By utilizing apps, touchscreen displays, live and on-demand classes, and remote personal training, a new wave of smart fitness equipment is helping to recreate the gym or fancy fitness studio class experience at home. And now that you're likely spending more time at home, there's really no better time to get fit than the present.
Most smart gym equipment is pricey -- typically a few thousand dollars -- so it's not yet accessible to everyone. But if you're truly ready to work out at home, replacing your gym membership or weekly SoulCycle class with a smart exercise bike could pay for itself over time.
Read more: Peloton, Daily Burn and more: Best workout subscription apps
And with any new technology, it can be expensive at first, but the costs can come down over time as more products hit the market. Whether you want to do resistance training, high-intensity interval training, a full body workout, indoor cycling, or other workout routines, this is the top smart workout equipment you can buy right now.
At first glance, the $1,495 Mirror is nothing more than a full-length mirror you'd use to check your outfit in the morning. But look closer and you see that it's also an LCD screen. With the Mirror you can watch instructor-lead live and on-demand fitness classes (with a required $39 per month membership) and check your form at the same time. Anyone who's worked out at home knows what it's like to wonder if their form is correct during each workout.
The Mirror offers classes in different disciplines -- including yoga, strength and cardio -- and with different workout lengths and fitness levels. It recently added one-on-one personal training to its repertoire, which takes advantage of the built-in camera so that your trainer can see your form and help correct it. It comes with the mirror, a Bluetooth heart-rate monitor and six fitness bands.
Yes, it's expensive, but the Mirror is still the best personal training system we've tested out (so far). Read our Mirror review.
Peloton's $2,245 Bike is a spin bike designed to mimic what it's like to ride on the road. This indoor bike has an adjustable seat and handle bars and features a 21.5-inch touchscreen display. Use the display to participate in live and on-demand classes from home -- this feature costs an additional $39 per month. Read our Peloton Bike review.
Read more: Peloton alternatives: 4 great indoor exercise bikes that cost less
The $4,295 Peloton Tread is a smart treadmill for your home gym. Pay $39 per month to access Peloton's live and on-demand Tread classes. Train for a beginner 5K on the track or participate in an advanced high-intensity class alongside other seasoned runners and exercisers to boost your heart rate.
The Tread features a 32-inch touchscreen display, too, so you can easily follow along with whatever guided classes you select, access your profile settings and view your stats, including calories burned, from each workout. (It's not yet available in the UK or Australia.) Read our Peloton Tread review.
Want to pretend to be Rocky in your own home gym, but have no idea how to box? FightCamp's in-home boxing bag, guided workout classes and smart boxing gloves can help. FightCamp has sensors that you place inside the boxing wraps you wear on both hands, under the boxing gloves.
Those sensors can tell you how hard you're hitting and how many punches you land. Every workout tells you how many punches to throw and the sensors give you real-time info to see how you're progressing. Access to classes is $39 per month, and the base package with just the wraps and sensors will cost you $439. The full package with gloves, an exercise mat and a bag, is $1,219.
What makes this NordicTrack treadmill different from most is iFit, an on-demand workout streaming service. Using the built-in screen on the treadmill, you can pick from more than 16,000 guided workouts, including more than 1,000 that were shot outdoors on courses all over the world where you follow a trainer as they walk or run.
When you select a workout, you can have it automatically change the settings on the treadmill to match the speed and incline set by the trainer. These guided workouts can make you forget you're on a treadmill.
Check out our more CNET-recommended treadmills.
Can you really get a full weight room from a machine that's the size of TV? Tonal thinks so. Tonal's "weight machine" uses digital weights to workout your muscles using a truly compact home gym. No weights, no metal plates, no weight stack, no dumbbells or kettlebell, just two giant arms that extend outward from the sides of the screen at the push of a button, plus a built-in coach on its touch screen.
It offers up to 200 pounds of resistance and guided workouts. Much better for exercise and strength than free weights. Oh and it has real-time feedback so it can automatically adjust the resistance during your workout if it senses the current weight is too easy or hard for you. Read out hands-on with Tonal.
Lusting after the Peloton, but don't have the funds to get one for your home gym? Echelon's Connect Ex series starts at $840 and offers a similar experience, but you need to bring your own screen. There's a built-in tablet holder for it when you're exercising.
Like Peloton, you can participate in virtual cycling classes, both on-demand and live. And since you're using your own tablet with the bike, you can forgo those classes and watch Netflix instead, which you can't do with the Peloton. Read our hands-on with Echelon.
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.
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