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I just had mine installed yesterday. Did two workouts with it. That’s an impressive piece of equipment. Nothing else to share yet.
I just had mine installed yesterday. Did two workouts with it. That’s an impressive piece of equipment. Nothing else to share yet.
Well I respect your thoughts. I thought the entire thing was a massive pandemic fueled stay at home gimmick that would die a quick death as pandemic restrictions end. It just did not look like a serious workout, or at least no more serious than what I can do with $50 of dumbells and body weight in my living room watching NFL or Premier League or the news!!!
I just had mine installed yesterday. Did two workouts with it. That’s an impressive piece of equipment. Nothing else to share yet.
Well I respect your thoughts. I thought the entire thing was a massive pandemic fueled stay at home gimmick that would die a quick death as pandemic restrictions end. It just did not look like a serious workout, or at least no more serious than what I can do with $50 of dumbells and body weight in my living room watching NFL or Premier League or the news!!!
It is most definitely way more than you can do with $50 worth of dumbbells. Maybe you are thinking of The Mirror. This is a servomotor-based system with a very creative setup of adjustable arms allowing for movement of the cable pulley-ends anywhere from floor to ceiling. Deadlifts, front squats, bench press, overhead press, lat pulls, I could go on and on. The movement is very smooth too.
I just had mine installed yesterday. Did two workouts with it. That’s an impressive piece of equipment. Nothing else to share yet.
Well I respect your thoughts. I thought the entire thing was a massive pandemic fueled stay at home gimmick that would die a quick death as pandemic restrictions end. It just did not look like a serious workout, or at least no more serious than what I can do with $50 of dumbells and body weight in my living room watching NFL or Premier League or the news!!!
Pretty much. Don’t get me wrong it’s a cool system, well designed, but it’s not magic. It does exactly the same job as a standard gym cable system. I don’t know why you’d spend $3k+ on it when you can join an average gym that has a much wider range of equipment for a fraction of the cost.
There are plenty of people who just have no desire to go to the gym. Obviously triathletes are not those people since most swim at the gym. In my college years I lifted a lot. Went to
The gym 6 days a week but now that I don’t swim I have zero desire to go to the gym. No way I can does a tonal but if I could I’d probably get one because it’s just so easy to workout from my house.
I don’t know why you’d spend $3k+ on it when you can join an average gym that has a much wider range of equipment for a fraction of the cost.
Because I don’t want to go to the gym.
Tonal is like Garmin’s Varia - the only people who don’t like it are people who have never used it.
I’ve had mine for about 18 months. The convenience of a home gym in my living room is amazing. The price is what it is. Either you find it is valuable or you do not. There are no functional competitors shipping today as far as I can tell. Similar products are coming to market at similar price points and with subscriptions -but today there is only Tonal (subject to long shipping times).
It does offer things that cannot be duplicated with free weights like eccentric mode, a smart resistance curve mode and push button resistance. One thing that I think doesn’t get enough mention is the safety aspect. I can train by myself with no risk of getting stuck under a bar during bench press because I can tap a button and the resistance gets turned off.
There are more than 100 programs (2-4 weeks each), and a dozen coaches, so there is something to appeal to most people. I moved to a custom program because I liked to do my own thing.
The 200 lbs limit isn’t a limiting as it sounds. For whatever reason, resistance on the Tonal feels about 30% heavier than the comparable free weight. Yes, there is a small population of people (power lifters) who can max out some moves, but it isn’t a real limit for most people.
I was very concerned with the weight resistance until I tried it. I’d say it’s like 30-40% added resistance. Regardless, that 200 is real life more like 260-280.
I can bench 200 pounds. I put it on 200 and couldn’t come close to moving it.
I haven’t begun to play with all the bells and whistles. It has a spotter mode as well to help when you’re struggling.
When Thom says a push of the button, the buttons are actually on the grips and bars. It’s amazingly well designed.
Thom mentioned long shipping times. I ordered mine a couple of days after Christmas and just got it. My installer says they’re coming in faster and in much larger quantities now. He personally installs 10-12 per day.
It does offer things that cannot be duplicated with free weights like eccentric mode, a smart resistance curve mode and push button resistance. One thing that I think doesn’t get enough mention is the safety aspect. I can train by myself with no risk of getting stuck under a bar during bench press because I can tap a button and the resistance gets turned off.
You can train muscles eccentrically with free weights/machines. You are much more likely to get injured running or cycling than lifting weights if you follow some basic rules i.e. don’t bench press without a spotter, if you are alone you can always use dumbbells rather than a bar.
