By: Nick Gambino
Personal training sessions at the gym are, to understate it, costly. Add the price of a monthly gym membership plus activation fees and you have to be a real fitness nut to justify that kind of financial output.
MIRROR, an interactive workout company, are the ones behind the LCD display that allows you to follow along to at-home workouts while looking at your reflection – a crucial element to any proper workout. Up until now, this is the only thing you could do with the MIRROR display. In essence, you follow along with an exercise video that is set in your mirror.
Now, the company is offering one-on-one training sessions where your trainer will coach you through your workout through video and audio. MIRROR is offering a wide range of trainers suitable for just about any workout including kickboxing, yoga, etc. They will even match you up according to your preferred style of coaching and session length.
“The launch of one-on-one Personal Training is an integral step in catapulting us towards our goal of building the first media company that owns both a dedicated channel and original content in the home,” founder and CEO, Brynn Putnam, said in a press release announcing the new feature. “We’re democratizing premium fitness experiences and giving anyone access to the best trainers, no matter where you live or how busy your schedule may be.
While the $40 per-session charge is a lot less than in-person sessions, you have to factor in the price of the MIRROR ($1,500) and the monthly subscription fee ($39). Add that all up and you’re shelling out a healthy amount of dough. Though, I can see the benefit of removing barriers like distance and location. The idea of bringing the gym to your home, personal trainer and all, is definitely appealing.
MIRROR doesn’t intend to stop at just at-home fitness. They plan to take their little mirror, mirror on the wall routine all the way, with eyes on making the reflective display available to other industries who want to partner.
“This lays the foundation for MIRROR to expand, and bring people intimate access to experts in other fields – such as fashion, beauty, and medicine – all from the convenience of home,” Flynn says of their future.
I’m getting a Spaceballs, “video screen on every wall” vibe from this new-fangled device, but hey, if it motivates you to work out and you don’t mind dropping a couple grand, who am I to complain?
