Bowflex PR1000 Home Gym Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
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!

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The Bowflex PR1000 home gym is a great way to strengthen your muscles and add a bit of cardio training to the mix with over 30 strength exercises and a built-in rowing station. With up to 210 pounds of Power Rod resistance, this versatile machine helps work the abs, arms, chest, back, shoulders, and lower body. It includes triple-function hand grips for lat pull-down, a horizontal bench press, and four-inch upholstered roller cushions for leg extension and leg curl exercises. The rowing machine rail also folds when you're done with your workout
The PR1000 utilizes Bowflex's patented Power Rods, which provide resistance, or weight, that feels as good as or better than free weights--but without the inertia or risk of joint pain usually associated with free weights. You can hook one, two, three, four or all of your Power Rod units to the cable pulley system and go from as little as 5 pounds all the way up to 210 pounds of resistance.
They're precisely manufactured from a high-tech composite material under the highest quality control measures, then sheathed and tested 4 separate times to ensure quality and durability. The Power Rod units are so strong, you can flex them repeatedly but you won't be able to wear them out.
Features and Specifications:
Sliding Seat Rail adds aerobic rowing training for calorie-burning, cardiovascular warm-up and cool-down (also great for leg presses and seated leg extensions)
Multi-use Hand-Grip/Ankle Cuffs designed to add flexibility and performance to any workout
Workout Placard displays workout descriptions for easy reference while you're exercising
Number of available exercises: 30+
Height: 81 inches (205 cm)
Length: 84 inches (213 cm)
Width: 38 inches (97 cm)
Minimum Workout Area: 100 by 78 inches (254 x 199 cm)
Maximum User Weight: 300 pounds (136 kg)
210 pounds of Power Rod resistance
Four-inch upholstered roller cushions for leg extension and leg curl
Horizontal bench press
Triple function hand grips for lat pull down
Built-in cardio rowing machine
Folds for easy storage

Exercises:

Manufacturer's Warranty Frame - one year; Rods - five years; Parts - 60 days

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Bowflex PR3000 Home Gym Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Brief story - months ago, I was in the market for a home gym that uses free weights, but I happened to try out the PR3000 at Sports Authority, and I really liked it. We bought another unit, but it didn't turn out to be exactly what we needed, and eventually I found myself remembering the PR3000 fondly.
When we finally decided to go with a Bowflex for a couple reasons - less weight on our floor and not having to move weights around our apartment. I thought I'd go for one of the long ones that let you do rowing and - I thought - leg curls. But after I tried the units with rowing, I didn't actually care for the slightly loose feeling in the seat when it was locked in place, and I also discovered that some Blowflex don't do leg curls and others have a complicated way of doing them.
So I went back and tried out the PR3000 again - and it was as much fun to use as I remembered it, plus it has a no-cable-changes design that made switching exercises easier. So I tried a workaround someone reviewing a different Bowflex on Amazon recommended for another unit, which was basically do the leg curls while standing and facing the unit. I tried that on the PR3000 at the store and it worked fine for me, so I finally got it and I love using it.
The pluses:
* It doesn't take much floor space
* I don't have to move heavy weights around during my workout
* It's very quiet
* No cable changes keeps workouts moving along
* Motion is smooth (smoother than the Weider Platinum)
* Very good assembly directions
* A lot of things adjust for different sized people
* Top pulleys are on hook-and-eyes so that they swivel
* Can be upgraded to 310 pounds
* Very well-made, more attention to detail than other equipment we've had
The minuses:
* Doesn't come with a lat bar, although you can do pulldowns with the hand grips
* The manual isn't as detailed as other Bowflex units, although still better than most other home gyms.
* Very short warranty on smaller parts. I got an extended warranty.
* Bows resistance isn't the weight specified (I measured and it's lighter) but there was still more than enough resistance to give me a burn. Larger men and very fit people should probably get the 310 lb upgrade pretty quickly.


