Coaches Tanysha Renee & Joe Rodonis On Tonal's Newest Program

Coaches Tanysha Renee & Joe Rodonis On Tonal’s Newest Program

Tonal spotlights Arlene Kraushaar.
Sports Illustrated reviews Tonal.
Sports Business Journal tested out Tonal.
Did you know you can make any workout a partner workout?
Tonal teases its new summer programming.
Tons of new content including:
Sculpt and Shred 4WK Fast Track Challenge
Custom by Tonal: 3 Workouts (Platinum Six)
Platinum Six: Classic Barbell
Platinum Six: Supercharged Supersets
Platinum Six: Max Volume And
Ease Back into Strength

All this plus our interview with Tanysha Renee and Joe Rodonis!

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Watch the episode here

Listen to the podcast here

Coaches Tanysha Renee & Joe Rodonis On Tonal’s Newest Program

Welcome to episode 50.

In this episode, we’re going to talk to Tanysha Renee and Joe Rodonis. They’ll give us more details about Sculpt and Shred. It’s a great conversation. You might remember our previous conversation with Tanysha about Cycle Sync Strength. I said that I would do it and so she calls me out on that because she doesn’t believe, whether or not I’m doing it. You’ll have to read that to see how that plays out. I am doing it. You’re doing it too. We’ve been together so long. Our menstrual cycles are synced.

That’s not true because you started your cycle a week ahead of mine.

At my age, I’m in menopause.

Then you wouldn’t have a cycle at all.

I don’t have a cycle.

That’s why our cycles can’t be synced. It’s been fascinating though. I’m glad that we’re both doing it because I feel like we’ve had very different experiences with it. At first, you were like, “I got done with doing Go Big or Go Home 3 in a row and this feels a little bit not as intense as the ones I’ve been doing.”

It sneaks up on you in different ways.

I thought it started pretty intense but I haven’t been spending a ton of time strength training because of Big Sur and the accident. It’s been a lot of things but finally, I’m back to it. I feel like it’s a very big challenge. For me, doing 8,000 volumes is a lot in a day.

Tanysha is lucky that I hadn’t hit day nine when I talked to her because I would’ve had some questions for her. Maybe I shouldn’t say this. I might scare people off of doing it. Tanysha found a way to make Bulgarian split squats worse. How do you do that? You’re doing them with one hand but it’s under your leg. They should call them Bavarian split squats because you’re like a pretzel. I want to rename all the things. One should be the Wolverine when you’re on your knees, you got your hands in an X and they come down to your sides. The Bavarian split squats, as I am calling them, were rough.

I haven’t gotten there. I’m only on day five so I’ll be there soon. Your partner in crime, the guy that’s doing this, Fred Tucker, was also woozers.

He got to it before I did. I fell behind a couple of days because we were out of town for Big Sur. He messaged me and was like, “Day nine.” I hadn’t gotten there yet. I was like, “He was not wrong.”

I’m coming up on it but I am also still running three days a week and I’m working on my speed. It’s like running a day and doing a Tonal.

If we interview her again, I will have a follow-up question about Bavarian split squats. My question for Tanysha is, “Who hurt you? I feel like someone hurt you when you were younger.”

She’s been so sweet when she’s been on here.

That’s how they get you. You think, “This seems like a nice person.” The next thing you know, Bavarian split squats.

I’m worried about it because I am not a fan of the Bulgarian split squats so I don’t know if I’m going to like these Bavarian split squats.

I’m calling them Bavarian split squats for two reasons. 1) You’re like a pretzel. 2) Like a pretzel, I’m a little salty.

I like how you made it all come together.

It’s what I do. What pre-tell do you have in store for people?

Tonal was in the news a few times so we’re going to chat about that. Also, we’re going to talk about features of Tonal that may have escaped your notice. There’s some new content that’s coming out and new content that’s already out. We need to talk about those things. There are lots of different things. We’re going to start having our birthdays mentioned here for all of our instructors.

We got a list. When we have a birthday, we will share it.

If you guys see other things out there about instructors that we miss, feel free to send them to me. We will try to include it when we can.

Before we get to all that, shameless plugs, don’t forget we’re available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, iHeart and TuneIn. Wherever you find a podcast, you can find us. While you’re there, be sure and follow us so you never miss an episode. Maybe leave us a review. That’s super helpful and appreciated. You can find us on Facebook at Facebook.com/SupersetPodcast. You can also watch these episodes on our YouTube channel at YouTube.com/TheClipOut, the name of our other show, but these episodes live there as well. There’s all of that. Let’s dig in. Shall we?

We shall.

We’ll start with a Tonal blog post you saw that you thought was interesting about a member, Arlene Kraushaar.

We mentioned a couple of episodes ago that Tonal started a campaign where they’re focused on the members. Every month, they post a feature about a different person in the community. This one is from February 2023. If you missed it, we wanted to bring it to your attention. Arlene is 66 years old but in badass shape. Look at those guns.

She’s doing better than me.

She’s also doing better than me, that’s for sure. Every day, she works out on Tonal. She is one of the few that posts about her workout in the Tonal online community. That’s amazing.

If you haven’t seen that, you should go find that and check it out. It’s fascinating. There’s also a YouTube video that accompanies it if you are more visually minded.

Tonal has had a couple of reviews pop up in various outlets, which is always interesting. Sports Illustrated had an article doing Tonal Versus Mirror, which wall-mounted exercise machine is right for you.

Two things you need to know about this. One is it is sponsored. I don’t know who’s sponsoring. It doesn’t say.

Which one do they like better? That’s probably a good indication.

