We Talk Ultimate Arms With Coach Ackeem

Last Updated: May 8, 2024By Tags: , , , , ,

The Superset | Ackeem Emmons | Tonal Ultimate Arms

 

  • Tonal had pop-up store in NYC.
  • Win an invitation to the Tonal Studios.
  • There’s an upcoming weekly Q&A’s about Torched.
  • Tonal welcomes a new Event Producer – Megan Wheeler.
  • Don’t miss the Tonal Monthly Apple Watch Challenge.
  • CNN compared the Tonal with Tempo Studio.
  • Coach Ackeem was on the Way Up with Yee podcast.
  • Coach Ackeem was also on the Today Show.
  • Tonal CEO Krystal Zell was on the Fitt Insider podcast.
  • The latest new content!

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Watch the episode here

 

Listen to the podcast here

 

We Talk Ultimate Arms With Coach Ackeem

It’s been a bit.

It’s been a bit. Super excited this week. We’re going to talk to Coach Ackeem.

He’s so awesome.

He’s going to talk about ultimate arms, which I did.

What did you think of it?

What did you think of it?

I really liked it.

You’re the one who sees my arms.

I thought it was a great program not just for you because you’re working on your upper body, but also for me to mix it with my running. I thought that was a really great solution. Runners need to work on lower body too, but not as extreme as other programs. To be able to mix it in with my running I thought was a really great compliment. Your thoughts?

I feel like at the end of the four weeks, I saw noticeable improvements in my arms.

What about when you were sleeping? Did you notice anything?

I was complaining to Crystal that when I sleep at night, sometimes my shirt pinches me in a way if I lay a certain way in a way that it never has previously, and I blame Coach Ackeem.

You blame coach Ackeem for your ultimate arms?

I don’t know that my arms are quite ultimate but I do feel like they are significantly better than they were previously.

I agree with that too. I see it every day. When you’re doing things and you flex, not even when you flex, when you move your arms, I can see.

I’m not walking around the house like flexing. I’m not that guy.

Thank goodness, that’s too much.

I didn’t buy a new batch of tank tops.

For real, there is definite hypertrophy happening so that was very cool program. Coach Ackeem’s just so nice.

He’ll give you all the details on that program how to help you why it works.

Who should do it, who shouldn’t. Spoiler, everyone should do it.

I’m actually doing it again. I finished it and then I did another one a different program and then a two-week program and I circled back around I’m doing it again.

I am currently doing, it has nothing to do with Tonal, nothing to do with Peloton. It’s this @Haley_Fit_Happens or something like that. Haley did a team up with Stacy Sims to put together a hypertrophy program specifically for perimenopausal and menopausal women. I am here for it.

Then you program that into a custom by Tonal.

It’s so wonderful having the ability to put custom workouts into Tonal because I can easily program exactly what they’re asking me to do but Tonal already knows my weights, and then I can easily move it up or down if it’s too easy or too late because the whole idea is to lift really heavy. It is so easy to manipulate. I see other women doing it with free weights and stuff at home. There’s nothing wrong with free weights, I am not knocking them, but I am so grateful.

That you just don’t have to have the notepad and have all these weights laying around.

Not only that but it’s also so much easier to increase my weights. Just this morning, I was doing the lap pull down with the barbell and it’s a seated one, and it upped my weight by two pounds and I was in the middle of three sets. On the second set, it upped it. if I was doing that by myself, I would never have increased that that day. I’d be like, “This is what I’m doing today.”

You probably would have done it again next time.

I probably would have because I would’ve been like, “I don’t know if I can add five pounds. I’m not sure.” That’s what I love about Tonal.

What pray tell do you have in store for people this week?

We’re going to talk about the newest program that just popped out the Four-Week Fast Track. We’re also going to be talking about how you can see where Tonal had their pop-up store in New York City, and you can win an invite to the Tonal Studios coming up. In June, there’s also a bunch of Q&As that are going to be coming up about the new program and just some other details that are going on over at Tonal.

Before we get to all those shameless plugs, don’t forget we’re available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, TuneIn, wherever you find a podcast, you can find us. While you’re there, maybe leave us a review and a rating, super helpful. You can also watch these episodes over on YouTube and find us on Facebook at Facebook.com/supersetpodcast. While you’re there, like the page and join the group, do all the things. There’s all that. Let’s dig in, shall we?

