New to Strength, need help with Bowflex Xtreme 2 machine!

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Fighterwithin83
Fighterwithin83 Posts: 15
in Fitness and Exercise
Long story short, I'm new here to MFP and I'm in desperate need of a few pointers. A few years ago my friend's basement flooded and she asked me if she could store her Bowflex at my house. Last week when I confronted her about the thing she told me I could just have it and do what I wish to it. My husband put it together and it's sitting in our living room, but now we're both baffled as what to do with it.

I'm female, 5'9" and have about 80 lbs to lose. I've never really strength trained before, I wouldn't say I'm weak, but I do lack upper body muscles. I would like to improve endurance, but I'm not afraid of getting bulky either. Should I work with light weights and high reps or heavy weights and low reps? How long should I lift for and is there an order I need to do them in?

If anyone out there has experience with these home gyms and can give me a little help it would be greatly appreciated :-)

Thanks

Oh, and the one exercise I figured out so far was a bench press and I had the weight set at 60lbs and started feeling fatigued at 15 reps...

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  • lvtruu1
    lvtruu1 Posts: 211 Member
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    You can print the exercises from the web. You can then set up a routine that you like. Try bodybuilding.com and search for exercises and fit those exercises into what you have. There are 100's of exercises the machine offers. I used one for a few months then joined a gym. The gym is by far the better option. My bowflex now sits in the middle of a room and makes for a good clothing rack...
  • Fighterwithin83
    Fighterwithin83 Posts: 15
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    You can print the exercises from the web. You can then set up a routine that you like. Try bodybuilding.com and search for exercises and fit those exercises into what you have. There are 100's of exercises the machine offers. I used one for a few months then joined a gym. The gym is by far the better option. My bowflex now sits in the middle of a room and makes for a good clothing rack...

    Thanks for the information. And yes, I know what you mean about a clothes rack... The machine has only been up for a few days and there's already a shirt and sweater hanging on it. :laugh:
  • Jdkrupnick
    Jdkrupnick Posts: 9
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    You can download the manual as a PDF from their site but the DVD is really more informative because it shows real people performing the excercises and it goes through how to properly set seat height and pulley position. I don't know if they would send you one if you called them but it might be worth a shot.

    In terms of effectiveness, this is my second Bowflex machine. I had the original folding XTLU years ago and I liked it but eventually sold it. Now I have the same machine you have and it's worlds better than the older style units that they still sell in retail outlets.

    If you have the owners manual and fitness guide that came with the machine they go over some basic workouts in there that might be a good place to start depending on your goals. They usually involve some of the easier excercises to get right on the machine so it also helps you get used to how the machine works and what you need to do in order to change over from one excercise to the next.

    All in all if you have to work out at home then I think they are a great option.

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