The Best Workout for Bowflex Xtreme 2 SE Home Gym

The Xtreme 2 SE packs a lot of strength building variety into a compact space using Bowflex’s patented Power Rod technology. It comes standard with 210 pounds of resistance but can be upgraded to 310 or 410 pounds with the purchase of more power rods.

With that much weight and over 70 possible exercises, you have a lot of options. The best workout for you on the Xtreme 2 SE depends on your fitness goals.

Upper Body Exercises

With the Xtreme 2 SE you can work all the muscles in your upper body, including your shoulders, triceps, biceps, chest and back. There are enough options that you can switch up your routine every week or every few weeks so your workout never gets stale and your fitness gains won't plateau.

Some of the upper body exercises you can do on the Xtreme 2 SE include:

• bench press
  
• chest fly
  
• reverse fly
• rear deltoid row
• front shoulder raise 
• seated shoulder press
• Bent over row
• seated lat pulldown
• reverse grip pulldowns
• low back extension
• triceps pushdown
• triceps kickback
• resisted dip
• biceps curl
• hammer curl
• wrist curl

Lower Body and Core Exercises

There isn't quite as much variety for lower body exercises, but there are enough options to effectively target the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes and calves. Most of these exercises are compound exercises, meaning a single exercise will target a few muscle groups at the same time.

With the Xtreme 2 SE you can do:

• leg extensions
  
• squats
  
• standing hip extensions
• leg kickbacks
• hip flexion
• deadlifts
• hip adduction and abduction
• calf raises

The Xtreme 2 SE gives you three options for working your core muscles:

• trunk rotation
  
• seated weighted oblique crunch
  
• seated weighted abdominal crunch
  

A Workout for Every Goal

All of these exercises can be a part of your program no matter your goal. Whether you're interested in general conditioning, weight loss or bodybuilding, you can achieve your goals by manipulating factors including training frequency, intensity, volume and rest intervals.

The Bowflex Xtreme 2 SE owner's manual provides detailed workouts for every goal that you can use as a blueprint for planning your workouts.

General Conditioning

Bowflex's 20-minute Better Body routine is a great place for novices to start. It includes eight exercises for the entire body. Each exercise is performed for one to two sets of 10 to 15 reps. Beginners will start with one set and progress to two sets as they become stronger.

Using a lifting pace of three seconds up and three seconds down, this is a mild-intensity workout. All sets of each exercise are completed before moving on to the next exercise, and rest intervals between sets are 30 to 45 seconds.

Perform the general conditioning workout three times per week.

Advanced Conditioning

The advanced conditioning workout takes 30 to 45 minutes and is performed in splits, with chest, shoulders, arms and legs done on two days of the week and back, shoulders, arms and core on the other two days, for a total of four workouts per week.

The workouts include five to seven exercises performed at a slow pace of three seconds up, three seconds down. The volume is increased, starting with one or two sets of each exercise and moving up to three sets. Each set includes 10 to 12 reps and the rest intervals are 20 to 30 seconds.

Bodybuilding

The Bowflex bodybuilding routine includes workout splits in a three day on, one day off pattern. The first workout focuses on chest and shoulders, the second on arms and back and the third on legs and core.

Each workout includes six exercises, which are done for two to four sets of eight to 12 reps. The lifting intensity is slow -- three seconds up, three seconds down -- and the rest interval is 30 to 60 seconds. The key to this workout is contracting the muscles being worked throughout the set and working to fatigue on each set.

Weight Loss and Endurance

The best workouts for weight loss and endurance help you build muscle while keeping your heart-rate elevated for both calorie-burning and stamina-building. Bowflex's circuit training workouts are perfect for achieving these goals.

This workout is done two to three times a week for up to 60 minutes. Each circuit includes three to five exercises which are done for single sets of eight to 12 reps with no rest break in between sets. As fitness level improves, more rounds are added for a fast-paced, high-intensity workout.