You're an old coot with fixed ideas about things. Time has passed you by but of course you don't see it. I've used all forms of resistance training over decades, have as much experience or more than you.
Has it occured to you that the popularity of widely-used resistance bands is due to their effectiveness and convenience? Those bands use the same concept as Bowflex. Do you really think they don't work? Spare me "they're only good for fitness" argument, it's tired and doesn't hold water, old man.