My Tonal Review: 20 Benefits Learned
The gym has been part of my lifestyle for over 10 years, and I’ve practiced yoga weekly even longer. Mental and physical fitness mean a lot to me, as well as tracking the data to improve both. This year, my gym routine, like many of you, came to a screeching halt as gyms closed around the world.
Some of us figured out creative ways to workout from home until it was safer to return to the gym, and others may still be wary of going to gyms. It’s fair to say that much of the summer was spent researching home fitness equipment, and that’s how we stumbled upon Tonal.
When I first heard about Tonal, I was a bit skeptical.
Would an oversized tablet with long arms be a reliable home gym? Was it going to be strong enough for me? Or more importantly, would it offer me the same workout I get in a gym, targeting specific muscle groups each day? And would it support my yoga practice?
The answer to all of these questions was yes. The more I use our Tonal, the more I realize this is the future of home fitness. Multiple friends have been asking me how I like it, so I decided to put this together to share some of the benefits I’ve learned.
In no particular order, here are 20 benefits I’ve recognized in the two weeks I’ve been working out. Some of these may seem small or insignificant, but when you consider these benefits are realized every day you workout throughout the year, they have much more weight to them. (Pun intended.)
1.No need to drive to a gym anymore. This may seem obvious, but the most difficult part for many people is simply getting to the gym. If you take that difficult part out, you’re going to increase your chances of getting a workout in, not to mention reducing your carbon footprint and getting that commuting time back. For those of us who enjoy working from home in our pajamas, you can now do that with your Tonal at home.
2. No need to count your sets or reps anymore. I don’t know about you, but my gym partner and I were chatty Kathys at the gym, and we would often forget whether we were on the 3rd or 4th set, so sometimes we were missing or adding an entire set. Having the numbers displayed keeps you focused and on track.
3. No need to wipe up anyone else’s sweat. I mean, do I really need to explain this one? Ew.
4. Get tips on your form in real-time. Most workout partners aren’t judging your form with every rep, and the majority of our workout partners aren’t personal trainers with the knowledge of key muscle groups and technique. We’ve all seen that one person with really crazy form at the gym, and chances are they didn’t learn these moves from a professional. But for those of us who want feedback when our form is off, this is a big win. You also see video examples of the workouts that guide you at your own pace.
5. Multiple profiles can exist on a Tonal. Right now, there’s no limit to the number of profiles that you can setup on a Tonal. Meaning that for the monthly cost of $49, everyone in your household can have a profile.
6. You can attend training sessions on your schedule. Whether it’s strength training, meditation, pilates, yoga, you name it — all the classes available on Tonal can be taken at any time. There’s no need to worry about scheduling, being late, or cancelling…and you decide how often you want to take these classes.
7. No clutter from dumbbells and other weights. Tonal can come with the usual rope, handles, barbell, and more, but there’s no need to have any weights. The weight resistance is all electromagnetically-driven in the Tonal, up to 200 pounds. For those of us looking to maximize space and keep costs low, a huge rack of dumbbells don’t really make sense. Even an adjustable set of dumbbells has mixed reviews, as they are fairly bulky and sometimes awkward to hold.
8. Your strength is measured through data. This is the fundamental part of Tonal that sets it apart from any strength training machine or program out there. Unless you have been meticulously recording every weight you’ve lifted and how well you lifted it, chances are you are just measuring your progress going by looks and how you feel. And that may work for some of you, but for those of you who love to see the data…you’re going to love this. Tonal uses a strength score for your upper, lower, and core body, and keeps track of how much you’ve lifted. I’m able to see that my leg day wasn’t as strong as my shoulders day, so I have some work to do there.
9. Automatic syncing with Apple Health, Watch, and Music. This was a big win for me, because I use Apple Health for all of my tracking, such as sleep and heart rate variability, which rolls into Gyroscope for my overall health score. My Apple Music playlists show up on the Tonal, but so far I’ve been enjoying the Tonal radio station for House and EDM. It’s perfect for me.
