At the Mirror showroom, Kailee set me up with a 15-minute level-three HIIT workout taught by Katie Bergstrom. There was a warmup and three rounds of five different exercises, like burpees and bent-leg v-ups (similar to seated knee tucks), with little rest in between. We ended with a cooldown, and the glow I expected to have was, admittedly, more of a full-on sweat. If I really wanted to, I could have listened to music through my own Spotify account, but the playlist that came on with the workout was enough to keep me motivated. Katie gave more advanced options in case I wanted to up the intensity a bit, and she consistently shouted out words of encouragement and tips on form. The metrics displayed afterwards — how long I was in my target heart rate zone — weren't accurate, Kailee said, because I was wearing an Apple Watch provided by the Mirror showroom staff that was a little too big. But it was exciting to see the feedback potential.
When you're working out, you see yourself, so you're able to properly check your form and make adjustments as needed during each exercise. The trainer is on the screen — and he or she, along with the other workout graphics, takes up about two-thirds of it — but that doesn't interfere with focusing on yourself. To get an idea of how translucent it is, imagine being by the pool and trying to read an ebook on an iPad. You can see both your reflection and the pages, but it's not as distracting as it sounds. In fact, it wasn't distracting at all.
Was Mirror fun to use? Absolutely. Was it better than following along on your TV? Yes, because I was able to take Katie's corrections and accurately apply them. Also, seeing my reflection challenged me to hold myself more accountable. If you enjoy home workouts, have multiple people in your household that would use it, and can comfortably afford to spend the money, you'll want to check it out. A mirror you can do your mascara and tone your badass muscles in front of? Yeah, that's cool.