Vitruvian Magazine Reviews: My Take

I’ve had the Vitruvian for eight months now, using it regularly 3 to 5 times a week. While it’s definitely kept me working out more consistently than ever, I honestly regret buying it. The hardware is solid, but the software experience has been a constant source of frustration with little to no progress or fixes. Simple things like tracking my progress, starting workouts with reasonable recommended weights, adjusting resistance when necessary, and setting up for the next exercise during rest periods have been surprisingly difficult. For example, I recently started a new program where the default weight for deadlifts was set to 50 lbs (100 lbs total), followed by lunges at 100 lbs (200 lbs total). These numbers didn’t make sense, especially since the coach claimed it was 80% of my one-rep max. The machine seems to pull random numbers, probably because I’ve logged various PRs for different deadlift variations, but none of these suggest such low starting weights. Then during a lunge program, it set me at 240 lbs based on one bad attempt where the weights didn’t scale right. I ended up leaving the workout after struggling to hold the handles, but now my lunge PR is locked in at that ridiculous weight. It’s frustrating when I think about features I hoped would have improved by now. For example, I wanted to alternate sets with my wife, start and end sets at the top of a rep, focus on concentric-only lifts for recovery, or track lifting volume more accurately. But none of these things have been addressed, and there’s no indication of when (or if) they will be. Don’t get me wrong, it’s allowed me to do some serious resistance training at home, which is a huge plus, and I don’t regret the idea of investing in a smart gym. But this system feels far from smart. The lack of usable features and fixes has me thinking about just paying for the subscription and logging my workouts manually in a separate app. Overall, while I’ve gotten stronger and more consistent, I can’t help but feel like this system has been way more frustrating than it should have been.