Bowflex Revolution Home Gym Review

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This Bowflex Revolution Home Gym Review explores an all-in-one exercise machine that allows you to perform over a hundred exercises in the comfort of your exercise room or garage gym. The Revolution system works based on resistance bands tension, yielding a lower risk of injuries and great results. Compared to other home gyms you don’t need a lot of space to set it up and it’s easy to use.

The Bowflex Revolution Home Gym Review

What To Buy For The Home Gym - Bowflex revolution home gym

How Does the Revolution Compare?

Here are just some of the advantages that sets the Bowflex Revolution above some other all-in-one exercise machines.

Utilizes SpiraFlex Technology

The SpiraFlex Resistance Technology was designed to replace weights. Studies by NASA concluded that groups using free weights vs. those using SpiraFlex experienced no major differences in muscle gain muscle from one another in the course of a three-month workout regimen.

Its major advantage over utilizing free weights is a constant stress level and a lowered risk of injury. In fact, the Bowflex Revolution is designed to give you that “free weight” feel. The Revolution provides 210Lbs of resistance with an upgrade bringing it up to 300Lbs.

Wide Range of Motion

In my opinion, the biggest advantage of the Revolution is its completely adjustable arms all the way to 170 degrees.

Throughout the years of working out in fitness centers, I’ve always found it irritable to perform an exercise on even a commercial piece of equipment that does not allow you to adjust the height of the pulleys. This disallows you from using proper form on some exercises and even worse, might cause injuries. The Bowflex Revolution has this issue resolved.

The straps feel like dumbells in your hands. You could perform decline and incline chest flyes, or bench press even without changing the bench angle and by only adjusting the arms of the Revolution cables. This also helps to save the amount of time in the gym.

Bowflex Revolution home gym rear angle view

Very Customizable

The solid bench can fold and be adjusted to move along a rail. You can adjust the seat’s distance from the cable system in order to switch between exercises, stretch levels, and form. The bench can be removed at any time if you want to perform standard bicep curls or shoulder exercises like side delt raises or standing shoulder press.

What I personally like most about the Bowflex Revolution is that compared to other home gyms, it allows for a variety of leg exercises such as leg curls and leg press, which are extremely easy to perform and feel very natural.

10 Year Warranty

Bowflex is a well-known name in the fitness industry and gives you the quality that comes from the Nautilus Company. The best workout equipment for the home will be built to last, and this one is insured for a decade, much longer than most competitors.

See my 5 Best Exercise Bikes for the Home

Features and Benefits – Bowflex Home Gym

You can perform 100+ exercises on the Bowflex Revolution with over 400 variations that can be used in weight-loss regimens, strength building, and injury recovery workouts.

Freedom Arms

The freedom arms of the Bowflex Revolution allow you to adjust the angle and height of the cable pulleys that you would use in most exercises like bench press, lat pulldown, or back rows. This is the main feature of the machine and is used in most exercises. The 10 different adjustment positions are all functional, showing how carefully designed it is.

Five Different Hand-Grip Ankle Cuffs

These are used in many different exercises to further optimize your comfort and minimize the risk of injury throughout your workout. They can function as a regular grip, non-grip cuff, ankle cuff, foot cuff, and shoulder cuff.

Adjustable and Sliding Seat

The seat can both be folded, conjoined with the bench, or removed to be used for a variety of exercises for all muscle groups. Moreover, the seat is attached to a rail, which allows it to slide freely if needed. This greatly helps in several exercises such as aerobic rowing. (A very effective weight-loss and HIIT exercise to get shredded.)

Attachable Leg Press Station

This is my favorite, a home gym with a built-in leg press. You can load up to 600 lbs of resistance like you would at the gym, but at home.

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Bowflex Revolution Pros & Cons

Pros:

100+ exercises with over 400 variations.
Very easy to unbox and assemble.
170 degrees adjustment of height and angle for the cable system.
210Lbs of resistance and upgradable to 300Lbs.
10-year Bowflex warranty. One of the longest warranties on the market. This machine is designed to last more than a decade!
Allows for a full range of motion exercises. The resistance is constant throughout your form, regardless of the exercise you are performing.
Quieter than expected. If you are living in a shared building or do not want to disturb your spouse, this is a good fit.
Utilizes the highly praised Spiraflex resistance system.

