Bowflex

Bowflex is the brand name for a series of fitness training equipment, marketed and sold by Nautilus Inc. Based in Vancouver, Washington, it sells its products through direct, retail and international channels. The first Bowflex product, Bowflex 2000X, was created in 1986. Now, Bowflex products range from a smart activity tracker to cardio machines, adjustable dumbbells and home gyms.

History
The Bowflex grew out of a now-expired patent first conceived by an Ethiopian engineering student in the United States, Tessema Dosho Shifferaw. Bowflex of America, Inc. began marketing the first product, Bowflex 2000X in 1986. Instead of conventional weights or pulley machines, the original Bowflex machine used a combination of polymer rods to create constant resistance or tension.

Bowflex of America changed its name to Bowflex, Inc, and became a public company on the Toronto Stock Exchange. In 1999 the company changed its name to Direct Focus, Inc. and initiated an IPO on Nasdaq. With the success of Bowflex, the company bought the Nautilus Corporation, Schwinn Fitness, and Stairmaster and is now Nautilus, Inc. In 2002 the company moved to the NYSE and renamed itself The Nautilus Group and is now Nautilus Inc..

On Tuesday March 18, 2014, Bruce Cazenave, CEO of Nautilus Inc., rang the New York Stock Exchange's opening bell. The company also demonstrated on the NYSE trading floor their new home fitness cardio machine Bowflex MAX Trainer.

Bowflex Products
Bowflex MAX Trainer

In December 2013, Nautilus Inc. launched the Bowflex MAX Trainer, which is a cardio machine designed to burn more than two-and-a half times the calories of a traditional elliptical in just fourteen minutes. The machine reinforces users’ metabolism to continue burning calories up to 48 hours after their workout.

Bowflex Boost

Bowflex Boost is a smart, wearable activity tracker launched by Nautilus Inc. in September 2013. The Bowflex Boost adjustable wristband tracks steps, distance traveled, calorie burn, and sleep patterns. Boost syncs and updates wireless via its pairing smartphone application.

Bowflex UpperCut

The Bowflex UpperCut is an A-shaped wheeled device with a chest pad and handles at the bottom that provides stretch-cord resistance when splayed open. The UpperCut offers three levels of resistance and is designed to do multiple exercises like chest flies, dives, push-ups and tucks.

Bowflex SelectTech Adjustable Dumbbells

The Bowflex SelectTech 552 Adjustable Dumbbells provides a combination of fifteen sets of weights into one through its dial system design. Users can adjust their weight from 5 pounds to 52.2 pounds, through 2.5-pound increments. TheBowflex SelectTech 1090 Adjustable Dumbbells function exactly like the Bowflex SelectTech 552 Dumbbells, except that they adjust from 10 pounds to 90 pounds, in 5-pound.

Bowflex TreadClimber

The Bowflex TreadClimber combines the motions of a treadmill, elliptical and stairstepper. Due to its independently moving surface areas, while users will only need to move at a slow walking speed, the TreadClimber will still raise their heart rate and burn more calories per minute than with a traditional treadmill. The TC also has a smaller footprint than most treadmills.

2006 Bowflex Revolution Home Gym line introduced

In 2006, Nautilus released the Bowflex Revolution Home Gym with a completely new design and new resistance technology named SpiraFlex invented by Paul Francis. SpiraFlex technology incorporates patented circular plates containing a spiral shaped elastomer. Francis had developed SpiraFlex for NASA for use in the first Resistive Exercise Device in space. Nautilus claims that the new system creates linear resistance through the range of motion, like the cable machines at health clubs, making the machine easier to use than its predecessor. It has more adjustments to accommodate different sized users and provides a larger variety of exercise variations.

Bowflex Home Gyms

The Bowflex Xtreme 2 SE Home Gym is a compact stationary exercise machine with power rods of different resistance levels and allows for more than 70 different exercises with a no-change cable system. The Bowflex Revolution Home Gym is also a resistance machine, which builds resistance with SpiraFlex technology and allows for more than 100 different exercises and more than 400 variations. Resistance rods home gym systems are very compact, use very little space, and provide numerous exercises, but they are not maintenance free since rods lose resistance over time and they have to be changed from time to time.

Recalls
In January 2004, about 420,000 Bowflex machines were recalled due to mechanical problems. In November 2004, there was a recall of nearly 800,000 (680,000 Power Pro units and 102,000 Ultimate units) Bowflex machines after reports that several models had broken unexpectedly. The Consumer Product Safety Commission said that the seats could unexpectedly break, and that the backboard bench could collapse when in the incline position on the Power Pro model. This recall was voluntary and the company offered every purchaser a free safety repair kit. In March, 2006, about 17,000 Bowflex Ultimate 2's were recalled due to problems.

In December, 2007 about 68,000 home gyms were recalled.

In March, 2009, about 78,000 Bowflex Ultimate 2's were recalled due to problems with the horizontal seat rail.

2010 Bowflex Death in California
In 2010, a 16-year-old high school football player from California, USA suffocated on a Bowflex machine, apparently as a result of losing consciousness in the "choking game" while unsupervised. The teen's parents did not believe it was suicide, although the evidence is not clear if the young man intended for a friend to revive him after he intentionally cut off oxygen to his brain. During the initial investigation, at least one website attempted to connect the death with previous recalls of Bowflex products, before the parents began to speak out about the fact that the teen and his friends had a history of intentional choking.