'The Stealth Core Trainer Made Me Forget I Was Doing An Abs Workout'
I'll be honest: As much as I love a tough HIIT or sweaty Pilates session, I miss the days when physical activity was as simple as playing tag, giggling as friends chased you. Or getting some tennis in with a pal on the Wii (#TBT!).
If this childhood nostalgia speaks to you, then you’ll be thrilled to hear about Stealth, an interactive core trainer that combines fun with fitness. Prop your phone in the center console of the bright yellow platform and you can play games while strengthening your abs—by using your body as the controller. (Did I mention it has nearly 1,400 reviews on Amazon?)
Here's everything you should consider before you get your game on.
What is Stealth—and how do you use it?
Overview
Stealth is a fitness tool that pairs planking with games on your phone. The idea is, you get into a plank with your forearms on the Stealth apparatus (that black and yellow board in the image above!), start one of the games in the app that pairs with the device, and you use your body to move the board around like a controller.
The games encourage you to twist in different ways to add movement and variety to traditional static planks (picture maneuvering your bod to align with and hit a target on-screen) and motivate you to hold the pose as long as possible. Working Stealth in for a few minutes per day gave me an extra head-to-toe mini burn. The more you do it, the stronger you’ll feel in your abs, glutes, triceps, and beyond.
Pricing
You’ll get the board for $199, or $99 when on sale, and it pairs with the free Stealth gaming app. A premium subscription is available, too, for $5/month, which unlocks members-only matches and additional games.
How The Games Work
Stealth games have Endurance or Countdown mode; you either hold a plank as long as possible or set a time goal and work against a timer. The app also incorporates a social aspect, allowing you to compete with friends via a leaderboard and competitions.
The bonus Challenges feature lets you push someone else virtually by sending them a personalized workout of your design. Oh, and you can mingle more in the Stealth Nation Facebook group.
What are the benefits of using the Stealth trainer?
The board is comfortable. The Stealth board features forearm padding, so your arms, wrists, and palms are less likely to ache as you hold your plank position. (Hey, sometimes a hard gym floor or crappy yoga mat makes for a not-so-great workout experience!)
You can work your *entire* core. In general, planks are an effective total-body exercise that engage the core, arms, glutes, legs, and more. Plus, the board bends and rotates 360 degrees so you can target even those tough-to-hit obliques. The board movement also challenges your stability, which allows you to level up your workout (and burn).
You forget you're working out. Hard to believe, but you’ll barely notice the clock (or your firing abs) when you’re focused on fun and scoring points. I loved the GameMix feature, which lets you queue up multiple games to sweat through. I was planking minutes longer than I ever had in my life.
Are there any downsides of Stealth?
The exercises are limited. While Stealth felt fun and novel during my testing period, I also acknowledge that it may get old pretty quickly to only focus on planks. It acts as an add-on core challenge but probably can't replace your typical workouts.
It doesn't factor in form. If you're a well-seasoned exerciser and know your stuff when it comes to planking properly, awesome! But for someone just getting into core work or who is unsure of what good plank form looks like, there's a lot of room for error with Stealth. I suggest watching a YouTube video of a certified trainer first and filming yourself in a plank to spot check your form, or doing a single session with a trainer IRL before diving into plank-based games...and ending up with an injury or muscle imbalance.
It's not cheap. For over $100, you do have to think about the fact that you're not investing in the most practical workout tool (compared to, say, kettlebells, a quality yoga mat, or even a workout app subscription for a couple months). If it's one or the other, you may want to consider expanding your home gym with a more versatile piece of equipment, like a fresh set of dumbbells.
Ultimately, though, Stealth is generally safe to use if you're healthy and injury-free. It may be a fun addition to your home gym if you're looking for a fresh core challenge and are a fan of planking (or if you want to get better at or more consistent with planks in your regimen). If you like having some amount of distraction when you workout to help pass the time, this apparatus may be worth a try.
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