No workout today. Out to dinner and a movie with the new wife! The one guy who was actually interested in following my Bowflex posts is now probably like “WTF this guy sucks”. Well, I do not suck, I’ve just been busy. I promise I will be back with a BC post soon. It’s obvious how easy it is for people to get sidetracked from fitness when life happens. We (people) just need to work fitness into life as an important and uniteruptable part… Making time, would seem to be one of the hardest parts about working out, but it’s really not. It’s the will to motivate yourself to action that is the hardest part to master. If you’re motivated you’ll find the time and a way. So far the Bowflex blogs have kept ‘getting exercise’ at the top of my mind, I now just need to draw some energy and motivation from somewhere to start back up after a few weeks off.
Oh, also I forgot to mention, I was pretty damn sick at the end of September so that put a hold on the workouts as well.
Now it’s time to relax, a glass of wine, your favorite easy chair, just sit back and enjoy the melodies…
Tags: Bowflex, exercise, thought, Workout
Day 6
Took 4 days off from my workout on Day 5, which included the weekend to go to camp. I wasn’t without exercise though. Walking for a few miles through grassy river plains and mud, up hills in the woods and wading through fast moving water with bulky waders and boots really gets the blood flowing. Back at camp I split and stacked firewood. That was actually a lot of fun, really got the heart racing and felt like it required a decent amount of lung capacity. I would do that every day for an hour or so if I had a use for firewood at home.
Todays workout was basic, 45 minutes and included squats, bench press, military press, pull downs, and abs – including the blast. Worked hard and fast with very short water breaks in between exercises. In addition to the major exercises completed I usually try and keep my heart rate up by using light free weights or using the edge of the Bowflex base to do calf raises. After being off the Bowlfex, for even a couple days, it’s good to get back into it with a workout that just uses the basic moves, otherwise you can to easily excuse yourself from putting forth the necessary effort to make it worthwhile.
Next workout is day 7, so I’ll be posting a new picture. I’m curious to see how the progress will turn out over time. I’m not dieting, drinking less beer or making any big lifestyle changes other than exercising with the Bowflex. Their probably won’t be much of a change from Day 1 to Day 7, but over time, all the photos together should show a progression… should.
Tags: Abs, Bowflex, Core, exercise, Power Rods, Resistance, strength training, upper body, Weights, Workout
Day 5
Good workout today. Had a my friend Jim try out the Bowlfex too. We did 200lb squats, 50 lbs for bench and miliarty, 35 for curls and 50 for pulldowns. Solid work for 45 minutes. Between sets, whoever wasn’t on the bowflex, kept their heart rate up with a medicine ball.
The Blast
The final exercise we did, for abs, was a combination of crunches followed by the ad routine I mentioned on Day 4, I’m going to refer to this move as the ‘Blast’. I call it the Blast because when done properly you end looking like super hero sending a blast at your enemy. Basically all your upper body strength from your abs and core up to your arms and shoulders goes into it, straining you fight the resistance, giving the appearance that you’re forcing back an enemy with all your power. You’re hands stay open, not closed around the handles, and you don’t bring them together, as if the source of your power was generated between that gap, this maximizes the resistance through your arms, chest, shoulders and abs, plus all of the stabilizer muscles in between.
Tags: Abs, Bowflex, Core, exercise, Power Rods, Resistance, strength training, upper body, Weights, Workout
Day 4
After taking the weekend off from working out I got back on the Bowlex today, upping the weight. 200lbs for squats. 100lbs for pull-downs. 50 (per side) for military press and bench press. The Bowflex is great for experimenting with different exercises. There are a lot of different ways to work abs on it, one I’ve started using basically looks like your lunging forward while seated. Using your core muscles to pull you forward with the weight of the Bowflex holding you back. It’s a fast switch from any seated exercise and since the resistance is coming from your hands the farther you force them in front of you the harder is on your abs, allowing you to hit all different level of resistance in one motion. This also allows you to quickly change directions, reaching more muscle groups.
Tags: Abs, Bowflex, exercise, Power Rods, Resistance, strength training, upper body, Weights, Workout
Day 3
The process of getting ready to work out seems to be going faster. There’s a little less lag in getting shorts on and the bowlfex setup. Setup consists of switching it to whichever exercise I want to do first. Today I started, as I have the first two days, with squats. It’s one of the quicker ways to get warmed up, and pushing a large muscle group gets the heart rate going faster sooner. Short workout today, 20 minutes. 160lb squats, 120lbs bench and military presses and 100lbs on chest fly.
Resistance Workouts:
The weight with a Bowlfex is not the same as free weights, or even cable systems at the gym. As you reach the apex of a lift you’re holding the weight listed on the ‘power rods’, but it’s really the act of the lift that is the big difference. The people that I’ve seen try a Bowflex for the first time all do the same thing. They hold the handles at the ready and then lift or push hard and fast, stop quick, and then release all the tension and let the rods snap back up. Then they repeat. Some quickly realize what’s missing and adjust, others don’t really get it and just kind of flail for a while. You need to control the tension through the lift and also when letting it back ‘down’, never letting that go, you do this through the whole set. Under your control and speed, the weight increases through the lift and then decreases on the draw-in. There are some advantages and disadvantages there, but with the right approach you can maximize your workout. I’ll talk more in future posts on some of unique exercises you can do with a resistance workout and the differences from a workout with free weights.
Tags: Bowflex, exercise, Power Rods, Resistance, Weights, Workout
Day 2
Did a 1/2 hour workout today. Warmed up with squats and calf exercises, focused mainly on arms and shoulders, alternated curls and shoulder shrugs and then switched between triceps and military presses.
Fast easy workout during which I watched an episode of The King of Queens. Having the Bowflex in a room with a TV is pretty nice. The feeling on day two – same as day one, mustering motivation. I’m looking forward to about the 2 week point when the workout becomes more energizing and less tiring.
Tags: Bowlfex, challenge, exercise, fitness, gym, work out
After a 4 hour round trip, a little up-the-stairs lugging with awkwardly shaped pieces and then some minor assemblly, Jess and I now own a Bowflex (which has now replaced the couch in the former TV room). A couple days later I came up with the idea for the Bowflex Challenge. This is a good point to mention that if you haven’t read the Bowflex page which outlines my experiment, now would be a good time to do so.
Day 1
It took a few minutes to get used to the cable system. The previous Bowflex I had used was the Xtreme 2, which allowed you to use all the of the different attachments without chaning connections. The Xtreme requires you to change the cable connections for different exercises. It’s not difficult, just needed to get used to the setup.
I did a general workout, trying out 1/2 a dozen different exercises for about 40 minutes. The Bowflex is a few years old and has been used, but it works like a brand new machine. The ability to switch between exercises like bench press and chest fly… on the fly, is fantastic. Switching between pull downs, curls or squats is just as easy. I didn’t use a lot of weight, 180lbs for squats, 45lbs a side for everything else. As I start to target muscle groups specifically I’ll vary the weight more.
And so it begins. The photos are of me on day 1. From here on, I will continue to post more photos that outline my progress through the coming weeks and months. By 6 weeks (day 42) there should be a noticeable difference, which is probably about the point that these Bowflex posts will start to become interesting… reality in real time is just plain boring.
Tags: Bowlfex, challenge, exercise, fitness, gym, work out
