151: Peloton Halts Live Classes plus our interview with Priyanka Gadinski

Last Updated: January 18, 2023By Crystal OKeefe (#ClipOutCrystal)Tags: Bollywood Fusion Rides, India’s Fitness Revolution, Indoor Cycling, Motherhood, Peloton, Peloton instructor

Peloton stops all live classes through April 30 after an employee tests positive for COVID-19.

Peloton is offering financial assistance with monthly payments for those whose jobs have been affected by the pandemic.

The Comeback program has been tweaked to help frontline workers during this time.

Android TVs get the Peloton app.

Peloton wins another lawsuit.

ESPN.com talks about the NFL and their love of Peloton.

A cool blog post from Medium from a former Peloton insider.

Popsugar.com has a review of the new Dance Cardio classes.

Robin Arzon was on Good Morning America.

Crystal updates us on FightCamp.

There’s a new celeb sighting…New Kids On The Block.

We found a blog post called “I Bought A Peloton and I’m Neither Rich nor Thin.”

Soul Cycle is doing guided workouts on their Sirus XM channel.

Miranda Carfrae’s husband screws up her chances at winning a race.

You can still win a free Tonal.

We get an update from our winner of a Stronger U session.

Yet another new Spring line drops on April 14.

Peloton now has family classes.

All of the Power Zone instructors will be retaking their FTP tests simultaneously.

All this plus our interview with Priyanka Gadinski!

All this plus our interview with Tamara Cella!

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Watch the episode here:

Listen to the podcast here:

Peloton Halts Live Classes plus our interview with Priyanka Gadinski

In the last episode, I was so crabby I totally forgot to mention that it was 150 episodes.

It was a milestone. This is episode 151 yeah. You’re in a better mood, not much, but a little than you were in the last episode. Then you hurt your back during a workout.

I think it’s because I’ve been sitting in the recliner too much for work.

You’re working from home with the recliner with your laptop.

It’s super comfy, but I don’t think it’s super good for your back in case anyone was wondering.

You think it’s easy for me to be lazy, but I just jump right into it. I spent years working up to it. It seems like, “He can lay around in the recliner all day and not have any issues,” but that’s because it’s like a marathon.

What I learned is that I’ve been spending too much time in the recliner, also that I have not been stretching and I’ve been very tense. My jaw had been locked.

All of America’s jaws have been locked.

I believe it. I know I am not alone. I know that there are a lot of people who are very stressed and sad and angry and a whole gamut of emotions. I feel you all and I know that you feel me too beause you all send some very nice messages. Thank you for caring, and know that we care too. We’re not going to make this episode all about that.

Obviously, there are some things that cross over, we can’t ignore it, but there are other things out there too, and we found quite a few of them. On that note, what pray tell do you have in store for people?

We have a whole bunch of news pieces. There are things about Peloton’s “competition.” There’s new stuff going on with Peloton. We’ve got instructor news. We’ve got new content to cover.

Before we get to all that, shameless plugs, don’t forget we’re available on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Be sure and subscribe, so you never miss an episode. Check us out on Facebook at Facebook.com/theclipout. While you’re there, like the page, join the group and you can leave a review for us wherever you get your podcasts. We have a new review. It’s short and simple. This is from ErickinOKC. He says, “Check Your Pod Before You Wreck Your Pod. All I want to do is zoom-a zoom zoom zoom and a boom boom, and listen to The Clip Out.” This was written prior to the Coronavirus, so there were no Zoom calls and he was already looking forward to Zoom calls.

He was all over it. He is the Zoom Prophet.

I think he probably works for the World Health Organization. You can also check out our brand spanking new website at theclipout.com.

Also give us some feedback on that website. Not one person has said something to me and I know a lot more of you are out there. I’m not saying you have to like it, it doesn’t have to be good feedback, but I would like to know you’re seeing it.

It’s totally different. We feel it’s a market improvement. We’re very excited about it. Check that out. Let’s dig.

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Some weeks, it is a struggle to figure out what will be our lead story. This is not one of those weeks. Peloton has stopped live classes for the month of April.

I think probably everybody knows, but just in case you do not, there was a positive case of the Coronavirus within the Peloton studio. At first, they shut it down for a couple of days and then they decided to go ahead and stop filming throughout the month of April. I think a lot of people sighed a huge sigh of relief.

It’s weird to see how vitriolic it can get on both sides of this issue. There are some people that are like, “We paid and you better keep doing this.” Then there are other people that are like, “There’s plenty of stuff out here for us. You can take a beat.”

