Struggle with motivating yourself to get down to the gym every day, find HIIT daunting or want the ultimate calorie-burning workout at-home? I’m totally with you. Enter, Bowflex MAX Trainer M7, the latest fitness machine that promises to get your daily dose of cardio sorted in as little as 14 minutes.
What is a Bowflex MAX Trainer M7?
Is it an elliptical? Is it a step machine? Yes. It’s a combination of the best features of both, giving you speedy calorie-burning at the same time as effectively working out your entire body.
Incredibly compact, the MAX Trainer M7 takes up considerably less space than a treadmill, exercise bike or other at-home machine options you might be debating. Instead, it’s tall and slim: 117 cm long and 165cm tall (that’s just over 5″ 4), meaning it’s basically the size of a really big house plant and won’t look too out of place in the corner of your family home or cramped city flat.
It’s easy to see the at-home factor appeal in our current society. You’re busy trying to juggle/forge a career whilst spending promised or well-needed time with friends and loved ones.
You’re stalwartly environmentally-conscious whilst somehow not breaking that fragile bank balance, and maintaining some semblance of whatever the latest advised nutritional diet is. Sometimes, it’s hard to also fit an exercise routine around it, especially one you enjoy that also gives you a proper workout.
What does a Bowflex MAX Trainer do?
There are 11 workouts on a Bowflex MAX Trainer M7 – the most ground-breaking of which is the 14-minute MAX Interval™ workout that’s built around being the ultimate quick-speed calorie burner.
The other 10 workouts include options like stairs – those 6 flights at Vogue House that I religiously ignore know I need this one – and fat burn to give you a variety of engaging, challenging options.
It’s High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) on a machine that claims to offer a low-impact motion as it works you at different levels of effort and a multitude of speeds according to whichever of the 20 resistance levels you set and the total body workout you’re undertaking. The intervals will keep your body guessing, and the combination of elliptical and step machine designs mean that you’ll be working your full body.
The workouts will help people who want to be in brilliant shape as part of a more complex training program, but it’s also for people who want to lose and burn body fat in a quick way, in the safety of their own home.
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Bowflex MAX Trainer M7 review
I often wax lyrical about how much I love at-home workouts, willing myself to work within the safe confines of my own home (note: nobody catching you with filthy hair, no bumping into an ex boyfriend, no freaking out about being the worst in the class) rather than will myself to rush in the rain – because getting the bus kind of defeats the point – to the closest decent gym. Lately, more and more of my friends are coming around to my way of thinking.
Unlike with many trials, I was lucky enough to try the Bowflex MAX Trainer M7 exactly where it should be – in my own home. Here’s what I really thought.
When two giant, heavy boxes were shuffled in by a delivery man who looked just as assured of my incompetence at building an exercise machine as I was, I couldn’t help but get a little nervous. So, I did like many other tutorial-seekers do, and sought out a series of YouTube vids to help me get sorted a lot quicker than you’d expect (assembly takes about an hour and a half, with the help of a willing or bribable friend).
Post-assembly, I was raring to go. The machine looked and felt sturdy beneath me, much more secure and solid than any machine I’d been on at a gym. Struck by Instagram inspo (guilty), I decided to place it near our balcony doors to give me a view of the sky and a much-needed ventilation option for a high-temperatured exerciser like myself.
I was slightly more elegant in climbing aboard that anticipated, and my expectations of a machine akin to those skiing arcade games were quickly dismissed. Moving the handlebars back and forth as you step takes a little getting used to, but it’s not like patting your head and rubbing your stomach, you’ll have it down in no time. The higher you hold you arms the more of a workout you’ll get, so I definitely did a couple of intervals with them resting after being over-ambitious.
The main screen detail is your Burn Rate dial, which shows the target you set and your current burn rate level. I realised I’d, again, been a little optimistic for my first go, but it was inspiring all the same. You can also see your heart rate, time, speed and distance and sync with Bluetooth to the Max Trainer App™ and other health apps like myfitnesspal. Your precious phone – no judgement – is catered for with its own shelf, meaning I could keep track of any impending work emails or social updates, as well as adjusting my background R’n’B soundtrack.
I found myself doing some 20 second intervals of the 14 minute workout at a high speed, some I took more slowly, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t take breaks. I could certainly feel myself working hard, but there was none of the possible joint pain I was expecting. I was surprised to find myself having feeling pretty disappointed that I was towards the end of my first trial on the shiny toy, so pressed the ‘Add time’ button to prolong my workout a little longer, and pushed myself for the last part.
The Boxflex MAX Trainer M7 can look daunting – it’s pretty slick and high-tech – but the features all seem built around flexibility in making each workout as challenging as you want or need. It responds to your performance as you train; a nice coach that pushes you to hit your targets, but one you can subtly turn your resistance down or re-set your targets on if you’re having a slower day.
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I love that I could really get myself sweating, release all pent-up anger after a long day or charge-up my energy levels first thing, pre-shower. This is a machine that will help you do that, without taking all the time out of your day or compromising your personal space.
Where can I buy a Bowflex MAX Trainer M7?
Your own Bowflex MAX Trainer M7 is available at Fitness Superstore for just £1999, saving £700 off the total list price and even booking installation on delivery.
