My mother has always been good about doing her exercises. But with Parkinson's now in the mix, it's not safe for her to stand on her own. It became very difficult for us to drive her to and from physical therapy and fitness classes three days per week, so we tried out some online classes.
We love the Parkinson's-specific fitness classes that the Wisconsin Parkinson's Foundation posts on YouTube, but we couldn't find a very good setup that allowed my mother to be able to see and hear what was going on on the computer screen while also allowing for enough space to move her arms (and weights) freely without risking damage to the display.
In this setup, I also had to let my mom use my laptop for her workouts, which was challenging when I needed it for work.
Lululemon sent me a Studio Mirror for my mother and me to test out for a few months, and while its focus is on fully able fitness enthusiasts who can take advantage of the company's full-body workouts, I hoped their chair-based exercise routines would work well for my mom. Spoiler alert: The Mirror worked fantastically, and I wound up purchasing an annual subscription so we could continue using it.
About the lululemon Studio Mirror
The lululemon Mirror is a smart home gym that looks just like a full-length mirror. It reflects your movements so you can see yourself, while also watching the instructor on the screen, allowing you to follow their lead.
The device also has built-in speakers, so no additional speakers need to be attached, and you can load the classes in the Mirror app, which is available on both iOS and Android.
Though you can hang the Mirror on the wall (and if you pay for the white glove treatment, the person delivering the device will hang it for you), we opted to just lean it against the wall. We weren't sure if we were going to keep the Mirror, and even if we did, I wasn't sure which room it would work best in.
We had the white glove treatment, but, given that the entire process was only 15 minutes and was very straightforward, I'm confident I could have set it up on my own.
