The Tonal Community Hits 10 BILLION Pounds Lifted plus our interview with Laurie Amerson

Last Updated: April 20, 2023By Crystal OKeefe (#ClipOutCrystal)Tags: balance, instructor, muscle mass, programs, The Superset, Tonal, weightlifting

The Tonal community hit a historic milestone.

New Content including Daily Mobility, Brisk Barre, Core Stabilizer, and more!

Shape Magazine writes about the importance of strength training.

Aly Orady’s Tonal Talk is coming up on May 19.

Recent Tonal Talks include siblings Harry and Arlene Kraushaar and pro-golfer Michelle Wie West.

Tonal is donating to Path.org to help fight Covid-19 in India.

Coach Pablo is featured on the Tonal blog.

Golfer Bubba Watson was spotted with his Tonal.

This month’s “Read Between The Reps” is from Brené Brown.

All this plus our interview with Laurie Amerson!

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Watch the episode here:

Listen to the podcast here:

The Tonal Community Hits 10 BILLION Pounds Lifted plus our interview with Laurie Amerson

You’ve had a big week.

Why? What did I do?

You did burpees.

Did you post it?

I did. People went nuts.

You surreptitiously recorded me without my enthusiastic consent.

People were so stoked. People were saying things like, “This is inspiring.”

You have a very low bar for inspiration. Thank you, but that’s all it takes.

Seeing you do it when you’ve said for years that you couldn’t and you didn’t want to.

I still don’t want to.

You can and your form is better than you think it is.

When I saw the video, I was like, “Look at that. I’m a whole 2 inches off the ground.” That felt taller.

I feel the same way when I do that.

I’m worried about hitting my head on the ceiling, 4’9” of me. What pray tell do you have in store for people?

We’re going to talk about a big milestone for Tonal. We’re going to talk about new content, some stuff that’s coming up on the Tonal Talks, and a few in the news items as well.

Before we get to all that, shameless plugs, don’t forget we’re available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, Tune-In, wherever you find the podcast, you can find us. While you’re there, be sure and leave a review. That’s always helpful. You can also check out our Facebook page, Facebook.com/supersetpodcast. While you’re there, like the page and join the group. If you like what you’re hearing, maybe share it on your social media channels so other people know that we’re worth checking out. There’s all that. Let’s dig in. Shall we?

We shall.

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Tonal had a very exciting milestone.

It is an exciting milestone. Tonal, collectively the entire community and we’re part of it, is 10 billion pounds lifted.

At least 75 of those pounds belong to me.

I would give that, at least 75. Next year, you’re going to get your profile thing at the end of the year. You’re going to find out that you lifted the Statue of Liberty or something and you’re going to be like, “Whoa.” That is astounding. That’s cool, 10 billion pounds. Congrats to everyone in the community and Tonal.

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As always tons of new content.

It’s totally coming at us. There are some different kinds of classes coming up. More mobility classes were released. We have Daily Mobility, Start Strong with Coach Allison. This is a gentle flow to wake up your entire body specifically. Also, there’s a Mid-day Energy with Coach Allison. If you can’t catch onto the theme here, this would be a good break in the middle of your day. Then there’s Daily Mobility Posture Fix. This is important for anyone who has a job that they sit in front of a computer because it’s all about keeping your posture instead of being slumped over your laptops. That is super important, then Evening Calm with Coach Allison that’s releasing the tension of the day. I could often use that. Probably I got to start doing that every day.

Trust the programming. Trust the instructors. Click To Tweet

Some barre classes hit. Brisk Barre with Coach Francis, this is a quick pace barre. You can get it moving quickly and you’re in and out in seventeen minutes. There is a brand new program that dropped about a week ago from Coach Nicolette. This is to help improve your daily posture with a two-week program and it’s all live beta. She’s actually doing the entire class with you. That’s pretty cool. It’s three times a week for two weeks and you’ll get a better understanding of movement mechanics while developing a straighter spine. It’s low key but still a challenge. There’s a new workout, Core Stabilizer with Coach Jackson. This is an intermediate core workout, 25 minutes, and it is the first step to core strength. It’s going to build your stability and foundational moves that are going to set you up for a six-pack. I know you want to try that, Tom, is that one of your goals? Are you going for a six-pack?