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The Bowflex PR3000 home gym is a great way to strengthen your muscles with over 50 strength exercises and a built-in rowing station. With up to 210 pounds of Power Rod resistance (can be upgraded to 310 pounds), this versatile machine helps work the abs, arms, chest, back, shoulders, and lower body. It includes a no-change cable pulley system, vertical bench press, triple-function hand grips for lat pull-down, and four-inch upholstered roller cushions for leg extension and leg curl exercises.
The PR3000 utilizes Bowflex's patented Power Rods, which provide resistance, or weight, that feels as good as or better than free weights--but without the inertia or risk of joint pain usually associated with free weights. You can hook one, two, three, four or all of your Power Rod units to the cable pulley system and go from as little as 5 pounds all the way up to 210 pounds of resistance.
They're precisely manufactured from a high-tech composite material under the highest quality control measures, then sheathed and tested 4 separate times to ensure quality and durability. The Power Rod units are so strong, you can flex them repeatedly but you won't be able to wear them out.
Features and Specifications:
Multi-use Hand-Grip/Ankle Cuffs designed to add flexibility and performance to any workout
Workout Placard displays workout descriptions for easy reference while you're exercising
Number of available exercises: 50+
No-change cable pulley system
210 pounds of Power Rod resistance (which can be upgraded to 310 pounds)
Four-inch upholstered roller cushions for leg extension and leg curl
Vertical bench press
Triple function hand grips for lat pull down
Triple function ankle cuff grips
Leg Attachment
Height: 83 inches (211 cm)
Length64 inches (163 cm)
Width41 inches (104 cm)
Workout Area: 100 x 78 inches (254 x 199 cm)
Maximum User Weight: 300 pounds (136 kg)

Exercises:

Manufacturer's Warranty Frame - one year; Rods - seven years; Parts - 60 days

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Stamina Bio Flex 2200 Home Gym Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)i bought this because it was a really good deal on the gold box.
its kinda big which is expected and fills up my whole room.
it uses rubber bands to provide the resistance. i think the benefit of that would be: safety, no need to lift heavy weights to change exercises, no bulky weights.
cons:
when i work out, i feel that free weights give a better workout than the rubber bands. i am not sure if this will work as well to give me the bulk size i'm looking to develop. i will update in a few months.
i think this might be a good system to tone up rather than bulk up but we will see...

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SurfShelf Treadmill Desk and Laptop Holder Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Let me start out by saying that I LOVE my Surfshelf because I HATE walking on my treadmill, but health requires that I do. I used to listen to music, but I was just BORED. Now, I watch movies and shows with the help of my Surfshelf, and the 45 minutes just whizzes by like never before. I've had it for about two months now, and would hate to live without it. However, I only gave it 4 stars because I feel everyone should know about the cons involved. Here they are, in my opinion:
1) The cost. It's too pricey for what you get, but I still would buy it again. So, I guess that point is debatable. It's basically a plastic tray with a velcro strap and a couple of nylon belts, but it does the job of holding your laptop VERY securely, which was very important to me. (**It's April 2010 now, and I came back to edit this portion of my review because I found out that the price I originally paid for the SurfShelf has been lowered by $20. I consider that to be a fair price and good value, and I wanted my review to reflect the change. I've had my SS for a year now, and still love it!)
2) Set up. The original set up took about 10 minutes, and was fairly simple. However, I absolutely would NEVER recommend this to someone who wanted to take it to a gym everyday. You'd have to lug the pieces with you, and spend 10 minutes or more getting it ready to accept your laptop, and that would be way too much for me. I leave mine set up on my treadmill, and then setting my laptop up on it is a one minute process every morning. Very do-able.
3) Maybe this is just me, because I'm not as young as I used to be (I'm 55), but I cannot do ANYTHING on my treadmill but WATCH something when I'm walking on it. I can't type, I can't use the mouse, and I have to step on the side rails to do anything but turn the volume up or down. So, I start whatever show or movie I'm going to watch before I actually begin walking. Again, this could be an age thing, so maybe you younger folk can get your business done on your laptop while moving, but I sure couldn't.
4) One last con for me is that I can't see my digital read out through my laptop when it's on the Surfshelf. I have to peer way to the side to see around it, and even then it's tough to make out the read outs. This isn't a big deal to me, as I set a speed and incline shortly after beginning and don't really need to see it during my workout, but that may be a problem for some people, so it's worth mentioning.
5) The Surfshelf comes with an In-Gym subscription, which I found to NOT be very user-friendly while walking. Again, this could be just me. Others may love that feature. It's a website with short videos of news, entertainment, etc., that you are supposed to be able to use your arrow keys to navigate around. It didn't work well for me, but you can check it out for yourself at in-[...].
The pros of the Surfshelf are its simplicity in setting it up, the ability (for me) to just leave it up because it's in my home, and the best pro of all, my workouts are no longer boring. Again, the end of the boring workout makes it, for me, worth all the cons I mentioned above.
The Surfshelf is well worth the price if you have access to your own treadmill, and the ability to watch lots of movies or TV shows on your laptop (I use the $8.99 a month Netflix plan and a Roku box ($99), which gives me full access to all of Netflix "Watch Instantly" movies and shows, and Amazon instant purchases. I also occasionally use iTunes purchases and regular DVD's). I still spend far less than a gym membership would cost.
All in all, I highly recommend the Surfshelf.


