8 ms·

Peloton Is Spinning Faster Than Ever

38 points by wallflower 7y ago

bstar77 7y ago
As a work from home developer, having a Peloton has been a godsend for me. I could never motivate myself to get out to the gym after work... the effect of that was a constant feeling of malaise and fatigue, presumably because I wasn't exerting myself enough. Since I've gotten the bike I use it 5-6 days a week and have made a 180* turn in my health- no more fatigue, malaise and poor lung capacity. The Peloton is a solid bike, but it does one thing masterfully... it motivates me to use it and work hard at my personal fitness. I could care less if it's becoming the latest fitness cult. All I care about is my personal health and what gets me results.
- vinvin 7y ago
  Same. 30 year lazy couch potato here turned cardio-addict and it's completely due to Peloton. There is something special about the blend of quality hardware, energetic instructors, and sense of "togetherness" that makes the service awesome. The sticker price is high but it's worth it.
  - xeromal 7y ago
    That "togetherness" is valuable. That's what crossfit did to me and forced me to go even when I knew it was bad for my health.
    - dfcagency 7y ago
      Bad for your health?
      - xeromal 7y ago
        100%. Everyone says it depends on the box(gym), the crossfit open ,the crossfit games, and works posted on the crossfit main site are definitely not for your average joe. Crossfit in general will give you tendinitis and blow out your back eventually. It's just really hard to dial back your intensity while everything is a race. Anything for time that involves barbells and pullups will eventually cause an injury. I say this as someone who was doing it in 2008 - 2013 in the early days and helped coach. We all had level 1s and one had a level 2. Edit. haha. Just checked out crossfit.com and it looks like they finally updated their site. It looked like ass even in 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130305075530/http://www.crossfit.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20130305075530/http://www.crossf... Second edit: If the bone and ligament injuries don't get you, the rhabdo will. We had a few older folks who started peeing brown and we finally figured out that their muscles were so blown out that they developed rhabdo.
        arcturus17 7y ago
        That’s madness, I’ve been lifting heavy and doing HIIT for 14 years in a more traditional style and not once have I been injured.
        raverbashing 7y ago
        I agree, CrossFit is not great but that comment is being a bit over the top. All of the problems mentioned are manageable. Know your body, take it easy at first (as much as you think you can do as much as the other people), in exercise more is more but up to a point, and don't think the top athletes got there by only doing CrossFit exercises (or only exercises). (That being said I did have some minor injuries from lifting weights and other sports, it is safe when performed correctly but these minor injuries happen)
        xeromal 7y ago
        I really don't think I'm being over the top. Doing any form of crossfit with powerlifting or olympic lifting is almost guaranteed injury. I lifted in SLC which is a hotbed for crossfitters. Pretty sure they still field winning teams every year. I was part of the community early on so I got to drop in and workout with a lot of the gyms. I even went to Chris Spealler's gym in park city a few times. Now, if you don't do heavy weights against time and keep most things safe, you're not really doing crossfit anymore. You're doing bootcamp and I wholeheartedly think a lot of bootcamps are safe. They only use dumbbells and smaller things to do work with. I personally do orangetheory which gets me a bunch of grief from my old crossfit buddies but I finally realized that I got into fitness to improve my body. If my body is always breaking down, what's the point. lol. I'd say another reason I have this take is because I'm an average athlete working out with some above average guys who placed in the regionals. I'm sure that didn't help things. The people who avoid injury are usually just athletic animals with high recovery ability. People like rich froning and neil maddox.
        raverbashing 7y ago
        Yup, I definitely agree the issue with crossfit is trying to put together heavy weights and quick execution and that usually won't end well. > I have this take is because I'm an average athlete working out with some above average guys who placed in the regionals. I'm sure that didn't help things. The people who avoid injury are usually just athletic animals with high recovery ability I feel you. But it's not only genetics at play and let's leave it at that ;)
      - Alex3917 7y ago
        The workouts are designed to be hard, not to increase your fitness. It’s basically fake exercise.
        zarkov99 7y ago