We shall.

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Tonal had a pop-up store in NYC?

They did, and they had all kinds of people come in check out the Tonal, meet some coaches, meet some people. It looked like a lot of fun. I’m really jealous that I missed it. That would have been lots of fun. They even had signature cocktails. I am a sucker for a signature cocktail.

What do we know? Do we have any names of the signature cocktail?

The picture goes by so fast. I don’t know.

I was wanting to know what they were coming up with.

I don’t know. I feel like it’s some play on like total strength or something like that though.

I’m not enough of a drinker to have mixed drinks in my head.

I am so not that person.

To make puns about them.

I missed it. I was listening to you instead of looking at the board. It’s a split-second video. It goes real fast.

They’re also giving away an invite to the Tonal Studios, the actual Tonal Studios, not a pop-up store.

Correct. It has to do with this newest Four-Week Fast Track. You have to do some things to be able to enter the contest, but then once you do that and you enter the contest, you have a chance to actually come in and visit the studio on June 3rd. How cool is that?

It’s not a trip. You don’t get a flight or lodging or anything. If you’re within driving distance, you can get there easily. I will say if you’re going to do that, they want a picture so have a picture ready of you in front of your Tonal.

Get your picture ready.

Because I was going through trying to enter today, I was like, “I don’t have any pictures.”

You don’t have any pictures?

Not of me with Tonal, I don’t really do that.

I do. You should have just asked.

I was just like, “I’ll come back to it.”

I could have just sent it over to you real fast, “There you go. Here’s my favorite.”

The latest Fast Track Program is called Torched.

It is, yeah, kicking off spring with German body composition. We’ve talked to several of the instructors at this point and we know that is the kind of workout that you do to really get a good ass kicking. This Torched Program has two levels, and both of them involve a total of all the coaches. There’s a beginner and then there’s intermediate/advanced. Those are the two different tracks. Either way, both of them are built so that you are going to reduce fat and build lean muscle mass, a great way to kick off spring as we start to head into summer. This is when people really want to look great for the beach.

Yeah, for sure. Clock’s ticking.

Really, you should be started by now. Hopefully you were doing some things before May.

It’s funny, you know how people talk about the media you consume, you have to be careful because it can affect how you perceive things. I experienced that with Torched in terms of I was seeing your notes on it and it said German body composition. We’ve talked about this on The Clip Out is I’m a very slow reader, and I’ve been reading The Winds of War, which is a very long book, and I’m a very slow reader. My Kindle estimated time was 48 hours. I’m slow. It’s also long, but I’m slow. I saw German body composition, I was like, “Oh, Germans.”

Because you’re in World War II.

Because I’m reading this book about World War II. I was like, “That was 75 years ago. I think things have settled down. Everything’s okay now.” I don’t have to have a visceral reaction to Germans. It’s not 1941. My apologies to our German listeners. I’m working on my cultural biases trying to get them up at least to the mid-‘70s.

That’s good. There are all kinds of new stuff to hate these days.

They also have a whole series of Q&As coming up about Torched if you have questions.

They do, and each week for the next three weeks, there’s going to be a Q&A session. You can find them over in the Official Tonal Community Facebook Live. What they’re going to do is team up a couple of different coaches for each one. They’ll answer all the questions from the community, give great advice. This one’s got some nutrition suggestions built in as well. They’ve already released some overnight oats and people have been posting all over the Official Tonal Community how much they’re enjoying their overnight oats.

Also, Tonal is welcoming a new event producer, Megan Wheeler.

There was a really nice post about Megan and her background and showing her with fancy cameras.

Emmy-nominated, Megan Wheeler.

She’s a big deal.

I would legally change my name to Emmy-nominated if that happened.

I can understand that. Yeah, that’s pretty cool. You should probably lead with that. You know how some doctors put every single one of their certifications in their signature. They should probably get like a little footer for Emmy nominees.

I bet they do. The little guy in front and back. That’s tonal, but now she can do both.

She can put the little guy front and back. Congrats to Megan.

Don’t forget that there is a Tonal Monthly Apple Watch Challenge.

Yeah, but these are new. That’s why I included it.

Now that I’ve told you, don’t forget. I don’t have an Apple Watch. I don’t have Apple. We’re a mixed marriage.

