Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Tuesday, September 27, 2022

Product Review: Bowflex Max Trainer M5 Cardio Machine

 


The M5 trainer is a cross between a stair stepper and an elliptical. I cannot say how easy it is to assemble because I paid to have it assembled, but it did take the person who assembled it about an hour. Of course, he assembles them all of the time, so it would take one or two people longer to get it put together. There are a ton of small parts and there are spots in the instructions that they are not entirely clear. Once it is together it does give you a good cardio workout, and it has a fairly small footprint. It worked well for me for a few years, basically until the warranty expired, then one of the pedal connections broke at a weld joint, so there was no fixing it. And, since it was outside the warranty period, there was really nothing I could do that would not end up costing a bunch of money. I used it once a day (sometimes twice a day) pretty consistently, but I was the only person using it, and did not abuse it at all. So, it just broke because of normal wear and tear. Thankfully, I did not fall off of it when it broke, but if you have one that breaks the same way, that could definitely happen. And, if you are using it in a basement with a concrete floor, that could definitely be bad. Bowflex definitely has a reputation for equipment that breaks. I have had a set of their adjustable dumbells for over a decade and have never had a problem with those, but this one definitely did not hold up. Therefore, I would not recommend this.

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