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Last Updated: June 5, 2023
With countless home cardio equipment on the market, I think it’s great to see strength training becoming more accessible as well. Now, what if I told you that you could get the gym experience without having to wait for a machine or even rack your own weight? How about having your own personal trainer and working out whenever you want? The Tonal Smart Home Gym does all of this in the comfort of your own home. Impressed? So am I.
Best Workout Mirror Award:
The Tonal has been given the award of the best overall workout mirror on on our list of best workout mirrors. We love the functionality and all the capabilities that the Tonal offers in a small amount of space. We also really enjoy the content that Tonal offers and includes with a membership.
What Is the Tonal Smart Home Gym?
Tonal Smart Home Gym is a complete home gym in one highly intelligent system that mounts to your wall. Tonal packs all the equipment you’ll find at the gym, in a sleek design that takes up a fraction of the space. It features a touchscreen and uses digital, magnetic weights and smart technology that corrects your form, tracks your progress, and adjusts your weights to work for you and your fitness goals. Think of it as your own personal trainer and personalized machine. You can create your custom routines with your favorite exercises or follow along with one of Tonal’s several coaches in countless guided workouts.
Who Is the Tonal Smart Gym For:
An individual or family with limited space who wants a guided strength workout at home. Intermediates and beginners to fitness and/or strength training who want to skip the gym and personal trainer for the same experience at home. Cardio fitness enthusiasts who want to add personalized strength training to their regime.
- 1.The system provides a total body weight training workout in a small space.
- 2. More than 170 moves can be performed on the all-in-one machine.
- 3. The technology corrects your form and offers spotting for heavier lifting to keep you safe.
- 4. Tonal keeps track of your stats and helps determine the correct weight you should use when lifting to help prevent injuries.
- 5. Tonal records your fitness goals and tracks your progress so you can be sure to build strength and improve your fitness.
- 6. This system is great for beginners
- 7. It’s multi-user friendly so people in the same household can use it, and it remembers stats for each user.
- 8. Comes with your own built-in personal trainer
- 9. Advanced weight modes mimic techniques found at a gym
- 1. The weight is limited to 200lbs, which might not be enough weight for more advanced weight-lifters like power-lifters and body-builders.
- 2. Classes aren’t live, they are pre-recorded.
- 3. The equipment makes noise and may not be best in apartments or homes with shared walls where noise could be an issue.
- 4. The weight is magnetic and feels different than traditional weights which requires some getting used to.
- Display: Digital touchscreen with integrated 24” touchscreen display
- Technology: Includes an artificial intelligence that corrects your form, remembers your stats, and guides you through workouts
- Weight: Digital magnetic weight that goes up to 200 lbs (100 lbs per arm).
- Equipment: Adjustable arms
- Accessories: Optional additional smart accessory package for $495
- Membership: Monthly $49 membership required for the first year
- Programs: Hundreds of pre-recorded guided workouts, partner workouts, virtual group workouts and create your own workout program
- Advanced weight modes: 4 different settings that simulate lifting in a gym
- Music: Pair your Apple music or use Tonal Radio which has a selection of multiple stations to choose from
- App: Download the Tonal App to your phone to customize your workouts and check your progress
- Size: 50.9” in height, 21.5” wide, and 5.25” deep
- Space needed: 7’ x 7’ of wall space with at least 7’ x 10” ceilings and 2 studs
- Delivery: Delivered and installed by trained professionals
- Warranty: 3-year limited warranty- 1 year (accessories), 1-year (parts for trainer and screen), 2 years (parts only) and a 30-day risk free trial
Review of the Tonal Home Gym
Functionality As A “Complete Home Gym”
The Tonal Smart Home Gym definitely saves space and has several high quality features as well as unlimited amounts of workouts. With this level of technology, I’d say it replaces a gym membership and more. Tonal allows you to complete over 170 exercises, so you will definitely get a great workout at home.
If you’re new to lifting weights, you won’t feel lost or unsure about what weight to pick because Tonal does that for you. Even more seasoned weightlifters will appreciate the similarities to the gym that the Tonal Smart Home Gym provides, especially with the advanced weight modes. Lifting up to 200 lbs will work great for most, but advanced lifters, such as body-builders and power-lifters, might not be satisfied with this weight.
The digital weight feels different from traditional weights because of the lack of gravity and momentum, so it may take some getting used to. The weight will most likely seem heavier than your pair of dumbbells, which to a lifter like myself, is humbling for sure.
Some noise can be expected from the plastic on the arms and the amount of weight it allows, so I’m not sure this would be best for apartments or homes with shared walls because the noise could be a problem.
I find the “AI Coach” to be like a personal trainer that you would find in a gym who comes up with training plans and tells you how much weight to lift and what moves to do based on your goals. This is handy, especially if you need some guidance. I enjoy taking fitness classes and appreciate the variety of classes to choose from. Although to me, some of the trainers come across a little scripted and unnatural at times. However, they film new workouts everyday so I’m sure this will change as time goes on.
Training Programs
Guided Workouts
Tonal offers hundreds of classes and adds new ones daily. They are pre-recorded, so taking live classes isn’t an option. You can pick your favorite coaches to lead you through workouts. This makes you feel like you’re taking a class at a fitness studio without having to sign up and be limited to working out at a specific time.