I’ll be honest, I don’t even like the Apple Watch Challenges unless they’re solo events. When people make them team events, it makes me angry because here’s why. People cheat. There are all these people that if you’re on a team where you have several people because you can have four people on a team. If you have a team and you have a bunch of people who will do the thing where they put their wristband on their leg while they’re biking, put it on a ceiling fan. When it’s solo, I feel like there’s less of that, because I’m there are still some people that do it for sure, obviously. You don’t have the group think situation happening and people wouldn’t suggest it to each other necessarily. Apple Watch challenge, at least it gives you something fun to look at on your watch to be like, “How did I do compared to everybody else?” That’s nice.

CNN had an article comparing the Tonal with the Tempo Studio.

It just came out this week, and I was shocked to find people were still buying the Tempo. I was like, “What? Really?”

I honestly looked at the date on the article because I was like, “Are they still in business?”

Not to be mean to Tempo. I just haven’t heard anything about them in years.

We’re not trying to be douchey to them. They’re not Echelon.

Wrong podcast.

They had a very lengthy article and they had nice things to say about both products.

Tonal is very nimble. Nothing is set in stone. Share on X

I actually thought it was a really good breakdown.

I did too. I actually read more of this than you probably would suspect. I’m not always the best at reading articles.

You read everything I send.

I don’t read all the articles. For instance, I subscribe to Playboy for the dirty pictures.

That was nice of you to admit, not for the articles.

There were articles.

Do people still subscribe to Playboy magazine, or is it just all online? I don’t even know.

I have no clue.

I have to ask my dad.

I know there was a period where they had a female editor for the first time ever. They got rid of nudity in the magazine and they were going to try to position themselves as more like a Maxim. Maxim ended up beating Playboy at its own game because they had scantily clad ladies, but they were clothed. They could sell on magazine racks and places that Playboy could not. Then they had their edgy toxic masculinity articles.

What’s porn without toxic masculinity?

I think that crashed and burned, and they went back. Honestly, I don’t know if they still actually make a physical magazine. I have no clue. You’ll be glad to know that’s my wife.

I guess we’re seeing my dad next weekend. I’ll have to ask him.

That’ll be a fun conversation. Anyway, back to Tonal versus Tempo Studio. That took a turn. They liked them both but they definitely thought Tonal was better, that it was easier to use, that it had a smaller footprint, that its instructions were better. Really the only thing that they dinged it for was just that they’re like, “Look, this is not an inexpensive item.”

It is a premium product and it is a premium price, but it also replaces your gym for 90% of people. I think that’s important too because like we started off the top of the show talking about like I would not be able to participate in that program at all that I wanted to try if it weren’t for the fact that I didn’t have Tonal and I could create a custom workout. I would have to go to a gym. I don’t have all those weights. I would not lift heavy enough. I would be having 8 and 10-pound weights, maybe 15. I wouldn’t have enough to like today, I was lifting a 40-pound kettlebell. I wouldn’t have been able to do that before Tonal. I mean 40-pound goblet squat. I wouldn’t have been able to do that before Tonal, so that’s pretty cool.

Coach Ackeem has really been making the rounds. Not only did he do this show.

He started there. I’m just saying.

He was also on the Way Up With Yee Podcast, and he was on the Today Show.

I believe that’s his second appearance on the Today Show. He did one six months ago. It might have even been longer. Time has never been quite right in my head since the pandemic, so I don’t know how long ago it was. I feel like it was six to eight months ago. Now, he was back and did another program with them. That’s pretty cool.

It’s great to see the Tonal coaches starting to get out there and make waves in the big mainstream media stuff. Not to be outdone, but Tonal CEO, Krystal Zell, was on the Fitt Insider Podcast. Somebody wasn’t thinking when they named that show.

Or they were.

I don’t think that’s what they were going for though.

Probably not.

Anyway, that’s FITT, with two T’s if you’re looking for it.

This is episode 232. It gives a lot of history on Tonal but also forward-looking of where Tonal is headed. Basically, they’re here to stay, that kind of thing.

That’s good because we like it.

Tom is like, “Please don’t take away my Tonal.”

That’s the only exercise I’ve ever done.

I know, I’m very well-aware.

I don’t know what I would do.

I am like, I will be your champion forever. Please keep the Tonal content coming forever. That would be great.