It leans toward Mirror, in my opinion, but it didn’t say so I was giving the benefit of the doubt. The other thing is that it says it’s a 2023 update. They were trying to reuse a past one with updated information.

When they say update and it’s sponsored, I feel like they wrote an article where they liked Tonal and then Mirror was like, “If we sponsored this.”

I disagree. It was probably always sponsored. They might have updated it with Mirror’s new pricing. If you do click on this link and want to buy a Tonal or a Mirror through them, then you’re going to be giving money to Sports Illustrated. Just know that. The thing about this is a Mirror and a Tonal are nothing alike so stop comparing them.

The only thing that they have in common is that they mount on your wall.

You can take classes from both but not the same kind of classes. They act like it’s a big thing. This drives me crazy. Look at the pros here for Tonal. There’s no problem. All the pros are true but the cons, it’s more expensive than competitors. What competitor is heavier than the Mirror? You do different things.

Why do you care how heavy it is? You’re not touching it once it’s mounted to your wall.

It’s because you have to hang it on the wall.

You don’t.

I know. I’m just saying because the Mirror leans up against the wall. Here’s the deal. Scroll down to the cons of the other one. This one kills me. No touch screen, accessories cost extra. Do you know what should be a con here? It doesn’t do strength training. It’s not supposed to. You can do classes that use free weights but it’s not the same at all.

It’s not designed to be. It’s apples and oranges.

I’m not even bagging on the Mirror. It’s not your favorite thing and we’ve talked about that before. I’ve never used it. My point is they should not be compared because they’re different beings.

That’s there if you want to go mock it like we do. The Sports Business Journal also reviewed the Tonal. They seemed to like it.

One of their senior people does a workout with one of Joe Rodonis’ workouts.

He went to the Tonal studios in New York.

He was surprised because most people, when they get a chance to try it, are like, “This is so much more intense than I thought it would be. I thought this was just going to be gimmicky but it’s a whole thing.”

I still think there are a lot of people that see the cables and think that it’s a cable machine from the ‘90s. It’s not at all, in any way, shape or form. It doesn’t feel and function like that. Those always seemed like they were going to slide around on you. Nothing about the Tonal ever feels that way.

It’s the way that they can dial in the weight so specifically and change them to those advanced modes like your eccentric and chains modes. Going back to Cycle Sync Strength, that one uses all kinds of those advanced modes. It’s a lot of chains and heavy reps. I love it so much. I feel like I’m getting to work things in a different way.

For people who are bored like, “I’ve done a billion bicep curls. I don’t like strength,” another thing that Tonal does well is change up the programming.

With the Cycle Sync Strength program, I have done tons of moves that if I’ve done them before, I have no recollection of having done them.

I have to give you crap. We did the interview and in that, Coach Joe asked some questions about the Resisted DNS Star and Tom has no idea what he’s talking about. I was doing Workout 4 and I was like, “Tom, there’s a Resisted DNS Star in here. How did you have this conversation and you didn’t talk about this?” He is like, “Which one is that?” I described it to him. He’s like, “I swapped that.”

It came up again in the rotation and I did it. It was not as difficult as I thought. At first blush, I was like, “I’m not doing that.” Also, they need to rename that one Patrick. They need to let me rename the moves at Tonal. You got a Wolverine, Patrick and Bavarian split squat. I am well on my way to renaming all the moves at Tonal.

I am interested to see where this goes.

I also coined little guy front and back. Let’s not forget that. I will submit my resume. We talk about features here. This isn’t necessarily a new one but we think it might be new to some people. It’s like when Musty TV used to show repeats and they were like, “If you haven’t seen it, it’s new to you.” We don’t know that a lot of people recognize that you can turn any workout into a partner workout.

That’s a big deal, especially in households where unlike us, people work out together. A lot of times, you will be in the room working out in Tonal and I’ll be doing something else. Tom is a loner. He does not like me doing stuff at the same time as he is.

I just want to be done with it.

I would be slowing him down. It’s not going to work. There are a lot of people that is not the case to not do this together.

It’s their bonding time.

You can also take those partner workouts and make them even more challenging while your partner is on the machine. You do things like squat thrusts.

Those are out there and you can do them at any time if you want.

I have used the partner workout with other people. It was a lot of fun though to be able to work out because you’re talking and doing other things. I enjoyed it.

Tonal started teasing their new big summer program.

They were like, “What’s it going to be?” We already know what it’s going to be. It’s going to be the Sculpt and Shred.

I was like, “Are we getting out in front of it? I thought this was a known thing.”

It was. It’s just that the video was released and they put it out there. It’s so exciting because, in this video, I love seeing all of the coaches hanging out together and doing their workouts. They then go to the beach. I like how they draw comparisons of the workouts and moves you’re doing and put them into activities that you might do on your own during the summer.

I’ve been enjoying the content where it goes through different instructors. I had always lobbied for that. I’m biased because I always thought it was a good idea. It was one of mine. Not to say other people didn’t have that idea too but it was something I was looking forward to. I enjoyed it because sometimes, the way that the programming used to be recorded could get a little dry by the fourth week. I feel like this one keeps it a lot fresher.

I also have noticed that with the newer programming, they have been making a point to mix up those moves. They’re all doing the same movements but they’re changing a little bit. They’re like, “Let’s shift this a little bit.” For example, maybe one time you’re doing sumo squats and the next time, you’re doing a different kind of squat. Maybe they’re adding something else to it like Resisted DNS Star. There are things that they’re adding to each different week. I’m enjoying a lot of the programming and how fresh it feels every time I hop on a new class.

It’s a great sampler platter too, especially since they have new coaches. If you do take a new one, it’s a great way to get a feel for what multiple instructors are like. Maybe you can branch off and find the one you like the best. People do tend to gravitate towards certain instructors over and over again. We’ve seen that. This is a great way to try them out.