Cons:

It may be easier with two people for the unboxing and assembling.
If you are well over 6 feet tall you might not fully enjoy doing lat pulldown exercise, since you may not get full arm extension.
The Revolution is a bit pricier than most home gyms.

See my 10 Best Workout Equipment for the Home

Bowflex Revolution Accessories & Features

Preacher Curls Bar and Accessory

The preacher curl accessory can be placed on the end of the rail. The bench bends in a foldable seat with a backrest, allowing you to prop your arms in a preacher curl position to perform bicep exercises.

Rope Pulley

You can utilize the rope to perform biceps and triceps exercises, as well as back and delts. They can be attached to any of the cables and are a good alternative to using bars and straps.

Pulldown Straps

The pulldown straps are the standard piece of accessory that allows you to perform lat pulldowns, back rows, biceps, triceps, and shoulder exercises, as well as the bench press.

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Bowflex Revolution Dimensions

Workout Area Necessary:	10’x7’7″
Machine Footprint:	38.2″x65″x72.8″
Machine Weight:	157Lbs.
User Capacity:	300Lbs.

Who should use the Bowflex Revolution?

The Bowflex Revolution is a complete home gym, offering you more than 100 exercises that covers every muscle group. The only possible disadvantage the Revolution might have is its recommended maximum user weight of 300 lbs. So this piece of equipment is recommended to anyone who is below that body weight.

The uppermost position of the cable arms is not as high as you would expect and if you are over 6 feet 4 inches tall, it might be a little short for you to perform lat pulldowns properly on a vertical axis. I would recommend this machine to everyone, aside from very tall, and very large people due to its dimension limitations.

See my 4 Best Rowing Machines for the Home

Unboxing Experience – Bowflex Home Gym

The Bowflex Revolution Comes in nine boxes and is relatively easy to put together. Most people can assembly it in just a few hours, but it looks to be easier if two people for unboxing and assembling.

The boxes come with very concise and clear instructions on what part goes where and in what order. In terms of assembly, the Revolution is very user-friendly. Most reviews on Bowflex Revolution assembly show no problems when putting this exercise machine together, but there were a few that complained about the process.

Bowflex Revolution Reviews

I looked around on many reviews before purchasing the product, as well as YouTube videos and the biggest concerns of most users were the same as mine. The Revolution is not for very tall and huge people. Luckily, I am not one of these and I can say that with my 6” and 200lbs I feel very comfortable using the machine.

Bowflex Revolution Home Gym Review customer 1

Depending on where you order, the packaging might vary. Some users have reported different packaging that might make it hard for some people to unbox due to weight and size.

Bowflex Revolution Home Gym Review customer 2

Alternative Home Gym Recommendation

Small Home Gym Ideas - Bowflex xtreme 2 SE Home

The Bowflex XTREME 2 SE Home Gym

Here is the other highly rated Bowflex home gym. The Bowflex XTREME 2 Home Gym is an alternative home gym by the same manufacturer that is less expensive than the Revolution and allows you to perform over 70 exercises at home. A downside, compared to the Revolution is the lesser amount of resistance the standard version has to offer of 210 lbs.

However, there is an option to add an additional 200Lbs of resistance. This should be enough unless you are a competing professional or an advanced bodybuilder or weightlifter. Many people love the Bowflex Xtreme Home Gym because it functions more like exercise resistance bands, but much easier to use.

Pros:

Allows you to perform 70+ exercises, targeting all muscle groups.
Takes very little time to switch from one exercise to another, even better for those trying to lose weight and build strength at the same time.
Comes with a 7-year warranty on machine and lifetime on power rods.
210Lbs resistance and upgradable to 410Lbs.
Based on bow-like resistance. (Exercises feel like you are stretching a bow, which grows your muscles to be thick and dense.)
Just as quiet as the Bowflex Revolution.
Great resistance along with the full range of motion of exercises.
A very solidly built home gym that is easy to assemble.

Cons:

Compared with the Bowflex Revolution, it feels less like real weight.
The standard 210 lbs of resistance are not enough for stronger people. I recommend purchasing the additional resistance.
Bowflex resistance bows get weaker over time. However, they come with a lifetime warranty.

CHECK PRICE ON BOWFLEX XTREME