Strength Training: Big-Time Interactive AI Home Gym In A Small Package

Strength training is hot right now, and the evidence behind its vital importance continues to mount. Whether it is to combat the otherwise inevitable loss of muscle mass due to ageing, counter the effects of osteoporosis and loss of bone density, to function better in life and recreational activities, or to look better and feel better about ourselves, more and more people are using weights and resistance. I have been covering participant sports and fitness for a long time, have a fairly elaborate home gym, have used a lot of different gyms around the world, and frequently try new equipment (my last fitness story here at Forbes was on a world-class immersive workout and hiking retreat). My new go-to home strength training setup is the Speediance Gym Monster 2, a big-time interactive AI home gym in a small, affordable package.

Why Strength Train?

Every day the news seems to be full of stories on how to live longer and better and why experts increasingly think strength training is a key part of that equation—or the key part. Recent blockbuster bestsellers like Outlive by Dr. Peter Attia have put strength training on equal footing—or even more important than—aerobic exercise and nutrition as vital to our long-term health. Just last week, the New York Times ran an article about longevity expert Dr. Eric Topol’s new book, Super Agers, and asked the doctor for five tips for ageing well. Number One? “Take up strength training.” All forms of exercise are recommended to combat risks of cancer, depression, diabetes and overall mortality, “but even Dr. Topol was surprised to learn that strength training in particular can significantly lower your risks.” A cited meta-analysis of studies found that just an hour of resistance training a week lowered subject’s mortality risk by a stunning 25%.

About The Speediance Gym Monster 2

Why the Gym Monster 2? First off, it takes the place of many machines and hardware that would normally take up a lot more space. I used to have a multi-station “compact” home gym with weight racks that took up more than twice as much space and could not be moved out of the way, yet offered far fewer exercises. But that’s just the physical part. It also comes with a full built in training regimen and classes at a price that cannot be beat—free. It is an interactive trainer, meaning it is fully loaded with video classes led by trainers who create many structured workouts and demonstrate proper form for every exercise, and it tracks how you do each exercise, from power to resistance to range of motion.

It uses digital magnetic resistance, with a motor creating pull on the cables, so there are no bulky and potentially dangerous metal weight plates. It packs a huge number of possible exercises into a very small footprint that I keep in our smallest guest bedroom—and still have room for guests. The base platform which stabilizes it and connects the cables for half the exercises even folds up out of the way when not in use. When working out, the Gym Monster 2 occupies less than twenty square feet, but when folded, more like three. It’s also easy to move.

If you’ve seen commercials for the much more heavily marketed Tonal, you might already have an idea what a digital interactive resistance machine with video monitor is like, and I looked into Tonal. But a few advantages of the Gym Monster 2 caught my eye. For starters, it’s less expensive, both to buy and in the long term. The retail price is a few hundred bucks lower, and significantly it doesn’t require any installation, since it stands on the floor, whereas Tonal needs to be wall mounted and in most cases professionally installed as it needs a lot of structural strength and not any wall will do. Once its up, if you take it down or move it, cosmetic surgery will be required on your home, versus simply rolling the Gym Monster on its wheels. Setup was a breeze and took less than 10 minutes. Opening and removing the box took longer than the actual setup.

Long term, there is no subscription or recurring fees, period, and all the classes are free. I love my Peloton (read more here at Forbes) for cycling, yoga, strength and more, and the extensive class workout offerings are well worth the $44 bucks a month I pay, but that is $528 a year versus nothing for Gym Monster. Tonal currently charges about $60 a month.

Many trainers feel that variety is important, switching up workouts to keep the muscles from getting into a rut, and the sheer volume of offerings and specificity available (arms, chest. back, weight loss, full body, etc.) makes it easy to keep things fresh.

The physical setup of the machine is clean and makes changing exercises a snap. There are just two cables, each ending with a connector for handles, straps, rope handle and the barbell. This connector can be moved to the platform floor for any vertical exercise from chest presses to bicep curls, or to the vertical frame at various heights for things like standing chest flys or overhead triceps extension. In every case, changing between sets takes just seconds and is really easy. The details are very well thought out, like the fact that the 32-inch 1080p touchscreen rotates 180 degrees, so you can turn it parallel to the floor and look up at it while on the bench. The Gym Monster 2 is compatible with Apple Watch and Samsung Watch for seamless fitness data tracking.

The digital weight has several advantages beyond the most obvious one, which is packing a huge range of resistance into a machine three inches thick versus racks of dumbbells or metal plates (it maxes out at 220-pounds, which is more than enough for the vast majority of users). Because it’s digital you can change the weight in one pound increments, impossible with most metal weights. It is also much safer to use, especially when working out by yourself. The weight can be switched on and off with a wireless Bluetooth ring you wear on your finger, so if you ever reach failure, like with the barbell on your chest, you simply hit the button and the weight turns off completely. It also turns off after you finish the last rep of any set in a class. There are also two different “assist” modes you can activate, which will automatically lower the weight if you are struggling to complete the range of motion.

