Quite satisfied; overall an excellent product for the price
by - Written: Jun 10 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Versatile; relatively cheap; well-made
Cons: Written documentation, including assembly instructions, and exercise sample manual are lacking
The Bottom Line: Good product. It's versatile, mobile, compact, well-built and relatively cheap.
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| sjkenney's Full Review: Stamina Products Band Flex Gym 50-0202 |
I am 46-years-old and in fairly good shape. I swim for aerobic exercise but wanted some other form of resistance training to supplement that. I used to lift free weights but grew weary of carrying them from rental to rental and wanted something different. The band flex fits my needs very well.
The "action" of the bands is quite different than free weights, and it is one of the reasons I like the band flex. I used to dread lifting free weights and had to force myself to do it. However, because the resistance of the bands on the band flex is necessarily less at the beginning of the exercise and increases as the cord stretches, I find it easier and less jarring to warm up and to carry through on the training. True, free weights are probably kinetically superior. However, my free weights were doing me little good sitting in the corner unused.
The product is well-made and does fold up so that it can be put in a corner, which is a life-saver because I live in a small apartment. Note to the band flex people: If you made the machine so the band arms disengaged and swung in toward the bench for storage, it would be even more compact.
Regarding assembly: BE CAREFUL. If you are not pretty handy (and I am not) make sure you measure the hardware prior to putting it on so you make sure you get it right. The parts list in my assembly instructions was inaccurate. In other words, it indicated I should have been shipped so many of one part, but I did not receive that many. This initially alarmed me, but, ultimately, I found that despite what the parts list said, I was shipped the correct number of everything to get it built.
Regarding the exercise manual that comes with it: It is inadequate. It shows only a small number of exercises and actually does the machine a disservice because you can do a large number of exercises, including squats. My advice would be to buy a weight lifting book and then simulate the exercises on the band flex. You will probably be able to do a majority of them. You will not, however, be able to get adequate weight on your legs with the leg press exercise unless you are very slightly built. But, I more or less expected this. I find, however, I can get very adequate resistance on the leg curl and extension exercises.
I'm happy with the machine and even though I bought it from an "unauthorized" dealer (according to Stamina) the customer support team at Stamina was very nice about assisting me through email when I ran into the parts list confusion. They were not obligated to do so, but did it anyway.
Recommended:
Yes
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