My personal favorite was Ashleigh McIvor, the first gold medal winner in women’s ski cross at the 2010 Olympics. The selection was limited because iFit is still taping workout series, but NordicTrack clearly made an effort to find trainers that its audience would connect with personally. Much like my experience with NordicTrack's treadmill, the bike workouts (filmed all over the world) were irresistible. The program just adjusts your incline and resistance as the trainer shouts, "I'm adjusting your incline now! I'm increasing your resistance!" I did not miss actual live, interactive classes at all, because my garage is really messy. They also have on-demand, streaming studio workouts that they refer to as "live classes" but are, in fact, prerecorded. It says it will offer LIVE classes, which will be interactive, but they're not currently available. IFit has pulled a fast one with its studio classes. The screen also rotates 360 degrees so you can still see it if you want to include pushups in your workout. You experience these workouts on a large, 22-inch touchscreen that’s mounted on the bike, with two rear-mounted 2-inch speakers. A one year membership is included with the price of the bike, which then goes up to $15 per month for an individual membership. Of course, the main draw are the iFit workouts. But it is pretty remarkable to feel your balance and posture shift as the bike rises to a 20 percent incline. This makes more sense on a treadmill, where increasing the incline actually increases the workload on a stationary bike, you just increase the resistance. The S22i also has a fan with adjustable settings, and an incline and decline system. You can, and might want to, switch out the bike seat for one of your own. I had to stop midway through my first workout and change into padded bike shorts. While both the bike seat and the handlebars are padded, I needed a little more cushion. The seat and handlebars are both adjustable I was able to lower the seat and move it forward enough to fit my 5-foot-2 legs and torso. That positioning would’ve totally blown out my image on a Peloton. I can’t lift it on my own, but it has two front-mounted wheels that make it easy to spin and push around.Īnother reason to choose prerecorded workouts: You don't have to worry about how you look! I spun the Commercial S22i so that it faced my kitchen, and not the frosted windows behind me. It fits in my garage with room to spare, but it’s nice to have room for a mat for the full-body workouts. NordicTrack’s studio cycle has a compact footprint of 55 inches by 21.9 inches. But you’re going to spend a lot of money ($2,000) and time on this thing, so we might as well go over it. I would rather push my hand into a meat grinder than have an instructor bark at me (in public!) that I need to up my cadence.Īside from the content, there isn't much that distinguishes the Commercial S22i from the zillions of stationary bikes that have been acting as dusty clothes racks for decades. But I cannot understand how staring at other people and being yelled at would make exercise more appealing. I have a job, I have toddlers, and I live in a rainy city, so I can understand that getting outside for 30 minutes a day isn't always as easy as I'd like to be. I like working out, and I appreciate an in-home cycle’s convenience. While Peloton provides live, interactive, and addictive classes, NordicTrack’s iFit also makes a play for exercisers like me. I didn’t care.Īs my colleague Lauren Goode pointed out, the draw of in-home exercise equipment is as much about content as convenience. I was pedaling at 90 revolutions per minute and S22i’s flywheel was spinning like crazy, and I looked like an insane person. You don't often get to pedal crazily behind a world-class mountain biker as she cycles pell-mell over pump tracks, swings around banked turns, and takes jumps in one of the best mountain bike parks in the world.Īt one point, the iFit cameraman paused in trepidation as trainer Ashleigh McIvor dove, whooping, into a steep gully in Matanzas, Chile. The iFit bike workouts on the NordicTrack S22i are super fun. Now I bombard my long-suffering spouse with long text streams: “The gravel roads in Norway are in great condition!” “Switzerland looks amazing! We could eat chocolate and buy a cuckoo clock!” We’ve been talking about this trip for years (mostly while we drink Scotch).īut our plans have received a setback from an unexpected quarter. For our 10th wedding anniversary, my spouse and I want to mountain bike around Scotland and drink Scotch.
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