I’m also looking forward to the Four-Week Fast Track Challenge. I love how they’re going to have the upper and lower body tracks. I can’t wait to experience that for myself. You’ll know more about it in this episode.

I would love to see the data on all the people.

Do you think fewer people do the lower body track?

I do.

I do too. People hate leg day. We all need it and that’s why we hate it. The more you hate something, the more you need it. It’s facts when it comes to working out, not everything in life.

They’re going to see a lot of people gravitating toward the upper body over the lower body.

I will be interested to find out later if that is true. I’m curious if they’re still doing all the data tracking that they were and if we’re going to get any insight into that. We’ll have to reach out to Tonal and ask that question. This is a good time to mention that if you haven’t already ordered your Tonal, it’s probably too late to get it in time for this challenge that starts on June 5th, 2023.

It will still be there for you.

It’s not too late to get the free shipping and delivery, which is $295. All you got to do is go buy it. The price changes automatically. You don’t have to put a code on it or anything. If you read this after May 22nd, 2023 and you’re like, “I got to get me a Tonal,” you could still get $100 off by putting in code THECLIPOUT at checkout and you’re going to save $100. I’m very excited about that for people too. I love when people join the Tonalverse. It’s so much fun.

Custom by Tonal has new workouts that have already been launched. They started on May 8th, 2023. They got the Platinum Six. I don’t know what that means.

It’s three workouts but it’s called Platinum Six. It’s looking at the classic body-building workout with a contemporary twist. You’ve got your Classic Barbell workout. That’s one of them. You’ve got Supercharged Supersets. The superset comes from this show. That’s why it’s named that.

They named the move after us.

There is also Max Volume. For folks that are looking to maximize their volume, that’s the workout for you.

That’s where the weight is so heavy so you scream the whole time in max volume.

I like these because everyone has been talking about how incredibly effective Custom by Tonal is. They’re just like any other Tonal workout that you’re going to get great instruction but you’re able to do that old-school weightlifting workout. You don’t have to think about it because your machine does everything for you.

I like not thinking.

You get the best of both worlds so make sure you check those out as well.

Finally, we should mention that they have Ease Back into Strength, which I’m sure comes in very handy for you who maybe got hit by a car, had surgery or injured yourself in some capacity working out and you want to get back to it.

Maybe you haven’t done anything for years. This is a great way too. However you got there, that you haven’t done anything for a while, this is a great way to try it. I haven’t gotten to do this one yet but if I had done this right after Big Sur, it would have been perfect. I already had my mind made up on Cycle Strength.

You were afraid Tanysha was going to call you out if you weren’t taking it.

She called you out. I would have been fine.

You’d be in even more trouble because I’m taking it and you are not.

I did feel a little bit of pressure but I have other people I’m doing this program with so I’m enjoying that. Not only you but there are other people that are taking these classes with me.

Finally, we have a birthday in this episode. Tanysha is getting lots of mentions. Your invoice is in the mail. It is her birthday on May 18th, 2023.

That’s the day this episode drops so happy birthday.

The whole episode is a birthday present to Tanysha Renee.

I love it. I can’t wait until she’s on again to find out what she teases you about next time. That will be fun.

She’s going to do a Custom by Tonal. It’s going to be all Bavarian split squats, even on upper body day. Stand on your head and do them.

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In this episode, we have two Tonal coaches. We’re very excited. Tanysha Renee and Joe Rodonis, how is it going?

Thank you both so much for being here. There is an exciting program in the summer of 2023. One of the things we wanted to talk to you about is the Four-Week Fast Track: Sculpt and Shred. Tell us a little bit about this. This is going to be the first one for summer. We have seen these Sculpt and Shreds before but this one looks a little different. Help us understand what this one is going to look like.

There are two options. What’s fun about it is going to be multi-coach. If you did the Fast Track on New Year’s, it’s a lot of fun because you get to see different coaching styles, which is always great and different queuing setups so you can see what resonates with you. It’s going to be two paths. You have an upper focus and a lower focus. Depending on where you’re at with your goals and what you want to focus on with volume, you can take both or one at a time, which is what’s cool about that. Instead of combining them both, we separated them so that you could get the most volume for that body part or focus for the month. You can do them back-to-back but it’s cool having an upper path and a lower path.

It’s like a choose-your-own-adventure novel.

The cool thing about it is that regardless of which track you choose to begin with or stay on, you’re going to see a lot of the same movements. They’re using different body composition styles. The training styles will affect the body differently. The movements might be the same even in the same order but reverse depending on if you’re doing the upper or lower track. It’s not like you’re missing out. It’s cool that it’s designed in that way. If you and Tom wanted to split the tracks up, you could still talk about how you’re feeling in the programming with the same moves but you’re going to feel them extremely differently based on the day and which track you’re following.

I know nothing about the science behind it. I’m the guy that got Tonal because I don’t know things. I just want to hit the button and go. This is the most interest I’ve ever expressed in the science. Are you saying that if you do it in different orders, it will have different impacts on how you might look even though you’re doing the same thing?

It’s not necessarily how you might look but how you’re going to feel and for sure how your body is going to change or feel the effects of the movements.

We’re flipping good variations. In the last block on certain workouts, we follow the same movement patterns but we flip the orders in different weeks. In that last block, the first movement might have the least amount of time and then it increases as you go. That last movement will flip to the first movement in the next week. You’re always doing the same things but with different levels of intensity. It’s a fun variation. When we do these programs, it keeps you interested. You’re not going to be bored because you get a lot of different set variations and rep variations. It’s always getting you interested.

