Bowflex Ultimate Instructions

The Boxflex Ultimate provides you with the means for a total body workout in the comfort of your own home. You can perform over 95 different exercises on the Bowflex Ultimate machine. With its five adjustable pulleys, you can add up to 310 pounds of weight resistance to the Bowflex Ultimate. Despite its versatility, the Bowflex Ultimate does not take up a large amount of space in your home, making it an ideal piece of home-exercise equipment.

Instructions

1. Familiarize yourself with the various parts of the Bowflex Ultimate. The resistance rods are located along the back, upright portion of the machine. The padded bench can be adjusted to be flat or angled, allowing for a variety of prone and seated exercises. The machine comes with a range of attachments, including a lat bar, leg extension attachment and preacher curl attachment.

2. Choose the appropriate resistance on your Bowflex Ultimate. You can add up to 310 pounds of weight resistance via the machine's resistance rods. To set the resistance, hook the pulleys you'll be using to the resistance setting of your choice.

3. Use the Bowflex Ultimate for cardiovascular exercise. Change the seat to its sliding setting and set the adjustable arms to the position 9 setting to use the Bowflex as a rowing machine. Place your feet on the footplate and pull back on the D-ring grip. Fully straighten and bend your legs while hinging from the hips to get a full range of motion.

4. Focus on your arms. Perform lying triceps extensions to work your triceps by putting the bench in the flat position and the pulleys in the narrow position; lie down on the bench and push the pulleys down your body, toward your legs. Tone your biceps with standing biceps curls by putting the pulleys in the wide position, facing the machine with your arms straight and curling your arms up. For your wrists and forearms, try seated wrist extensions: With the bench in the flat position and the pulleys in the narrow setting, sit with your feet on the bench, hold the pulleys in your hands and gently curl your fists back toward your forearms.

5. Target your shoulder muscles with seated shoulder presses by placing the bench in the flat position and the pulleys in the wide setting. Face away from the machine as you press your hands up toward the ceiling.

6. Exercise your lower body. Attach the squat attachment to your desired resistance rod, and perform squats. Or perform leg presses by wrapping the leg press belt around your body, placing the seat in the sliding position and attaching the belt to the desired resistance rods. Attach the leg extension/leg curl attachment to the Bowflex Ultimate and place the seat in the incline position, and lie prone with your chest against the bench as you curl your heels in toward your buttocks.

   For standing hip flexions, remove the bench, secure the cuff around one thigh and pull your knee in towards your chest and then push it down to the starting position. For calf raises, set the seat to the sliding position and place the leg press belt attachment around your waist. Place the balls of your feet against the pulley frame and push up on them to focus on your calf muscles.

7. Convert the Bowflex Ultimate into a bench press machine. Attach the bench press attachment to the pulleys, and affix the pulleys to the desired resistance rods. Put the seat in the flat position, and lie with your back flat against it. Pull the attachment toward your chest, taking care to pull evenly with both arms.

   You can also set the bench to the incline position and set the pulleys to the wide position to perform chest flies and incline bench presses. Or you can work the chest with resisted punches by placing the bench in the flat position and the pulleys in the narrow setting.

8. Work your back muscles by setting the bench to the flat position and the pulleys to the narrow setting. Lie down and pull the pulleys over your shoulders and toward the floor to perform a lying shoulder pullover, which focuses on back muscles.

9. Perform abdominal exercises by setting the bench to the incline position and attaching the shoulder cuffs to the machine. Affix the desired resistance rods to the shoulder cuffs and place them on your shoulders. You can now perform standard crunches as well as side crunches to work your oblique muscles.

10. Increase your resistance every 2 to 3 months. As you become stronger, your body won't be as challenged by the same resistance settings. In order to continue progressing, you'll have to increase your resistance regularly.

Tips & Warnings

• The Bowflex Ultimate comes with a fitness poster that has detailed information for each exercise you can perform on the machine. Use the workout DVD that comes along with the Bowflex Ultimate.

• Consult your doctor before beginning any new exercise regime.