Classes range from under 10 minutes to an hour. I like squeezing in short 5-10 minute ab workouts when I’m short on time or adding them at the end of my workout, so this is a nice feature. Along with traditional strength training, they have several styles of classes like Barre, high intensity, and dance cardio so you can mix up your workout plan.
They even offer multi-week training programs. These types of programs are commonly used in weight lifting and are designed to have you increase your weight each week so you’ll stay challenged and get stronger. You can also customize your workouts and build your own routines. This is great if guided workouts aren’t your thing.
Advanced Weight Modes
Tonal does a great job at making you feel like you’re in the gym with its 4 advanced weight modes. I’m very impressed by these settings and how similar they seem to training in a gym.
The spotter mode is like having someone spot you while in a move by sensing if you’re struggling with a weight. Say you’re squatting with a heavy weight, Tonal will lower the weight so you can complete your squat, and then add the weight back on when you start your next rep.
During high rep sets, the burnout mode will decrease the weight as you go once it senses that you’re struggling. This way you can finish your set and get the most burn possible.
Tonal really did their homework with the chains feature. It replicates the sensation of putting chains on a barbel making the weight get heavier as you pull.
Finally, the eccentric mode will increase the resistance as you release the weight. I really appreciate this feature because it gives you more time under tension which is a proven method to getting the most out of your workouts.
Workout Together
Tonal offers a virtual workout feature where you can exercise with friends and family all across the country on multiple Tonal systems. You can also choose the partner workouts feature to workout with a family member or friend by taking turns doing the movements.
Construction Quality & Durability
Digital Touchscreen
The integrated 24” touchscreen display is where you can select exercises, programs, track your progress, check your form and effort, and follow the Tonal coaches as they guide you through workouts.
Adjustable Arms
On both sides of the screen there are two adjustable arms which allow you to perform upper and lower body exercises. I find this is great to ensure you’ll get a full body workout. The arms rotate, angle up and down, and raise and lower. The handles attach to cables that extend out from the arms. Along with putting on the different handles, I find it very convenient that you only need to adjust the handles for each movement. The system does everything else.
Digital Weight
The patented digital magnetic weight technology lets you ditch the bulky sets of dumbbells and plates. Tonal Smart Home Gym goes up to 200lbs (100lbs per arm). The digital weight increases a pound at a time and adapts to your body’s strength needs. To me, this guarantees you’ll find a weight to work for you.The weight can adjust automatically, or you can select a weight yourself. With the ability to perform over 170 moves on Tonal, you will never be bored with your workouts.
Accessories
For an additional purchase of $495, you can also get smart accessories. These include: smart handles, the smart bar, rope, bench, foam roller and workout mat so you can perform more moves and use all the digital weight’s features. The smart handles and smart bar engage weight wirelessly with just a click of button, for fast and smooth transitions between exercises. In order to get the most out of the system, I highly recommend getting the bundle.
Noise level
Tonal can make a bit of noise due to the plastic on the device and heavier weight it provides.
Controls/Display
Initial Setup
When you first turn on the Tonal Smart Home Gym it asks for you to select your fitness goals and level from the choices on the screen. This is so Tonal can help guide you through your strength journey and recommend workouts and programs that will help achieve these goals. After this, you are taken through a strength assessment of just 4 different strength moves to determine a good baseline weight for every movement the system offers. I really appreciate this feature because it has safety in mind while giving personalized workouts.
AI Trainer
“Coach AI” as Tonal refers to it as, is like having your own personal trainer. The artificial intelligence in this system sets the appropriate weight for you before each movement. Tonal uses 17 sensors that analyze and correct your form. I find it very useful that the AI trainer counts your reps and lets you know when you’ve completed a set, as I often lose count when I workout. Once you get stronger, the AI trainer will adjust your weight the next time you lift.
Bottom Line Review: Tonal
Tonal Smart Home Gym has all the features of a weight room without requiring the space needed for a complete home gym. The system is priced on the higher end of home fitness equipment at $2,995 plus shipping and installation. Personally, I wouldn’t miss out on the $495 smart accessory bundle and $49 monthly membership. Unfortunately, in order to use all the features of this system, you must have both.
Even though it is expensive, Tonal can potentially save you thousands or more. It would take an entire gym filled with equipment, not to mention a personal trainer, to do all of the exercises this system can do. I really like that it replicates all aspects of working out in a gym, especially with the advanced weight modes. It also takes out some of the hassle that comes with the gym, like having to set up multiple machines and rack weight.
While advanced weightlifters might want to pass, I believe more novice and intermediate weightlifters will enjoy Tonal Smart Home Gym because of all the features it comes with. It makes strength-training from home easy, accessible and I especially appreciate that it keeps safety in mind. Users who are new to resistance-based training will benefit from the form corrections, as well as the pre-recorded guided workouts and training plans led by the instructors. The level of technology and variety of movements, classes, and weight settings is why I think this machine really stands out. Tonal Smart Home Gym is a high quality option for users looking to add strength to their home fitness routines.
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