It’s in dynamic weight mode. That also changes how your body feels and also then the composition and makeup at the end of the four-week program.

I have a question about the two different tracks. If you were taking one track, let’s say upper body, is that upper body track four days? If you do both tracks, is it four days? My brain keeps getting stuck there.

The format for both is the same. You’re going to do 4 days a week for 4 weeks. You have 2 strength days and you’re going to have 2 full-body HIIT days on both tracks. You’re following the same format of workout. It’s a lower body focus and an upper body focus. For the science side of things, they’re both using a format of what’s called German Body Comp training. Have you ever heard of German Body Comp training before?

When Coach Ackeem was on, he touched on it but we did not dive deep. Feel free to give us a deep dive.

I put myself through this. It’s a tough method but what it’s doing is it’s going to get your entire body involved. It’s going to have very low rest periods. With the upper focus when you go on your HIIT days, it uses German Body Comp training, which is a full-body workout. You’re going to go from an upper-body move to a lower-body move, back to upper and back to lower. The rest periods are incredibly small. They might be 30 seconds but you’re going to get rest for the legs while you work the upper body and then vice versa.

The science behind it is that the blood flows throughout your entire body. It goes from the legs up to the upper body. You’re going to keep your heart rate elevated and you’re preserving muscle mass. As you’re changing your body comp, you’re still preserving muscle mass, which is the beauty of this program. You’re going to lose body fat at the same time.

When we focus on the lower half, you’ve done the upper body and now the blood has to rush travel, “We’re moving to the legs now. We have to send all the soldiers down there. We’re moving back to the upper body. Everybody, travel back up top.” The fatigue can stay general but you’re moving from the upper to the lower, which also then requires your blood to be pumped to your different extremities from the upper to the lower, making your body work a little bit harder on the back end of it. It is a cool concept. Joe, how long did you take yourself through that German Body Composition program?

You only need to do this once a year.

My German composition is I look like a hummel.

Isn’t it great that all these lifting methods are European names?

Weightlifting in general has some of the weirdest names.

Weightlifting in general has some of the weirdest names. Share on X

It cracks me up sometimes. It’s fun.

Who is this particular program for? Are we looking for athletic performance, the get-lean, building muscle or all three? Who is this best for?

It’s honestly best for everybody. You’ve got a little bit of everything in there. You’ve got two full-body HIIT days. You’re going to focus on your strength the other days. The goal or the outcome is to get lean, sculpt and shred but it’s got a little bit of something for everybody on this one.

Winter is typically bulking season, as the bros call it. We’re putting on a bunch of mass and muscle. When you’re doing that, you’re not concerned about body fat percentage. You’re trying to eat at a calorie surplus to put on muscle. That’s how you’re gaining muscle. You’re lifting heavy. Even for myself, cardio takes more of a backseat. You’re more focused on building mass. I’m going to be putting myself through this style of programming.

When you’re thinking about summer and a get-lean, it’s typical for summer. It’s warm out. It’s hot out. You usually want to carry a little less weight on you. That’s a body recomposition. Let’s drop body weight but preserve the muscle mass that we worked so hard to build. That’s what this program is for. Honestly, it’s great to learn a different method because I don’t think a lot of people are very familiar with German Body Comp training and how it works.

I’ve never heard of it.

It’s a great tool to take with you every year if you want to throw this in and if you’re like, “I want to get a little bit leaner.” You’re going to learn a new strategy to do it.

Is that why you said you do it once a year like it’s something you do more in the summer? Was that hyperbole?

He just did it one time.

It’s a very challenging way of training. It can put your body through a lot of stress. You don’t want to be doing it month after month.

It’s exactly like a divorce.

It’s a one-time thing.

Ultimately, it’s for the best but you want to minimize the number of times that you do it.

That is a very interesting analogy.

We might see people repeat some of the favorites from Tonal over and over again. This is not one you would recommend back-to-back that you keep repeating over and over again.

I wouldn’t do it for months on end. When you’re training phase development like hypertrophy or bodybuilding, you’re going to be in that phase for months. Bodybuilders even train in those phases for a very long period. As you’re developing areas, this almost ramps you up to get lean. You’re training differently. The beauty of this Four-Week Fast Track program is it sets you up for your next phase.

I’ve been training and building mass. I can go into this phase, do a get-lean and then train muscular endurance through the summer. You can do athletic performance and keep this stuff going because as you’re doing this, you’re also training a tempo. That’s one of the ways that German Body Comp works. It’s not just lifting twenty reps or going through quickly.

You’re going at about a 3 to 1. It’s a three-countdown on a centric and then quick on the concentric. Tempo is important. These are slow lifts. You’re building a lot of muscular endurance at the same time. It’s fun to go after this into another muscular endurance program, a lot of work capacity or performance training because your body is going to be primed and ready for that.

I’m curious if you know. What inspired this particular program to be built and put in for the summer? Do you know?

It’s summertime. We all want to be shredded. We’re in bulking season. This is the opposite of that. The clothes are coming off. They’re getting a little bit lighter. Joe is like, “Do you want to be carrying a little bit less?” I’m like, “Yes, including my jacket. I want to be in my crop top.” You put in this hard work during bulking season. It’s time to show it off a little bit.

You can’t hide behind a hoodie anymore.

Put on your T-shirt and tank top.

We all know that it’s hoodie season.

We got a lot of love from the prior Fast Track programming.

I loved that one. I did that and adored it. It was amazing.

Not to speak for you, Joe but for the other coaches as well. We enjoyed it too. I saw the benefits and improvements even in my body by running through the program. We brought it back for the summertime now that we got so much love from it in the first round.

