In the first week of the workouts, I had to restart the tablet several times to restart it after the screen freezed while searching for my wifi, but that hasn’t been an issue since the first few days. Otherwise, the tablet is excellent. At 21.5 inches, it’s not big enough to overwhelm you if you take a closer look while riding the bike, but it’s also large enough to use for floor workouts a few feet away. The touchscreen rotates 360 degrees for off-the-bike sessions.
But the star of the show is clearly that exercise bike. It’s a heavy piece of equipment and it feels sturdy, which is a welcome feature when you step on it and start pedaling. There’s no vibrating, no wobble, just a grounded, secure feeling you’d get in that bike at the gym that everyone runs to first – which makes sense, given that you’ll often see rows of Star Trac bikes in commercial gyms. The bike is also nearly silent, which is great for people who live with light sleepers or share walls with troubled neighbors.
Using touchscreen controls on the tablet, I connected the Myx system directly to my Bluetooth earbuds and the included Polar heart rate monitor. For me, every connection was fast and reliable. Bluetooth devices can be fussy (I’ve stood by a trailhead many times and waited impatiently for my earbuds to connect), so it’s great to be ready to ride in seconds.
The trainings
When I entered the database to review Myx’s workouts, my first impression was, “Wow, this is much more than just a bike.” The hundreds of pre-programmed workouts available include four categories: Bike (which includes the traditional spin / cycle type workouts), Floor (workouts with equipment and / or body weight to build strength and endurance), Recovery (yoga, meditation and recovery movements), and Cross-Train (workouts that include a combination of all three).
In each category, there are dozens of workouts in three different difficulty levels, led by coaches who have just the right tone – positive without being saccharin. The pre-recorded training sessions range in time from five minutes to 60 minutes, and they feel like a one-on-one experience. That’s a huge benefit: Myx focuses on positive reinforcement to motivate you, so you won’t find the merit-based leaderboards like those in Peloton workouts or indoor cycling apps like Zwift. There is less of a competitive feeling; it’s more like a really fit friend is cheering you on during a workout.
As a certified trainer (CrossFit L1, L2, USPA Powerlifting, Precision Nutrition L1) with experience programming training and as a gym owner, I am immediately skeptical of any programming I haven’t done myself. But Myx has done its homework: Every workout I’ve done so far has hit that perfect difficulty zone, which takes you to the ‘I can’t do this’ line and reverses it a bit so you can keep going. I’ve left tired and sweaty every workout, but refreshed, rather than ready for a breakfast burrito and a nap, which is my usual state after a tough gym session. I was pleasantly surprised to see next-level CrossFit moves presented in a way that beginners could understand. In fact, I have seen some moves that I have not encountered in my programming experience.