I don’t know that I could live long enough to get a six-pack.

I don’t know that we eat well enough. I feel like we’re doing good but I enjoy a piece of chocolate.

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Shape magazine had an interesting article. It doesn’t mention Tonal specifically. It talks about Peloton a lot, which a lot of our listeners also have Peloton, but it talks about swapping out a cardio-heavy workout for strength training.

This is important for people to hear because people love their cardio. They’ve been told their entire lives that cardio burns calories. It’s the best way to lose weight. All of which are valid thoughts. It does help you lose weight but it’s not the only way to lose weight. It depends on your body type. When some people gain muscle, they also can easily gain weight. My point is there are lots of different body types. This article talks about how much confidence they have gained from doing strength workouts. I have to say that is one of my favorite things about Tonal, feeling strong, feeling confident, being able to move in a different way has been amazing like knowing that I can pick up the groceries without any help. That type of thing.

I love the fact that I don’t have to help with the groceries. I didn’t say you didn’t have to. You just said that. You were bragging about getting the groceries with no help. I don’t want to step on your female empowerment. I’m here to help and being supportive by not bringing the groceries with you.

This has gone awry.

That’s what you said. I’m just quoting back to you.

If you’re out there thinking, “Is Tonal for me? Is more strength training for me? What’s a good balance?” Keep in mind, you can do strength training and not give up your cardio altogether but still get an amazing workout and get added benefits. It’s not always about the scale. That’s all I wanted.

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There’s a new Tonal Talk coming up on the 19th.

Originally it had been scheduled for April 28th. Aly Orady was going to do a Tonal Talk and answer all of our questions about Tonal. What’s the future of Tonal and the latest round of funding. I can’t wait to hear this one. It is May 19th at 5:00 PM Pacific Time. Tom, mark your calendar. That is 7:00 PM Central.

If you’re looking to catch up on some past Tonal Talks, there has been some good stuff.

Harry and Arlene Kraushaar are brother and sister. They’re both Tonal members and extreme opposites. They have also worked on their relationship while training with the Tonal. I thought it was pretty cool that they did a Tonal Talk with both of them to hear both sides of their stories. That happened on May 12th. If you miss that, just go back a little bit, hit that play button and find out about Harry and Arlene.

On May 7th, they talked to Michelle Wie West. She’s a professional golfer and an investor in Tonal.

This is cool because she’s highlighting AAPI athletes. Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is the entire month of May. They kicked off the month because this was on May 7th, talking about that and her experience, culture, racism, allyship. I thought that was pretty cool. That happened on May 7th at 9:30 AM Pacific Time. You can go back and find that as well. Michelle Wie West is a five times LPGA winner and a Women’s Open winner.

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India is being ravaged by COVID-19 and Tonal wants to do their part to help out. They’re donating to Path.org.

They’re making a donation and Path is focusing its efforts on providing medical oxygen to India. If you want to learn more and do your own donation, Path.org is the website. You can easily make a donation there as well. Anything we can do to support India, we should do. It’s been a crazy year.

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The Tonal Blog featured Coach Pablo with some tips on nourishing your inner strength.

They did. This particular blog talks to Pablo. The questions for him were about the mental health benefits of exercise. He talks about mental health and how he got drawn to exercise and why it was important to him. He talked about how when you’re struggling with mental health, it can be difficult to be motivated to move. He gave suggestions for people on how they can get motivated. This is a good how-to guide for somebody who’s struggling with any kind of depression, anxiety, that type of thing. They want to move and take steps but it’s difficult. There might be some good ideas in here. Of course, that does not negate talking to and seeking help from medical professionals as well.

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Bubba Watson, a professional golfer, posted on Instagram himself in front of his Tonal.

Somebody was nice enough to post it in the official Tonal community and then I took a screenshot of it. That’s how it ended up here because we don’t follow sports that well. We’re not great about following it. Although I do happen to remember that Bubba Watson also rides Peloton.

There are a lot of crossovers there. He also has some pretty sweet video games. Those are the ones that look like a golden tee. The other one looks like a big game hunter. Well done.

We got to go visit Bubba.

I’m sure he’ll have us right over. He would like to hang out with us because we would not be starstruck because we know nothing about sports.