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As always, there are all sorts of new content for people to consume.

There is, yeah. A new program came out a couple weeks ago, Ultimate Chest. They’ve been releasing these custom contents for each body part. At some point, we’re getting that ultimate legs. Crush your fingers, be prepared, prepare yourself.

I can’t even imagine. The arms was a lot, and so to do that to the legs.

This one is with Coach Joe. It’s all about a specialized hypertrophy program for the chest. Honestly, I’ve no interest in doing this one. The guys can have it. I want nothing to do with it. I don’t know, all the pushing and everything, I hate push-ups, and obviously that’s what I need to be doing. I hate shoulders and I hate chest, and obviously that’s what I need to be doing.

Especially like as you age.

You don’t want to get all sunken. What was that movie that the girls were in, and they were like, “We must, we must, we must increase our bust.”

It was the Judy Blume one, Are You There, God? It’s me, Margaret? Which is a really cute movie. Also, you have bench press prep.

More chest, but this one is only 15 minutes. It’s with Coach Tanisha. This is specific to bench press, but it’s also a warm-up, so 15 minutes of warm-up and then you take that just before ultimate chest. Boom, perfect.

That seems like a lot though. You’re someone that doesn’t want to do it. You’re all good at writing prescriptions for other people.

I am. I know what I should do.

Here we go. Easy lower body stretch.

Yeah, but it’s Coach Tanisha, so is it easy?

I don’t know. It says easy right in the title. She wouldn’t lie to us.

Did she title it?

Are you calling Coach Tanisha a liar? Is it like when journalists write articles. They write the articles, but not the headlines. I didn’t realize that. Tonal will be getting an ombudsman.

I don’t know. That’s a good question. This is a great stretch in all seriousness if you have some sore legs. You might want to keep this one on the save for when they do release ultimate legs. Just keep it handy. I think you’re going to need it.

That’s a good idea. Then we also have Rotational Recovery.

This is great because it’s all levels and it’s full body. This is for anybody who maybe play baseball or softball, tennis, golf, any of those that you want to keep your core stability. It’s also good for runners by the way because you really need a strong core. If you want to rotate without any restrictions, this is the class for you.

We’re spreading the love, but at the end of the day, the main focus is going to be bis and tris. Share on X

That’s with Coach Kristina Centenari, which I love her last name. It sounds like a planet in a sci-fi movie. She is also doing hip mobility warm-up, which I think I’m more of like a nerdy mobility warm-up.

That’s true. You are. Although at least you do warm-ups. You never do after stretches.

I just want to be done.

I know, you just hit done. This is another good one for runners, hip mobility warm-up, because you want to get things moving before you start running. You want to have all the things activated, but you can also use this for any workout that’s going to use your lower body.

Back to bench press stuff. Just in time for bench press prep, there’s bench press recovery.

This sounds exactly like what I would want, 14 minutes of recovery.

For the bench presses you won’t be doing.

I think I should just start there.

I don’t know that you can recover from something you haven’t done.

Maybe it’ll get me prepped.

That’s what prep is for. That’s what bench press prep is for. You’re going to end up doing the prep and the recovery and never actually doing a bench press.

I’m not going to do the bench press. Not going to do it.

It’s like gluten-free food. It’s gluten-free Tonal. You do the bench press prep and you do the bench press recovery, but you never actually do a bench press. I got it all figured out.

I’m okay with it.

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Joining us once again is Coach Ackeem.

What’s up? Fantastic. It’s so much better now. It’s good to see you guys again. Thank you for having me.

Always so positive. It’s so nice. I love it.

What she’s saying is it’s a refreshing change from who she normally talks to.

The super genius in the room.

We’re going to talk about Tonal.

Let’s talk about Tonal. Those guys are pretty good.

They are and you are one of those guys. I want to talk about this four-week program that you have, Ultimate Arms. Tell us about the series and what inspired it.

What I would say about Tonal is that they’re very nimble. When I say they’re very nimble, it’s like nothing is set in stone. Nothing is set in concrete. People have been asking for something super specific like, “I want something on my chest. I want something on my arms.” We’ll service them by doing a one-off but we all know that you can’t do a one-and-done.

