weider crossbow- s#%t or the s!$t

Hi guys,
I was wondering if anyone had any experience with the weider crossbow. I am busy, really busy working full time and going to school full time and I don’t want to drive to the gyme everyday. I have been looking at the cross bow because it has a different design from bowflex allowing me to do virtually every cable movement I can think of, with plenty of resistance. I know the leg section si wimpy, but to be I honestl fon’t need laregr legs! I can barely get me thighs into size 36 jeans as it is! Let me know what ya’ll think.
As for price it runs about 600-800 with shipping depending on what you get with it.

Are you afraid of dumbbells, bars and a squat rack? No? Then spend your money on that and stop being a sheep.

I don’t think you’ll find support for any sort of plan like that here. :slight_smile:

I’m with Paul on this one. Shop around to see what you could get for $800, particularly at used sporting goods stores. The Weider equipment that I’ve seen is not durable, of course I haven’t seen the crossbow except on TV.

Yeha Yeah yeah. I knew some of ya’ll would pull a knee jerk. I LOVE free weights as much as anyone and my routine now is built around DB movements, but powerblocks don’t come with a nice payment plan like the crossbow.
I’m looking less for input on the “T"ness or “manliness” of the machine and more for input on whether the resistance plane is any good etc.
As far as the leg thing, I am not ashamed to say I don’t want monster thighs. I like buying my pants off the rack, now 20” guns… thats something else entirely.

Skinny legs with monsterous arms only says one thing…you are a complusive mastubator…

Drew, check out this link. at the sporting goods store i saw these at, they were about half the price of powerblocks. www.hoistfitness.com/Pages/homefwopt400.html

Ever see someone in good shape that got that way with a Bow Flex or a Crossbow? I don’t think it’s possible and anyone who tells you it is is either lying, has made significant progress first using some other method. Secondly, driving to the gym? Are you serious? If this is an issue, I’ll bet everything I have that your Crossbow will end up in the basement within 6 months with so much shit on it, you won’t even be able to see it. Don’t need larger legs? How about just a balanced physique? Don’t need that? Working your legs doesn’t mean they have to get bigger. I’ll bet those calves and hams could use some work and you won’t get it with your Crossbow. For the love of Pete, save your dosh and buy some free weights and some equipment or get back to the gym and suck it up.

I can appreciate you’re situation, as well as the fact that you didn’t really come here to get preached too. Have you ever considered doing something more athletic? If this period of stress is fairly temporary, you might consider hitting the track, combined with various bodyweight exercises. There was a good bodyweight article posted a few years back, I believe it called “Combat Conditioning”. Something like that. Do a little digging, check out the article and see how it suits you. As for training on the track, refer to the Renegades, and/or charliefancis.com

Personally, I love the Weider Crossbow and have employed it to good effect. Up in the Yukon, I used it to shoot a moose, then lugged the moose back to my cabin 5.6 miles away. That put an inch on my thighs, as well as improving my stamina for Platz-like extended sets that last well into the wee hours of the morning.


Several days later, after recovering with four gallons of Surge, I again used the crossbow to shoot a falcon out of the air. Unfortunately, I only wounded it and it flew to its aerie to die. I climbed up to the aerie, crossbow slung over my back, got the bird and climbed back down. That put 3/4 of an inch on both arms and gave me a grip of steel.


Given a bit of ingenuity, I’m sure that the crossbow could be adapted to most any terrain and training goal. I understand that Ian King uses one that employs specially designed 4cm darts. He shoots his track and field athletes in the ass when they launch for long jumps, thereby increasing their range. When they can out-jump a kangaroo, King changes to the usual quarrels and kills the slacker marsupial for dinner.


Char-dawg gives this product a rousing two thumbs up!!!

Look, this is T-mag. What kind of responses did you expect? In all seriousness, I understand what you’re sying about the time and money. My parents almost bought a bowflex for the same reasons… they aren’t interrested in T-manliness, either. I talked them out of it though for the simple reason that free weights are so much more practical and flexible in actual use. Who said that free weights are going to give you bigger thighs? The stuff you choose to do with them is what makes them work in different ways. With a simple O-bar, bench press (that inclines as well) and some plates, you can get all you really need for a home gym start-up. You can build later when you want more, but this is all a question of what you want to put into it. If you want to WORK out, then go with the free weights. If what you prefer is comfort and nice handles and pads and cables and don’t really care too much about the results, then get the stupid bow thing. Put some pink flower stickers on it and throw a picture of a boy band on the wall while you’re at it. Don’t expect too much it the way of advice for what to do with it in this forum, though. (I really tried to be nice there in the beginning, but my temper couldn’t take it anymore)

I have a crossbow. It was bought in addition to free weights and hammer strength machines. All I can say is it does work but not for mass building. If you want to throw in the crossbow for a circuit training workout or warm up it is great. If you want to use it to define an area without bulking up it works. But it will not produce quality mass. The reason for this is in the physics of the machine. Basically the resistance level does not begin at 100% load in the neutral posistion. This is a potential problem since your muscle is in its weakest posistion at the beginning of the lift, there for not enough stress is being placed on it at a very important point in the lift. You can compensate for this by lifting more weight on it than you would otherwise do with free weights or a gravity machine. Still it does not produce a consistant failing point in your sets and as such you may never be able to push you muscle to its maximum potential on it. I use it just to supplement my training and it is not nor ever will be the center of my program. I’d suggest its use for its wide range of movement and its excellent potential to help a person cut up their physique. For mass and strength stick with the good old free weights.