Yesterday in the NYT's Thursday Styles section we read writer Steve Friedman's compelling tale of transforming his life, his body and his vocabulary with the Bowflex™. We found his continued references to his guns, engorged by weeks of devoted Boflexin', entertaining and inspiring. Yet all the NYT offered by way of accompanying images were pictures of infomercial models and a fun slideshow of home gym stuff through the years (my favorite is the Tunturi Exercycle). It's not that we didn't trust Mr. Friedman - a longtime MB instructor and a four-time contributor to "The Best American Sportswriting of the Year" thankyouverymuch - and we'd even recently attended an event at his home where the Bowflex was proudly on display. What was not on display, however, were the guns. So, Fishbowl did what any responsible journalist would do: she demanded proof.

Accordingly, dear reader, below please find an honest-to-goodness photo of one of Steve Friedman's guns, the result of many hours of devoted Bowflexin', which had also followed many hours of trying to figure out how to put the damn thing together (our Steve, not the handiest). After the pic, go to the article and decide which is more oddly compelling (and frankly, downright hilarious).

After the jump, the gun, otherwise known as "jumping the gun." And after you see this sweaty, straining muscle, you just might.

A Better Body in 64 Payments [NYT]
What's sexy now? The slip. [NYT]
Steve Friedman - Instructor Bio [MB]

Gun, Steve Friedman
January 2006