        Bullshit. There isn't anything fake about it. You will get stronger, faster, and have far better cardio. But yes, you will likely also get injured.
        Alex3917 7y ago
        > There isn't anything fake about it. It's nowhere near the efficient frontier curve, in terms of maximizing the amount of strength / cardio / flexibility gains you make per unit work. Instead it's maximizing the amount of work you do, and any increase in fitness you experience is merely an incidental side effect.
        zarkov99 7y ago
        OK, that is a much more defensible thing to say. What do you think is a more efficient form of exercise then?
        Alex3917 7y ago
        Well there are three components of fitness (strength, endurance, and cardio), so there isn't going to be a single answer. But in general, the more boring something is the more effective it is. Just sitting on the rowing machine at 75% of your max HR for 90 min is always going to be more effective than taking a class where you are constantly going at different paces but are doing it more for entertainment rather than because you're trying to do intervals.
  - anon9001 7y ago
    Well you've got me interested. I never looked at it before, but this seems like it's pretty much multiplayer gaming mapped to exercise?
    - djhn 7y ago
      Check out Zwift. A silicon Valley cycling e-sports startup, 120 million in funding. Serious fun. Dcrainmaker.com will be your best guide.
- t34543 7y ago
  I find the discipline to go out and do what I don’t feel like doing is the key to fitness. Granted that is fickle and fragile. It’s cyclical - I go through periods where it works and periods where it doesn’t.
- Alex3917 7y ago
  Why Peloton over an actual road bike though? A good carbon endurance road bike costs about the same as the machine, and the cost of accessories and maintenance is comparable to the cost of the subscription fees. And you can join a bike group for like $30 a year and get unlimited live coaching for free from real people. Especially right now the bike industry is transitioning to disc brakes, so you can get ridiculously good deals on brand new but older model year rim brakes bikes. And if you’re mainly just doing cardio on sunny days (as opposed to commuting in the rain or racing) then rim brake bikes are better anyway.
  - stevehawk 7y ago
    For me - I can't get hit by a car while riding my stationary.
    - Alex3917 7y ago
      Yeah at least in NYC there are bike paths and greenways everywhere. My normal rides are 30 - 40 miles, and of that 2.8 miles are on roads but only around 500 meters aren’t in a bike lane. It’s still dangerous right now in NYC, but in another 5 years we’ll likely see the KSI rate go down by another 25% due to a combination of bike infrastructure investment and laws mandating safer cars and trucks. Even with the current risks though, the years you’re adding to your life expectancy still greatly outweigh the additional micromorts you’re taking on.
      - miranda_rights 7y ago
        I think OP's point remains though, right? A stationary bike gives all the upsides (increase in health) and 0 of the downsides of riding outside (death).
        usrusr 7y ago
        And yet none of the many outdoors cyclists who switch to indoor for the worst months of winter stay indoor when the seasons change again. That list of upsides cannot be complete.
- tallanvor 7y ago
  What do you think was behind the lack of motivation to get to the gym? The time commitment to get there and back, perhaps, or the hours the gym is open? I ask because for the monthly cost of the Peloton subscription, I have an actual gym membership (and this is in Norway, where things tend to be quite expensive). It's less than a 10 minute walk from home, and it obviously gives me a lot more choices in terms of equipment. It does not, however, offer classes - which for me is actually a selling point, since no classes means fewer crowded times. At the end of the day, whatever works to get you to work out is what works for you, but it seems like a very high costs for something that offers you very limited workout options.
  - bstar77 7y ago
    Exercise is all about routine. I have a very hard time getting into one when I work from home... I don't have a commute that brings me past a gym so I have to force myself out of the house to go to one 15-20 minutes away. I also like to work out after 11pm at night which is problematic in most gyms. The Peloton is expensive, but the bike is very high quality and the whole family can use it with their own account... so I have 3 people using that subscription.
habosa 7y ago
I still don't "get" Peloton but my 90-year old grandpa has been active his whole life and is currently in love with Peloton. He's not one to get interested in any gadgets or fads but since his gym got a few Peloton bikes he can't stop talking about it. So there must be something to it.
deleted 7y ago
