These days, tech is all about helping us get more done in less time. That includes our workouts—we’re talking new gyms, workout classes and home equipment that use innovation to create sweat sessions that give us more bang for our buck. Check out the best here, including one that makes the mirror your friend.
Half-Hour (or Less) Workouts Are Happening—and We’re Fast Fans
•
Published Jan 23, 2019
Instagram/@getthemirror
Get A Magic Home Mirror (15 Minutes)
This one is kind of genius. Mirror looks like a normal wall mirror, until you open an app that lets you choose from hundreds of classes and training sessions. Then the class instructor and other students appear in the mirror, working out right next to your reflection. At $1,500 for the mirror and $39 per month for unlimited workouts for up to five people, this is a costly buy-in. But think of the ease of choosing a 15-minute (!) workout with no travel time or fighting for dressing room space. Priceless.
Facebook/Lagree Fitness
Experience Off-balance Tension At Lagree Fitness (25 Minutes)
At WeHo studio Lagree Fitness, a roomful of Supras (owner Sebastien Lagree’s patented invention) looks like the usual bunch of Pilates Reformers. No sweat, right? Wrong—because while the instructor is calling out your reps, he’s also fiddling with controls that hydraulically tilt all the machines into positions that disorient you (a little) and make you work all kinds of new, deeper muscles (a lot). Trust us—you couldn’t endure much longer than 25 minutes of this delightfully iron maiden–style torture.
375 N. La Cienega Blvd., #1; 424-274-2899 or lagreefitnessstudio.com
Instagram/Platefit
Shake Everything Firm At Platefit (27 Minutes)
Here’s something completely different: working out atop a Power Plate machine, which is basically a super-fast vibrating plate that moves up, down and sideways so that you’re forced to use all kinds of balancing muscles you didn’t know existed. The company says the vibration makes your muscles involuntarily contract 30 to 40 times per second, so there’s that. It’s high-energy, giggly fun…until you realize you’re wincingly sore after class.
Rise Nation
Climb Out Of The Darkness At Rise Nation (30 Minutes)
The special sauce here is that the VersaClimber, a steel climbing contraption with bars for your hands and feet, is “momentum neutral.” That means every lift of your leg or pull of your arm doesn’t help another muscle “cheat,” so you’re getting a full-body workout. Also, there are banging tunes and low lights, because nobody needs to see our sweaty, straining grimace as we go for that next rep.
613 N. La Cienega Blvd., West Hollywood; 424-343-0082 or rise-nation.com
Facebook/9 Rounds
Show Up Anytime And Punch At 9round (30 Minutes)
A brilliant yet simple innovation in class structure, 9Round is a kickboxing workout in which you can show up anytime and just start moving through the stations, each commandeered by a trainer who will lead you through strength and cardiovascular moves as well as targeted toning. Warning: Instruments of torture include kettlebells and the speed bag.
