Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Is Gorilla Bow worth it? What are Gorilla Bow workouts like? Can everyone do them? These are several of the key questions I answer in my in-depth Gorilla Bow review below. With all the cool new portable gyms and travel gyms popping up, from NASA-grade tech to old-school legends becoming new-school sensations, it’s hard to pick just one.

Does the Gorilla Bow set itself far enough apart from the competition? Does it offer anything unique that other traveling gyms don’t offer? I’ll tell you now that I’m a fan of the Gorilla Bow, though I don’t think it’s the best pick for everyone.

Let’s start with the features.

Contents show

Gorilla Bow Overview

My Score: 8/10 Description
#1) Gorilla Bow (Standard)

  • The Gorilla Bow portable gym is made for use virtually anywhere, including hotel, office, home, and park use
  • The vast range of Gorilla Bow workouts delivers a serious total-body workout
  • The Bow is made of military-grade aluminum
  • Includes four mix & match double-wall latex resistance bands (10, 20, 30, and 50 lbs) – 110 lbs total
  • The sturdy FlexClaw design allows for use of up to 4 resistance bands at once
  • Includes 1 branded carrying bag, 1 velcro bar pad
  • Bow Dimensions: 56″ x 9.5″ x 1.75″
  • Weight: 7.72 lbs
  • 90-Day Money-Back Guarantee
  • 2-Year Warranty
Check Price at Amazon #ad

Considerations

Below is a list of considerations to make before we move on to the following section:

  • There are two additional kits available: 1.) The complete kit comes with 4 additional resistance bands for up to 350 lbs of total resistance for more advanced users 2.) The Gorilla Bow Travel includes a 3-piece collapsible travel bow (I’ll go more into detail on this later in the review)
  • Each set includes an illustrative sheet with suggested Gorilla Bow workouts, however, the Gorilla Bow YoutTube channel provides better ideas and instructions
  • The Gorilla Bow is available in both black and green colors
  • According to the company, the bow is aircraft aluminum

Next, let’s check out what to expect from the Gorilla Bow. Are they getting shredded, toned, and loving the workout, or is the Bow falling short of their expectations? Keep in mind, the Gorilla Bow is not cheap, so it’s best to have a clear idea of what to expect before you buy it.

What to expect?

For this section, I dove deep into the Gorilla Bow info to compile a list of pros and cons I found. These are the points to consider before you decide if the Gorilla Bow is the best portable gym for you. Let’s start with the bad news:

Cons
  • The price might feel high for your taste
  • The maximum resistance of the 4 resistance bands in the standard kit (110lbs) is not enough for some intermediate and most advanced users. Meaning if you want a hard workout, you’ll want to upgrade to the kit with 8 bands, which equals more money
  • With the resistance set high, Gorilla Bow exercises may feel awkward, especially at first
  • The Standard bow is not travel-friendly, and the 3-piece travel bow is pricier than the standard bow
  • The paint on the bow may begin to chip
  • Quality control issues like missing resistance bands or receiving the wrong bands
  • The bench press workout might leave something to be desired
  • You may find that spending a lot less on a set of resistance bands gives you more bang for your buck
  • Changing the bands can get annoying for continuous circuit training
  • The resistance bands are not labeled, only color-coded
Pros
  • You may get serious lean muscle and strength gains with the Gorilla Bow
  • Skip paying gym fees and get a total-body workout with the Gorilla Bow instead
  • The workouts are fun, and there are a ton of exercises to choose from
  • It’s easy to use for all skill levels
  • The Gorilla Bow is amazingly versatile, several of the good exercises are squats, shrugs, deadlifts, curls, calf raises, lat pulldowns, overhead press, rows, tricep extensions, and a whole lot more
  • Highly recommended for men over 40
  • The bow is sturdy, strong, and stands the test of time
  • Engage more muscles than dumbbell workouts
  • An excellent alternative to free weights
  • The Gorilla Bow may help to improve your posture
  • It’s super easy to store anywhere when not in use
  • Approved by bodybuilders as a supplement to free weights or a lighter home workout

Overall, a vast majority of users are happy with the Gorilla Bow. It appears to me that outside of the several quality control issue reports, a handful of people didn’t do their homework before they bought it or expected too much from a resistance band workout.

Read Reviews at Amazon #ad

My Gorilla Bow Review

Now, it’s time for my thoughts on the Gorilla Bow. Is it worth the money? The answer is debatable, and I think my list of insights below will help you make the right decision:

