5 Top Bowflex Max Trainer Alternatives

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The Bowflex Max Trainers can be great but you may want other options. What are some alternatives to the Bowflex Max Trainers with similar benefits?

Bowflex Max Trainers are a type of fitness machines that are basically a hybrid of the arm movements of an elliptical machine and the foot movements of a stepper. Bowflex is one of the most popular brands.

These machines allow you to get in great cardiovascular workouts which in turn benefit cardiovascular health, engage certain muscles, and help you stay at a healthy weight for many years to come.

More specific to the Bowflex Max Trainers is the many resistance levels, long warranty, heart rate grips, magnetic resistance, transport wheels, helpful monitor, and Bluetooth connectivity in many models.

Whether you don’t enjoy using the Bowflex Max Trainers, you want a cheaper alternative, or you want an alternative for any other reason, these Bowflex Max Trainer alternatives can offer you similar benefits.

Top Bowflex Max Trainer alternatives

• Proform HIIT Trainer Pro
• Sunny Health & Fitness SF-E3919
• Body Power 2-in-1
• Schwinn Fitness 430 Elliptical
• Sunny Health & Fitness Mini Stepper

Depending on things like your personal situation, training goals, workout room, budget, personal preferences, etc. Some of these substitutes for the Bowflex Max Trainers can be better than others.

How we selected our top picks

Our fitness experts spent a lot of time looking at and comparing all the different important factors of Bowflex Max Trainer alternatives. Some of the things that were taken into consideration when making our selection include:

• Material, weight capacity, dimensions, resistance, etc.
• User reviews
• Anecdotal reviews from fitness experts
• Price
• Brand trustability

If a pick seems interesting click it to see the online prices.

5 Bowflex Max Trainer alternatives reviewed in depth

Besides having an overall overview of the top picks, it is helpful to look at each of the options more in-depth. This way you can find the best Bowflex Max Trainer alternative for your personal situation and training goals.

1. Proform HIIT Trainer Pro

The Bowflex Max Trainers are relatively unique pieces of fitness equipment. However, there are a few brands that make some form of this machine themselves. One of these is the ProForm HIIT Trainer Pro.

While there are definitely still some differences, the ProForm HIIT Trainer Pro is one of the alternatives that comes closest to the Bowflex Max trainers.

This first alternative is longer and slightly wider than most of the Bowflex Max Trainer models. In total, the ProForm HIIT Trainer Pro has dimensions of 66” L x 29” W x 52” H (167.64 cm x 73.66 cm x 132.08 cm).

Similarly, how much the screen from the ProFit model varies depends on the Max Trainer specifically. Even so, the immersive 14” Smart HD Touchscreen is generally of higher quality.

This can make your workouts more fun and in turn motivate you to stick better to your workout plan. For some people this means many more workouts and the benefits that come with that.

Additionally, the ProForm HIIT Trainer Pro has 6 more resistance levels than the Bowflex Max Trainer M8 which is already one of the models that stands out in this.

On top of all of these things, ProForm offers a 10-year frame, 2-year parts, and 1 year labor warranty to back up the quality.

One downside of this alternative is that it generally comes at a higher price. Whether you like the more vertical elliptical foot movements more or less than the up and down movements is mostly a case of personal preference.

2. Sunny Health & Fitness SF-E3919

The Bowflex Max Trainers and the previous alternative all require a relatively high investment. They can definitely be worth that but sometimes you can get in a similar workout for a lower price.

One example of a machine that does this is the Sunny Health & Fitness SF-E3919. This machine is not perfect because of things like the only 8 resistance levels but can be a good choice for the price anyway.

First of all, the Sunny Health & Fitness SF-E3919 has dimensions of 44″ L x 25″ W x 64″ H (111.76 cm x 63.5 cm x 162.56 cm).

The exact differences will vary from Max Trainer to Max Trainer but this is around what you can typically expect from the Bowflex models.