If you’re going to apply to anything, whatever it is that you may be doing, it takes a certain amount of time and effort. Now we came up with the concept of this ultimate series. This is one series of the many in the collection, but we’ll cross that bridge on another day. Now, we’re opening up the floodgates with Ultimate Arms. It is a full-week program that you will be training for four days a week. It goes on, on, off, on, on.

To everyone tuning in, you cannot train your arms every day because then you will be useless for everything else in life. You can’t put on your hoodie if you cannot use your arms. The magic is in the programming. With that being said, we bookend it with a bis and tris workout. On day one, you’re doing bis and tris. On day four, you’re doing bis and tris. “Coach, what do we do in between?” I got you. We have a full-body push and then a full-body pull. We reiterate.

We have bis and tris, full-body push, full-body pull, and then bis and tris. We mix in full-body on the days in between, but you still get an opportunity not to strain your arms not just once, but twice for the week. That’s where it gets to the ultimate end. If you pull it back and look at all the movements and exercises, you are training your bis and tris every day, but on the days in between, it’s not as much. Therefore, it’s sustainable for the entire four weeks.

It also means that you want to work just your arms, but you can still get a full-body workout from it. You’re not neglecting the legs. You’re not neglecting the core. That’s important.

I didn’t want to say that because a lot of guys are going to drop out.

I know. Leg day is important. It’s so important.

It is. We’re spreading the love, but at the end of the day, the main focus is going to be bis and tris. That’s the madness in this program.

You’re luring them in with the arm stuff and then you’re like, “While you’re here, you can’t work your arms anyway.”

That’s why you’re the super genius, Tom. You freaking get it.

It’s funny though that you say that because when we saw it pop up on upcoming classes, we were talking about it on an episode that came out. We were discussing it off-air. I was like, “I think I’ll do that one,” then not knowing anything about how it was structured, I was like, “You can’t do your arms five days a week. In between, I’ll just find a one-off leg day or something so I don’t ignore my legs for a month.”

They already took care of it for you.

You’re one step ahead of me.

We’re five steps ahead of you. We got ultimate something else and the ultimate. I didn’t want to ruin it. We got it all done for you. What I do love is you are thinking about it from a holistic point of view. I know, Crystal, you wanted to do the marathon. You know that you’re going to run every single day. There is such a thing as overtraining. Tom, you know us. We need everything up here to look good, but you understand the rest of it matters as well. I have to give you your flowers and kudos for taking into consideration, “I’ll do Ultimate Arms, but I got to do that one off in the legs. I got to focus on other things as well.” I got to give it to you.

That’s one of the things that Tonal, especially doing programs, helps me the most with because it would be so easy. We keep ours in the basement. We go downstairs and do arm stuff and call it a day and call it a workout. Because there’s a program, I don’t like to think about this stuff. I go down and I do whatever it tells me to do. If it’s a leg day, I’m like, “Son of a..,” but I do it. I have never skipped a leg day.

In this particular program, you have drop sets. What’s a myo-rep set? What is that?

The simplest way for me to describe drop sets and myo-reps is you’re leaving everything on the table. You’re doing that exact exercise but as you progress, you are going to decrease some of the load. How many times have you probably done exercise and had to do 10 reps, but you feel like you got 2 or 3 more in you?

You’re leaving a little bit there, but when you’re doing a drop set or myo reps, you’re going to be doing like 3 to 5 sets back to back to back. Tonal is so intuitive that you don’t have to think about the weight. We are going to drop the weight for you so you can go ahead and complete the amount of reps within that period of time. With the drop sets and the myo-reps, that’s what you’re going to find. You’re doing that same movement back to back to back. You might be at maybe 40% of your max and be like, “Why does this 10 counts feel like 100?” That’s the magic of it. You’re going to find those on day one and day four on those bis and tris days.

Ultimate Arms

Ultimate Arms, what kind of person is this program for? Is this for anybody?

We have it labeled as advanced. It’s like proceeding with caution. Four days out of seven can be a lot. The beautiful thing about Tonal is that you do the benchmark workout. You train for a significant period of time. We’re tracking all of the data. Depending on whatever workout or whatever movement, we’re going to supply you with the prescribed weight.

Even though it’s labeled as advanced, even if a beginner was to try this program. We’re not going to put 100 pounds in your hands and do 50,000 burpees. It’s going to be all relative. It is labeled as advanced, but I do think that this is for everyone. I also think it’s a great lesson to learn your body. How does your body respond to training your bis and tris twice a week? Are you seeing faster results? Do you feel like you have the muscle endurance or the wherewithal to do this?

