My First Take on the BowFlex Max Trainer M5

Today I received my BowFlex Max Trainer M5 at around 730AM – FedEx was quite early. The boxes were heavy and I dragged them through my house and back to my Carriage House. The first floor of the carriage house has been converted into a gym of sorts. I opened the boxes and started taking out all of the parts. It was pretty straightforward and I laid out all of the parts. I made one mistake on Step One (1) but it was simple after that, it took about 30 minutes to put it together – I took my time after the step one error.

After I got the machine together I tried it to make sure it was working – it was but it was very hard to use. This was because it was new. I decided taking out the trash would warm me up a bit for a workout. So I cut up the boxes as it is trash day here in Concord NH, and I took out the trash and recycling. After taking out the trash I decided to go for a four (4) mile run and then do a couple hundred sit-ups to warm up. When that was done I decided to give it a go again.

It was great, it took about five (5) minutes to get into it – learn the machine. After that I was fine – I then did two (2) 8-minute workouts on the machine – on the interval setting. If I had to explain the workout I would have to use the word real. It felt like I was climbing a head section of some mountain. I could feel it in the legs and core. It was very real in comparison to a real outdoor slug.

Tomorrow I will start doing two (2), 14-minute workouts a day on the M5. In addition to everything else I am doing of course. This is a good thing – I would have hated to return the M5. What I found today was that the BowFlex Max M5 was:

• Easy to set up
• Took 5 Minutes to get used to
• You have to be warmed up and fully stretched – Do not try it cold
• Challenging
• A good workout

So my Initial take is thumbs up, I will tell you if I still feel that way in 30 days!

Cheers,

Rob

Becoming

Over the years I have written technical and travel titles that started with either “Understanding “ or “Going to.” The “Understanding” titles had the central goal of explaining a technical topic in plain English and the “Going to” titles covered a specific destination, place, or adventure. These have been fun to write and they have also changed me for the better in many ways. I believe that when we write about real experiences and knowledge we sort of put ourselves out there. We make mistakes. We learn. We grow. We share the experience.

With this in mind I decided it was time to take a different approach to my writing and my living as well. Everything that I am about to do is based on the following statement; “people can and do change.” Based on that premise I have started my next series. So the “Becoming” series will require changes in myself some comfortable, some uncomfortable and all leading to a goal that I want to achieve.

My next personal goal is going to require a different: discipline, knowledge, diet, strength level and overall balance. This is not as easy as it sounds because putting into practice large changes in behavior can be a daunting undertaking. With this in mind over a week ago I began my journal. The first thing I noticed is that there would be no instant gratification. Not from diet, workout, study or any effort. In fact it would be discouraging. The only thing that has actually gotten easier was the discipline required to accomplish my goals. My discipline seems to be getting stronger every day.

Additionally, it seems that besides studying the specific sport that I am interested in I have to start learning everything about workout routines, nutrition, sports nutrition and how to hack my own system (body). This stuff is hard. I think my biggest change was to get to the point where I eat for energy and strength gain as a primary goal versus just enjoying food. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the food but choices diminish. Or better-put most of the food that is readily available and that is inexpensive is not actually good for you. I am convinced now that food is designed to be addictive to make sure you keep buying as much as possible regardless of health consequences.   This is very upside-down in my opinion. I went from counting steps to counting reps, points and endurance. I still run about six (6) miles a day but I have added sport specific reading and about two hours in the gym a day.

I have made some mistakes or my body has made some mistakes, my arms are growing unevenly – I have a fix for this. I have hurt muscles from being too ambitious. I have also taken my normal 100 sit-ups to 500 sit-ups a day. It will be a slow process, but I will get there. My next climb will be in August and on the climb I will see how all this sport and strength specific exercise has helped.

I have ditched the Fitbit – way too much noise and who wants to charge a device constantly. I replaced it with a MisFit. No charging required and waterproof. It is good to not have to worry about how I am doing against others for the week – now it is just how am I doing daily. So overall I am spending about 3-4 hours working out daily – with one rest day a week. The simple question remains, can a person change a lifetime of habits and become something new.

We shall see, it will take a while for this first title and yes, I have not figured out the name for the first book yet!