You can see from the differences in maximum user weights that the Sunny Health & Fitness model is less sturdy. On the other hand, this does make the machine easier to move once you are done working out.

One potential downside that is not in the description is that every once in a while users get a malfunctioning product.

The Sunny Health & Fitness SF-E3919 is definitely not the perfect substitute for Bowflex Max Trainers. However, it does offer a workout with similar movements at a lower price. This can make up for its downsides at least to some extent.

3. Body Power 2-in-1

This next alternative is described as a 2-in-1 machine that combines an elliptical machine and a stair stepper.

The foot movements of this model will be more in a vertical elliptical shape instead of the more upward-downward movements of the Bowflex Max Trainers.

Similar to the first Sunny Health & Fitness model, the main benefit of the Body Power 2-in-1 is its low price.

Besides the low price, an advantage of this alternative includes the lower weight. This makes it easier to move the machine around to its storage space once you are done working out.

Additionally, the Body Power 2-in-1 has dimensions of 42″ L x 24″ W x 62″ H (106.68 cm x 60.96 cm x 157.48 cm). This makes it slightly more compact than many of the Bowflex Max Trainers.

This lower weight is a first indication that this machine is not the most sturdy out there. Its relatively low user weight limit confirms this.

There are still a good amount of happy users but you do have to keep in mind that this is not the most premium of machines.

If you plan to use this type of fitness machine almost every day of the week at high intensities you likely want to invest in something more sturdy if your budget allows it.

4. Schwinn Fitness 430 Elliptical

The Bowflex Max Trainers and machine can be a welcome change from the typical fitness machines. However, typical fitness machines like elliptical trainers can still offer many benefits.

This Schwinn Fitness 430 Elliptical is an alternative that is generally a bit cheaper compared to the Bowflex Max Trainers and comes with many helpful features.

Something thing to keep in mind is that elliptical machines do require more room to store and use. For small spaces, you may need to stick to the Bowflex Max trainers and similar substitutes.

The Schwinn Fitness 430 Elliptical is a machine with dimensions of 70.1″ L x 28.2″ W x 63.2″ H (178.05 cm x 71.63 cm x 160.53 cm).

Compared to for example the Bowflex M8 Max Trainer, this is 22.2″ (56.39 cm) longer, 2.6″ (6.6 cm) narrower, and a bit shorter but this does not matter that much. In short, elliptical machines tend to require more space overall.

Additionally, Bowflex Max Trainers come with handy transport wheels that allow you to move your machine once you are done working out. On the other hand, elliptical machines tend to be equipment you leave in place.

That being said, if you do have the room for it, elliptical machines and the Schwinn Fitness 430 in particular can offer you many great workouts for a long time to come.

This machine has 20 levels of resistance to vary your workouts, 22 workouts to change it up, cushioned pedals to make the workouts more low-impact, etc.

To back up their quality statements, Schwinn offers a 10-year frame, 2-year parts, 1- year electronics, and 90 days labor warranty on this machine.

5. Sunny Health & Fitness Mini Stepper

This next machine is another alternative that is a different type of fitness equipment than the Bowflex Max trainers.

Mini steppers like the Sunny Health & Fitness offer foot movements similar to the Max Trainers but in a smaller range of motion and without the arm movements.

One of the benefits of mini steppers is that they are very compact to use and store. This model from Sunny Health & Fitness is 16″ L x 12.5″ W x 13.5″ H (40.64 cm x 31.75 cm x 34.29 cm).

Additionally, it is a lot lighter which again makes storing this piece of equipment easier compared to Bowflex Max Trainers.

On top of these things, mini steppers are a lot cheaper and you can easily do things like watching tv when you are using it.

The user manual does emphasize to oil the mini stepper when it squeaks. If you don’t do this the machine can break down. Do keep the maximum user weight of 220 pounds (99.79 kg).

Furthermore, the Sunny Health & Fitness Mini Stepper is not as intense as Bowflex Max Trainers. Even so, as many happy users report, intense enough to see nice amounts of physical health progress at a low price.