C
Canteen Boy
Guest
I have tried three in the last few months and would not recommend any of them.
Let me start with the worst one –
Jackie Chan’s Cable Flex – This is a made in Taiwan piece of absolute junk. It is so cheesy and easy that a 95 year old woman couldn’t even break a sweat using it. The highest tension setting MIGHT be enough for a 2 year old but I doubt it. AVOID THIS PRODUCT . . . unless you are a 96 year old lady or a 2 year old.)
Total Gym Ultra with dip bars – I ordered the “made for QVC” version which is $250 as opposed to $1,200 for the actual Total Gym (they have 5 models). This product MIGHT be satisfactory for a woman or a smallish man (?160 lbs. or less?) who is interested in improving muscle coordination minor toning and minor cardio. I weigh 190 lbs. and I felt like the support tracks were bending in the middle from my weight. The sliding bench also came off the tracks a few times during vigorous reps of certain motions.
I tried a friends “top o’ the line” model ($1,200 purchased online from Total Gym) and it was bigger sturdier and definitely a better piece of equipment. The main drawback is definitely the fact that you have to attach detach and reattach pieces . . . pulling pins and lining up holes etc. He said he has kinda gotten used to all that but it’s still a little time consuming and it makes it hard for him to develop any sort of rhythm in his workout. Another slight annoyance is the fact that the cables get in the way at times rubbing on your shoulders upper arms and even forearms and wrists during simple motions. My friend said it took a couple of months to “adjust” to that. I never got used to it during the 30 days with mine. It also takes up quite a bit of room and the unit weighs about 85 lbs. You can partially fold it so that it doesn’t take up so much floor space and that is quick and easy to do. Breaking it down completely to shove under a bed or into a closet is a bit of a choir and is not really practical on a daily basis.
Bow Flex – I have only tried a friends Bow Flex once for about 7 or 8 minutes so obviously I can’t give you a full assessment of it. They are relatively expensive (approx $1,250) and it takes up a LOT of room. It is easy to adjust the equipment and the operation is simple. However, the Bow Flex is potentially dangerous and if you are planning on actual weight training you would be much better off with free weights or even Nautilus style machines. The most I can bench with free weights is about 220. I tried to bench 120 on the Bow Flex and almost exploded. Once you add a certain amount of resistance those bars do some serious wobbling. Imagine your spotter shaking the bar you are trying to bench press towards and away from him an inch or two very rapidly. My friend had it for about 3 months when he got a little cocky and tried to rep too much weight for him at the time. He partially tore a pec due to that tension shaking and he couldn’t workout for over 6 weeks. He has strained muscles several times before and since. There is apparently nothing you can do to control that shaking and it looks like a design flaw to me. Maybe if there were vertical support bars pressing against the tension rods keeping them from quivering it would solve the problem. I don’t know. Anyway, it would be the best and most convenient of these 3 pieces of equipment if you could actually utilize higher weight resistance with more control and less potential for injury. My friend just does his actual weight training at a gym now. He suggests that if you just wanted to use lower resistance and high reps for toning and cardio the Bow Flex would be fine for the average person who is not interested in building significant muscle mass. Otherwise it would probably just turn into a big expensive clothes rack for many of us.
Let me start with the worst one –
Jackie Chan’s Cable Flex – This is a made in Taiwan piece of absolute junk. It is so cheesy and easy that a 95 year old woman couldn’t even break a sweat using it. The highest tension setting MIGHT be enough for a 2 year old but I doubt it. AVOID THIS PRODUCT . . . unless you are a 96 year old lady or a 2 year old.)
Total Gym Ultra with dip bars – I ordered the “made for QVC” version which is $250 as opposed to $1,200 for the actual Total Gym (they have 5 models). This product MIGHT be satisfactory for a woman or a smallish man (?160 lbs. or less?) who is interested in improving muscle coordination minor toning and minor cardio. I weigh 190 lbs. and I felt like the support tracks were bending in the middle from my weight. The sliding bench also came off the tracks a few times during vigorous reps of certain motions.
I tried a friends “top o’ the line” model ($1,200 purchased online from Total Gym) and it was bigger sturdier and definitely a better piece of equipment. The main drawback is definitely the fact that you have to attach detach and reattach pieces . . . pulling pins and lining up holes etc. He said he has kinda gotten used to all that but it’s still a little time consuming and it makes it hard for him to develop any sort of rhythm in his workout. Another slight annoyance is the fact that the cables get in the way at times rubbing on your shoulders upper arms and even forearms and wrists during simple motions. My friend said it took a couple of months to “adjust” to that. I never got used to it during the 30 days with mine. It also takes up quite a bit of room and the unit weighs about 85 lbs. You can partially fold it so that it doesn’t take up so much floor space and that is quick and easy to do. Breaking it down completely to shove under a bed or into a closet is a bit of a choir and is not really practical on a daily basis.
Bow Flex – I have only tried a friends Bow Flex once for about 7 or 8 minutes so obviously I can’t give you a full assessment of it. They are relatively expensive (approx $1,250) and it takes up a LOT of room. It is easy to adjust the equipment and the operation is simple. However, the Bow Flex is potentially dangerous and if you are planning on actual weight training you would be much better off with free weights or even Nautilus style machines. The most I can bench with free weights is about 220. I tried to bench 120 on the Bow Flex and almost exploded. Once you add a certain amount of resistance those bars do some serious wobbling. Imagine your spotter shaking the bar you are trying to bench press towards and away from him an inch or two very rapidly. My friend had it for about 3 months when he got a little cocky and tried to rep too much weight for him at the time. He partially tore a pec due to that tension shaking and he couldn’t workout for over 6 weeks. He has strained muscles several times before and since. There is apparently nothing you can do to control that shaking and it looks like a design flaw to me. Maybe if there were vertical support bars pressing against the tension rods keeping them from quivering it would solve the problem. I don’t know. Anyway, it would be the best and most convenient of these 3 pieces of equipment if you could actually utilize higher weight resistance with more control and less potential for injury. My friend just does his actual weight training at a gym now. He suggests that if you just wanted to use lower resistance and high reps for toning and cardio the Bow Flex would be fine for the average person who is not interested in building significant muscle mass. Otherwise it would probably just turn into a big expensive clothes rack for many of us.
I did. 
