Tonal

Should I get one?

My capacity to impulse purchase with no regard for the consequences caps out at like $1500. All-in this thing will put me out closer to $4 K.

What say you?!

For $4 K, it should roll over and kiss you in the morning. And make the perfect cup of coffee!!!

I already have one of those, and he’s practically free.

Nope from me. You can get superb strength training systems for a lot less than that. And it’s a lot of money to spend on a piece of equipment that has a high probability of turning into a clothes rack.

If you’re looking for a new system, in order:

  • a treadmill. far and away the highest probability of getting used longterm. We’ve got over 10K miles (not km) on our treadmill. Protip: Spend your money on a good treadmill, i.e. gym quality. Bigger belts, bigger motors, more cushioning etc.
  • if you prefer cycling, get a spin bike.
  • find a better freeweight system rather than a cable system. Way cheaper. and just as functional. The stuff that a cable system will do that free weights won’t is so minor that if you needed those exercises you’d already be using it enough to know you want a cable system.

80% of working out is doing it (hell, a $1000 bicycle is all you need and will last you years). 20% is the equipment, so buy top quality. About 0% is fancy extra stuff like online instructors and programs and all the other differentiation they sell these days. If you won’t be successful with a basic system, you won’t be successful with the add-ons, so don’t start with the add-ons.

uh, you already have your answer, your limit is $1,500 and this is almost 3x that. Why are you asking this crowd?

Limit for purchasing with no regards for consequences - I am doing the regarding now.

Re: Treadmill
I’ve done the treadmill thing in the past and it doesn’t work for me.

Re: Cycling
Lol no. I don’t know what my actual aversion to cycling is, but no.

Re: Free Weights
These take up too much space and we don’t have a dedicated workout area. The best part about this Tonal thing is that it only takes up a mirror sized portion of the wall while not in use - I could have it in my bedroom (probably).

80% of working out is doing it
Yeah that’s why Peloton is so popular and why personal trainers exist - a PT doesn’t do anything you couldn’t do yourself (or with YouTube) but I still payed for one to yell at me and it works. The Tonal will yell at me, but in the comfort of my own home, and I don’t have to have a bunch of dumbbells in my garage I’ll never use or a treadmill to hang my clothes on.

girl no. Where’s your closest gym?

I have a whole health and fitness center thing at my office campus (I believe it has a gym, courts for shit, a pool, a disc golf course, and other things I haven’t found out about yet - we also apparently have a pharmacy, a medical center, a work-life balance center, a hair salon, a car wash, dry cleaning, fruit delivery services, and free M&Ms). It’s basically Disneyland.

However, I’m roughly 35 minutes away and I’m not getting another gym membership - especially when I know I need the trainer there to force me to do the things.

So my options are - hot yoga (already do that twice a week), and something I can do at home. All fitness equipment is expensive, this is a given, so if we could stop worrying about the price for a minute - why not this?

Your issue I think is with motivation.

You do need to think about whether or not you’ll be motivated at home if you get this, or is this just something that seems nice and dreamy in theory.

Agree, and I acknowledge that I am dependent on the membership and the fancy workout packages to give me motivation to do what I need to do. I’m already motivated by my fatness and my high blood pressure to go to yoga (also my husband, because he likes it too) - but I need guidance for the strength training. If I had not done strength training for a year with a PT I would not be considering this at all - but we moved, don’t want to find another PT, and yet I know I need a voice saying do this than this.

It’s kind of like how when I went to a therapist, I would generally know the right answer - but I wouldn’t believe it or put it into action unless the shrink told me that’s what I should do.

Up to you. I’m just fine with weights and I don’t really get stuff like this. But if it gets you moving then hey why not, it’s an investment.

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4k seems a tad risky if it doesn’t end up working out. Really depends on how fat her bonus was.

My husband is considering going to Vegas and blowing 5 k on Poker (and he’s the conservative one!), so I can probably afford it.

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Okay he’s telling me he never said $5 k, and maybe would blow $500. I’m skeptical.

Maybe you’ll get one for free if he wins big

This is WAAAAAY too expensive.

  1. Go for walks.
  2. Squats or Burpees.
  3. Around-the-world, found here: Hard Core - Exercises to Strengthen Your Abs For Better Performance
  4. Lunges.

These are the cheapest (free!) options. Load up from there.

For space-saving, get adjustable dumbbells: Bowflex or PowerBlock.

People spend more than this on a lot less useful things - like nicer looking bathroom floor tiles or some similar shit (for example).

This is true. If this will make you happy, do it.

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True. But we’re not discussing other people’s stupid purchases. Just yours!!
You were looking for advice on this particular purchase.

JSM’s utilitarian approach is also useful, and user name checks out.