of exercises and variations is only limited by your imagination.

Convenience: No, the Revolution can’t compete with going to the gym, but if that’s what you have to work with, it’s the next best thing.

The machine makes little noise.

Customer service was friendly and easy to reach.

The plates are compact and extremely light.

CONS:

• Bulky and heavy machine, do not move or lift it unless necessary
• Changing accessories and adding plates can be a bit of a pain, but it can get faster over time. Don’t be fooled by the commercials and DVDs, it’s not that easy to jump from one exercise to the next, but it will get faster over time.
• There is a learning curve with the exercises, please be a bit patient when you first get the machine. It took me about 2-3 workouts before I started to feel comfortable and efficient.
• The markings on the plates should have been more obvious. The graphics look good on the plates, but the numbers should have been larger so they can be read from a distance. Maybe they could have color coded them.
• I often had to check how much weight I had on each side of the machine; too bad there was no display on the front of the machine indicating how much resistance was on each arm.
• Bowflex is slow to ship the order, they indicated they would provide an email and phone call when the unit shipped; in my case, they didn’t.
• Putting the revolution took about 1.5-2 hours. It requires some ingenuity and effort to put the whole thing together. When I was done, I needed a shower and a long rest.
• The bench has only 2 positions: incline and flat, with no variations between them.
• Putting on the Leg Press Attachment with Footrests is a pain in the rear. It is bulky and heavy. For some people, placing the footrest can be dangerous.

Here is the conclusion:

Can the Bowflex compete with the machines found at your local gym? No. But to be fair, the Bowflex, while a bit bulky, doesn’t require 3500 square feet to be effective.

The Revolution is the best home exercise machine in its size and price range.

Yes, knowing what I now know about the Revolution, I still would have bought it. It was a pain in the butt to assemble, find space, and learn to use, but I think it’s a quality machine. The machine has some drawbacks to be sure, but for under $3000 and still fitting in a normal size home – this was a good buy for intermediate/advanced fitness enthusiasts who can’t make it to the gym or want to supplement their workouts. I hope that this article has been useful to you, good luck in your decision.