If you’re not familiar with strength training or you’re being introduced to this still, there are a lot of misconceptions out there, myself included when I was getting into fitness and learning about it. You think you have to do an immense amount of cardio to lose body fat, which is a route. We can lose body fat that way for sure but when we’re talking about strength training, preserving muscle mass and at the same time keeping the muscle that you’ve built, you can lose body fat while weightlifting.

It can be a little bit different for people to understand. It’s cool to see how these different methods work in the styles of training. That’s what fascinates me about strength training. You can take the same move but based on tempo, set variations and sequencing, you can get very different results doing the same types of lifts. It’s a cool occasion.

Piggybacking off of what Joe said, if you own a Tonal or you have started strength training, you can see the benefits in how quickly your body can transform and transition with strength training versus simply doing a cardio-based movement. The benefits, the structure, the sculpting and the shaping of the body and the muscles are going to be different. The output of strength and power is different had you been solely doing cardio-based movements. That caloric burn is happening well after you walk away from Tonal. This is a no-brainer. There are four weeks to it.

I’m curious about what Tonal members can expect. They go up. They’re going to be taking this new Fast Track: Sculpt and Shred. They’re like, “Let’s get going.” Are we going to be cursing at you? Is it 30 minutes, 45 minutes or somewhere in between? Give us a little more detail about what we could expect.

The workouts are pretty much 40 to 45 minutes apiece for the most part. When you’re thinking about getting lean, you want high volume, high repetition and stuff like that. The strength days are fun. The first two blocks are broad-based pyramids. You’re doing high-rep schemes. You might start at 10 reps, work up to 15 and work back down. The other strength day is going to be using back-off sets, which is a fun way to train too. You’re building endurance. You’re going 12, 8, 6 and 15. You jump back up to a high volume.

Those HIIT days are when you’re still strength training. We’re thinking we’re jumping around all the time. There are going to be some plyometrics but you’re still strength training. It’s the upper track where we’re using German Body Comp. On the lower body track, you’re using variable-based body comp. It’s the same as German Body Comp but you use tri-sets, which is a lot of fun.

We have different definitions of fun, I believe.

It’s a good time. You go tri-sets. With the lower-body day, you work out 1, 2 and 3 and increase velocity as you go. It would be deadlift, Bulgarian split squat and then jump squats.

That’s the upper track. I did a few upper-body days and I was like, “Here we go.”

To circle back around to Crystal’s question, will we be cussing at you? The answer is you could have said yes and we would have known, “Bulgarian split squats.”

All 4 days and 4 weeks, you’re going to cuss us out.

It’s going to be a good time.

German body comp training is challenging. It can put your body through a lot of stress. You don’t want to be doing it month after month. Share on X

You hear it with love as we intended.

That’s how we receive it.

You’re not hearing it. Hopefully, there’s no way for that to happen. You wouldn’t be doing your job if it was so easy that no one was struggling. You hear it in the way that we intend it. We tease.

The other part to remember is that we are too going through the workout with you. At the moments that you are cussing us out the most, know that we are on the inside smiling but we are also cussing ourselves out. The lateral bench jump is always the one that makes me cuss.

She was complaining about that.

It’s the worst.

Sometimes I have to breathe through it because I’m like, “This one could slip out. This might slip out. I might get angry here.”

What is your least favorite move?

You already know mine.

The lateral bench jump is up there. The Bulgarian split squats are so effective but I feel them so much.

You always feel like your foot is in the wrong spot.

I keep readjusting.

I sit there and adjust over and over again.

They’re super effective but they hurt.

I feel you. It’s true.

I hate anything that involves balance.

That’s what he needs to do and he hates it.

What’s the thing where you have to lift the bar with your throat?

My man is talking about the front squat. He said, “I have to choke my pin.”

In strength training, you can take the same move, but based on tempo, set variations and sequencing, you can get very different results doing the same types of lifts. Share on X

I’m not trying to kink shame anybody but it’s not my jam.

It’s an insecure placement.

That is a testament to this entire workout. You might cuss us out but at the end, you’re like, “It’s so effective.” That’s exactly what the Four-Week Fast Track is. You cuss us out and love us at the end.

Before we move on, we can’t let Joe off the hook. I don’t think he said what his least favorite is. It’s fascinating to hear from coaches who we feel are much further along in the fitness journey.

You make all of it look easy.

What’s the move you dread or like the least?

I don’t dread a move. I don’t like goblet squats. I’m not a fan of goblet squats. I would rather do a rack squat. I want to carry it differently. I don’t like curtsy lunges. I’ve never done them. I don’t put them in. The Tonal move that I don’t like is the Resisted DNS Star. Have you done that one, Tanysha?

I don’t think I’ve seen that one.

That is my favorite move. It feels like you are tapping your head and rubbing your stomach all at the same time.

There’s so much going on.

You’re getting that neuromuscular connection with the body. You’re getting shoulders and obliques. You’re working the hips and inner thighs. It is a one-stop shop.

I feel like a clamshell opening up. It’s not my favorite thing to do.

I don’t know what this move is.

I’ve seen it in the move library but it has not popped up on any of the workouts.

It’s like a side plank with a row and a lunge at the same time. There’s a lot happening.

We added another one I don’t like.

It’s not a fan favorite. I’ll tell you that. It’s up there for most people with Bulgarian split squats. It’s not a jam.

I love Bulgarians for the record. I’m an advocate for the Bulgarian split squat. I’m trying to raise awareness.

We’re aware. It’s not that we don’t know.

That's exactly what the four-week fast track is. You cuss us out and you love us at the end. Share on X

We know them.

It is right up there with lateral bench jumps for me.

