This mama still has it going on in many ways, but let’s face it: the 40s are here to stay. A brisk walk with the toddler in the stroller isn’t cutting it as my daily workout anymore. So, when I heard about Tonal, a sleek, super-convenient, high-tech home fitness system, I kind of geeked out.
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Tonal mounts on your wall and looks like a slim flat-screen TV that’s mounted the wrong direction. It’s absolutely the kind of thing your friends will ask about. Along the sides of the screen are two hidden arms with resistance bands built in for strength training. It looks smart and sleek when not in use, and it’s just as smart and high-tech when in use.
Tonal starts you with a diagnostic fitness assessment, which creates a custom strength-training workout plan for you. Then, when you’re ready for to workout, choose one of the recommended workouts from their hundreds of programmed instructional videos, created specifically for this machine.
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If you’re finding the workout a little too easy (or too challenging) you can just tap the screen to change the weight mid rep. Tonal even tracks your progress, because let’s admit it: even as adults, we like reward charts.
For those of us with smaller homes that don’t have space for an (ahem) personal gym inside, this could be an amazing piece of tech that gives a full, challenging workout while taking up zero floor space. And bonus, you don’t have to drop your kids at the gym’s childcare center, where they’re pretty much guaranteed to get sick this fall.
Of course, there’s a hefty price to pay for something like this, and some wall real estate that you’ll need to give up. Also, will you really stick with it? Because $3,000 is a pretty big investment for something you might use for a year and then decide you’d rather workout in the peace of a gym.
But if you count up workout apps, fitness classes, and gym memberships, not to mention the treadmill and stationary bike you have sitting in your garage, then this night be the investment for you. If so, it might be time to go ahead and list your dusty, massive weights system on Craigslist and invest in your own Tonal. They’ll even come to your house and set it up for you, to make sure you have it set up in the perfect place in your house to get the most use of it.
Welcome to the future of exercise. I’m geeked to give this a try, how about you?
You can order your Tonal fitness system now if you live in the San Francisco Bay area, or add your name to their waitlist (and start saving your pennies) if you’re outside the SF Bay area.