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Precor 9.33 Premium Series Treadmill Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)When I shopped for exercise equipment, the owner of the company where I bought it told me if he could only have one machine, he would choose a elliptical. I bought one and a couple of weeks later went back to get this treadmill. The treadmill gets much more use in my home, although the elliptical is great, and is probably much easier on the legs, knees, and feet. It also seems like it takes more effort than the treadmill and so it gets ignored a lot. For example, I often spend 100 minutes on my treadmill, but only 10-20 minutes on the elliptical.
I use a function that uses my heart rate to determine the incline and speed. Then I can turn my attention elsewhere. Recently I've been using the bicycle videos, Bike-o-Vison, which makes the exercise time just fly by! I've been doing one of the California Coast, which includes Big Sur, a favorite place of mine, so instead of biking through it, I'm on my treadmill. That's a great motivating system for me. I can't wait until tonorrow until I get to tour Washington D.C. (on my treadmill) and after that a tour of the rain forest or possibly Kauai. Treadmills are so flexible. They take you anywhere! :)
This is an excellent exercise option. I recommend it. You may not need all the options on this one. In fact, I ust use the HRC (heart rate) or the weight loss sessions. As I get stronger, I might want to do others, but those are flexible enough to do anything I should ever want to do, so a basic machine probably would have been enough.
Edited a year later to say that I finally have to have someone come out and check to see why it's making a noise. I'm thrilled to think that I've caused some wear and tear on it. LOL.