That’s true. We’d be like, “We just see you as a regular person. Can we come over and play your video games?”

We don’t love you for golf. We love you for your cool video games.

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It’s time for a new book for Read Between The Reps and it’s from Brené Brown.

It is called The Gifts of Imperfection. It’s important to know that because Brené Brown has a ton of very widely celebrated books. I could see her coming up again in this Read Between The Reps book club.

Unlike a lot of people out there with self-help books, she’s a trained professional. She went to school and did the work. She didn’t just read some catchy memes on Pinterest and decided to turn it into a book.

That is a good point. She also has done studies on the things that she talks about. Specifically, she’s done studies about how people process things and this one being imperfection. I don’t know specifically what study she’s done. I’m giving an example. She might have studied how it affects your self-esteem and how you go about in your everyday life taking on that self-esteem or the imperfection that you might have. Anytime she talks about things like this, it’s usually reframing and giving yourself a more positive thought process. I’m curious about how people will like this one.

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Joining us is Laurie Amerson. Laurie, how’s it going?

I’m great. How are you all?

We are wonderful. How did you first hear about Tonal and when was that in the grand scheme of things?

I heard it from your Peloton The Clip Out Podcast. I’ve been following you since I got my bike a while back. Because of you, I was encouraged to get the tread, which I also love. I have not become a runner, but I hike well.

Those hikes are tough.

It’s been great. Continuing to follow your other show, you started talking about the Tonal. At that point, it was a good time for me personally because we’d gone through a move. It wasn’t a far move, but the setup that we had at home and the gym that I’ve been a member of for 25 years and taught yoga at was no longer in my bubble. I started going to another gym and I didn’t like it. I couldn’t connect with the people. At the other gym, I felt like I was aging with my people. I went to the new gym and I felt like a fish out of water. I quit going altogether. You were talking about the Tonal. I’d probably not been working out for about 1.5 years when I got the Tonal. I know my strength had dropped. I did do weight training. I did classes and personal trainers and stuff like that. I let it all go. My strength, what I was able to do, I could tell that I was letting it all go.

I bet that was frustrating because you feel like you’re going backward.

You are and you go backward so much quicker than you go forward. It was frustrating. I said to my husband, “I think I’m going to get this Tonal.” He said, “I don’t think we need it.” I said, “I’m not asking for permission. I’m going to get this Tonal.” He loves the gym and he loves his little routine. I said, “You don’t have to use it. It’s going to be for me.” This was in December of 2019 that it arrived.

You’re about to win this argument.

You crushed it.

He started using it before COVID and he ended up quitting the gym before COVID because he loved the Tonal that much.

How about that? Has he apologized?

Over and over again. I told him I’ll try not to trash him too much.

Here’s my question. You said that you got the Tonal and the Tread+ because of Crystal. Have you gotten your husband to start listening to The Monkees yet?

He’s already a Monkees fan.

He chooses wisely.

We used to watch the TV show.

I did when I was a kid. It was the reruns but it was a thing.

It wasn’t the reruns for me. I’m not that old. It came out in ‘66.

I don’t know, Tom. I just know that it was on.

I’m not 65.

She’s like, “Watch it.”

Watch out.

It’s okay if someone is, but I’m not.

I’m not either. You’re safe. It has been a life-changing thing for me to have the Tonal in the home and also for my husband. He has been a creature of habit. He’s a physician. He would get up in the morning at 4:45 and go to the gym and work out before going to the hospital. He was committed to his workout program as well, but for about several years or so, his workout program was the exact same. He didn’t shift things up and that’s been a huge plus for him in terms of his strength as well as doing the programs, different exercises, and different things with the weight training than he had been doing for many years.

It makes a huge difference. If that’s your background, that used to be what everybody did. If you learned that routine, that’s what you do.

Since he’s not driving to the gym anymore, what’s he doing with that extra time? Does he sleep in?

He gets up at 4:45 every morning. It is nice because he will do Peloton and Tonal most days before he would have to either do a weight training session or take a spin class or something like that. It’s been huge for him in terms of convenience as well.

I’m curious what your thoughts are on using equipment at the gym. I know I’ve talked about this before. They’re always intimidating to me. What is that experience like using the weights at the gym versus using Tonal? Did it translate well? Were you surprised? What were your thoughts?

