This Home Gym Crunches Data for Stronger Workouts
IMAGINE A PERSONAL trainer who’s worked with hundreds of thou-sands of clients, charting every single rep of every single movement with each of them.
Now imagine that you could access that trainer’s knowledge for every workout, simply with a few taps on a touch screen. This is the power of Tonal’s artificial intelligence, which has collected every shred of data on every single rep of every single exercise done by its users.
For the past four years, during each exercise, Tonal has tracked the speed and direction of its cables, allowing it to calculate how explosively its users are moving, when they’re fatiguing, and where their form is breaking. At the end of last year, the company also started gathering video insights, thanks to a new Smart View function that lets you record your workouts.
It’s all part of the company’s goal to help you maximize how you train, whether or not you’re working out on one of its machines. If you have a Tonal, its data quietly informs the resistance it gives you and the rep counts it pushes you through, says Troy Taylor, Tonal’s senior performance director. Don’t have one? You’ll still benefit: The company is partner-ing with a host of researchers, including MH advisor Brad Schoenfeld,Ph.D., C.S.C.S., for peer-reviewed studies on projects that rely on its data to explore resistance and arm-muscle recruitment, variable resistance and strength improvements, and more.
Consider the reverse lunge, which is a lift that many gym newbies struggle with. More than a million lunge reps are done on Tonal each week, and the information those reps provide helps the machine guide Tonal users to quality reps that can make their legs stronger and more stable.
No, it can’t deliver inspiring motivational cues or notice ultra-subtle flaws in your form like an IRL trainer can. But Tonal’s advanced data can get you started on the basics of the reverse lunge, an exercise every guy should learn to do. And Tonal’s data indicates exactly where most users struggle with the move.
THE AI REVERSE-LUNGE CHECK LAB
Tonal’s AI reveals that 14.3 percent of reverse-lunge sets include incorrectly done reps, often due to these three mistakes.
Mistake #1: Shortening the Range of Motion
The goal is to lower until your front thigh is parallel to the floor and your back knee nearly touches down. But many people stop their reps early, limiting quad and glute gains.
Your Fix: Freeze Frame
Pause at the bottom, says veteran performance trainer and MH advisor DeVentri Jordan.“You’ll learn not to hide from the end of your range of motion,” he says.
Mistake #2: Lowering Too Quickly
Once you’ve stepped back to begin a rep, lower slowly. Tonal users sometimes miss this, thudding their back knee into the floor on every rep.
Your Fix: Add Tempo
Take 2 to 3 seconds to lower on every rep—and count out loud. You’ll have to appreciate the eccentric portion of each rep and increase time under tension.
Mistake #3: Forward Knee Travel
At the bottom of each lunge rep, aim for a 90degree angle at your front knee. Especially if you’re a beginner, you’ll want to follow this rule to protect your knees from injury.
Your Fix: Think "Chest Up"
This will encourage you to lower your torso straight down, limiting how much your knee can drift forward. Still struggling? Drive the heel of your front foot into the floor, too.
This story appears in the March 2023 issue of Men's Health.
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