Bowflex Max Trainer Series Fitness Equipment

En general todo bien con la maquina con excepción de un ruido que hace al hacer ejercicio, me comunique con soporte y ni ellos me pudieron ayudar, veremo si este no afecta su funcionamiento con el tiempo. de momento por eso le doy 4 estrellas

Este equipo lo compré en septiembre del 2021 con el costo MXN$ 24,000 hoy veo que está a la mitad de ese precio, lo que me hace pensar en que aparte de que debe haber equipos recientes, se quieren deshacer de los últimos que tengan en inventario.
Calificó con lo mínimo pues el servicio o atención del fabricante es nulo, no existe, he reportado varias veces por correo he intentado llamada telefónica (nadie responde) a partir de enero de este año tuve un fallo en la pantalla y el tacómetro no encienden ni marca nada, he buscado hacer valer mi garantía directamente con el fabricante siguiendo la documentación de asistencia que viene con el equipo y no he tenido respuesta en absoluto, de igual manera solicité ayuda a Amazon y al principio mencionaron que podían ayudarme a contactarme con el fabricante, lo cual siempre me proporcionaron los mismos datos con los que ya contaba, la última vez que hable con Amazon mencionaron que tampoco podían ayudarme a contactar al proveedor, lo cual se me hace totalmente ridículo siendo que Amazon por ser lo que es no pueda tener contacto con sus proveedores o con quién venden por medio de su plataforma.
Actualmente sigo con el fallo en mi equipo, no busco un tema devolución solo hacer valer la garantía con quien corresponda, no dudo que el equipo sea funcional y el ejercicio que se practica en él; pero pues la calidad al menos del display sí dejan mucho que desear (3 meses) y más el servicio y asistencia (garantía) tanto del fabricante y la ayuda la nula ayuda de Amazon con respecto a este tema.

So I’ve waited a month to write this review. I’m in my 30’s, female, and about 220lbs. when I started working out on the Max Trainer, I have since lost 12.3lbs. I have worked out 23 out of the 30 days I have had it.. my 1st work out I burnt 350 calories with 3 sets of 14 mins HIIT work outs throughout the day, a total of 42 mins, my 23rd workout that I just finished I burnt 652 in that same amount of time! It is an AMAZING workout, absolutely the best imaginable and that I’ve ever had for sure. I quietly tell it I love it like every day lol. So this was pricey for me but I’m glad I took the chance. I did A LOT of research and landed on this machine. Even if money wasn’t an object I still would go with the M3 as opposed to the other, more expensive models. They only add a backlit display, a more convenient cup holder, and heart rate sensors on the machine, which I don’t find neccessary, you know you’re getting an amazing workout on this machine w/o the HR monitor, although the M3 comes with a strap on one but I found that uncomfortable. Putting it together was rather easy. I am a woman and I’m not a weakling but I’m not super strong either and I found this to be a rather enjoyable experience ( I like putting things together). I did have a friend help with the mounting of the body, I would imagine that would be super hard with only one person handling it. Once that was set I did the rest myself (the arms where a bit trick but still duable with just me). The delivery was tricky though. The delivery date kept changing on me and I had to reschedule work for it..it was really frustrating. When it arrived the delivery guys were very nice and asked if the could bring it upstairs ( I have an apartment on the 2nd floor), which was amazing because of the weight I was planning on taking it apart downstairs and bringing it up piece by piece. There was a hole on the box that some parts fell out of inside of my apartment building. that I didn’t notice till I was putting it together, luckily my landlord had picked it up for safe keeping and gave it to me a few days later. I did purchase the insurance on this as Bowflex only provides a 1 year warranty on this machine, (but fingers crossed) so far so good. The machine is smooth and durable, that said, you should 100% tighten bolts regularly and keep and eye or ear out for any squeaks or abnormal noises, it should be maintained as you use it. This is literally the most expensive thing I’ve ever purchased and I absolutely love it. It has given me control over my body that I was desperately needing without access to a gym since Covid hit. If you feel like maybe you can’t handle the work out..you can! You can set your own pace and work up to where ever you want to get to.It is pretty small I have it in my “storage room” with the Christmas decorations, doesn’t take up too much room like a treadmill would. 110% would reccomend!

