Tonal Adds Heart Rate and Apple Watch Support for a More Connected Home Workout

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No one knows what else 2020 has in store for us (so far, we’ve had a pandemic, murder hornets, and loons with a taste for eagle heart). Working out at home seems safe from all of those, and it’s making the cost to benefits of a system like Tonal a lot more attractive. Bonus — now, Tonal can work with your Apple Watch to keep an eye on your heart rate!

This might not be a big deal to you, but your heart rate does matter when you work out. There’s some argument that the venerable “fat-burning zone” from every gym treadmill in America isn’t a super accurate measurement. However, you still want to know when you’ve been pushing and when you’re recovering. This matters whether your goal is high cardio or just making sure you’re fully recovered from a maximum effort before you tackle the next set. So if you’re already using (or considering using) Tonal for your exercise needs, it’s nice to know you can pair your watch (or other compatible Bluetooth heart rate monitor) to get a better sense of exactly how hard you pushed that last squat.

As a bonus, if you’re using the Apple Watch, you also get the ability to make adjustments on the fly with your workout. Tonal works off magnets to create tension, and you can use their Apple Watch app to adjust weight or have the watch notify you by buzzing at the end of a set. It’s a little thing, but anything that lets you concentrate less on the logistics and more on the workout itself is always helpful.

We had the chance to work out with a Tonal machine at CES 2020. While $2,995 plus $49/month for the workout subscriptions is steep, it is an incredibly brilliant piece of technology that can help you get strong while safely working out alone —and you won’t need to take up the whole garage to do it! With that much tech already involved, it’s a natural fit to want to include an Apple Watch in the workout process, and the combination can take your home workouts to a new level. You can learn more about Tonal (and their new Apple Watch integration) on their site.

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About the Author

Zek
Zek has been a gadget fiend for a long time, going back to their first PDA (a Palm M100). They quickly went from researching what PDA to buy to following tech news closely and keeping up with the latest and greatest stuff. They love writing about ebooks because they combine their two favorite activities; reading anything and everything, and talking about fun new tech toys. What could be better?