The Gym Monster learns and grows with you on your fitness journey by using artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor your workout progress, and will increase the weight for you, though you can always adjust the recommended amount. When you first set it up it offers a benchmark series of exercises I highly recommend taking the 15 minutes or so to do, which calibrates the resistance to your abilities. Then when you do a class like full body workout, for every exercise, chest press, bicep curl, squat, whatever, it begins with the weight recommended for you based on your benchmarks and then continues to adjust it over time as your strength increases. You can set up multiple users, again for free, so everyone in the household or workout partners you invite over can have their own profiles and metrics. It even tracks the range of motion and ease with which you completed the movement (power) so it can tell if you are struggling or cruising, and it does this for each of your arms. So, if you keep doing the same class, as you get stronger, the weights for reach set will go up, but they will go up in custom fashion based on your actual performance of each exercise.

In addition, for advanced training, you can switch from standard mode, which is like traditional metal weights to eccentric mode, which increases the resistance on the eccentric part of the movement, the lowering half (for example, bringing the dumbbell down after finishing a bicep curl) which is a key to building muscle. It also has chain mode, which increases the load as you reach the top end of the motion, and constant, which keeps resistance constant thought the entire of motion, ideal for physical therapy and rehabilitation exercises. The range of weights, modalities of resistance, variety of exercises and settings in such a compact unit is amazing.

There are also a lot of workouts and a variety of trainers, including ongoing programs (like 30 day), and options to alternate between leg days, chest days and so on, including very specific options such as “build big arms.” It doesn’t have nearly the range of non-strength activities offered by a platform like Peloton (which has outdoor running and boxing and treadmill and such) because it is designed to be used in front of the screen. But in addition to weights, there is a full slate of yoga and pilates classes you can do on the floor in front of the Gym Monster, as well as rowing (with the rower option).

If you just want to do your own workout, a quick set of something, or add an exercise to an existing class (like doing bicep curls after a chest and back or class) there is free lift mode, which is like using regular weights where you can do any exercise you want, as many reps as you want with whatever weight you want, rather than following a class.

Reviews

Wired magazine is one of my go-to resources for reliable reviews of technology, and they really liked the Gym Monster 2, summarizing a detailed review with “Easy and fun to use. Bluetooth ring helps you set up lifts safely. Strength and cardio modalities. Assist mode acts as spot. Machine feels more like a weightlifting rack than other magnetic-resistance options. No assembly. Foldable and doesn’t take up much space. No membership necessary!” The writer went on to say “I’ve been using it for a month now, and I’ve totally integrated it into my workout routine. I really enjoy using it (I didn’t love the past magnetic-resistance machine I tried), and it’s allowed me to step up my big lifts, like dead lifts, squats, and bench presses” and “There’s a lot to love about the Gym Monster 2.” The Daily Beast also reviewed it very favorably and concluded that, “This all-in-one weightlifting machine will replace you gym membership” and notes that “The Gym Monster 2 replaces a whole gym’s worth of machines.”

I’ve been using mine regularly for several months, am really loving it and overall give it a big thumbs up, but as with any sophisticated tech gear there are a few caveats, most of which have to do with the interactive screen. The default music choice is rap or hip hop, and even though choices range from country to rock to 80s, I can’t seem to get any of these to come on without going into the music in every class and changing it. Also, the music, whichever genre you pick, is low budget, especially compared to the star-studded soundtracks on Peloton, and I have never heard a song or even a band that I was familiar with, it seems to be obscure stuff licensed just for Speediance. On the other hand, it’s all free. It is compatible with Apple Music, which is good for those who use it (I don’t) but it sounds like they are hoping to add a Spotify connection which would be a big plus.

But my biggest complaint is that sorting through class options is cumbersome. You have to swipe the touchscreen, and half the time the swipe inadvertently opens a class, as there is no up and down bar or arrow. There are filters you can sort by, but oddly, these do not include “upper body” the workout I most commonly want to do, even though they include full body and every specific body part. But I’ve also found that searching for part of the upper body, like chest or arms, does not bring up all the upper body classes.

In terms of functionality of weights and Bluetooth ring I have no issues, it has been super smooth, and Speediance is constantly making software updates to address any glitches—glitches I have not experienced. My only “must-do” advice is that it’s well worth the extra $150 to get the adjustable (incline) bench versus the standard one, because it lets you do a lot more exercises, especially chest ones like incline presses. There are three packages, and only the most basic comes with the flat bench. They all come with the important accessories: barbell, triceps rope, handles and ankle straps. There are a few add-ons, including a rowing machine base, a rail with sliding seat you can add to turn the Gym Monster into a rower. I don’t row and I didn’t get this so I cannot comment. The packages are $3,949; $4,099 and $4,499 (the priciest includes the rower).

Bottom line? This smart interactive AI home gym is an amazing range of weight machines packed into one extremely compact unit that is well-designed, easy to switch around, with every technological bell and whistle for a fair price with no recurring fees. Whether you are highly experienced in weight workouts or new to strength training, it’s a great way to dial in a regular and highly efficient routine in a safe manner. For households or families, there’s something here for almost everyone, from the avid fitness person to those who just want to add in a 15 or 20-minute strength routine a couple of times each week.