If you are looking for an all-in-one home fitness system that won’t break the bank, Bowflex has a model suited to your needs. The Bowflex Blaze is an introductory home gym in the Bowflex stable of home gyms. In this review, we take an in-depth look at the Bowflex Blaze to enable you to determine whether the Blaze is the right match for you.
About Bowflex
Bowflex began life in 1896 when it took the idea of an Ethiopian engineering student in the United States who designed a resistance system based on the concept of drawing back a bowstring. The Bowflex weight training machine made use of polymer carbon rods to create constant resistance tension.
Today, Bowflex is a part of Nautilus, Inc. They produce a full range of power rod-based home gyms in addition to other resistance and cardio exercise machines.
Bowflex Blaze
Key Specs:
Power Rods
The Bowflex Blaze makes use of the iconic power rod resistance system. Just as with the original 1986 model, it makes use of flexible polymer resistance rods that bend like a bow. Each power rod has a different weight rating. Here is what you get with the Blaze:
- 5 pounds
- 10 pounds
- 30 pounds
- 50 pounds
The Blaze gives you a maximum combined power rod resistance of 210 pounds. This can be upgraded to 410 pounds with the purchase of extra power rods.
60+ Exercises
The Bowflex Blaze allows you to do around 54 exercises to work your entire body. It is one of only two gyms in the Bowflex power rod home gym line-up to allow you to do the horizontal bench press. You can also do such exercises such as lat pulldowns, shoulder press, and leg presses.
Other exercises in the Bowflex Blaze include the shoulder raise, bicep curls, wrist curls, ab crunches, leg extensions, leg press, calf raises, and hip abductions. In addition, you get a squat bar to be able to perform a perfect squat.
The Bowflex Blaze also comes with a sliding rail to allow you to perform rowing exercises and leg presses. This functionality turns the Blaze into a combo aerobic/anaerobic exercise machine. You also get a lat tower with an angled bar to get the ideal angling to work your back and shoulder muscles.
The multiple cable pulley positions on the Blaze allow you to get the ideal positioning to customize your training.
Solid Build
The Bowflex Blaze is a well-built machine that uses commercial quality steel, matched with vinyl leather and a generous amount of padding on the bench seat. The stylish red and black color scheme of this home gym looks great.
Multi-Grip Handles
The Blaze provides you with a range of handle and ankle grips to provide you with more flexibility and customization for your training. The grip options include a Regular Grip, Non-Grip Cuff, Ankle Cuff, Foot Cuff, and a Shoulder Cuff.
Bowflex Blaze Workout
Your purchase of the Bowflex Blaze includes a 20-minute full-body workout that is specially designed to make the most of the machine. This workout is designed to build muscle, burn fat and improve your general fitness.
Leg Extension / Curl Attachment
The bench that comes with the Blaze is fitted with a leg extension and curl attachment to allow you to focus on your quads and hamstrings.
Bench
The bench that you get with the Bowflex Blaze is very high quality. It is sturdy and comfortable with a generous amount of padding. The bench can be adjusted for incline, flat and decline angles to work your chest from different angles.
Warranty
The Bowflex Blaze provides you with the following warranty:
- 1 year on the body of the machine
- 5-years on the power rods
- 60 days on parts
What’s Not So Good
The Bowflex Blaze makes use of the Power Rod resistance system. This system is suited to all users. For one thing, the resistance stated is not a true equivalence to the weight you would get if using free weights. That is because the power rods only give you 100 percent of the stated weight during the final one-third of the movement. As a general guide, the weight stated on a power rod is about two-thirds of that when using free weights. In other words, the 210 pounds max resistance in the Bowflex Blaze equals about 150 pounds if you were using free weights.
What Others Are Saying
There are a lot of online reviews from verified purchasers of the Bowflex Blaze online. Many reviewers spoke about the wide variety of exercises, including the vertical, horizontal and decline bench press. Others made mention of the Bodyweight Blaze workout which delivers an excellent workout in twenty minutes.
Customers were also pleased with the aerobic component of the Blaze home gym by way of the rowing machine function. Still, there were some people who were unhappy with the lack of equivalence in the power rod system compared with free weights. Others commented that the Bowflex power rod system does not feel the same as free weights. While the Bowflex system is different than free weights having a system that allows you to get a full-body workout in your home is very appealing to many users.
Final Thoughts:
The Bowflex Blaze home gym is an introductory home gym that is based on the power rod system. It provides a full range of exercises that work the entire body including a rowing machine action. More advanced trainers should opt for the Bowflex Xtreme.