Bowflex Adjustable Dumbbells - My Experience

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The Bowflex SelectTech 552 Adjustable Dumbbells are one of the better products I’ve purchased for exercise and fitness. I move every 4 months or so so I'm a very transient person and having a full set up dumbbells would be a major pain to move with me so often. If I had a separate set of dumbbells for each weight that the Bowflex dumbbells can adjust to I would have 15 sets of dumbbells to lug around! That would be not be fun at all!

As much as I hate not using the separate, solid individual dumbbells they just weren't practical for my lifestyle. Needless to say, as an exercise equipment snob I was suspicious of the quality of adjustable dumbbells. However these dumbbells surprised me by how sturdy they were! A lot of different adjustable dumbbells can got loose and not hold together very well but these are very solid. Of course they’re not as stable as solid weights but just as good or better than the kind that you use individual plates on.

There are ton of exercises you can do with dumbbells and having adjustable dumbbells available to you is a major bonus.

I really love the way these dumbbells work too. Bowflex did a great job designing them. They used a dial system to allow you to choose your weight. There are two dials, one on each side of the dumbbell, with settings for each available weight. All you have to do is make sure each side is set to the same weight and pull up. Now I don't know all the mechanics of how this works but it does work great! If the dials are set on different weights you don’t need to worry. It’s designed so that you can’t pick up the weight until both dials are set correctly. This helps you avoid unnecessary injury and maintains the quality and durability of the dumbbells.

One of the things I worried about when getting these dumbbells was the how quickly I would be able to change the weights. I like to do a lot of high intensity interval training and that kind of a workout requires fast transitions to keep your heart rate up. While the dials on the dumbbells are a little slower than just having solid dumbbells of my selected weight waiting right there for me it doesn't slow me down enough to legitimately complain about it. All in all it takes me about 5 seconds to transition so its really not that bad.

These adjustable dumbbells have 15 different weight settings starting at 5 pounds and going all the way to 52.5.

• 5 lbs
• 7.5 lbs
• 10 lbs
• 12.5 lbs
• 15 lbs
• 17.5 lbs
• 20 lbs
• 22.5 lbs
• 25 lbs
• 30 lbs
• 35 lbs
• 40 lbs
• 45 lbs
• 50 lbs
• 52.5 lbs

Probably the most compelling reason to own adjustable dumbbells is the fact that you can store them in any sized living situation. Even for those who have the least amount of room (college students sharing a room or living in a dorm) these will fit nicely and won't be intrusive at all. They can easily be tucked under the bed or set on their stand in the corner. 

Having so many dumbbells has never been easier when it comes to storage so if you're one of those people who has avoided exercise equipment for lack of space these dumbbells take that excuse away completely. 

The particular set of dumbbells that I got didn't come with the raised stand. Instead I have two separate holders for the dumbbells which in my opinion is better. That way I have to bend over to pick them up. Thats just one more small bit of exercise every time I want to use the dumbbells :) As much as we love convenience sometimes with exercise equipment a lack of convenience is better for us.

I know they do come at a pretty high price but in my opinion it was well worth it. Not only do they fit my mobile lifestyle very well they’re also very durable and i’ll have them for years to come. I think of them as an investment and a reminder. Every time I look at them I have this little nagging voice in the back of mind come out and tell me to work out!

The Bowflex SelectTech 552 Adjustable Dumbbells come with a 2 year warranty on all parts and a 5 year warranty on the weight plates. There is also a 1 year warranty on the labor to fix the dumbbells. This warranty is great but I highly doubt you’ll need it. The dumbbells are very high quality and unless you’re going to be doing some extreme working out of some kind then you probably don’t need to worry about the warranty. Then again its still nice to know that your investment is protected.

There are a few downsides to these dumbbells too however. The first one I’ve already mentioned and that is the price. At $339 - $559 these can make quite a dent in your budget. But if you save up for a few months and commit yourself to a regular workout routine they will pay for themselves and then some.

The other downside is that they’re pretty big and can sometimes get in the way of each other during a workout. Of course their size is necessary to being able to pack all those different weight sets into one but it can sometimes get annoying if you’re doing a workout that bring the dumbbells close together.

Here are the dimensions of the Dumbbell (1 dumbbell):

• Length: 15.75 inches
• Width: 8 inches
• Height: 9 inches
• Weight: 52.5 lbs or 23.8 kg

One of the things that helped me purchase these adjustable dumbbells was the great reviews that it got. Out of 173 reviews on Amazon is has a 4 star rating with 103 being 5 star ratings and 39 of them are 4 star ratings. People like this product. To add to my personal review of the product here are a few mixed quotes from the reviews.

“After using these for roughly three months, I am very pleased with them, and with a few exceptions, they work great for P90X.” - ‘Pen Name’, Alaska

“...I am very happy with them and recommend them to anyone considering serious weight workouts.” - L. Lambert, Texas

“Overall, they were expensive but I feel like I got what I paid for. Recommended.” - J. Reynolds, Oregon

In an ideal world I would buy a full set of separate dumbbells with weights up to 100 lbs per dumbbell. I like the quality of solid dumbbells better and they’re easier to work with. Rarely is my world ideal. In fact it never is. I live in a small place and I move a lot. A lot of other people have similar situations to me and they just can’t afford a full set of solid dumbbells and thats where Bowflex has really created a high quality and elegant product that solves a simple but annoying problem.

In spite of the price of the Dumbbells I’m very impressed with the quality of the product and their portability.

To buy these dumbbells CLICK HERE to order them from Amazon.com

While Jillian Michaels has certainly become a star in the past 5 years and has made a huge impact on the fitness world mainly with her great training performances on "The Biggest Loser" and "Losing it With Jillian" not all of her products are as high quality as she is. 

Her Ultimately Fit adjustable dumbbells have leave some things wanting. First of all, compared to the Bowflex SelectTech 552 Dumbbells, her adjustable dumbbells only go up to 25 LBS in weight whereas the Bowflex dumbbells go all the way to 52.5 LBS.

Also, because Jillian's dumbbells use metal plates and a locking pin system they just won't last as long as the Bowflex dumbbells. 

On the upside her set of dumbbells only cost $70+ while the Bowflex dumbbells are more than $300. So in this case you probably get what you pay for. 

Bowflex products are distributed worldwide and will be in most major retailers in your area. Many times it is best to call around though just to make sure because they are very popular and many times retailers won't keep very many on hand.

To buy bowflex weights in Minneapolis I would make a list of the available sports stores and start at the biggest ones first. The larger and more prominent the sports store the more likely they will be to have the Bowflex weights you're looking for.

If you're wanting to buy used Minneapolis dumbbells for sale then the best place to look would probably be craigslist or the local newspaper will have some classifieds you can check out too. However if you don't want to hassle with any of that simple click one of the links here to Amazon.com to buy your dumbbells online.

Sportblock Dumbbells by Powerblock are probably Bowflex's closest competitor when it comes to producing high quality adjustable dumbbells. In fact they were first in the adjustable dumbbell arena and produced the first adjustable dumbbells ever!

In spite of this usually the best products come after one company has done all the grunt work and another comes along and refines and brings new ideas to the table. This is the case with the Bowflex SelectTech 552 Adjustable Dumbbells. 

If you need to find some adjustable dumbbells for sale in Utah your best bet will probably be Cabela's. Cabela's is the sporting good superstore on the Wasatch front and has anything and everything you can imagine. If you can't find them there I'll be very surprised but if that's the case I would recommend just getting them online at Amazon.