The biggest lure of buying a home gym is the convenience and privacy that it offers. When buying home gyms, everyone has different goals. Unfortunately, with the popularity of these machines has come the opportunity for scams and products that don't work.

While some very reliable and successful products got their start on TV infomercials, some are simply a waste of money, or even outright scams. And scams are not limited to the "As Seen on TV" products. They can be found in magazine and newspaper ads, in personal encounters, and occasionally even in stores.

So, naturally, I wondered why Bowflex would be any different?

Here are a couple important things I researched before I decided to try it out:

When you read a review of the product, check to make sure the reviewer is unbiased. The ideal reviewer should not have been paid to promote the product, or be selling the product himself. For that matter, you should make sure that he isn't getting paid to give an unfairly poor review of the product in order to sell a rivaling product.

While specific muscle groups can be targeted for strengthening, fat is distributed evenly across the body, and it is lost the same way. You cannot lose fat in just one part of your body. You just can't. If a product claims to do so, be skeptical.

Warranties are usually a sign of reliability. After all, if a company puts that much faith in its product, it must be pretty good, right? Still, you need to read the fine print.

Finally, before you buy anything, ask yourself if you will actually use it. It doesn't matter how spectacular, how reliable, or how good of a deal a piece of equipment is; if the only exercise you get is from dusting it every week, then it was a waste of money.

The Bowflex Revolution Home Gym is very smooth and very versatile as it uses SpiraFlex Resistance Technology, this helps to duplicate free weights.

There are four forms of major workouts that you can do with the Bowflex Revolution and that is, Upper Body Workouts, Lower Body Workouts, Core and Abs Workout and Cardio Workout.

Furthermore, the machine is very easy to adjust between exercises. Adding or removing weight is a piece of cake, which is a relief after so many pinched fingers and long waits on other machines. Changing the bench position is just a tiny bit tougher to master than changing weights. There are occassions when you have to attach different pullies from the lat tower or the leg extension attachment. This takes a couple of times to get used to, and then it's no problem, either. I can change the machine from the leg extension position to the bench press position in just over 30 seconds.

Over the past 6 weeks, I have gotten considerably stronger. The program is great and very easy to understand. It focuses on using heavy weight and 1 set per exercise, and has an easy way for you to figure out which weight you should be using for each exercise. The program was explained well enough in the machine's manual, but I bought a book called "The Bowflex Body Plan" when I ordered my machine, and I'm glad I did. You don't have to have it, but it explains more about the program to help you buy into it. It also has several routines that go beyond the initial six weeks plan... for those of us that are optimistic about wanting to continue past six weeks.

Just about ANYONE can use this system to shed pounds, build muscle, and shed these "cheeky" pounds for good.

There is some assembly required. It comes in several large boxes, partially assembled. I thought the instructions were adequate but putting it together took a little longer than expected. You'll need some basic tools like a screwdriver, a wrench, and a little bit of patience to put it together;)

Whenever you perform an exercise, the cables or "spiraflex" technology as Bowflex likes to call it, challenges your muscles the whole time. You'll feel just as much resistance at the top of the movement as you will at the bottom.

This is important because without enough intensity, you won't see jack for results. And this is where Bowflex kills it. I was sweating after 5 minutes of training. I can go from 10lbs up to 280 with just a quick change in the power plates and switching between exercises is lightning fast. This keeps the intensity up and allows you to make faster gains.

There's over 90 exercises to target every bodypart, (I haven't tried everyone), and nearly 400 variations. All of the exercises work great.

Favorites include bicep curls, and cable crossovers for chest. Your chest will never look better!

My 6-week program involved four key factors:

a strict, but balanced low-fat, calorie-counting diet (1300-1500 calories per day for men)

superhydration (working up to approximately a gallon and a half of cold water per day)

working out on the Bowflex three times per week

repeat the six-week program as needed

Some parts of the program defy conventional wisdom, such as only working out every other day and skipping weekends. However, within six weeks of religiously following the program, I dropped down to 185 pounds.

You won't be left out in the cold! Bowflex includes a very slick and informative workout DVD that goes through all the major exercises and workout components you need to succeed. This was a big help for me bacause I was able to hit the ground running from day one.

I feel so much happier now and love the way I look and feel. My girlfriend doesn't seem to mind either.

Although it has a few shortcomings, like the assembly time, I highly recommend it. I grew tired of endless dieting and muscle building regimes with little or no results. Quite frankly, this is the last home gym I will ever need.

I'm very glad I bought this machine directly through Bowflex. Not only was it $200 cheaper than other places, but it got to my house in only 4 days, too.

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Bowflex Revolution XP