I was very surprised. I thought it translated quite easily. I realized I’m a cheater. If I can get away with doing less, I will. I realized that I used a lot of momentum and I’m in a lot of core form. I feel like the coaches with Tonal do such a superb job. In fact, I will digress, our daughter is a physical therapist and she has since purchased the Tonal. She is impressed with the instructors and how well they cue. I had to reacquaint myself with weight training and probably in a safer fashion. I had to let my ego aside and slow down a little bit. It felt great. It has been a fantastic transition. The other thing that’s such a huge plus is that one-pound increments. Suddenly, you can go up five pounds within a week or two or whatever, but you don’t stand there looking at that next big weight and go, “Do I go from 5 to 10 or 30 to 35?” That to me is mind-stopping. With this one pound, it’s like, “I can do a pound.”

Anybody can do a pound.

My strength has gone through the roof that it would not have done if I’ve had to sit there and make those decisions because I’m a cheater.

It’s not cheating. That’s being efficient.

It’s also human nature because your body will do things. Your arms will start to drop because it wants to do less. We’re hardwired to be efficient beings, so it’s hard to make ourselves do the hard thing.

I am so efficient.

I was probably more efficient before Tonal. They made me less efficient.

You needed to be a little less efficient.

I’m impressed. I love the secret of being late and all of that. It’s exciting for me that anybody can change their life trajectory by using something like this. It does change your life. Trust me.

Piggybacking on the one-pound thing, I like the fact that it makes that decision for you. You don’t even have to decide. You turn around and you’re like, “Oh.” I don’t pay attention so sometimes, I’m like, “Over time, I’ve gone up 4 or 5 pounds.” I don’t know.

I pay attention.

Me, too.

There are times when I’m like, “What?”

“Hold on. I’m not ready for that.”

“I didn’t ask for that. If you think I can do it, I’ll try.” That has been a beautiful thing, Tom because it helps you get stronger, even when you’re not watching.

Speaking of.

It sounds like she’s going to tell you something embarrassing about me. That’s what normally comes with that grin.

I am just bragging on Laurie because she’s nonchalant about all this. She recently hit 1 million pounds lifted. She said she had her Tonal less the time than I have and she’s already hit 1 million pounds. That’s freaking amazing. You are a badass and I love it.

I’m going to start crying. I can’t breathe. When you think about that, it’s amazing. To be honest, it’s 1 million pounds that I would not have lifted. I wasn’t going to the gym, so this is 1 million pounds plus. It’s funny because my mother-in-law is 90-plus years old and she has always been active. She still plays water volleyball or whatever. Before COVID, they had restrictions as we all did, but before COVID, she would go to the gym and she’d be lifting her weights. I caught myself one time thinking, “She’s only lifting ten pounds of weight,” and then I was like, “That’s ten more pounds than you’re lifting. Get with it. If you want to be like her at 90, it starts now.” I can’t wait until I’m 88 and go, “Oh.”

“It’s time for me to go ahead and start that weightlifting program I’ve always wanted to do.”

It's exciting that anybody can change their life trajectory by using Tonal. Click To Tweet

You have to start now. I’ve read that between the ages of 50 and 70, the average inactive person, which is not me, is going to lose 30% of their strength power. You think, “That’s not going to continue to get better. It’s only going to go more downhill.”

At 70, you’re good now.

Age starts to accelerate when you get into your 70s and 80s. If you’ve lost all that strength by the time that you’re 70 and you didn’t have the mobility, it’s fascinating. You can tell the people like the woman you were talking about that she’s playing water volleyball when she’s 90. How many people do you see that are 70 that struggle to move around and be comfortable?

As I get older, I pay more attention to older people in terms of gauging the life cycle. It is fascinating how some people you see in their 70s and they look like they’re in their mid to late-50s. Some people you see in their 70s and you’re like, “That guy couldn’t make mud puddles when he was a kid because he’s older than dirt.” You know that they’re roughly the same age, but they look radically different.

Genetics plays some part in that, but so does being active and mobility.

The other cool thing about the Tonal is mobility. When I was in my 30s, I could go and do something, and then go on the next day and do something else. It changes. It’s nice that they are putting that also as an emphasis. The mobility and teaching you a little bit about smaller muscle connections. I’m getting so much information and so much out of it beyond just the weights.

