I originally wrote and posted “Sixteen Years of Bowflex Workouts“  in 2010.

In that post I wrote

In June of 1982, after five years of physical inactivity, I decided that it was time to get back in shape. When I retired from the Navy in 1977, I went right to work as an accountant for a small retail/construction/service company. I also was enrolled in the accounting program at the junior college. In January, 1978, I transferred to the University of North Florida. I spent the next four years working full-time during the day, and attending college at night. When I finished my master’s program in December, 1981, I immediately started a CPA review course that used nearly every waking moment that I wasn’t at work. Between working, attending classes, and studying, my brain got a real workout. However, I was overweight and really out of shape. So, after I finished my CPA examinations in May, 1981, I resolved to get back in shape.

First, I joined a local gym. I am a “morning person,” so I found a fitness center that opened at 6 A.M. I faithfully reported to the gym three mornings a week, and worked out three days per week for about thirteen years. On non-workout days, I jogged from my home to Jacksonville Beach where I ran along the beach. A problem that kept recurring was that the fitness centers would fail to open on time. Also, over the years four or five of those centers would close down leaving me looking for a new place to work out.

In March of 1994, after suffering the frustrations of local fitness facilities that kept changing their hours, failing to open on time, or closing down due to mis-management, I decided to obtain my own fitness equipment. Our kids had all moved out, leaving extra space in our home to set up a “workout room.” After considerable research, I decided upon a Bowflex for simulated weight-lifting activity. I also purchased a dip/chinup station, and a situp board. For cardiovascular activity, I would continue to jog, but get a stationary recumbent bike for inclement weather. Later, I replaced the joint-jolting running on the streets with an elliptical machine in my home gym. 

Now, more than ten years later, I feel its time for an update.

Since then, I have continued to work out in my home “gym” every morning that I wasn’t traveling. If I’m away at a tax conference or one of my many photo shoots, my workouts are limited to stretching and walking. Some of those photoshoots entail some hiking and climbing, but those occur less frequently these days. However, my home workouts have continued all these years.

I’m still using the same Bowflex machine for simulated weight lifting. It has worn well over the years. I still use the same Pull-up/Dip station and recumbent bike. I have had to replace the elliptical machine. In fact, I’m on my third elliptical. You may have noticed my Red Sox World Series Champion pennant in that 2010 photo. My workout room has added pennants celebrating the Red Sox World Series victories for the years 2013 and 2018 to the ones for 2004 and 2007.

My Bowflex machine log shows that since March 16, 1994, I have completed 3009 workouts with it. Other than the Bowflex machine’s rods showing more signs of wear than the 2010 photos, it has lasted well. I am now convinced that the Bowflex will outlive me!

I have had to replace the pedals on the Schwinn recumbent bike several times, but otherwise it is going strong. The Schwinn elliptical didn’t last as well. It wore out after several years, and its replacement didn’t last either. So, in 2016 I replaced it with a Sole “professional” machine that should outlast me.

If you haven’t looked yet, that original post is HERE.

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