You may be an amateur or a beginner and undersell yourself like, “I can only train twice a week.” So you think. You might be able to do even more. It’s great for advance and an opportunity for beginners or intermediate to try it out as well. The beautiful thing about Tonal is that you don’t have to think about the program and the weight. We got you.

Based on what you said earlier, it doesn’t sound like you need to worry about adding anything to this like any weights.

I do think that’s a beautiful thing about this. I always say I haven’t invented the push-up. People have been working out for a very long time. These programs have been here for a very long time. We are meeting them halfway with the technology, the science, and the accessibility for everyone. With that being said, although the focus of the lore is your bis and your tris and the Ultimate Arms, you’re going to get some core work and some lower body work. You’re going to be working on whether it’s your chest on the push days or your pull on the back days. Every muscle in your body is going to get some love within this program. You’ll see that over the full weeks.

Tom, do you have any questions about this program? I want to switch gears a little bit.

I’m good, but it is next on my list. I know it doesn’t come out until March 1st. As you can tell, it’s on my list because I even know the day it comes out and I never know that stuff.

I will say this before we tie it up with a bow. A big takeaway from the Ultimate Arm Series aside from it being four weeks and four days, and we got the structure, a big takeaway, in general, like good rules of practice, is we will be focusing on form and technique. For those who are tuning in, I’m going to try to explain this without using my body.

The beautiful thing about Tonal is that you don’t have to think about the program and the weight. We got you. Share on X

Oftentimes, when you see a client or someone doing curls, they’re curling with their entire body. They build momentum from their hips. They’re bringing their elbows all the way up. You’re eliminating the tension on your biceps. Form and technique are sometimes the biggest obstacles for people when it comes to any part of their bodies. We’re going to have a big focus on that.

The second thing is rest periods. You may want to focus on your legs, but in between sets, you’re on your phone. It’s 2 to 3 minutes in between every set that you’re doing. You can check the list of the movements that you’ve done, but the rest period is a major factor. You need to keep the tension on those muscles to increase your strength and endurance.

The last thing is volume. For those that are tuning in, do you like the big weights? Do you like the 3 to 5 reps? Sometimes you need more volume to create that tension and build strength and endurance. These are things that you’re going to find in the program. These are rhyme or reason that you can apply to any Ultimate Series that we may have in the future or your general training protocols. You have form, rest period, and volume. That’s all I’m going to say about Ultimate Arms. It’s a great program. Tap in on March 1st, as you heard it for my guy, Tom. Let’s do it.

I’m excited. I can’t wait to see this.

She’s excited for my arms to get bigger.

He’s been working on volume and the triceps and biceps. There’s even more growth than the last time we talked. I’m very impressed.

The modest hoodie.

The only thing I have left that fits.

Training With Neil Patrick Harris

Stop. I do want to go back in time though because I heard that you got to train with Neil Patrick Harris for his 50th birthday. I need to know all about it. We are huge Neil Patrick fans. Tell us everything.

I got you. He smelled amazing.

He looks like he would.

He loves Reese’s Pieces. That’s one thing I learned about him. He even was training in an orange shirt. I was like, “You’re taking this to heart.” If you didn’t know who he was or knew his work, you wouldn’t know he was a celebrity. He was super down to earth. He has a great personality and genuinely loves Tonal. It was a surprise because his partner set up 50 individual gifts leading up to his 50th birthday, 50 of his favorite things, and Tonal happened to be one of them.

Imagine waking up and he’s like, “Meet me in Montana at 11:00. We’re going to do this thing.” He shows up. The last thing I wanted to do for a surprise was workout, but he was so excited. He was like, “There’s a Tonal? Let’s do it.” I was like, “Oh my God, dude.” They were there. We dove into the session. I knew he was coming, so I did a customized full-body workout for him. We had the music blasting and had a great time.

I used to be in the restaurant industry. I used to get people fat and drunk. Now I make them skinny and miserable, but he was having a great time the entire time. It was a whole lot of fun. We had balloons. We had confetti and the whole stuff. It was a great celebration. He’s down the earth. There was a lot of fun. He loves Reese’s Pieces. We were organically one of the top 50 things that he loved to do, and he got to workout with one of the coaches. We had a great time. We took all the pictures and the videos. It was a big deal for me and a great opportunity. It was a lot of fun for him.