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danielecook 7y ago
So maybe this is a crazy thought but I think it would be cool if peloton introduced bikes with steering and buttons and developed games for their platform. I Wonder if people would be receptive - it’s certainly something I would like to try.
- djhn 7y ago
  Check out Zwift - the virtual cycling platform that cycling purists don't scoff at because Zwift is much more rooted in the tradition and culture of the sport. They are a Silicon Valley cycling e-sports startup, 120 million in funding. Dcrainmaker.com and GPllama on YouTube will be your best 3rd party guides to the ins and outs.
  - omosubi 7y ago
    Do you work for them? You copied and pasted the same ad material twice lol. If you do you should say so
    - djhn 7y ago
      I don't work for or with any entity mentioned. If I did, I would have disclosed it.
- frenchman_in_ny 7y ago
  In addition to Zwift in a sibling post, there's TheRivet[0] that interfaces with a smart trainer and a phone mounted on the stem to do steering onscreen. TheRivet actually developed the steering concept a few months ahead of Zwift [1][2] [0] https://getontherivet.com/ https://getontherivet.com/ [1] https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/07/rivet-zwift-potential-competitor.html https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/07/rivet-zwift-potential-co... [2] https://zwiftinsider.com/setting-up-your-bike-and-phone-for-zwift-steering/ https://zwiftinsider.com/setting-up-your-bike-and-phone-for-...
mysterypie 7y ago
> Peloton wound up opening at $27 a share and closed at $25.76 — not a bonanza day From the company's perspective it's good that it didn't shoot up to $50 a share, isn't it? It means it was valued optimally; they squeezed the maximum value from the investors and didn't leave any money on the table.
Lio 7y ago
Regardless of whether the product is better or worse than a real bike on a smart trainer like a Neo or Kickr, (and I don't think it is but that's subjective), I hate the name of this company. I hate that people who know nothing of road cycling are now exclusively associating the word peloton with these indoor spinning bikes. I really hate that this company is frivolously threatening to sue people for using the word peloton in the context of any kind of indoor virtual cycling. This is a widely used phrase and they should leave it alone. Calling a company echelon is just as bad for the same reason.
- rurounijones 7y ago
  I am not a bike enthusiast by any means but I went into this article thinking it was going to be about the increase in speed of the peleton in professional biking races like the Tour de France due to improvements in technology etc. So I am very with you on the name hate.
- djhn 7y ago
  Just to add for anyone new to this topic, check out Zwift - the virtual cycling platform that cycling purists don't scoff at* because Zwift is much more rooted in the tradition and culture of the sport. They are a Silicon Valley cycling e-sports startup, 120 million in funding. Dcrainmaker.com and GPllama on YouTube will be your best 3rd party guides to the ins and outs. *for some definitions of "purist"
  - FpUser 7y ago
    I do not like Pelotom at all. Do not like Zwift either as their graphics sucks and view of bazillion animated cyclists around me does not add value either. I guess this is because I love cycling but do not really care about racing. For racing crowd I guess Zwift can make more sense. I very much prefer software with so called Real Life Video (Tacx TDA, Veloreality, etc) for my indoor training in winter. The scenery is way more inspiring on big screen TV. Comes summer, forget indoors. I love cycling and swimming in open water. No software would ever come even remotely close. DCRainmaker was valuable source in the beginning (still somewhat is) but not so much now. His reviews and opinions at least in regards to cycling software lately are far from unbiased
deleted 7y ago
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jbob2000 7y ago
Home gyms go through fad cycles just like fashion does. Peloton is on the upswing of the “streaming fitness” fad, but give it one or two more years and it will start to die down. I’ll only admit Peloton is here to stay if we see a correlation between Peloton’s profit and a loss for other fitness/entertainment. Basically, if people are just buying the bikes and paying for the subscription, but ultimately don’t change their fitness behavior (by cancelling a gym membership, for example) then we know it’s just a fad. Once they get tired of seeing the monthly charge, they’ll cancel and put the bike up on Craigslist. But if people decide to drop something else in favour of Peloton, then I know it’s here to stay. If peloton is so great that you’ll cancel your gym membership, then it must not be a fad! People only have so much time and energy in a day.

