Speediance Partner Custom Workouts Are Finally Here

Hello and welcome back to Toby on Fitness Tech. Today I've got a huge announcement to share about my Speediance setup, and honestly, I'm still a little stunned at how it rolled out. The new Speediance partner custom workout update is a massive improvement over the previous solo-only system, offering significantly better household utility for couples, despite a slight regression in the user interface. After asking for this feature for the entire time I've owned the two devices, Speediance finally delivered—and they did it in a quiet, no-fanfare version update. No press release, no PR push, no announcement. Just a software update that changed everything about how I train at home with my wife.

The Feature I've Been Waiting For

What I'm talking about is partner custom workouts. If you've followed my channel, you know I've been hammering on this one for a long time. Speediance already had partner workouts baked into the regular library. You could pick a guided session, both hop on, and train together. But the moment you went into a custom workout—especially anything AI-generated—that option disappeared. Solo only. And given that the AI workouts literally show a family working out in their marketing, the absence of a partner option in those very workouts was, frankly, baffling. Until now, the system forced users into an either/or choice: follow your personal structured plan alone, or follow a generic library plan together. This update removes that friction entirely.

How It Actually Works

The new feature works exactly the way I always imagined it would. You open one of your custom workouts, tap into it, and now you have a choice: solo or partner. Tap partner, and the device lets you add another logged-in user. That's it. Boom. You now have partner custom workouts. For those wondering how to choose between the two modes: the solo mode remains the fastest way to get through a session if you are short on time, while the partner mode is now the definitive choice for those who want to maintain the accountability of a shared session without sacrificing their personalized progression data.

The best part? It's not locked behind any paywall. Earlier in the year, when I was lobbying for this feature, I actually floated the idea to Speediance that they could gate it behind their AI subscription just to give that product more pull. I'm really glad they didn't. Here's why: if partner workouts only worked inside the AI-driven flows, the system would have to merge the goals, weights, and progression of two different people. That would be a wildly complicated engineering problem. Instead, the team just put the button there and let people decide what they want to do. Simple. Smart.

And—critically—the feature isn't limited to user-built custom workouts. If you subscribe to the AI system, you can now drop into an AI-generated session as a pair too. So if your partner wants to follow your AI plan alongside you, there's no reason they can't anymore. That's a massive improvement for consistency and household adoption.

Why This Is a Big Deal

In my opinion, this is probably the biggest improvement to the Speediance ecosystem since I bought my units. Not because the hardware changed. Not because some revolutionary new exercise got added. But because it actually changes how the device fits into a household. A home gym isn't really a "home gym" if only one person uses it. The moment you can both train at the same time on the same plan, the value proposition doubles. And when you can do it on a custom plan that you've tailored to your own goals? That's the unlock.

For me and my wife specifically, this changes the calculus on days when one of us wants to push a heavy session and the other wants a lighter volume day. Before, we'd either skip the partner option entirely or just freestyle it. Now we can both run a single, structured plan that accounts for both of us. It's the difference between "we both happen to be working out at the same time" and "we're actually training together."

A Quick Pilates Aside

Speaking of my wife, I want to give a quick shout-out to Speediance for something they did that genuinely surprised me. They sent over their Pilates set for us to try out. I had no idea they just... do this for people in the community, but apparently they do, and other folks have confirmed the same thing on the Speediance online community. That's a class of company move I genuinely appreciate.

I bought the Pilates set myself when I realized it wasn't going to be a permanent loan, and I'm planning on doing a more detailed review once I've actually put it through its paces. My verdict so far, based mostly on watching my wife use it: if you want Pilates, it's a good purchase. If you don't, it's a pretty easy pass. It's exactly that binary. She seems to be getting an effective workout from it, and the build quality matches the rest of the Speediance ecosystem.

One small wrinkle worth mentioning: the Pilates software update took about 30 days to land on my original Speediance. The 2S got it out of the box, but the downstairs unit—the original one I wanted to use—needed me to ping customer support before they pushed it. So if you're on an older unit and waiting on a feature, don't be shy about reaching out.

The One Thing That Got Worse

Now, here's the part where my wife was immediately furious. Along with the partner custom workout update, Speediance changed something about the cable position guidance. Specifically, they removed the markings that told you which L or R level to use—the labels that sit next to each cable height on the unit. In their place, the device now describes the position based on where it is on your body.

Let me give you an example. A bottom cable exit is easy—there's only one place it can really go. But for something like an abdominal-level movement, the screen used to explicitly tell you which numbered slot to use. Now, instead of giving you that direct number, it describes the height relative to your body. In theory, that's a more intuitive system for beginners. In practice, it makes figuring out the exact placement harder for experienced users than it was before.

What I had actually hoped Speediance would do—and what I pushed for in feedback—was to take that L/R indicator and move it to a permanent spot on the screen. There's already a mini version of the exercise card that pops up between sets. If they had just pinned the cable position up there so it was always visible, that would have been a huge quality-of-life upgrade. Instead, they removed the easy reference and replaced it with a description that requires more interpretation mid-set. This is a classic example of what happens when you listen to all user feedback; sometimes the fix for one person's complaint creates a friction point for someone else.

Final Thoughts

Despite that one annoyance, I'm genuinely thrilled about the partner custom workouts update. It's the feature I asked for, it's implemented cleanly, it's available everywhere it should be, and it didn't cost anything extra. For a device that already has safety start, Pilates, AI coaching, and a strong app ecosystem, this was the missing puzzle piece. The home gym now actually feels like a shared space.

If you have two Speediance devices or share one with a partner or roommate, go check for the latest firmware and dig into a custom workout. That new solo/partner toggle is going to change how you train. As always, I'll keep using both units, keep reporting what works and what doesn't, and keep pushing the feedback to the company. Because that's how this stuff gets better.