I’ve never said the phrase and had someone go, “I don’t know what that is. They instantly start swearing at me.”

That’s fair. I understand.

I like the bicep curls. Those are nice and simple.

Those are great. That’s right to the point. I know what I’m doing. I know what to expect.

You know exactly what it’s doing. Sometimes you’re doing the moves and you’re like, “I don’t know what this one does but I bought this because I don’t know what I’m doing. Who am I to question?”

When people are starting this challenge in June 2023, what advice do you have for them other than to hold on?

Come ready to work but know that it will run on a cadence. There will be days when you will be extremely challenged and then blocks where you will get not necessarily a rest per se but you will have a little bit of reprieve before you crank it back up. Know that we have your back. Honestly, come with an open mind. You’re going to be all right.

You will survive. You will see the light. When entering a program like this, listen to the coaching because how you execute these lifts is incredibly important to get the result. I always say that when you’re training for performance, it’s a different style. When you’re training for hypertrophy, it’s a different way of lifting. When you’re training for endurance, it’s a different style. When you’re doing German Body Comp, it’s a very different style.

Tempo is insanely important for this. It’s not just rushing through reps. You have to think about slow movements, slower than you think. Take your time for the time under tension. You want to match that time cadence with how long you’re working. Be nice, slow and easy with it. Prioritize recovery. We’re doing it four days a week. Sometimes people think, “I could do more. Let me get 5 or 6,” but four days for this is perfect. It is a sweet spot. Recovery is essential.

That’s the one thing that I see with people sometimes when you’re so excited about getting lean and you think it’s about so much work and adding in a ton of cardio. We get into the over-training mode, trying to get a goal. Pace it out. Take four days. Recovery is an essential part of training. Have a lot of fun because there’s a ton of variation in this. It’s a fun way to train.

Less is best sometimes. More is not always more.

That’s a hard concept to wrap your head around, especially when you feel like you have so much ground to make up, especially if you’re relatively new to it. You feel like if you let yourself take a day off, it’s going to become 2 days off or 3 days off.

One of the things that I love that Tonal has added is those recovery days. Even if you wanted to still do a workout, you could still do it in recovery mode or do one of the Tonal recovery workouts.

In both the upper and the lower track, you are going to want the recovery days. With the way the programs are designed, you will want them and need them. When you’re in the movements in some of the blocks, you might feel like, “I could do more. I got more.” By the time you get to about block three, you’re going to notice, “This is exactly where I’m supposed to be.”

Some of the movements and the days will sneak up on you. You’re going to feel a full-body HIIT day right out but you will feel particularly some of the strength days toward the end of the workout and you will be like, “Let me take that day to recover. Let me take a moment. Maybe I’ll take a stretch class or take the full day off and come back ready to hit the ground running tomorrow.” That was the other thing that I found particularly interesting about the programming for this course. Take your time. The movements sneak up on you, particularly on strength training days. As you start, you will feel them at the end.

I try to be an endurance athlete. I try to do things. Is it going to be something that people can continue doing with their other cross-training? If I’m training for something running-wise, will I still be able to get in those running days on my days off from this program?

You could. There are two ways to look at this. This is advice that I always give to folks in this arena. There’s the prescribed way, which is following the science to a T. That would be to follow the four days because we’re getting a specific result following that. However, there is very much a component to training where I enjoy doing certain things. I want to have fun. If that’s a priority to you, you love running and it brings you joy, I will never tell somebody to stop doing it.

How you execute lifts is incredibly important to get the result right. When you're training for performance, it's a different style than when you're training for hypertrophy. Share on X

Pay attention to your fatigue levels because if you’re doing a lot, you’re going to have to pay attention to how much volume and work you’re doing. The only concern with that is to have awareness so you’re not over-training. Your lifts suffer because you’re tired and fatigued. You know your body. If you can get the right amount of food and sleep and recover from the runs properly, go for it. It’s a good time. There’s not wrong with that at all.

You have to listen to your body. For people who are entering the strength training field in phase and they’ve already been doing endurance training, there might be a little bit of time where you have to figure out how your body works with it. There might be an adjustment period for your fatigue levels as you are increasing the amount of output your body is expending. You have to find that level set for yourself based on whatever your additional training methods are.

We are so different.

Why is that? Tom doesn’t want to run.

Yes. She’s like, “From doing these things, can I do all these other things?” Whereas I’m like, “What’s the least amount of effort I can put into this?”

Tom is like, “They said all I had to do was four days and I am done. That is all I will do.”

I love those two styles right there. It’s great. Crystal, like you, I’ve been a certified psychopath with training. I’m like, “Can we do three workouts a day? Let’s run this thing into the ground,” but as I’ve gotten older, Tom, I’ve been like, “What’s the most effective dose?” I got these dogs at home. I’m like, “I want to train for an hour and play with these dogs. Let’s get this out of the way.”

That’s where I am. The sweet spot for me is a 30 to 40-minute workout. That’s where I mentally tap out where I’m like, “I have to do other things.” This is why I also think that this program is perfect because it’s enough to get you warmed up or revved up. Sometimes when it’s a little bit shorter, you’re like, “I was getting going.” This is going to push you where you’re like, “That’s enough. Thank you for that. That was great. I’m going to go on and move on with my day.” It’s a little sweet spot right from 42 to 45 minutes from beginning to end.

That’s the thing. When you’re talking about these Tonal programs, honestly, we’re following the science to a T. We’re following a lot of the programs to where this is the scientifically proven amount of sets and reps per week to see development in an area. When you’re talking about growth in a muscle, it’s between 10 to 20 sets per week for that muscle group to spread out. It’s not that much. That’s for growth and then maintenance. It doesn’t take a lot.