38 points by wallflower 7y ago

As a work from home developer, having a Peloton has been a godsend for me. I could never motivate myself to get out to the gym after work... the effect of that was a constant feeling of malaise and fatigue, presumably because I wasn't exerting myself enough. Since I've gotten the bike I use it 5-6 days a week and have made a 180* turn in my health- no more fatigue, malaise and poor lung capacity. The Peloton is a solid bike, but it does one thing masterfully... it motivates me to use it and work hard at my personal fitness. I could care less if it's becoming the latest fitness cult. All I care about is my personal health and what gets me results.

vinvin 7y ago
Same. 30 year lazy couch potato here turned cardio-addict and it's completely due to Peloton. There is something special about the blend of quality hardware, energetic instructors, and sense of "togetherness" that makes the service awesome. The sticker price is high but it's worth it.
- xeromal 7y ago
  That "togetherness" is valuable. That's what crossfit did to me and forced me to go even when I knew it was bad for my health.
  - dfcagency 7y ago
    Bad for your health?
    - xeromal 7y ago
      100%. Everyone says it depends on the box(gym), the crossfit open ,the crossfit games, and works posted on the crossfit main site are definitely not for your average joe. Crossfit in general will give you tendinitis and blow out your back eventually. It's just really hard to dial back your intensity while everything is a race. Anything for time that involves barbells and pullups will eventually cause an injury. I say this as someone who was doing it in 2008 - 2013 in the early days and helped coach. We all had level 1s and one had a level 2. Edit. haha. Just checked out crossfit.com and it looks like they finally updated their site. It looked like ass even in 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130305075530/http://www.crossfit.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20130305075530/http://www.crossf... Second edit: If the bone and ligament injuries don't get you, the rhabdo will. We had a few older folks who started peeing brown and we finally figured out that their muscles were so blown out that they developed rhabdo.
      - arcturus17 7y ago
        That’s madness, I’ve been lifting heavy and doing HIIT for 14 years in a more traditional style and not once have I been injured.
        raverbashing 7y ago
        I agree, CrossFit is not great but that comment is being a bit over the top. All of the problems mentioned are manageable. Know your body, take it easy at first (as much as you think you can do as much as the other people), in exercise more is more but up to a point, and don't think the top athletes got there by only doing CrossFit exercises (or only exercises). (That being said I did have some minor injuries from lifting weights and other sports, it is safe when performed correctly but these minor injuries happen)
        xeromal 7y ago
        I really don't think I'm being over the top. Doing any form of crossfit with powerlifting or olympic lifting is almost guaranteed injury. I lifted in SLC which is a hotbed for crossfitters. Pretty sure they still field winning teams every year. I was part of the community early on so I got to drop in and workout with a lot of the gyms. I even went to Chris Spealler's gym in park city a few times. Now, if you don't do heavy weights against time and keep most things safe, you're not really doing crossfit anymore. You're doing bootcamp and I wholeheartedly think a lot of bootcamps are safe. They only use dumbbells and smaller things to do work with. I personally do orangetheory which gets me a bunch of grief from my old crossfit buddies but I finally realized that I got into fitness to improve my body. If my body is always breaking down, what's the point. lol. I'd say another reason I have this take is because I'm an average athlete working out with some above average guys who placed in the regionals. I'm sure that didn't help things. The people who avoid injury are usually just athletic animals with high recovery ability. People like rich froning and neil maddox.
        raverbashing 7y ago
        Yup, I definitely agree the issue with crossfit is trying to put together heavy weights and quick execution and that usually won't end well. > I have this take is because I'm an average athlete working out with some above average guys who placed in the regionals. I'm sure that didn't help things. The people who avoid injury are usually just athletic animals with high recovery ability I feel you. But it's not only genetics at play and let's leave it at that ;)
    - Alex3917 7y ago
      The workouts are designed to be hard, not to increase your fitness. It’s basically fake exercise.
      - zarkov99 7y ago
        Bullshit. There isn't anything fake about it. You will get stronger, faster, and have far better cardio. But yes, you will likely also get injured.
        Alex3917 7y ago