The smaller muscle connections are important because all of my muscles are small, so that comes in handy. I’m losing 30% of my muscle mass and I’m like, “I only have 30%.”

That’s a good thing you started before you turn 50.

Come on, Tom. Take your sweatshirt off. Let us see what you got.

He is such a liar. He looks like a different person. He put on a t-shirt that I don’t think he’s worn in 1.5 years.

I’ve never worn it. We bought it when we were on a Disney Cruise. It’s the t-shirt from Castaway Cay and it’s an XL. I always get XL shirts and they always fit tight. It extenuated my cleavage in a way that I didn’t like. Pecs are supposed to sag like that. I was like, “I haven’t worn this in forever.” I’ve got a lot of nerd shirts in my closet.

I should never get shit about all the exercise clothes I have based on the number of t-shirts he has.

One of my t-shirts equals five of her leggings from a pricing standpoint. You brought it up.

Fortunately, all these nerdy t-shirts now fit, Crystal.

You would think that they would fit because most of the nerd shirts, who are we kidding, they’re making most of them in XL and XXL. There’s not a lot of need for small nerd t-shirts. I pulled it out because I was like, “I haven’t worn in forever,” and I was like, “That fits okay. How about that?”

Not only did it fit okay, but it hung off with him.

That’s amazing.

He’s got muscles coming in everywhere.

Let’s not go crazy.

Lots of little muscles popping.

It sounds more like a medical condition. Tonal’s like, “Don’t tell people that.”

“Is that a symptom or something?”

“Do you live near power lines? What’s happening?”

You mentioned what your husband’s workout schedule is like. What does your workout schedule look like?

Mine is probably a little bit more leisurely. It doesn’t happen quite at 5:00 AM. Generally, I like to do the programs because I need accountability. If I need to stand there and scroll through and pick out something, I’m going to cheat. Generally, I do the four-day programs. They seem to work well for me, and then the Peloton will be either the bike or the tread. Probably 3 or 4 days a week, but I also do outside walking and hiking. I try to get a lot of walking and I do feel like that’s probably one of the best. Thanks for my body in terms of movement.

It’s good because it keeps you at that zone 2 in cardio, which is where you want most of it to be, so that’s awesome.

My husband and I both like to do bicycle trips. How we like to travel is to do stuff like that.

Where do you put the luggage? It seems like it’d be hard to pedal.

I have smaller clothes now than I used to.

Touché.

Just my little backpack. We have a sag wagon that brings my three suitcases and all that stuff.

She has her own personal Sherpa.

You have to when you do that.

I have people. The Peloton bike is important. Just the time in the saddle. For me, it’s more to be able to do nice, leisurely long rides. I’m not racing. I’m not into any of that stuff. I am competitive though.

Are you? Do you watch that leaderboard?

I do. I cannot wait because I turned 60 in July 2020, which means I get to go to the next.

Are you going to crush the 60-year-old ladies?

Yeah. When I’m on the 50-year-old leaderboard, I’m like, “A lot of them just turned 50, although I’m 51.” I cannot wait to take down those older ladies because I’ll be now one of them.

Do you feel like Tonal will help you with the aging process?

Absolutely. The thing that was most surprising for me, because I teach yoga, balance has always been a huge part of my daily practice. My body learned how to do these balancing postures and muscle memory kicked in. When I started doing some of these things like a one-legged step up, some different stuff where you’re using one of the sides of your body, my balance is awful.

Balance is the worst. I hate those.

I was shocked and embarrassed. I didn’t want to talk about it because it’s like, “I’m your yoga instructor. You learn balance, but it’s different when you add the weight in.”

Those are still poses or slow-moving. That’s different from a dynamic move.

The functional approach to the Tonal takes this functional mobility, so it has been great. Definitely, one of the hardest things for aging people is falling and the risk of falling. I feel like that’s been a surprising benefit for me in getting my strength back, the step-ups, and stuff like that. In the beginning, I was like, “Whoa.” The Tonal kept saying, “Use your core.”

“I don’t have one.”

“I did.”

“It’s everything I have.”

“It’s broke.”