I will try to make this an on going review and check in every few weeks to give updates.
Week (1)
Assembly – Assembly was easy, and took an even 40 minutes for me by myself using only the tools BowFlex provided with the machine. I did not want to use any power tools to give a realistic assembly time and difficulty level. The main portion of the machine is assembled, you will be putting on the rear frame brace (6 bolts), the pedal “arms” 2 bolts, pedals 4 bolts, pop in the rubber pedal pads, the upper arms 6 bolts, and the computer input/middle handles 4 bolts. Most of the assembly time as getting the machine out of the box and set out in the area I was going to assemble it. The rest was very straight forward, there is always available videos to speed you along as well as recommend an impact driver with a set of Allen head bits to make it go even faster.
Use and Ergonomics – (Keep in mind I am 6’ 235lbs) It is as promised a mix of a stair stepper and elliptical as you are able to use your arms (Biceps – upper bar, or Triceps – lower bar) to help pull/push you through the stepper action. The step action does have a reciprocating action that is similar to a standard elliptical. With that being said my initial feelings on these items are that 1. I wish there was a little more range of movement on the arms. The step stride seems good to me however I feel that regardless of where I place my hands my throw length is short. I would like to have it with a bit more extensions for a fuller range of motion. Perhaps this is was the middle ground for use with all users.
The steps stride seems decent, pretty close to that of a “to code” set of stairs so that part definitely feels comfortable/natural. The elliptical action of the pedals is not all that much really. As state it does a slight reciprocal action but do not expect this to feel like and standard elliptical at an incline. It is a stepper at heart, with the added arm movement.
On last part regarding ergonomics, as mentioned I am 6’, I feel as though I am leaning forward while using it. It doesn’t cause any issues that I can tell/feel yet, just takes a bit of getting used to. My girlfriend is 5’5” 110lbs and she says the same thing, so it would seem it is just the design.
Machine – I have used it 6 days in the first week, and unsure of the full additional use from my girlfriend though everything is working well. Not weird squeaks or noises. Everything seems to be running smoothly as intended. One thing is I do wish it had a slightly wider base. This would of course increase the smaller footprint, which is/was a selling point for at least me though I favor my left leg heavily as my right leg knee down was destroyed in a motorcycle accident. Because of my favoring (not a machine flaw) I can start to wobble the machine at its base. So would be good to have it wider for me personally, but my girlfriend says it’s plenty stable for her so I think it would be for the average users so I wouldn’t hold this against the machine.
Computer / Training – The machine has 2 uses profiles which is nice. My girlfriend has a much lower burn zone that makes me a bit jealous because mine is way up there on the dial. I do not see any sort of logging directly on this model’s computer but I basically just use it for time and cadence with I write down on my work out sheet and I also use wahoo or mapmyfitness apps to get the heartrate data etc. This did come with its own heart rate strap which will display on the screen, but again not work out logging so you must document it, if you care, during the complete working screen or I think it is gone after that. Perhaps all the higher/mewer models (m5, 6, 7, 8) keep this all or use their Bowflex app for that. One thing I do wish this had from the higher model is a back lit LCD portion of the screen. The dial/burn rate is light fine, the LCD with the cadence, HR etc. is not. Where I have the machine, and that I am working out first thing in the morning, it is very difficult to read. Can’t think of anything else to write other than the effects. Well it exercise, so it will work. I have not setup the “max trainer” interval program yet, I just am warming up to the machine this last week with just going timed so I am sure that will hurt (not sure how manually changing the resistance while using the machine will go though). I cannot attest to their calorie burn claims on this either of course but either way its smallish, works about everything, good work out. More to come later.
Week 2 – Week 2 complete. I still haven’t messed with the Max Interval work out program nor settings as of yet. I have kept up with using it 6 days a week and I did hear a noise at one point. I found that the arms that go from the foot pedal to the rotating assembly are able to move side to side a bit. When putting it together it seemed as those the bolt/washer you put over that portion butts up against the side of the bearing and locks it in place but as I said it does allow some side to side movement. This is where the noise came from and I am wondering if I bumped the “arm” with my leg or something to knock it sideways a bit because I don’t see how else it could have happened since that entire section self-rights itself as you use it (roller bearings lower and the horizontal bearings upper. I don’t think its a problem at all, just for other’s information to look if they here a clunk type noise at some point. Everything else is going as in the first week so far. Started week 3 today and will again try to follow up with an update.
Week 3- More of the same. This last week I did not have any new sounds. I upped the resistance and of course it worked just fine. Up to 30 minutes at a time now, still in the early morning and I am still wishing the screen had the back lighting so I can see the cadence etc. but still not worth stepping up the next model of this machine for just that, just need better lighting or work out later to document my stats better. My plan, and due to time constraints, is the stay at 40 minute workouts before work so I will keep upping the resistance until I top out with it at 30 minutes.. then worry about either finding more time to work out or drop the money on one of the newest machines with more resistance levels at that time. One thing I have noticed now is that the lower arms, for working triceps, doesn’t do all that much for me. Not sure if it is the posture using them puts me in, their starting location or whatever, but it just doesn’t seem to do much. They are more moving arm rests, however when using the upper arms, more back and biceps, like a traditional elliptical I get a better workout and feel it.
Week 4, 5 & 6 / Final – I think I have given this a fair amount of time and consistent usage 5-6 days a week now. I am up to level 3 for minutes in the morning before work which fits my schedule well. I have been increasing the resistance level up 1, for the last 5 minutes of my work out every week to keep advancing. This level seem to work out well with the 1 or 2 days of rest at the end of the week. I am technically now on week 6 so it has been some time. At the start of week 4 the left “arm” developed a squeak at the roller. I put a little water on it to test it out which sure enough silenced it for a bit before evaporating. I contacted Bowflex support who advised I should get some treadmill lubricant (look for 100% silicone brands) which has worked. Though I have to say that I am a little disappointed for the price of these over competitors they didn’t include a tiny bit if this is a known issue/maintenance item. Since this squeak started I have of course been looking more at the roller and noticed that the left side that is squeaking seems to ride more on the right side of the roller, toward the inside of the rail bar instead of right in the middle. This is the case even moving it without being on it, as I wanted to make sure my left leg wasn’t pushing the pedal outward over compensating for my bad leg. Seems as though mine is just a bit off on alignment or the roller itself is miss formed. Other than the squeak this doesn’t seem to be an issue, especially with the added silicone which I apply a tiny bit once a week. The roller slides, without rolling, over the silicone for quiet sometime before it wears of a bit and the roller starts to roller as intended again. Suppose this is a testament to the silicone but just hoping even with the seeming miss alignment this will prolong the time before I need to get new rollers, which I am contemplating ordering now before they are not available any longer in a couple years since they are consumable items. I can’t think of much more and hope there isn’t any more surprises in the coming weeks but will end my review here unless something big happens. Over all recommended.