That’s so cool. When you say you made a custom workout for him, how do you make a custom workout? Were you like, “What are your favorite moves” or ask his partner? What does that mean?

If you do ask any questions, the first one is injury. Are there any obstacles? From there, you can go ahead and frame it out. We can safely say that most workouts or training isn’t your favorite thing to do. It’s my job to make it fun, so that’s the challenge and why where I am now. The biggest thing was like, “Does he have any injuries?”

He loves to train. He loves to workout. That’s how he stays young and stays fit. He trains regularly. The injuries were at a minimum. At that point in time, if it is a full-body workout, we only have so much time. We want to have a lot of compound exercises, throwing a little bit of core, and a few little bodyweight exercises.

When you are a coach or a trainer, every workout or program feels like you’re making art. It’s like you’re cooking your favorite recipe. There are so many ways to make that thing. I’m doing that don’t-stop sauce and it was a good time. I’m not asking what your favorite exercises are because then it’s probably the expectation or then it turns int you go to the restaurant and you’re telling them how to make the food.

That’s what I was wondering. Are you going to be like, “We’re going to do all of your favorite workouts?” Did you make him do Bulgarian split squats?

No, I like him. He’s a nice guy.

This is a revelatory moment. As a coach, you acknowledge that’s a form of punishment.

One thousand percent. Don’t ask Joe because he’s going to say, “They’re great.” There’s something wrong with him, but those who could read the room know that Bulgarian split squats, although they’re necessary, are not our favorites, but they’re growing on me.

Joe is still pushing propaganda words. Tell us the truth.

I’m here to tell the truth to you. It’s a no.

Those internal rotation Bulgarian split squats is a next-level torture.

Shout out to Coach Tim. Sometimes I take the other coaches’ classes. One time, I’m cursing them out on rep 3 or 4. He whispers to me like, “It’s okay if you want to grab the Tonal to assist you with this.” I’m like, “Tim, thank you.” These are all the things that we need to make us better and feel better, and traveling and all planes of motion because life happens. It’s not just up and down or straightforward. Although we hate it, we need to do it. That’s why you shouldn’t ask anybody what their favorite exercises are. They’ll be a detriment to themselves.

My favorite is the last one.

No matter what it is, it’s the last one. I’m going to go in a different direction. I want the first one. I’m game. Whatever you throw at me at the beginning, it’s alright.

Just so you know, watching it, you guys are always fresh and happy when you’re working out along with us. You make it look easy.

I’m going to give you a hot take right now. They may fire me and that’s okay. There are a few times, block 3 or 4 coming down to the end, and I’m saying, “What’s the worst that could happen if I walk away right now?” I was hoping we could cut to commercial. I’m sure the people will understand, but that thought crosses my mind at least once a week. We’re happy. We’re providing the energy for both but hot take and tell you the truth.

Guesting At Today’s Show

While we’re talking about amazing experiences, you also got to drop in on the Today’s Show. How did that come about?

Organic exposure and an opportunity that we cannot say no to. We’re trying to further the reach and let people know about this huge tablet on the wall with 200 pounds of resistance, which is Tonal. They call and we’re going to say yes. I have to give them a lot of credit. Being behind the scenes, it’s a 3 to 4-hour show.

When you think about that and all of the segments, all of these things running around in the studio, it’s hard to make breakfast sometimes. Watching them do all of this like a master of the craft, it was cool to be behind the scenes. When I was on the Today’s Show and right before we got on, I got to give a special shout-out, first of all, to Al Roker because we all know he had troubles with his health. Bleeding up to it, they were like, “Ackeem, we love you. We know you. Don’t kill out. This is not going to be a good look for the company. We know it. You’ve seen it. Don’t be Ackeem.”

You can’t be a ten.

One of the movements was the quick feet. You bend your knees 90 degrees. It looks like a football. You move your feet as fast as you can. They’re like, “We don’t know about this. They have mats. Put it on the floor.” I’m like, “Al can do it.” Shout out to Al because not only was his energy on a thousand but did all of the exercises. He had great energy before, during, and after. Al was cool. Before, I think her name was Chanel Jones, she had on high heels.