As you go through the program, that’s the other thing I love about the four-week programs because you do see progress. I get through and the second week’s better and the third week’s better. In the fourth week, I’m like, “Watch this. I’ve got you, Tonal.” It is nice to see that progress and I was surprised by how challenging that part of the workout was for me. I thought I’d be able to do it easily.

Have you tried Coach Natalie’s Balancing Act yet?

I haven’t. That’s next up. My daughter’s doing that one.

I love it. Everything is a single-sided move but it’s all dynamic, so you’re still doing the same workout you would do. It’s still strength-oriented, but it’s all one-sided.

It sounds awful.

Tom, you’ve mentioned that. That just means you have to do twice as many things.

Have I got to balance? No. I won’t do any of that.

I’m like, “I totally agree.” She does come up in pain. Now I’ve got to do 24, not just 12 and get it over with.

I’ve got things to do. I got TV shows to watch. I don’t have time for this.

It’s been great. In terms of me out in the wild, I’ve got four grandchildren and I want to be with them. I went to my daughter and checked her baby, and then I brought my other granddaughter to the zoo. She kept saying loudly, “Lolly, I want to be on your head,” which is the shoulders. I’m standing up and I can bend down, pick her up, perm shoulders, and off we go.

Not a lot of grandmas can do that.

That’s where it pays off.

Do you ever talk trash like, “Let’s see if your other grandma can do that?”

I’m not going to do that. Not in front of that other grandmother.

“She was with us but if she wasn’t there, I’d be like, ‘Suck that other grandma.’”

I’m competitive. To me, honestly, it’s quality of life. When you’re younger, you don’t think about it as much because you can just keep rolling with life. As you get older, you realize that there are things that aren’t as easy as they used to be. That to me is why I’m doing it. I still do cartwheels on the beach with my grandchildren.

You need to be in one of those commercials.

I imagine your life is like B-roll from a commercial for some drugs.

Centrum Silver. I want to see you there. You need to be their spokesperson.

Whenever you see those drug commercials, as they’re reading the side effects for FlexSim 12, people are doing cartwheels on the beach or they’re carrying their grandkids on their shoulders. You’re living in a pharmaceutical commercial.

My hair is flowing behind me. I am living the dream, so I’ll take it.

What is your all-time favorite thing about the Tonal?

The programs and the programming. They’re fantastic. I love walking downstairs, turning it on, and it knows what I’m doing next. I just push go and I go. It couldn’t get any easier from that aspect.

The workout is still tough, but there are many fewer roadblocks to keep you from doing it.

There are times when I’m standing there with my finger hovering like, “I don’t want to.” It goes close and you pull it back. You push it and here we go. It does make it easy to stay consistent. Consistency is key.

My bra says that. I have a Matt Wilpers bra from Peloton and it says consistency is key.

I feel like we’re similar though in how we utilize Tonal. I want to programs because I don’t want to think about it. By doing a program, I only have to think about it once a month as opposed to if I did a workout, and then I got to come down tomorrow and pick another one. That’s too much work.

The other great thing about the Tonal is the community because I learned so much from everybody and stayed motivated from the community. It’s funny because you’re finishing up a program and it’s almost like the next day is Christmas morning and it’s like, “What am I going to start now? Who gets excited about starting a new workout program?” There are many options and you hear many great things. You’re like, “It’s time to start a new one.” There’s this continuous excitement of what’s next.

We’re similar but not identical.

You don’t get that excited?

No. Whenever I’m done with a program, I immediately pick the next one because it takes me a while to find one that looks like it would move the needle forward but not be too hard. That might take a while. If I had come down for the next session and had to stand there for five minutes looking for something, I’ll turn around and walk away. I’m like, “I have to join the program before I leave, so it’s waiting for me when I come down next time.”

I’m so that. That’s exactly it.

For somebody who said that he doesn’t like to do too hard of one, just so you know, he finished Go Big or Go Home 1 and he went straight into 4 Weeks to Fat Loss.

That’s intense.

I don’t know any better.

I was like, “The next one, you need to pull back a little.”

We’ve been doing that whole thing and Mike D’Angelo been on me about doing more cardio. I was like, “This one’s got fat loss in the title. It should be okay.”

Your cardio has to come from Tonal.

He’s made that clear. He doesn’t even want to walk on the thing.