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The 9.33 Premium Series treadmill from Precor brings the latest design and technical innovations to your home. Whether running or walking, the 9.33 treadmill provides an exceptionally smooth and fluid feel. An innovative design adjusts belt speed to foot speed--fully complementing and supporting your natural stride--while a unique suspension system cushions impact and stabilizes lateral movement, reducing impact on joints, increasing comfort and minimizing fatigue. With a full range of workout programs (16 in total) and advanced options, you'll be able to customize your workout and follow your progress as you achieve your fitness goals.
Features:
Durable design for home use: Precor quality has been time tested in health facilities worldwide, providing solid construction that translates into long-lasting performance, quiet operation, and trouble-free operation in your home.
Integrated Foot plant Technology: Innovative design adjusts belt speed to foot speed, fully complementing and supporting your natural running stride.
Ground Effects Impact Control System: Unique suspension system cushions impact and stabilizes lateral movement, reducing impact on joints, increasing comfort, and minimizing fatigue.
Easy-to-read, intuitive console: Access QuickStart, Programs, and User IDs with one touch of a button. Tap Control keypad is user-friendly with "quick key" functions. The 9.33 offers a unique workout log and a personal best tracker to keep you motivated during your workout.
Heart Rate Monitoring: A combination of easy-to-use handgrip sensors and wireless heart rate telemetry allow you to monitor your heart rate during workouts. SmartRate displays your heart rate to keep you in your target zone for improved cardio-training and weight-loss results.
Options menu offers greater choice: The options button allows you to customize your workouts by viewing additional metrics, entering weight and age, or selecting the goal you want to work toward.
Safety features: For added assurance, the magnetic safety key and stop button will immediately turn off power when activated. Password protection ensures that the machine can be locked and unlocked at your discretion.
3.0 hp continuous-duty motor runs cool and quiet, providing substantial power and torque at all speeds.
Steel crowned drive and take up roller keep belt centered to reduce maintenance and eliminate noise.
Integrated fan on the flywheel aids cooling
Multi-ply belt made of polyester satin weave with a non-slip PVC surface
Phenolic laminate deck bonded to 1-inch medium density fiberboard; can be flipped to double life.
Bio-feedback center with SmartRate provides dedicated feedback on heart rate and calories.
Full-length arms
Heart rate monitoring and compatibility with heart rate telemetry reading using an optional chest strap
Diagnostics: Set weight, age, workout stats, interval speeds, and inclines for each user
Accessory holder for water bottle, portable music, reading material and more
Powder-coating process adds cosmetic topcoat and durability to frame
QuickStart lets you begin workout with the push of a single button
Specifications:
Speed: 0.5 to 12 MPH
Incline: 0 to 15 percent grade
Decline: n/a
Running surface: 22 x 56 inches
Roller diameter: 2.5 inches
Programs: 16 total, including 1-mile, 10k course, 5k course, 2 custom, 1 heart rate, 1 interval, 1 manual, 1 random, 3 run, 3 walk, 1 weight loss
Dimensions: 79 x 34 x 56 inches (L x W x H)
Weight: 335 pounds

Manufacturer's Warranty Frame and welds - lifetime, parts and wear items - ten years, labor - one year
Note on AssemblyPrecor highly recommends that you consider a professional assembly and installation of your Precor exercise machine. If you would like to speak to someone about having your machine professionally installed, please contact Precor at askprecor@precor.com or by calling 1-866-593-5568.
About Precor Precor is passionate about fitness. It all started with a desire to create a better kind of exercise equipment, one that mirrored human movement: fluid, natural, and dynamic. Twenty-six years later the company's biomechanics and engineering experience have led to countless innovations that have captivated fitness enthusiasts of all ages and abilities. Precor has introduced many "firsts" to the fitness industry, including the Elliptical Fitness Crosstrainer (EFX®) in 1995 and the revolutionary, award-winning Adaptive Motion Trainer (AMT®) in 2007. Today, Precor is a celebrated top-tier brand preferred by fitness enthusiasts of all abilities and their machines are used every day in health clubs, hotels, facilities, and homes worldwide.
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9.35

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Weider Total Body Works 5000 Gym Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've been looking for quite a while for an "all-in-one" home gym, to replace several pieces of gym equipment that I've been using regularly for several years: a Weider 8510 pulley-type machine, a Roman crunch bench; a Body by Jake; and free weights.
I looked at the "Total Gym" machine (the one pushed by Christie Brinkley and Chuck Norris). I went to their website and requested their free video; a few days later, I got a phone call from them, telling me that if I bought it that very day, I could save $100. "I want the video", I said. I never got the video. That sent up "red flags" in my head for the Total Gym people. I resent being hustled.
Then I found this item, the Total Body Works 5000. I could not find a single negative review for it, anywhere.
I bought it. I love it. Even though I've been working out for years, I am impressed. It will help free up a lot of space in my basement!

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Able to accommodate over 100 body shaping exercises, features body weight resistance and additional bands to add up to 50 lbs of resistance

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