Muscle maintenance is a lot easier than people think. When we’re talking about the minimum, you can go 3 weeks to 4 weeks without lifting weights and not lose muscle mass. Even lifting for 2 to 3 times a week, you’re maintaining. When we’re talking about four days a week for this, that’s the prescribed dose. You know you’re getting a result from this. You’re going to get your body comp reconfigured with this. You don’t have to do above and beyond. It’s a nice perfect prescription.

That’s where the live-smarter play-harder stuff comes in.

That’s where it’s at. It’s smart training.

I didn’t start doing any of this until I was almost 50. I have a lot of recovery days banked.

If you stick to Tonal and do only four days of workouts, you see more gains than trying to do a workout every single day. You’ve even noticed that.

I’m at a different place so it’s easier to let myself “off the hook” by doing four days even though that’s what Tonal says but before, I was like, “I don’t deserve that.”

Honestly, I get that.

This whole program is focused on getting lean in time for summer but people also often mention things like working out for the summer, “I have to get ready for summer.” I’m curious about what each of you thinks about training specifically for the beach or a bikini body. What do you think of that?

It’s BS. I’m in this body 365 days. I need it to look good on all the days. I’m trying to wear a crop top and feel good in this body. People do it all the time. They’ve got a special event at a certain time of the year. This is what their goal and focus is. That’s fine but if we’re talking about a holistic approach to your life, you want to take that same holistic approach to your training. It should be consistent. You should be moving your body consistently.

We have all taken time off. It’s going on. You’re hardcore and working out. You go on vacation. I am one of those people. I do not work out on vacation. I do nothing. I’m vacating all of the things but then you come back to your routine and it feels like day one. If you look at that as far as your programming and training, you are always starting another day one. This is why the consistency is where it’s at. Only getting on Tonal or moving your body with intention at a specific time of the year is a waste of your time.

Recovery is an essential part of training, and so is having a lot of fun. Share on X

You shouldn’t train for a specific event unless you’ve been cast in a Marvel movie.

Someone is giving you millions of dollars to do so.

We’re on the same page here.

That’s enough incentive to get people going.

I have a quick question for you about not working out when you’re on vacation. Is that something you’ve done your whole life? Do you feel like that shifted when working out became your profession? It feels more like at work when you’re on vacation.

At the root, I’m lazy. Something that struck me. I was like, “I want to figure out how to do the least. How do I maintain all of the joint flexibility?”

Tanysha likes her naps.

I like to nap. It’s a religious experience for me. When I moved into fitness full-time, I do it for a little while. You pack the clothes. You’re like, “I’m going away for seven days. I might work out 2 to 3 times.” You pack all your gym outfits and sneakers. They take up space in your suitcase and never get used. It’s like that book that you swear you’re going to read by the pool or the beach. You read five pages and it comes back home filled with sand in the crevices. At this point, I’m a realist with my life. I’m like, “I’m on vacation. If I’m going to run, I can run on the beach.”

Now that you know how to move your body without anything else, you don’t need to pack. If I want to work out, I’m going to work out but I like to try to rest. I try to disconnect from the everyday thing, whatever that everyday thing is. My phone stays in the room. My laptop doesn’t come with me anymore on vacation. It’s seven days of my whole life. I’m going to disconnect how often and how many times. I started to do it a little bit more consistently but I didn’t even pack. I was like, “I’m not even going to play myself and pack any of these things. They’re going to stay home. I’m going to let my body rest.”

You start to realize how important that is. I’ll tell you my perspective on that. The longer you do this, the more you realize that taking a vacation and truly resting is beneficial to the body. I’ve gone through all the evolutions in training. When I first started, I was so excited. I was doing 2 or 3 workouts a day. I was an absolute psychopath when I was young. I was crazy. I was doing all this stuff that you probably shouldn’t do and over-training. I’ve made all the mistakes and I’ve corrected myself.

If you’re thinking about summer bodies and the short term, this is when people get enthusiastic about it but you can also be out of balance. You can take a healthy habit. The gym can become unhealthy when you’re driving yourself into the ground. I don’t like doing things out of fear-based or insecurity reasons. I want to think long-term. It’s consistency over intensity.

If you have a mindset of, “I’m going to be doing this not just for ten years but until I die. This is a ritual that I’m going to do. This is like brushing my teeth,” then what’s the rush? Why do I care about taking a week off? Why do I have to kill myself over this month to get a different body comp? Why do I have to do that? I’m going to be doing this for twelve months. This is another phase that I’m going through. I can spread out, take my time and do this right.

You also learn that muscle needs recovery. From taking that week off on vacation, you build muscle. If you’ve been doing the right things over months on end and years on end, you could not lift for three weeks and you wouldn’t lose any muscle mass. Knowing that, you can be like, “I’ve been working. Let me let my body relax for a second.”

I’m doing that. I’m chilling. I got spa days going on. Throw the hammer down. Believe you and me. We will get back at it but spread it out. If you have a goal for the summer that fires you up, run with that. Keep a healthy balance. Remember to keep it in perspective and be like, “Let’s extrapolate this. Let’s make sure that we’re using this as a jumpstart but I want to do this for years to come.”

The recovery also allows not just the muscles to rest but also repair. You think about how much you’re tearing them apart and working them. It’s like anything else. Sometimes you have to give a reboot. You have to turn that computer off. You can’t put it to sleep. It needs to power down and then reboot back up. It’s how we reset almost everything. We shut it down completely and then restart it. I try to do that with my training, even beyond a vacation. I let this body reboot and start all over again the next week.

