John’s anniversary gift is extremely cool, but I think Arlene topped it: she got me a Crossbow. It’s like a Bowflex, but about $1400 cheaper. Supposedly it gives you much of the same benefits as free weights, and anything would be an improvement over my current physical condition. Thomas is particularly excited, and David went on at length about how I would look better “just like the real people in the Bowflex commercials”. Oh joy.
Tim and I set it up on Labor Day (actually, Tim did all the work while I yelled at Dell over the phone), but I haven’t been able to use it until today thanks to a combination of residual vasectomy soreness, laziness, and overscheduling. Today, though, I got up at 0515, dashed off a quick workout plan, and hit it. I feel great! The unit is solidly constructed (see why) and gave me good resistance throughout the range of motion. I need to buy the lat bar, because when doing pulldowns or raises with the individual cables it’s hard to keep the cables stable.
I found out that ICON offers a manual with a six-week workout plan; I’m going to order a copy when I order my lat bar. In other news, the running battle between the Bowflex and Crossbow trademark owners continues; the latest is that ICON can continue to use the “Crossbow” name despite the earlier injunction that found it confusingly similar to “Bowflex”.
No laughing, now…
Bench press: 80 @ 2 x 10
Concentration curl: 90 @ 2 x 12
Hammer curl: 90 @ 2 x 10
Reverse curl: 70 @ 2 x 10
Chest fly: 70 @ 2 x 10
Seated row: 110 @ 2 x 10
Pushdown: 110 @ 2 x 10
Lat pulldown: 110 @ 2 x 10
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