HST and Bowflex,managing weight increase

J

jack32

New Member
hi guys,
i train at home and have been using a powertec leverage machine along w/ an old bowflex power pro.
i just upgraded to the bowflex ultimate 2.
anyway, the smallest weight jump on the bowflex is 5 lbs per cable.
on some of the exercises, notably arms, this can be too much of a jump.
for instance-- i lifted 50 lbs. on the standing curl for 15 reps last workout. good form and easy to use.
the next jump in weight is 60 lbs.
i did 60 lbs. for 8 reps today, not to failure, of course.
as i'm working in the range of 15's, where do i go after this first set w/ 60?
do i immediately drop the weight to 50 and do a drop set of 7 reps, so as to be at 15?
or do i do a 2nd set of 7 w/ 60 lbs. after working triceps for a set?
thanks again!!
jack
butbut.gif
 
You've got what you've got, but upgrading a bowflex is beyond me. I'e got one sitting in my garage, which belonged to a friend. His wife loved it, because she could tone up with it and then hit the cardio. It was great for that....

Honestly...and I'm not picking on you. I just don't see how it can be effective, especially long term for serious bodybuilding training.

I think it should be fine just starting out, because any resistance exercise is better than none when you're getting started. Besides...it looks like fun, bending those rods and getting a good stretch.

thumbs-up.gif
 
no offense taken!
i've been training for, gulp, 30 yrs. now!!
free weights, nautilus, hammer, medx, cybex.
honestly, bowflex provides one hell of a workout!
i'd encourage anyone, yes, even serious builders to give it a try.
it is extremely flexible and allows you to perform a lot of both compound and isolation movements.
and it changes from one exercise to another so quickly, which is perfect for me.
my model, requires no cable changes, so i can go from lat pulldown movements to chest movements to leg movements, like extensions and curls, etc...
brian johnston of the IART trained on it for 2 months exclusively and was very impressed with the resistance curve.
johnston has a tremendous natural physique, BTW.
johnston did not lose any muscle, and when he returned to his "typical" exercises, he actually increased either his reps, weight or both on all movements, despite not "practicing" his typical exercises for 2 months.
finally, johnston is also training a competivive builder in canada w/ bowflex.
it's a solid piece of equipment and nautilus company continue to improve upon each version.
my only peeve, is that they should also incorporate 2 1/2 lb. rods.
jack
 
I have owned a Bowflex Extreme since February 2004.  It has a separate set of rods for each arm.  Don't know about yours, but since you say you are forced to go from 50 to 60 and you have 5 pound rods, I will assume that you are going from 25 (10 + 10 + 5) to the 30 pound for each arm.
I had reason not to believe the marked resistance on the rods, so I used a digital scale supposedly accurate to the ounce ranging up to 50 pounds meant for weighing fish.  I found that the resistance varied greatly over the range used for a typical exercise and only the 50 pound rods provided the marked resistance -- but only as it hit the stops.   The 5 pound rod was not an actual 5 pound increment -- more like 2 or 3.  The bigger the rod, the closer (percentage) to the marked resistance.  The difference between 10 + 10 and the 30 was significantly greater than the difference between 10 and 10 + 10.  I have no advice for the 50 to 60 increment other than you should measure it yourself.  You may find that it is really only 5 pounds, but the other increments are smaller.  But as far as the 90 to 100 increment, you might try to use the smaller rods before the 50 pounder:  after 45 (30 + 10 + 5), I use 50 (30 + 10 + 10), then 55 (30 + 10 + 10 + 5), and finally the single 50.
As long as I understand that the marked resistances are not comparable to free weights, I will be satisfied in continuing to use it for most exercises (I use DB for curls).  I recently bought another set of 50 pound rods since even at my small size (144 lbs 5'8") the 310 was not enough. Good luck.
 
Jack

Without any further instructions or additions, when struggling with a weight progression because of having to jump too much for intended progression due to lack of smaller increments, use same weight for 2 or even three consecutive workouts, then add the jump!

RBE catches up after 3 or 4 weeks according to other HST experts (those with a lot more knowledge of physiology than me), but I kind of remember seeing one study proving this just can't remember exact time it took for RBE to catch up, anyway it is long.

So you can actually have only two progressions in one rep scheme and still be fine!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top