JRNY®

I am going into my third year on my Bowflex M5u without issue really. I’m on my second year of the subscription. I am a regular user 3 to 5 times per week. I enjoyed the symmetrical interval training where I could select the amount of time I wanted to spend on the machine along with the intensity using the app. Mostly I would exercise 17 minutes with moderate intensity while listening to the app music.I’m down inches so I know the machine works. The most recent upgrade February 7 is a disaster. There is no 17 minutes setting anywhere in the application. I have turned off the trainer voice. I have a membership to the YMCA and if I wanted to be part of a larger group exercise I would attend. The calorie burn scale is completely beyond my abilities now. Also, the app seems to be running slower than prior to the upgrade. I’ve had really good luck with the machine itself but please offer the same features we enjoyed prior to February 7. Perhaps even a fully manual setting which would allow us to go back to the former application— JUST LIKE IT WAS!! Let me have my workout back that made me feel great going into my day! If you’re considering JRNy hold off maybe until they give us something that matches our needs and not that’s chasing the at home market. Allen Buggy app and slow.

While I can appreciate the time and effort that has gone into revamping the application, I’m disappointed that little things seem to be missing from the experience. For example, take something as simple as saving preferences. Each time I log into the app and look at the personal recommendations I have to change the duration and difficulty fields. I would prefer to be able to save that as a default. I literally have to click a button that says Save for that session, but have to do that each time I use the app. I’m also curious what changes were made to the adaptive workout recommendations. Prior to the revamp of the application a number of months ago it seemed like the recommendation was a better fit than the workouts that are now being proposed. This may simply be that I don’t understand how to use the new app fully, but I have yet to see any training videos from Bowflex on how to get the most of the application. Along those lines you have a section titled programs. Are those actually programs? Or are they simply workout videos in a different section of the application? Like others have mentioned, it’s a decent price we pay for the subscription. I’m not sure I’ll renew if little things like preferences and how-to’s aren’t part of the package.

There’s one problem - a few videos tell you to pause and stretch at the end but when you do, the video pauses due to not moving the machine with your legs. Except the video is telling you to stop and breathe and follow their stretching. So I’m not sure how to address that without deeper programming in to the app to make it detect when the video is near the end and not count the machine’s lack of movement as being stopped or not - but it can be annoying. Besides this small bug - I’m loving it. My favorite coach is Tom Holland. He shows relatable reactions and talks like someone who is pushing hard would talk. He’s out of breath. He’s motivating. The workouts are good. I haven’t really ever used a workout machine or even worked out much in my life, but a recent health scare pushed me into finally kind of changing my lifestyle at 32 years old. So after only about 2 months of using the machine, I’m now addicted to not the workouts or the machine, but the compliments I’m getting for how I look all of a sudden and all I’m doing is measly little 7-30 minute workouts depending on my mood and energy that day. So I gotta say - this is actually working and improving not only my health, but also my mental state and self confidence. If you’re looking in to buying a max trainer for yourself, it’s worth the risk of their trial period - but you gotta actually use it. Can’t use it one week and expect results. Put a full 30 days in and then see if you like it or not. If you stick to a schedule there’s no doubt you’ll see results. If you slack off and miss days and get to day 30 and see no results, well you only have yourself to blame because I’m living proof this thing works. 295 lbs down to 265 in less than 2 months. Looking better than ever.