The craze for connected home gym equipment likely experienced its zenith during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with indicators like Peloton’s fortunes pointing to waning interest as people revert to using their gym memberships. . But the category still has a lot of potential, especially if the equipment in question can combine intelligence with other key value propositions, including a small size that can fit in anyone’s home. Vitruvian Trainer+ it offers that and more, achieving the delicate proposition of offering a comprehensive weight training experience at home while keeping things small and simple.
The basics
The Vitruvian Trainer+ is not cheap. At $2,990, that’s about the cost of six years of gym membership at the average rate paid in the US per month, and that doesn’t include the recurring Vitruvian All Access subscription fee to access advanced training features that They include guided sessions, which is a hefty $39 per month after the first 12 months, which are included free with the purchase of the machine.
That the recurring subscription is itself more expensive than what the average American pays for their monthly gym membership is a very steep hill to climb, and clearly Vitruvian knows this, as they don’t make it very easy to find that price on their website, including in the FAQ question that specifically asks how much the membership costs. He can choose to pay for a subscription that lasts the life of his machine for a one-time fee of $990, which is definitely a better deal if he’s actually using the machine consistently and plans to continue. Finally, he can always opt out of the subscription features, which still give him a very capable piece of training hardware, as long as he’s good at charting his own training path.
Speaking of the hardware, it’s actually easy to see why even with a base price of almost $3K, Vitruvian also needs to ask for a hefty recurring fee from its users: the Trainer+ is a fantastic bit of kit that certainly incurred a lot of development and production. costs
What you get is a compact yet solid platform with two clips that connect external accessories including various handles, a bar, and ropes to an active resistance mechanism contained within. The platform itself is easy to fit under a sofa or table, measuring around 46 by 20 inches and weighing just 80 pounds. Considering the range of workouts the Trainer+ offers and the fact that it can provide up to 440lbs of resistance anywhere, the fact that it comes in a relatively small package is incredibly impressive.
The Trainer+ is very easy to set up and pair with your smartphone using a QR code on the machine itself, and the quick clip system it uses to connect to handles and other accessories is incredibly clever and useful for quickly switching between different items during a structure. exercise.
The app controls the resistance, and each time you start a workout, the machine requires three set-up repetitions to establish your proper range of motion before you start doing the exercises with the actual weight. Once you get into an actual exercise, there are three possible modes for each, including one that adds 1 kg (2.2 lbs) with each clean rep, once the weight decreases over time, and a hold mode where the weight stays the same. .
Image Credits: vitruvian
Design
On the surface, there’s not much to the Trainer+’s design: most striking is the customizable LED lighting which also offers some useful visual clues as to whether or not you’re racing reps correctly. Otherwise it looks like too big a Wii Balance table if you’re old enough to remember what that is, or basically just a raised stand. The upper surface of the Trainer+ is made from a carbon fiber composite, which is fine for use with training shoes alone, but you can also choose to get the sticky-soft add-on mat included in the entry-level accessory kit or professional. (I received the $500 Pro kit in my sampler pack.)
As mentioned, the Trainer+ weighs around 80 pounds and comes in one solid, pre-assembled piece. So setup is a breeze compared to almost any other home gym equipment, but you’ll probably need to get someone else to help you move it up and down stairs, for example. To move it around your space, there are wheels on the bottom that contact the floor when you tilt one end up, making it easy to glide across floors to store under a sofa or desk.
The key to the Trainer+’s versatility is its two recessed “Quick Connect System” receivers, which are permanently attached to retractable cords that connect to the device’s programmable active resistance system. Quick connectors allow the included handles and ankle straps to easily snap on and off via a simple collar push mechanism that doesn’t come loose with use, but is a breeze to switch between exercises. This replaces a much more cumbersome carabiner system on the Trainer+’s predecessor, and is a fantastic and intuitive upgrade.
