I tried an at-home machine that’s like a Peloton for strength training – INSIDER

Megan Hernbroth/Business Insider

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  • Tonal is an at-home workout machine that’s like a Peloton for strength training that mounts to your wall and offers on-demand coaching and digitally-connected personalized exercises.
  • It costs $3,000 and is one of the first products in the at-home fitness workout market that focuses on resistance training instead of cardio, like Peloton does.
  • I recently gave Tonal a try to see how it compares to traditional weight lifting.
  • Take a look at how my workout went.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Tonal is an at-home strength training machine that uses electromagnetism to create resistance and mounts to your wall for a personalized workout with over 200 exercises, like deadlifts, bicep curls, and overhead presses, and on-demand coaching.

With Tonal, performance anxiety at the gym could be a thing of the past — no more feeling self-conscious in front of your seemingly more experienced gym-goers, no more 30-plus minute round trips to the gym, and no more gym memberships.

That is, if you can afford the $3,000 price tag.

Tonal was invented by Aly Orady, a Hewlett-Packard veteran who wanted an easier way to stay in shape at home that didn’t involve sweaty, used equipment and tedious trips to the gym.

It operates similarly to its cardio cousin Peloton, whose stationary bikes retail for $2,000. Both are a part of a growing trend that is seeing digital, at-home fitness systems on the rise and gym attendance and boutique fitness studios declining in popularity.

Tonal is one of the first products in the market with a focus on strength training. Fitness experts have increasingly stressed the importance of resistance training in addition to cardio to maintain good health. And in an interview with TechCrunch, Orady said that a significant amount of Tonal users also own a Peloton bike (amounting to a collective $5,000 investment, if you were wondering.)

I recently tried a Tonal workout for myself at the company’s San Francisco showroom. It was a bit hard to get used to at first, but I knew that if I were to own one, I’d adjust and would eventually have a convenient way of staying fit in the privacy of my home.

Too bad it’s way out of my budget and that even if it wasn’t, mounting such a piece of equipment onto a wall in my rental apartment would likely make my landlord less than pleased.

Here’s how my workout went.

And that’s something Tonal has going for it — it’s among the first strength training-focused, digitally-connected fitness systems that you can use in the privacy of your home.

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The company has a showroom in San Francisco’s Cow Hollow neighborhood, so I decided to give it a try.

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The Tonal machine looks a lot like a flat-screen TV with two handlebars protruding from its sides. They’re adjustable, with interchangeable attachments at their ends.

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The resistance is created through electromagnetism, which basically means that the weights are digitized.

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You can activate the resistance yourself from the Bluetooth-connected handles or from the screen. Just click the button on the handles with your thumb to turn the weights off …

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… and on.

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A tiny blue light indicates that the weights are turned on.
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Users then do a one-time preliminary test before getting started that allows the machine to assess your strength and customize its settings to your body.

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There are three ways to adjust the handlebars.

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Peloton tunes you into live classes, but Tonal’s sessions are pre-recorded at a studio in San Francisco featuring trainers in the area.

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This was my first training session ever where I was following along with a virtual instructor, and I quickly learned that I was not a fan.

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I kept turning and twisting toward the screen to try to keep up with him.

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I settled on one called “Leg Day Revival.” Sumo stretches, pull-throughs, and lunges were in the line-up. It was 3 sets of 15 reps.

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All three of the moves are exercises that I don’t usually gravitate toward in the gym, which means that I was relying on my virtual Tonal instructor to learn them.

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This wasn’t cardio exercise where the technique wasn’t as much of a focus — you can certainly hurt yourself on an at-home treadmill or bike, but the movement is more straightforward.

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I asked one of the Tonal staff members if the machine could correct me if my form was off, and she said no. The only kind of correcting technology the machine employs is when you’re lifting too quickly or too slowly.

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I found myself wanting an actual human standing next to me showing me the best ways to perform the exercises.

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What I liked more was the free-weights feature on the machine. It allowed me to choose individual exercises to do across different muscle groups.

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I was able to choose exercises I was more familiar with, like a bicep curl. Since I’ve done these before, I was more confident that my form was more on track.

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There’s also an Eccentric mode that challenges you during the negative part of your rep, which means that when gravity is making a lift easier on you, the machine kicks in with a dose of resistance.

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The Eccentric mode is also a unique industry feat, as reported by Inc. In a gym, even if you have a personal trainer, there’s no way to add resistance when gravity is working on your side in the middle of a lift. Tonal can do that.

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Source: Inc

The machine also has a built-in spotter feature, which doesn’t correct you if your form is off, but will lessen or increase the weight if you’re going too slowly or too quickly, respectively.

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For example, when the Chains mode was activated on the bicep curl, I struggled — and the machine picked up on that. It automatically decreased my weight a couple notches.

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When the workout was over, my muscles burned. I never doubted that a Tonal workout would be effective and that I’d wake up sore the next day (which I did.)

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The Tonal spokesperson said that the company has a number of customers who are renters that enjoy the compactness of the machine. But many rental apartments likely wouldn’t allow the installation, so you should definitely check first before buying.

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So the target market for this kind of equipment isn’t just those who could afford the $3,000-plus investment for the machine — it’s also likely those who can afford to own a home.

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Which is not an inexpensive feat in the pricey Bay Area, though Tonal is used by customers across the nation.

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The Tonal panel does look a lot more aesthetically pleasing when it’s not in use than a hodgepodge bunch of dumbbells laying around your house does. And I can’t deny that, at the end of the day, the machine is effective.

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Fitness experts have also increasingly stressed in recent years that staying in good health takes more than just cardio. You need to lift, too.

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Source: Business Insider, Men’s Health, Healthline

So, as TechCrunch reported, a large portion of Tonal users also own a Peloton to get in their regular cardio.

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Source: TechCrunch

I guess that leaves more space on the communal squat rack for us mere mortals.

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