A Month of Peloton Workouts

It’s been a few months since I’ve posted about my at-home workouts. After about five years using Beachbody On Demand (BODi) programs, I really wanted a change. I tried a few free YouTube workouts like Caroline Girvan’s Fuel Series and Iron Series (and a few others that weren’t successful enough to post about), but I needed more.

It’s embarrassing how long it took me to realize that I already had access to a variety of incredible at-home workouts through my Peloton app.

For 2+ years, I’ve worked out using the Peloton app on my Echelon bike without really ever looking at the other workout options.

How did I not realize that there was more to Peloton than cycling? Face palm.

It’s me. Hi! I’m the problem it’s me.

Now that I’ve used the app exclusively for a few months, I want to share how my Peloton workouts are going. My review of Peloton workouts and the app is below.

Peloton Workout & App Observations

• The app offers a variety of workout options: bike, strength (weight training), meditation, yoga, stretching, barre, boot camp (bike + strength), running and more.
• Within each workout category, there are types of workouts. For example, strength workouts include upper body, lower body, full body, core, pilates, etc.
• You can filter workout lists by length of time, instructor, workout type, music, difficulty, language, and more.
• Peloton allows users to join challenges like X number of workouts in a month or X number of minutes working out in a year.
• Users can earn achievements for participating in special events or milestones for number of workouts of a specific type of total.
• Milestones on Peloton app are huge because users can get shoutouts from trainers before, during or after a workout. There are users with thousands of classes logged. It’s incredible!
• In the last few months, I’ve noticed a return of in-studio participants during workouts. I’ve heard it’s extremely difficult to get one of those spots so haven’t tried myself, but I’m jealous of those who get to workout with the instructors in person!
• Music is a huge motivator for me in workouts, but I’ve found music is more important with tougher workouts like on the bike or running. For strength classes, the muscle group or class length is more important to me since I often am counting or focusing on muscles firing to listen to music anyway.
• During a workout, you can shift the volume balance from equal instructor and music to more instructor or more music. I often increase music on bike workouts and increase instructor on strength workouts.
• You have the option to bookmark a class to be able to easily find it again later.

Now on to the fun stuff….

PROS

Let’s be honest, most of my experience has been positive. There’s a reason why Peloton is such a beloved brand.

• The instructors. They’re amazing! They’re a huge reason why I love Peloton classes so much.
• The instructors each bring their unique style, music and personalities to class. Some sing or lipsync, tell stories, talk about their interests, etc. It keeps class fun, interesting and help time fly by!
• The Peloton instructors are so motivating. While there are different levels of motivational talk, I often end class feeling empowered and so good about myself.
• Special shoutout to trainer Logan Aldridge who doesn’t let having one arm stop him from being an AMAZING trainer. He is so incredibly strong, kind, funny and so matter of fact about his limitations. I love taking his classes; he is so motiviating, especially when he’s crushing something with 1 arm that I’m struggling on with 2!
• I love the special class series Peloton offers. Taylor Swift, Jonas Brothers, Pride Month, Spice Girls, Women History Month, and more. It just adds a little bit of fun.
• Cody Rigsby had a class where he brought NSYNC’s JC Chasez into the class! Live! In person! I love JC Chasez so this one class alone was everything to me and my fan girl heart.

• The instructors often incorporate a warm up and cool down into the workouts, but there is a whole section on stretching if you need more than what’s provided.
• The instructors aren’t perfect. They forget their number count or flub words. It makes you feel like you’re really in a class.
• I rarely can join a live class. But, the imperfections are not removed from the recording so the classes still feel live.
• The format of strength classes vary greatly too. They work in varying rounds with EMOMs, AMRAPs, etc.
• Trainers often give variations of moves, which I greatly appreciate in yoga and barre classes or tough cycling or strength classes. They never make me feel “less than” for using a variation of a move.
• While I love the strength, boot camp, and bike classes, I’ve really started to appreciate the yoga, barre and meditation classes too. The app gives a good mix of everything for each mood, rest day or sore muscles.

My personal favorite Peloton instructors are Callie Gullickson, Kirra Michel, Tunde Oyeneyin, Emma Lovewell, Cody Rigsby, Ally Love, Adrian Williams… gah, this list is getting too long. They’re all so great!

Full disclaimer: my friend gave me a profile on her account, so I don’t have to pay for my account and can’t speak to the costs. This is an amazing gift that I am extremely grateful for, but if Peloton decided to go Netflix and restrict my access, I’d 100% pay for it. Hopefully I could keep my workouts count!

Not PROS

There really aren’t any negatives to Peloton except some slightly small things listed below, so I didn’t feel like “CONS” was appropriate here.

• As I look for a class, I’m noticing fewer 30+ minute workouts and more 5-20 minute workouts. I think people are taking multiple shorter classes a day instead of 1 long class to increase their workout count.
• If I was looking for more of a program structure in what classes to take, on what days, etc., Peloton would be hard to use. Strength does have their “Roll Call” classes each week, but I had to make my own class structure to ensure I vary muscles fired, strength vs. cardio days, etc.
• Because some classes move so quickly, there are some moves that trainers don’t explain as thoroughly. Someone who doesn’t know proper execution of a move could hurt themselves. However, these are also in intermediate classes so a level of knowledge is expected.
• Different trainers have different physical capabilities. Especially with strength classes, I often need to reality check my weight expectations against what the trainers use. Their “light” weights are my “heavy” weights, and that’s OK. But if someone tried to keep up, it could be bad.
• I miss my Beachbody / BODi trainers. Autumn Calabrese, Shaun T, and crew, I miss you!
• Because I use the app with my Echelon bike (not Peloton bike), I don’t expect a birthday or milestone shoutout when I join live classes. I’ve heard that Peloton instructors only give shoutouts to Peloton members, understandably though since they pay for the bike and all.
• Maybe I’ve missed it but I don’t understand the point of following friends or having friends follow you. Can anyone enlighten me?

It took me a while to get used to Peloton app from my BODi programs, YouTube programs or the other apps I’ve tried. But overall, I 100% am enjoying my experience with the Peloton app – all of it, beyond just the occasional cycling workouts.

If you’re interested in trying Peloton workouts, go to OnePeloton.com to try out some free classes and learn more about a 30-day trial options.

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Are you a Peloton user and want to add any insights you’ve experienced? Or, are you looking into using the Peloton app for your at home workouts and have more questions? Comment below and I’ll do my best to answer. Thanks for reading!