Tonal isn’t awful. You can certainly improve strength using it. It’s just not better than traditional free weights - which are the gold standard of strength training (look at the strongest and most powerful athletes, they are not using stuff like tonal).
I don’t think anyone is saying it’s the new gold standard when it comes to weight lifting but let’s not overlook it’s very compact size. It’s 22†x51â€x5†dimensionally. Yes, you need some room to spread out depending on how the arms are being used but it takes up almost no space when not in use. A pile of free weights and accessories or a Bowflex or Smith Machine take up a shit ton of room.
Yes, you can train eccentrically with free weights - but it isn’t practical without a helper. Yes, some barbell work can benefit from a spotter. Sadly, there is nobody to help me when I’m working out a 4:30 am, so those are not options.
Nobody said it was “better” than free weights. Frankly declaring any exercise modality universally “better” is stupid. Citing Tonal’s limited usefulness for a small population of people who lift weights is a red herring. Tonal works well for me. I find much to like and very little that I do not like. Guess what? It is better for me.
We’ve had ours installed this past December and it’s been fantastic. My wife and I both use it, so it sees daily use and our kids have joined as well for some of the non-weight based workouts as well. The first program I did on it was the Strength Training for Triathletes with Mark Allen as the guest instructor, but unfortunately that is no longer available (unsure why, but would speculate contract usage expiration or something similar).
The dynamic weight is definitely different feel than free weights, but it’s quick to adapt to and I find it preferable. Here’s a few of my thoughts on it:
- more difficult to “cheat” the reps using momentum- the digital weight creates consistent resistance through ROM
- digital weight is adjustable in smaller increments- say for example 15lbs dumbbell is too easy for a set, but 20lbs is too heavy and risk injury- Tonal allows for these incremental adjustments which is a giant benefit particularly for my wife who has in the past done the various P90X programs with the “$50 worth of dumbbells”.
- I actually like that the weight isn’t exactly analogous to the gym; it allows me to care less about the number itself and focus on each rep and how it feels on a given day. Maybe that’s just my own insecurities about the gym
- excellent instruction from the coaches and break up the strength movements with recovery moves in between- I find this motivating and would otherwise be guilty of skipping or half-assing the recovery or warm-up portions of strength work
- it keeps track of the work, weight, improvement, “time under tension”, etc which I find very useful and motivating- and can export to Strava, however, it does not have TrainingPeaks integration, which I wish it did.
I was an original purchaser a few years back, still use it, still gives me a good workout. For me the cost is worth it so I can get all my workouts in without needing to find someone to watch my kids while going to the gym.
With my treadmill, tonal and smart trainer I only have to leave the house for the pool. The programs are good and make you work different moves for muscles you may skip if you just go to the gym.
Personally I am not super into pounding weights at the gym and this gives me more structure and not having to wait for certain machines or weights so it’s all a plus for me.
We’ve had ours installed this past December and it’s been fantastic. My wife and I both use it, so it sees daily use and our kids have joined as well for some of the non-weight based workouts as well. The first program I did on it was the Strength Training for Triathletes with Mark Allen as the guest instructor, but unfortunately that is no longer available (unsure why, but would speculate contract usage expiration or something similar).
The dynamic weight is definitely different feel than free weights, but it’s quick to adapt to and I find it preferable. Here’s a few of my thoughts on it:
- more difficult to “cheat” the reps using momentum- the digital weight creates consistent resistance through ROM
- digital weight is adjustable in smaller increments- say for example 15lbs dumbbell is too easy for a set, but 20lbs is too heavy and risk injury- Tonal allows for these incremental adjustments which is a giant benefit particularly for my wife who has in the past done the various P90X programs with the “$50 worth of dumbbells”.
- I actually like that the weight isn’t exactly analogous to the gym; it allows me to care less about the number itself and focus on each rep and how it feels on a given day. Maybe that’s just my own insecurities about the gym
- excellent instruction from the coaches and break up the strength movements with recovery moves in between- I find this motivating and would otherwise be guilty of skipping or half-assing the recovery or warm-up portions of strength work
- it keeps track of the work, weight, improvement, “time under tension”, etc which I find very useful and motivating- and can export to Strava, however, it does not have TrainingPeaks integration, which I wish it did.
Week 10 since I got my Tonal and it’s a game changer for me when it comes to strength training. Been worth every cent. Agree with all your points.
I’ve just been doing programs. I did Tony Horton’s 20-in-20 Ignite program first and I’m 11 workouts through his 20-in-20 Pump Up The Volume program now.
I did a few of Jackson Bloore’s Go Big or Go Home 2 program workouts and I couldn’t sustain that program. It was too much.