  • As far as office exercise equipment and office fitness go, the Gorilla Bow is certainly awesome. Since my site is dedicated to office fitness, the Gorilla Bow gets a few extra points as being one of the most unique and versatile resistance band workouts on the market. The bow is seriously strong, sturdy, and will stand the test of time. It’s built with aircraft-grade aluminum after all.
  • The price is controversial. While I do like the Gorilla Bow, the price does feel high, and there very well could be some hype factored into it. The Gorilla Bow Kickstarter campaign was an obvious success, but perhaps the level of success spilled over into marking up the price. Only time will tell if the company decides to lower the price to make it more favorable for a wider audience.
  • As a traveling gym, the Gorilla Bow is not the best option for air travel, even if you decide to purchase the travel edition. Why? The shortest piece of the 3-piece travel bow is still 21″ and the bow itself weighs 6 lbs. If you’re planning to put it in a carry-on bag, 6 lbs eats up a lot of your baggage allowance. Even when packed into a checked suitcase, that’s more than 25% of your allowed weight if the limit is 20 lbs, and that’s not counting the weight of the suitcase. All in all, the standard set is the better option for office, home, or outdoor use. Plus, you’ll save a good chunk of dough.
  • The lack of resistance bands in the standard set is worth pointing out. To make the Gorilla Bow truly worth it for anyone who’s not a beginner, it’s almost necessary to upgrade to the 8-resistance band kit. The jump in price from the standard to 8-band kit is not the smallest either.
  • If you’re a hard gainer like me and expect to build serious muscle with the Gorilla Bow, you’ll almost certainly be let down. The Gorilla Bow is better for easy gainers, anyone who wants to get toned, or those who want to reclaim lost muscle. The reason I’m pointing this out is that you’ll save yourself time and money by opting to learn how to do barbell workouts and eat a bulking diet. It took me years to realize that the only way to gain substantial muscle is to start doing barbell squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press, and bent-over rows. The key takeaway for hard gainers is to avoid looking at someone who’s shredded using the Gorilla Bow and think you can get the same results if you’ve never seriously lifted before. A better portable gym option for hard gainers is the Bullworker.
  • Lastly, I really like the range of workouts that are possible with the Gorilla Bow – which we’ll look closer at in the next section – and the YouTube channel for instructions on how to use it properly. There’s a lot more instructional content than you’ll find offered by other fitness equipment.

Overall, I give the Gorilla Bow a thumbs up. The key to knowing if it’s right for you is to consider the points above carefully and your fitness goals. If you think the Gorilla Bow will help you reach your fitness goals, then it’s certainly worth a look.

View Now at Amazon #ad

Gorilla Bow Workouts

Now that you know what to expect and what I think about the Gorilla Bow, let’s check out how to actually use it. The Gorilla Bow YouTube channel offers an impressive number of instructional videos with new videos added almost daily. This is one of the biggest pros of the Gorilla Bow. The active engagement and new ideas to check out every week are nice to see for all owners. Outside of the plethora of workout videos, there are also instructional videos on how to use the bands properly.

Below is a video example of a Gorilla Bow Deadlift:

There are videos for nearly every popular exercise you can think of, and what’s nice is they made a short video for each individual exercise instead of loading up videos with too many exercises at once.

Below is a list of several popular exercises with video tutorials:

  • Front Squat
  • Incline Press
  • Calf Raises
  • Chest Flys
  • Shoulder Press
  • Bent-Over Row
  • Bicep Curls
  • Upright Row
  • Squat

Those are only a handful of the exercises currently on their YouTube channel. I also want to share a video that shows you to how to connect and disconnect the resistance bands from the bow:

The FlexClaw design is undoubtedly clever, and you saw in the video how rugged the claw actually is. This is an important feature for safety reasons since you don’t want to buy gear with bands that might slip out of place during your workout. With the Gorilla Bow, you’re sure that the bands aren’t going anywhere.

Lastly, the video below is for the Gorilla Travel Bow that’s collapsible and carry-on friendly:

What did you think of the workouts? Are they something you can see yourself doing? This is a critical question to answer before you buy a Gorilla fitness bow.

TRX vs Gorilla Bow

What’s the difference between the Gorilla Bow and the TRX suspension training system? The TRX system is a very popular portable gym that’s also awesome in its own regard. However, these two travel gyms are very different. Below is a list of the key differences:

  • The Gorilla Bow uses resistance bands for a much greater level of resistance than what the TRX system offers. The TRX system relies on your own body weight and gravity for resistance. Overall, the Gorilla Bow is better for strength-building and building muscle, while the TRX system is better for toning and stretching.
  • The TRX system requires an anchor point. This means you’ll need to connect it to the included door anchor, a tree limb at a park, or an eye bolt in your garage gym. The Gorilla Bow requires no anchoring.
  • TRX is a better travel gym simply because it weighs a lot less. The TRX GO kit weighs under a pound, and the all-in-one kit weighs just 1.65 lbs. The TRX kit also measures 9.2″ at its longest point while the Gorilla collapsible bow measures 21″ at its longest.
  • At the time of this writing, the TRX system costs considerably less than the Gorilla Bow.

Depending on your fitness goals and if you want a traveling gym, the TRX system might be the better option for you. It’s certainly more travel-friendly because it won’t eat up near as much of your baggage allowance. The downsides are the need to anchor it and the lack of resistance compared to the Gorilla Bow.

Bottom Line

Since you made it this far, I’m sure that you know without a doubt whether the Gorilla Bow is worth it. As a piece of office workout equipment or a portable gym, it’s one of the best available. As a traveling gym, it’s too bulky and weighs too much for most people.

The most important thing to do before you buy it is to seriously consider whether you’ll use it or it’ll end up collecting dust. For the price, it’s definitely a piece of equipment you want to be 100% sure you’ll use before you buy it. Then again, if you decide you don’t like it, there’s a 90-day money-back guarantee. Overall, I’m a fan of it, and if you consider each point in my review above, I’m confident that you’ll land on the right decision.

Jump Back to the Features