Uploaded November 2019 | Updated September 2026, 10 hours ago
Why is it so difficult for most of us to be physically active? It is certainly not due to a lack of social recognition. Every single one of you who is reading this already knows that exercise is good for you, right?
There is a complex web of intangible barriers that stand in the way for most people to meet recommended levels of physical activity. But the fundamental problem is that physical activity is not embedded into our lives. Time for movement has to be squeezed in somehow, and busy schedules do not always make that an easy endeavor.
Furthermore, many of us exercise in gyms away from our home and where we work. We have to take the time to drive to these places, compete with other people for specific machines, and make countless decisions about which exercises to perform, how long, how intensely, etc. Even gym rats, like me, would have to admit it can be a big hassle.
Fortunately, some very clever tech companies are coming up with novel solutions to this collective problem.
On this episode of humanOS Radio, we welcome Aly Orady - founder and CEO of Tonal - to the show.
Aly’s story is an all too common example of the price of success in the modern world. Aly was excelling professionally, but in the process his health was falling apart. He was overweight, and had developed type 2 diabetes and sleep apnea. And he was only in his mid-thirties.
He was moving on a dangerous path, and he knew it.
Realizing the peril that he faced, he quit his job and pivoted to an all-encompassing focus on health and fitness. He embraced strength training and lost 70 pounds in the process.
But as he sat on the bench at the gym at 5:00 in the morning, he experienced a moment of clarity. This routine that had restored his health, effective though it had been, was not sustainable. Eventually, he was going to have to return to work, and he would not be able to continue to commit the same amount of time and effort to exercise. How could he maintain the improved health and performance he had gained from training?
As he surveyed the equipment around him, he came up with an idea to remove all of the sources of friction associated with the gym, by packaging all of the exercises he performed into a single machine. And that inspired him to found Tonal.
Tonal is an elegant, wall-mounted device that employs electromagnetism to simulate and control weight, which enables it to replicate the resistance provided by many machines and lifts.
Tonal can deliver 200 pounds of resistance in a device smaller than a flatscreen TV, without having to drive to a gym, rack weights, or even change into workout gear. Better still, it can remove all of the usual guesswork involved with choosing exercises and planning programs. Tonal offers hundreds of guided workouts, presented via a 24” interactive display, and tracks your progress over time.
To learn more about Tonal, and about the future of home exercise training, check out our interview with Aly Orady!
Why is it so difficult for most of us to be physically active? It is certainly not due to a lack of social recognition. Every single one of you who is reading this already knows that exercise is good for you, right?
There is a complex web of intangible barriers that stand in the way for most people to meet recommended levels of physical activity. But the fundamental problem is that physical activity is not embedded into our lives. Time for movement has to be squeezed in somehow, and busy schedules do not always make that an easy endeavor.
Furthermore, many of us exercise in gyms away from our home and where we work. We have to take the time to drive to these places, compete with other people for specific machines, and make countless decisions about which exercises to perform, how long, how intensely, etc. Even gym rats, like me, would have to admit it can be a big hassle.
Fortunately, some very clever tech companies are coming up with novel solutions to this collective problem.
On this episode of humanOS Radio, we welcome Aly Orady - founder and CEO of Tonal - to the show.
Aly’s story is an all too common example of the price of success in the modern world. Aly was excelling professionally, but in the process his health was falling apart. He was overweight, and had developed type 2 diabetes and sleep apnea. And he was only in his mid-thirties.
He was moving on a dangerous path, and he knew it.
Realizing the peril that he faced, he quit his job and pivoted to an all-encompassing focus on health and fitness. He embraced strength training and lost 70 pounds in the process.
But as he sat on the bench at the gym at 5:00 in the morning, he experienced a moment of clarity. This routine that had restored his health, effective though it had been, was not sustainable. Eventually, he was going to have to return to work, and he would not be able to continue to commit the same amount of time and effort to exercise. How could he maintain the improved health and performance he had gained from training?
As he surveyed the equipment around him, he came up with an idea to remove all of the sources of friction associated with the gym, by packaging all of the exercises he performed into a single machine. And that inspired him to found Tonal.
Tonal is an elegant, wall-mounted device that employs electromagnetism to simulate and control weight, which enables it to replicate the resistance provided by many machines and lifts.
Tonal can deliver 200 pounds of resistance in a device smaller than a flatscreen TV, without having to drive to a gym, rack weights, or even change into workout gear. Better still, it can remove all of the usual guesswork involved with choosing exercises and planning programs. Tonal offers hundreds of guided workouts, presented via a 24” interactive display, and tracks your progress over time.
To learn more about Tonal, and about the future of home exercise training, check out our interview with Aly Orady!