Another area where the Trainer+’s total cost of ownership increases even further is with the various accessories on offer. There is a ‘Basic’ kit which adds a long bar, triceps rope, ‘premium’ handles, the aforementioned exercise mat and safety cables. Then the ‘Pro’ kit I tested the Trainer+ with includes all of that, along with a short bar, belt, and even a bench. You can get a lot done with Trainer+ without any of these things, but the truth is that the experience is greatly improved by adding them, especially the bench and bar, and you can’t buy them in parts.
The Trainer+ works with a dedicated Vitruvian companion app, which connects to your machine via Bluetooth. The nice thing about the pricey All-Access membership is that it’s tied to the machine, not the individual, meaning anyone in your household (or even visitors) can create their own profile in the app on their own phone and pair up. with your machine to access all training options and guided workouts. The app itself is excellent, offering multi-week programs you can follow, trainer-led classes, and a wide range of individual exercises that you can assemble into your own custom workouts if you’re a subscriber, too. I used the app’s Guided Video on my gym’s Apple TV via AirPlay and it worked flawlessly too.
Image Credits: vitruvian
Performance
The Trainer+ will likely feel different from other workouts you’ve tried if you haven’t used an active resistance machine in the past—it’s different from all-in-one cable and weight-based equipment, or free weights. However, to Vitruvian’s credit, the learning curve isn’t entirely steep, and it only takes a couple of sessions before using the Trainer+ feels like second nature.
The Vitruvian app also provides everything you need to use Trainer+ most effectively, whether you’re just getting started or experienced with personal fitness and looking for something to fit or complement your current routine. It’s basically as guided or self-directed as you want, and anywhere in between.
The Trainer+ is also great for making real-time adjustments to your training based on your strength and performance level. There’s a strength assessment that the app will ask you to do initially to set your suggested baseline weights for all workouts, and you can come back to that at any time to change that calibration, which is helpful to do every few weeks as you get better. progress with your training.
In a month of testing, with almost daily use, the Trainer+ had been incredibly consistent. Once you’re done with a workout, you can drop the handles or accessories and retract the cables, without having to worry about damaging the durable carbon composite material of the hardware itself. The clips snap in and out easily, and the deck is easy to clean with soap and water when needed. The connection is rock solid and remembers your phone whenever you change that option in the app, and the Trainer+ automatically sleeps so you can leave it plugged in all the time if you want.
One problem I found with the machine: The power cord seems to fit loosely into the socket on the machine, and until I learned to walk well away from it, it was relatively easy to cut power to the Trainer+ just by lightly brushing it. the cord itself. That hasn’t been an issue since I identified it as a problem and avoided any contact with the cable, and this may have been intentionally included as some sort of safety fallback, but I would appreciate a more snug fit between the cable and the machine. .
Bottom line
There’s no question that the Trainer+ is a fantastic piece of home exercise hardware, with a smart and useful app that’s both much more accessible than something like Peloton, but also much more flexible for people who take exercise. very seriously and want the power to customize your experience to match.
The real pitfall of Vitruvian’s offering, though, is price: with the Pro kit, which I do recommend, you’re already at $3,500, and that’s before you start adding the ongoing cost of the app subscription. That could pay for a fair amount of gym membership, along with some personal training.
However, with the Trainer+, you get a number of things that are basically impossible to get anywhere else, including a solution that is so portable that it not only works in almost any home or condo environment, but can also be easily stored in the car for a road trip, or fit in your #vanlife if that’s your thing. In this sense, it is much more versatile than other similar active resistance products such as Tonal.
If you place a lot of importance on flexibility with almost zero sacrifices versus a full set of free weights or a much more cumbersome home tower or full gym, then the Trainer+ is easy to recommend. It’s clearly well designed and designed, with a focus on providing value to real athletes and fitness buffs who can be notoriously hard to please, and yet it’s also a great place for people to start their fitness journeys at the home whenever they want. to compromise the initial cost that comes with it.
Where to buy: Vitruvian website
