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Paul Wright, a smiling and immaculate personal trainer, watched me from the big wall mounted screen. He was waiting for me to start my next set of bicep curls.
The screen was part of a new fitness equipment from Tonal, a San Francisco start-up. The system combines software and an interactive LED display with weights and electromagnetic cables to create an experience that does not rely on plates, barbell and gravity. Tonal had felt that my last set of curls was too easy and useful – maybe sadistic – added more weight to the next set.
I grumbled about the weight, but realized that Mr. Wright could not hear more than Tamilee Webb could not hear me squeeze through a VHS tape "Buns of Steel" in the 1990s. The video from him was also a recording. But as I grimaced and sweated through the reps, I noticed that they were precisely the right level of difficulty. The machine knew my strength better than me. While I was testing the machine in a Tonal office, the company director, the marketing manager, the public relations representative, and another trainer were waiting impatiently.
The Tonal machine is very cool, I told them – and, at $ 2,995, very expensive.
Home gyms, in all its volume, were once relegated to the garage or basement. Now, with a little help from Silicon Valley engineers, he is going to the wall. Over the last few weeks, two technology companies, backed by millions of dollars of venture capital, have introduced stylish wall-mounted fitness systems that deliver workouts in living rooms, bedrooms, homes, homes and homes. or the offices of their clients.
Tonal started taking orders in August with plans to ship machines in September. Mirror, a New York-based fitness start-up with a $ 38 million investment, will present its product at a conference in San Francisco this week. The Mirror product is a wall-mounted device that delivers yoga, pilates, bar, cardio and weight training sessions to the client.
They are among the first start-ups to jump on the success of Peloton, a stationary bike start-up recently valued at $ 4 billion. Peloton combines the equipment of a bike with the software of a video streaming subscription and the content of spin classes. Its explosive growth has made investors reluctant to miss the next big fitness success.
However, all companies face a big unanswered question: are there enough people willing to pay high prices to justify the considerable investments of companies?
Platoon built his company around a $ 1,995 bike and a $ 39 monthly fee. The Tonal system requires a monthly fee of $ 49 in addition to the $ 2,995 for the machine and $ 495 in option. The Mirror machine costs $ 1,495 and requires a monthly subscription of $ 39.
There may be limits to the market for high-end home fitness equipment, particularly because more and more competitors are rushing and copycats are driving down the prices of technology companies. For example, Nautilus, which manufactures treadmills, stationary bikes and Bowflex weight systems, offers applications with features such as technology companies without the need for a subscription. (Bowflex home gyms start at $ 1,599.)
"Platoon has had tremendous growth in the industry, but its price is extremely high for technologies that should not cost that much," said Rommel Dionisio, an analyst at Aegis Capital, which covers Nautilus. "You can buy exercise bikes for $ 99 on a black Friday."
The founders of Tonal and Mirror are fluent in Silicon Valley's grand language of changing the world, a requirement for raising large amounts of venture capital.
"We did not just take a weight machine and put in a sensor," said Aly Orady, CEO of Tonal. "We are basically reinventing strength training."
Brynn Putnam, founder and CEO of Mirror, said fitness was the first of many uses of Mirror technology. The screen, she said, could eventually offer interactive media on fashion, beauty or meditation.
"We are looking to be the next screen in people's lives," she said. "We want to be an immersive platform, not just a gym equipment."
Each product incorporates technology. Tonal training programs are customized according to the objectives, abilities and level of commitment of the user. His "digital weights" automatically record each movement.
Mirror recommends classes based on the preferences and goals of the user. It also offers live classes, streamed on the screen and allows users to interact in a limited way with their classmates and instructor.
But technology does not solve some long-standing problems with home fitness systems. There is no instructor in the room to correct the bad shape by lifting heavy weights or doing delicate yoga postures.
Tonal's practice of automatically assigning weights based on performance and encouraging users to push their limits is both practical and motivating – but can also be dangerous. The handles of the machine have buttons that release the weights, as well as an option to "locate", which will reduce the load if the machine detects it too difficult.
The Mirror screen allows users to work harder or cool down based on their heart rate, while providing training options tailored to a person's injury or pregnancy. Mirror also has the option of organizing individual training sessions, which use the camera camera, for an additional cost of 40 to 75 dollars.
Both gyms hope that different forms of digital engagement – virtual progress reports, virtual high fives and instructor encouragement – will allow users to return.
If that does not work, the guilt of their credit card bills can do the trick.
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