Bowflex i-Trainer
Bowflex
Windows-only software $59.99
http://www.bowflex.com/mAccessoryDetail_1.asp?productID=000%2D389 9&productName=iTrainer+CD+Rom&linkID=1 1-888-557-6055
We spend a lot of time in this journal talking about the importance of health and exercise, and have particularly recommended the Bowflex for strength training (http://www.lubrinco.com/ejournal/ej200506.pdf).
One of the difficulties in any exercise regimen is designing and changing the exercises. It is important that the exercises change regularly (our bodies become accustomed to unchanging patterns of exercise), but it is hard for those of us who do not have personal trainers to know what we should do. The i-Trainer helps automate the process of designing a program that makes use of the features of your Bowflex model, and changing it regularly.
This software allows you to choose overall goals, and the parts of the body (or activity) that you want to work. If you want the whole body you can so choose. If you want to do upper body one day and lower the next, you generate two sets of exercises. You can specify the amount of time you want to spend on each session, and the number of sessions per day. You can say you want to do the lower body, with additional emphasis on the upper legs, or the upper body with extra emphasis on the stomach, or the chest, or the arms, or whatever strikes your fancy for the week. And it tracks your efforts.
All in all, we found that starting with the exercises in the manual gave us a good base, both in terms of strength and understanding of the way the system worked. And at the point where we had everything conceptually under control, the i-Trainer software allowed us to direct the exercises as we thought most appropriate.
If you have a Bowflex, the i-Trainer software will help you make best use of it.
