Earlier this month, BowFlex filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amidst financial difficulties post the COVID-19 pandemic fitness boom. Now that it’s been sold to Taiwanese exercise equipment company Johnson Health Tech for $37.5 million, should you still invest in its high-quality exercise equipment?
BowFlex, formerly known as Nautilus, was a worldwide developer and manufacturer of fitness equipment brands that included BowFlex, Schwinn Fitness, and the adaptive fitness program, JRNY.
BowFlex has exercise equipment that includes adjustable dumbbells, curl bars, home gym workout systems, weight benches, and more, not to mention Schwinn machines. The reason that BowFlex stood apart from other exercise equipment manufacturers was that its smart equipment included app integration and had the ability to sync with users’ phones.
The key when thinking about whether or not to buy BowFlex equipment is knowing that a lot of exercise equipment that BowFlex created for a home gym can only be fully utilized when users also have a membership to the corresponding JRNY app, and, therefore, would likely not be worth purchasing. To buy new workout equipment that would need to be unlocked in order to reach its full potential by a JRNY membership when JRNY has been bought would be a waste of time and money; it would be akin to buying a Peloton Bike and not buying the $44/month Peloton membership that gives subscribers access to their massive library of content.
That said, there are still BowFlex equipment pieces that don’t require a JRNY membership to utilize, such as its dumbbells and other strength training pieces, its home gym workout systems, and Schwinn bikes. Schwinn exercise bikes generally don’t have smart displays, meaning they can be used without the JRNY app. For example, Schwinn’s IC3 Indoor Bike which features a standard LCD console that monitors heart rate, speed, time, distance, and calories, but doesn’t require a JRNY membership to access.
Connect the Watts’ Take
If you’re looking to upgrade your home gym with some new equipment, so long as the equipment doesn’t require a JRNY membership to access, BowFlex has excellent options that also happen to be on sale right now, including the adjustable SelectTech 1090 dumbbell for $329, the SelectTech 840 Kettlebell for $149, and the Weight Bench Series for $287.
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