        > There isn't anything fake about it. It's nowhere near the efficient frontier curve, in terms of maximizing the amount of strength / cardio / flexibility gains you make per unit work. Instead it's maximizing the amount of work you do, and any increase in fitness you experience is merely an incidental side effect.
        zarkov99 7y ago
        OK, that is a much more defensible thing to say. What do you think is a more efficient form of exercise then?
        Alex3917 7y ago
        Well there are three components of fitness (strength, endurance, and cardio), so there isn't going to be a single answer. But in general, the more boring something is the more effective it is. Just sitting on the rowing machine at 75% of your max HR for 90 min is always going to be more effective than taking a class where you are constantly going at different paces but are doing it more for entertainment rather than because you're trying to do intervals.
- anon9001 7y ago
  Well you've got me interested. I never looked at it before, but this seems like it's pretty much multiplayer gaming mapped to exercise?
  - djhn 7y ago
    Check out Zwift. A silicon Valley cycling e-sports startup, 120 million in funding. Serious fun. Dcrainmaker.com will be your best guide.
t34543 7y ago
I find the discipline to go out and do what I don’t feel like doing is the key to fitness. Granted that is fickle and fragile. It’s cyclical - I go through periods where it works and periods where it doesn’t.
Alex3917 7y ago
Why Peloton over an actual road bike though? A good carbon endurance road bike costs about the same as the machine, and the cost of accessories and maintenance is comparable to the cost of the subscription fees. And you can join a bike group for like $30 a year and get unlimited live coaching for free from real people. Especially right now the bike industry is transitioning to disc brakes, so you can get ridiculously good deals on brand new but older model year rim brakes bikes. And if you’re mainly just doing cardio on sunny days (as opposed to commuting in the rain or racing) then rim brake bikes are better anyway.
- stevehawk 7y ago
  For me - I can't get hit by a car while riding my stationary.
  - Alex3917 7y ago
    Yeah at least in NYC there are bike paths and greenways everywhere. My normal rides are 30 - 40 miles, and of that 2.8 miles are on roads but only around 500 meters aren’t in a bike lane. It’s still dangerous right now in NYC, but in another 5 years we’ll likely see the KSI rate go down by another 25% due to a combination of bike infrastructure investment and laws mandating safer cars and trucks. Even with the current risks though, the years you’re adding to your life expectancy still greatly outweigh the additional micromorts you’re taking on.
    - miranda_rights 7y ago
      I think OP's point remains though, right? A stationary bike gives all the upsides (increase in health) and 0 of the downsides of riding outside (death).
      - usrusr 7y ago
        And yet none of the many outdoors cyclists who switch to indoor for the worst months of winter stay indoor when the seasons change again. That list of upsides cannot be complete.
tallanvor 7y ago
What do you think was behind the lack of motivation to get to the gym? The time commitment to get there and back, perhaps, or the hours the gym is open? I ask because for the monthly cost of the Peloton subscription, I have an actual gym membership (and this is in Norway, where things tend to be quite expensive). It's less than a 10 minute walk from home, and it obviously gives me a lot more choices in terms of equipment. It does not, however, offer classes - which for me is actually a selling point, since no classes means fewer crowded times. At the end of the day, whatever works to get you to work out is what works for you, but it seems like a very high costs for something that offers you very limited workout options.
- bstar77 7y ago
  Exercise is all about routine. I have a very hard time getting into one when I work from home... I don't have a commute that brings me past a gym so I have to force myself out of the house to go to one 15-20 minutes away. I also like to work out after 11pm at night which is problematic in most gyms. The Peloton is expensive, but the bike is very high quality and the whole family can use it with their own account... so I have 3 people using that subscription.

habosa 7y ago

I still don't "get" Peloton but my 90-year old grandpa has been active his whole life and is currently in love with Peloton. He's not one to get interested in any gadgets or fads but since his gym got a few Peloton bikes he can't stop talking about it. So there must be something to it.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

danielecook 7y ago

So maybe this is a crazy thought but I think it would be cool if peloton introduced bikes with steering and buttons and developed games for their platform. I Wonder if people would be receptive - it’s certainly something I would like to try.