We need to put a little asterisk on your teeth-brushing analogy. There are no recovery days for teeth brushing.

You don’t brush a little slower some days?

That is an everyday event. That’s a little public service announcement from your friends at Tonal and the show.

Speaking of all these vacations, what are you looking forward to for the summer of 2023? Eventually, it will be warm.

If you stick to Tonal and do only four days of workouts, you actually see more gains than trying to do a workout every single day. Share on X

I have a lot of friends getting married. Here’s a shout-out to all the love birds. I’m going to Barcelona and Tuscany back-to-back. Those are the big ones for me. It’s going to be a good time.

Joe, how about you?

We have some trips planned and a lot of pool parties. I’m trying to organize Airbnbs with nice pools to get out and take the dogs. I’m all about booking Airbnb experiences with nice pools. That’s what I’m going to be doing. I’m going to be going to Paris in the summer of 2023 for the first time. That will be a lot of fun. I got a trip planned with my girlfriend going to Vermont. My brother is getting married in the summer of 2023 too. There’s a lot to look forward to.

That is lots of weddings for you.

Are you traveling anywhere?

We are going to Disney World.

It will probably be the last time we get to take Brian because he’s graduating but he’s in high school so I’m sure he will still want to go. We love Disney World. In the fall of 2023, we’re going to go on a Disney cruise. Where are we going? I don’t even know what cities we’re going to.

I don’t either. I booked a cruise for the two of us.

This has been so great. Thank you so much for doing this. Is there anything we missed that you want to make sure people know about Sculpt and Shred?

We covered it all. If you are struggling to find a program or something to stick to, the Four-Week Fast Track is a great way to jumpstart. You get to take the thinking out of it. You show up. You’ve got a variety of coaches that are going to motivate you from one day to the next. The programming keeps it interesting. The coaches keep it interesting. It’s four days. You get three days to rest if you need it. It’s a great way to kickstart this new season. Do it. Get to it.

Keep the momentum rolling after this. That’s when fitness and training are done right. “This is a program I’m excited about. It’s going to be 1 to 2 months but you’re not done after that. I learned a lot from this. Let’s carry this thing forward, turn this into a lifestyle and make healthy habits from this.” There’s a lot to learn in this program. What I love about strength training is learning the science behind it so that you can use these as tools and strategies for the rest of your life. You’re going to have a heightened awareness so that when you go through phases in your life, you’re going to be like, “I could use the style of training. This would feel good. This is fun. I enjoy doing this.” Take it in.

I have one question for you, Tom. Crystal, do you know what I’m going to ask?

I do.

Joe, the last time we were together, Tom said that he was going to do Cycle Sync runs. I want to know if he kept his word on that.

Tom is showing his phone. He’s on workout nine.

I won’t do it because I have to work until midnight but I am on workout nine. It’s 43 minutes in full advance.

Let the record stand that Tom is a man of his word.

I have to say also that when he did announce that he was doing this on the show, he got other men to do it as well. Fred Tucker is doing it with Tom.

He is also doing the Cycle Sync Strength. At least two men are taking your Cycle Sync Strength program. How about that?

Getting on Tonal or only moving your body with intention at a specific time of the year is just a waste of your time. Share on X

I started it as well.

Joe, you’re up next.

I’ll do it next time.

She was not expecting that answer.

I honestly wasn’t.

Tom, with the way you were looking down, I was like, “There’s no chance.”

I was pulling up the receipts, Joe, because I knew if I said it, she wouldn’t believe me.

I was like, “There’s no way,” but Tom is a man of his word. Crystal, you snogged a good one. Good job.

I did. It took me a few tries.

What program are you on? What are you working on?

I started the Cycle Sync Strength.

It’s easier to say by the time you’re on week two as someone who’s a little further ahead in the process.

You’re the veteran.

You know how it is at our house.

This is what a feminist looks like, Joe.

The future is female.

You are amazing.

Thank you so much for joining us. Before we let you go, remind everybody where they can find you on the various things that are out there.

I’m on Instagram @TanyshaRenee_. I’m only on Instagram. I’m too old to be on TikTok and all those things.

Instagram is the way to go. It’s my name, @JoeRodonis, on Instagram. That’s where I do most of my postings. We’re very active in the Facebook Tonal community too. We’re always in there popping in and seeing how everybody is doing. I do have a TikTok account. Don’t look at it because I did some things during the pandemic when everybody was involved in that. I did some things that I regret. I haven’t been out there in years.

The gym can become unhealthy where you're just like driving yourself into the ground. Share on X

We’re all going to go.

I was like, “I might get a TikTok account. I need to see what’s happening.”

You’re not going to get canceled, are you? What did you do there?

I was in New York City. I had a Deadpool mask. Some things happened.

That sounds delightful.

I hear, “Don’t look at it. I had a Deadpool mask on.” I’m like, “Did you storm the Capitol? What is happening?”

I freaking hope not, Joe.

It’s nothing like that. I couldn’t leave.

Thank you so much for hanging out with us and giving us all this wonderful advice and tips. We appreciate it.

That was a lot of fun.

Thank you so much. It was so great to be here with you.

It’s great for us too. Thank you.

—

That brings this episode to a close. Until next time. Where can people find you?

People can find me on Facebook at Facebook.com/CrystalDOKeefe. They can also find me on Instagram, Twitter and the Tonal leaderboard, @ClipOutCrystal.

You can find me on Twitter @RogerQBert or on Facebook at Facebook.com/TomOKeefe. You can find the show online at Facebook.com/SupersetPodcast. You can find me on the Tonal if you care under Tom O’Keefe because I’m creative like that. That’s it for this one. Thanks for reading. Until next time. Keep lifting.