OT: Smart Home Gym (Tonal, Mirror, etc.)

[tuxbailey]

This forum is well versed with smart trainer and there are a lot of advice with regard to them. I want to check anyone is the forum is familiar with smart home gyms?

I have been researching Tonal as many of my friends had gotten it and they seem to be very happy with its features vs. going to the gym. I am curious if there are any feedback from those in the forum.

[Louis]

I've heard of them but don't know a whole lot about these, but will throw this out there:

I don't think I'd get one myself (I'm more of a kettlebell type of guy) but if it motivates you to exercise more than the existing alternatives and you're still using it regularly a few years from now, then it's probably money will spent.

[Chris]

The Mind Pump podcast has a good interview with the CEO/developer of Tonal. Might be worth a listen.

[oldguy00]

I've been looking at these as well. Nervous about pulling the trigger because we all know what usually happens to these home gyms like Bowflex, etc., they end up being a pain in the ass to use, sit for a couple years, then re-sold at a small fraction of what you paid for it.

Also, do you need to keep paying a subscription fee to use the tonal, or is that just if you want to watch their own brand workout vids?


EDIT - sorry, I was confusing it with the Nordictrack fusion CST, which does not look as good (no eccentric resistance). Tonal isn't available to us Canadians yet...

[benb]

Big risk is:

a) Need to pay ongoing fees to keep it working as well as it should due to the software

b) The software support gets cancelled cause the company moves on or goes out of business, and now the fitness equipment is no longer fully functional.

On a more practical level these ones that hide everything inside a mirror cabinet don't look like they're actually big enough to hold a full set of dumbbells and/or kettle bells.

If you get more traditional equipment (rack + dumbells/kettlebells) you can supplement with a video/software program on an iPad. If that video/software program goes kaput you just switch to another one and aren't holding onto an expensive proprietary device.

We have a Nordic Track connected treadmill, the content is really good, but it's the same risk. And at least for me the connected video content is all for naught.. I get motion sick if I run on the treadmill and watch the running content on the screen. That completely defeats the point. It's my wife's treadmill and it doesn't bother her cause she's shorter. For me I have to look too far down at the screen and that causes the motion sickness + posture issues. I don't know that I'd ever have been able to tell before purchase. For whatever reason I don't have any trouble with this riding a bike trainer with a video or doing Zwift, etc.. but in those cases the video can be moved so there's not a posture issue.

Posture issues seem like they won't be a thing with these "vault" type things as you can stand further away.

A lot of the bike stuff can theoretically have the same software/fee risks.

These things are expensive enough you could get the traditional stuff and then work with a personal trainer a bit and/or on-off in a fashion that would get you more personalized recommendations. If the recurring fees are high enough there's no way non-personalized content off these platforms is going to be as good as working with a trainer or PT.

For expensive stuff from Nordic Track I would want to see it in person and try it... I am ultra not impressed with the build quality of the treadmill we have, which was similar price to the Fusion CST thing. It looks nice on the outside and is advertised as commercial grade but putting it together some parts of it the build quality was like a walmart bike, and one of the fans has already failed after 18 months. There's no way I believe it would actually survive in a commercial gym getting used hours every day.

[yakstone]

If you get more traditional equipment (rack + dumbells/kettlebells) you can supplement with a video/software program on an iPad. If that video/software program goes kaput you just switch to another one and aren't holding onto an expensive proprietary device.

This is my philosophy exactly.

[arronpoulsen]

I'm a big fan of smart home gyms myself. I've heard tons of great things about Tonal, it's definitely worth checking out. I can tell you from my own experience, it's been a total game-changer. No more excuses for missing workouts. Oh and one more thing, if you live in a small space like me, you might wanna consider a punching bag. I find it to be a stress-reliever and a solid workout. If you're in the market for one, have you checked out the best punching bag for small space? I've heard great things about them, esp. for apartments.