I had to stay on the tread one time when we were cleaning the basement. I had to step over it and walk across it, so I was on it briefly.

He thought he’s tall and I didn’t think we were going to get him off of that.

I was like, “I feel tall up here. I’m almost 5’0”.

“I’m now at an advantage.” He’ll now be on there for all your family photos and Tom’s on the tread.

The tread’s a part of our family now.

Peloton and Tonal are part of our family now.

We’ve planned our vacations around it. We’re like, “Who do we know from the podcast wherever we’re going? We should go see so and so.”

It seems only fair because it funds the vacation.

In Atlanta, now you know you have all this setup. Even though your friends probably got a setup.

It’s okay. I can have more than one Atlantian.

Atlanta’s a big town. It depends on which part we’re staying.

Traffic is back. The COVID traffic was great. There are other advantages though for being at home, too.

I remember in the beginning when you felt like you needed to note whenever you drove to explain what you were doing and they were going to stop you.

Those were weird times. That’s been a weird year.

Do you use any of the other content on Tonal or no?

I don’t say much. I don’t a whole lot. From time to time, I feel like, “I feel good. Maybe I should go do one of those little separate core workouts.” I’m not good at that. I’m just in my program.

You’re doing a lot, so don’t say you’re disappointed. You’re doing all the other things and you do yoga on top of it.

I do my own yoga thing, so I feel well-rounded in that regard.

That’s a lot.

Do you have any advice for people getting a Tonal?

Trust the programming. Trust the instructors. I know that a lot of people complain about, “It’s a four-week thing and you do the same thing over and over again,” but it works. I also listen to the cueing every time. I feel like a lot of people or even myself, I don’t love to hear the joke four times. I feel like they’re starting to do less of that. The newer programming is instruction-based, which is nice but I can’t hear those cues too often. Body awareness is important. It also brings me back to focus.

I forget. If I’m doing a bench press, I’m focused on having my arms at the right angle so I’m feeling it, but then because of that, I don’t have my shoulder blades back. I need to hear it every time so I get everything where I want it to be.

It goes back to yoga training. In yoga classes, you do talk about the form a lot. It makes such a huge difference for me to stay connected to my body.

It can be a little bit repetitive. Think of it like dating in college. You do the same thing for four weeks, and then you pick a new thing.

I married the first guy I dated.

It’s not for Laurie.

Rick was my first date when I was fifteen and we’ve been married for over 40 years.

What an amazing story.

At fifteen, you picked a doctor.

Good job, Laurie.

I don’t turn around the man.

Who are we kidding? I didn’t turn around the woman. That was not my forte. I don’t know that I ever had sex with two different women in the same calendar year.

Me either.

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We are so much alike.

More things.

Crystal, I don’t know how to break it to you. You got to get a medical degree.

I’m going to add that to the calendar.

I don’t think Crystal can do anything more. I can’t believe you did get your certification for personal training. That’s amazing.

I enjoyed it, too. I enjoyed learning everything. It was a lot of fun. I’m doing my nutrition certificate. I’m trying to.

It sucks because now when she lectures me, I can’t even argue.

Because I know what I’m talking about.

“I officially know what I’m talking about. Here’s the certificate.” Smart lady. I may have to do that.

Before we let you go, where can people find you on social media if you would like to be found?

Facebook is Laurie Amerson and I am on Instagram. I play with art. On my Instagram account, it’s going to have some of my pottery and encaustic photography, but also time with the children and grandchildren and life. That’s @LaAmerson. That’s how you find me on Instagram.

Thank you for joining us. We greatly appreciate it.

Thank you. I appreciate you inviting me. It’s a lot of fun.

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I guess that brings this episode to a close. What pray tell do you have in store for people next time?

We are going to talk to a Tonal community member.

Until then, where can people find you?

People can find me on Facebook at Facebook.com/crystaldokeefe. They can find me on Instagram or Twitter at @ClipOutCrystal.

You can find me on Twitter @RogerQBert or Facebook at Facebook.com/tomokeefe. You can find the show online at Facebook.com/supersetpodcast. While you’re there, like the page and join the group. You can watch these episodes on our YouTube channel, which is Youtube.com/theclipout. That’s it for this one. Thanks for tuning in. Until next time, keep lifting.