10. Automatically adjust your weights based on how well you’re doing. Being a tech nerd, I’ve always dreamed of having a machine at the gym that allowed me to adjust the weights electronically so that I could maximize my time and not have to manually add weights after each set. Tonal lets you adjust your weights at any time…even from your Apple Watch!
11. Great for beginners or long-time gym goers. Whether you’ve been working out for decades or just getting started, the tutorials and classes you can take on this will fit anyone’s experience level. I tried to get serious about the gym twice before I finally started to ask people for help. It was intimidating to go to a gym by myself, looking at all these machines and not really understanding how many reps or sets I should be doing, let alone how much weight I could lift. It was easy to feel embarrassed, and I was too proud to ask for help, until I finally got more serious 10 years ago and started asking friends for advice. Tonal will teach you at home with trainers, without any fear of judgement or embarrassment.
12. Great for multiple types of exercises. Whether you’re trying to practice mindfulness & meditation, or building muscle, there are many different types of programs to help you achieve your goals. This is another fundamental difference between Tonal and the majority of home fitness equipment. Many of the popular machines designed for the home are specifically targeted to work one muscle group or exercise. You can’t take a yoga class with an exercise bike, so you still need a separate gym or class gym to take a yoga class. The point is, this is truly an all-in-one.
13. Spotter mode supports you when your muscles fatigue. Tonal has a feature called Spotter mode, where it can detect if you’re struggling with a workout and automatically kicks in to help you. For those of us to really want to push our reps through fatigue, this is ideal.
14. Ability to workout remotely with friends anywhere & join group classes. This is especially timely this year considering the pandemic we’re in, but looking to the future, Tonal makes it much easier for friends and family around the world to connect and workout together and encourage each other towards our goals. While I’m not using the group workouts just yet, I know many people enjoy group classes and workouts, whether it’s yoga or strength training. Also, when has there ever been a group weight lifting class?! That wouldn’t be possible in a large group.
15. Takes up very minimal floor space in your home. When we were researching home gym equipment, we quickly learned that many of the functional trainer machines would’ve taken up way more space than we wanted. As an example, the room we had to work with was about 100 square feet. Tonal doesn’t use any of the space, aside from the bench and arms, which can be put away easily. We would’ve lost almost half of the room with a functional trainer!
16. Ability to create custom workouts. I love this feature, because I was able to create about 90% of my gym routine. I was missing shrugs for my traps, which wasn’t a deal-breaker. In the Tonal app, you can easily create your own fitness routines, with rest times and everything. These custom workouts will still include videos and form correction tips as you workout.
17. Ability to get into position and proper form before the resistance begins. This is unheard of in the gym. With free weights and even traditional cable machines, you have to carry the weight with you before you even begin your workout. With Tonal, you’re able to press a button to turn the weight off or on instantly.
18. Overall, a highly intuitive user experience. I’m a UX nerd, and very pleased with the usability. The use of haptics, sounds, flexible pacing, and intuitive interfaces are so cohesive, that it resembles a product I’d expect from Tesla or Apple. Speaking of those, new features are pushed through software updates to Tonal, similar to how Teslas and iPhones get feature upgrades today.
19. Increased motivation during workouts. There’s a big difference between counting your reps on your own, and seeing them displayed on a screen in real-time. By seeing the tracking, I’m motivated to finish all the reps I intended to, so I’m actually pushing myself harder than I would at the gym, unless I was working with a personal trainer.
20. Automatically starts & ends your workout tracking. I don’t know about you, but there were dozens of times where I would either forget to tell my Apple Watch to begin or end my workouts, and so my data would get all skewed. Tonal simply connects to your Apple Watch and it automatically starts and ends your workout without you having to remember.
I could go on with other features and things I like, but there you have it for now. If you’d like $100 off your Tonal, use my referral link: http://fbuy.me/v/gabe_309
If you have any other questions or want to learn more, please add your comments below.
#tonalgymreview #tonalhomegym #homegym #strengthtraining #gymlife #tonal #weightlifting #fitness #tonalreview #smartgym #tonaldiscount #tonalreferralcode