They’re doing a countdown like, “Getting started in 30 seconds.” They make our way over to me and I look at her. She looked at me and I said, “Are you going to wear those heels?” She said, “Do you want me to take my heels off?” I said, “You better take your heels off.” She said, “I’m taking my heels off.” She kicked it off. Now we’re a t-minus fifteen seconds. She did a fantastic job and it was a whole lot of fun.

The time went by like this. We’re building up to it. It’s Today’s Show. It’s live. Do not mess this up, but everything went without a hitch. It was one for the books and it was a good time. It was all bodyweight exercise, but we’re representing Tonal and the importance of training, and mission accomplished. We did it. It was a lot of fun.

That’s awesome. Huge congrats to have those amazing opportunities. That’s great.

It is. It was very fortunate.

We’re on a roll here with all your amazing experiences. You finished up the January challenge and then you had the Tonal in studio. You had all the actual members there. What was it like having real-life interaction with people?

To wrap it up in one word, I have to say special. When we’re on stage, it’s just the camera crew. No music, bright lights, and a mic. That’s it. Now we’re exerting all of this energy. We’re talking about these. We’re giving and not knowing exactly how it’s being received, not knowing the feedback in real-time, but you have to be proficient at what could be happening on the opposite side.

I had my one-year anniversary. We’ve been doing this consistently for quite some time. You may get DMs and messages but it’s different to have Jeff in front of your face saying, “How much coffee are you drinking before you start because it’s insane?” It’s a different feedback. Getting to see the impact that you have on these people’s lives on a daily and consistent basis to get that feedback was reaffirming. It’s special because, in this empty room, we’re connecting with people. Not only connecting but motivating them and inspiring them to do this thing that could suck sometimes.

We’re essentially in it together, ironically enough. Seeing them in person, they look a lot bigger in person. The icons are so small on the screen. It’s meeting your pen pal for the first time. You’ve been exchanging and connecting for a long period of time, then now we’re both in the same room for the first time. It’s not like we’re meeting. We’re physically meeting but we know each other. It was cool and special. We got to do that again.

I hope you do and I hope you invite everybody. I’m saying. I wouldn’t mind meeting you guys in person. It’s okay.

Shameless plug. We do have a community on Facebook, the OTC, the Official Tonal Community, where you can put your name in the hat. We make the draw and try to invite as many people as we can

On that note, having those experiences, especially the one where you got to meet the community members in person, has that changed how you’ve fostered community online since that is most of what you guys do?

Has it changed? Yes. I think that if my insight or perspective was at 8 before, it’s now elevated to a 12. I didn’t know that we were that connected. I didn’t know we were making that much of an impact. I didn’t know we were that tied to each other. It was always there. I understand this as far as exchanging messages on the platform, as far as coaching somebody on a question, or celebrating a victory. That’s so well and good.

If you think it impacts at an 8, know that it goes far above that. When you think it’s another day at the office, today might be the day when you might shift someone’s entire perspective or relationship with training. I don’t take a class for granted. I don’t take them for granted. I don’t take this job for granted. We’re in a room together but we’re not even doing it. We are connected in this new time.

I know that technology gets a bad rap like, “It’s so different,” and everyone is distracted. They’re not going anywhere, and what are the pros? I’m very optimistic about it all. My gratitude level is at an all-time high and understand that my input and what we do doesn’t go unnoticed. It’s a beautiful opportunity that we shouldn’t take for granted and therefore, I don’t. It has changed. It’s made me increase my love meter that’s a 10.

When you are a coach or a trainer, every workout or program feels like you’re making art. Share on X

That’s beautiful. I love that.

Ackeem, thank you so much for taking time out of your day. Before we let you go, remind everybody where they can continue to connect with you when they’re off Tonal.

My name is Ackeem. You can find me on Instagram and the Tonal platform. Google me and I’ll pop up. I’m a crazy guy with a big old smile, ready to make you love to do the thing that you probably don’t like to do.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, guys. It’s always a pleasure. Congratulations to you guys for all your growth, all of your insight, and all the way that you guys do. It started from an idea and a concept. It’s beautiful to see it blossom into what it is now.

Right back at you. Love seeing your growth. That’s amazing.

Thank you.

—

I guess 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 find me on all the socials 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. While you’re there, like the page, join the group. That’s it for this one. Thanks for tuning in and until next time, keep lifting.

 

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