djhn 7y ago
Check out Zwift - the virtual cycling platform that cycling purists don't scoff at because Zwift is much more rooted in the tradition and culture of the sport. They are a Silicon Valley cycling e-sports startup, 120 million in funding. Dcrainmaker.com and GPllama on YouTube will be your best 3rd party guides to the ins and outs.
- omosubi 7y ago
  Do you work for them? You copied and pasted the same ad material twice lol. If you do you should say so
  - djhn 7y ago
    I don't work for or with any entity mentioned. If I did, I would have disclosed it.
frenchman_in_ny 7y ago
In addition to Zwift in a sibling post, there's TheRivet[0] that interfaces with a smart trainer and a phone mounted on the stem to do steering onscreen. TheRivet actually developed the steering concept a few months ahead of Zwift [1][2] [0] https://getontherivet.com/ https://getontherivet.com/ [1] https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/07/rivet-zwift-potential-competitor.html https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/07/rivet-zwift-potential-co... [2] https://zwiftinsider.com/setting-up-your-bike-and-phone-for-zwift-steering/ https://zwiftinsider.com/setting-up-your-bike-and-phone-for-...

mysterypie 7y ago

> Peloton wound up opening at $27 a share and closed at $25.76 — not a bonanza day From the company's perspective it's good that it didn't shoot up to $50 a share, isn't it? It means it was valued optimally; they squeezed the maximum value from the investors and didn't leave any money on the table.

Lio 7y ago

Regardless of whether the product is better or worse than a real bike on a smart trainer like a Neo or Kickr, (and I don't think it is but that's subjective), I hate the name of this company. I hate that people who know nothing of road cycling are now exclusively associating the word peloton with these indoor spinning bikes. I really hate that this company is frivolously threatening to sue people for using the word peloton in the context of any kind of indoor virtual cycling. This is a widely used phrase and they should leave it alone. Calling a company echelon is just as bad for the same reason.

rurounijones 7y ago
I am not a bike enthusiast by any means but I went into this article thinking it was going to be about the increase in speed of the peleton in professional biking races like the Tour de France due to improvements in technology etc. So I am very with you on the name hate.
djhn 7y ago
Just to add for anyone new to this topic, check out Zwift - the virtual cycling platform that cycling purists don't scoff at* because Zwift is much more rooted in the tradition and culture of the sport. They are a Silicon Valley cycling e-sports startup, 120 million in funding. Dcrainmaker.com and GPllama on YouTube will be your best 3rd party guides to the ins and outs. *for some definitions of "purist"
- FpUser 7y ago
  I do not like Pelotom at all. Do not like Zwift either as their graphics sucks and view of bazillion animated cyclists around me does not add value either. I guess this is because I love cycling but do not really care about racing. For racing crowd I guess Zwift can make more sense. I very much prefer software with so called Real Life Video (Tacx TDA, Veloreality, etc) for my indoor training in winter. The scenery is way more inspiring on big screen TV. Comes summer, forget indoors. I love cycling and swimming in open water. No software would ever come even remotely close. DCRainmaker was valuable source in the beginning (still somewhat is) but not so much now. His reviews and opinions at least in regards to cycling software lately are far from unbiased

deleted 7y ago

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jbob2000 7y ago

Home gyms go through fad cycles just like fashion does. Peloton is on the upswing of the “streaming fitness” fad, but give it one or two more years and it will start to die down. I’ll only admit Peloton is here to stay if we see a correlation between Peloton’s profit and a loss for other fitness/entertainment. Basically, if people are just buying the bikes and paying for the subscription, but ultimately don’t change their fitness behavior (by cancelling a gym membership, for example) then we know it’s just a fad. Once they get tired of seeing the monthly charge, they’ll cancel and put the bike up on Craigslist. But if people decide to drop something else in favour of Peloton, then I know it’s here to stay. If peloton is so great that you’ll cancel your gym membership, then it must not be a fad! People only have so much time and energy in a day.