It’s disappointing. It brings me down because there are many wonderful people in the Peloton community, and everybody is entitled to their opinion. I wish that they would state it nicely, and not be mean about it. Just because you pay your money doesn’t mean you’re entitled to new classes. As a matter of fact, I don’t think Peloton ever said that they guaranteed a certain amount of new classes. Is that the expectation? Absolutely. This is a very crazy, extraordinary time, and I mean that in the purest sense of the word, not like extraordinary in a good way. It’s super crazy circumstances that nobody could have said this would be happening.

You can’t, as a business, ever predict something like this is going to occur and plan for it in your business model. You have to give a lot of businesses a little bit of a break. I know where I work, we were getting a lot of people mad because our shows weren’t allowing refunds yet. We’re with the Ticketmaster Facility and Ticketmaster had to literally change every show in America.

Give them a second.

We never envisioned a scenario where literally every concert in America would cancel or postpone simultaneous. I get that you want your $12 back for the circus but there’s only so much they can accomplish in a day. This is a version of that. I’m glad that they stopped.

I am too. I haven’t heard an update on that employee, but I hope they’re okay. I hope that nobody else gets infected that knows them. We don’t want anybody to be infected, just to be clear.

While we’re in a Coronavirus corner, Peloton announced that there’s going to be some financial assistance for people who can’t afford to make their payments during this time.

There’s a link that you can go to and if you’re unable to make your payments for whatever reason, Peloton will take that into consideration. They are putting priority on those who have lost their job, directly related to the COVID, so keep that in mind. They are accepting applications from everyone. There’s a link out there. If you can’t find the link, just head on over to the Facebook.com/TheClipOut. You will see it there.

They’re also tweaking their comeback program that they’ve been doing for a while.

It’s very cool. What they’ve done is they’ve changed it so the next hundred bikes that are going to be given as part of the comeback program are going to be for frontline workers, those in the medical community who are fighting COVID-19. They need it. I don’t know how many people that are on the frontlines are even getting to read to this because their world has been completely turned upside down. I want to send out a heartfelt thank you to all of you who are out there helping in any capacity. It’s heartbreaking. The stories that I’m hearing, the messages that I get, know that Tom and I are thinking of you and if there’s ever anything we can do, please let us know.

Segueing away from that for a little bit, I can’t promise it won’t come up again at some point. The Peloton workout app is now available on Android TV, which is the one Android device we don’t have.

I think the world is conspiring against me when it comes to this app because we just bought a Samsung television.

All the other phones operate on the Android platform.

We don’t have Android TV on our brand-new Samsung television. Come on like, seriously?

I honestly don’t know, are there Android branded televisions? I honestly have no idea there.

There aren’t. I did look at the list that they provided that like, “Here are all the Android TV televisions.” It was a wide variety. I did not see Vizio on the list, so that made me feel better. The one we got rid of wasn’t like full Android TV. I was more than a little disappointed that Samsung doesn’t have that. It’s like the app world is mocking me at this point.

I think they are. You can still do it through the browser on the TV.

I can but it takes a lot longer to get it all set up, but that’s okay, whatever. We’re fine.

There are certainly worse problems that we have right now. We understand that.

I know and I’m just trying to be lighthearted about it because it is funny. If you have an Android TV, you can now access Peloton. Enjoy.

There was an interesting article from BloombergLaw.com about Peloton and another patent lawsuit that they have won.

Do you want to try to explain this? This is convoluted.

It’s a little convoluted. John Mills actually found this article. This is where I spotted it. I’m going to paraphrase the way he summarized it. If I’m wrong and I libel anybody, sue John Mills. That’s what I’m getting at.

He’s kidding, John.

The way I understand this is that Peloton had worked with a company called VR Optics that was designing their touchscreen.

This was way back in the day.

This was early on, 2012 Peloton. All the classes were still in black and white. It is a long time ago. They had hired this company and said, “Help us design a touchscreen.” While they were designing the touchscreen, they said to VR Optics, “It looks like one of your designs infringes on this other company’s patent. Let’s clean that up. We found this. You did something that infringed on a patent, let’s not do that.” Their response was to then go buy that company and then sue Peloton for infringing on the copyright that they now owned. The infringement was something they had designed. I also don’t get like if you own it now, how would you infringe on it if you own it? It doesn’t make a lot of sense and Peloton won.

That’s all that matters.

That sounds pretty sleazy.

Can we give a little round of applause for all the legal stuff that’s getting cleaned up all of a sudden? Peloton law team, you’re on a roll.

It’s a shame because a lot of it is I don’t know if it’s getting noticed in quite the same way that it would normally, which is a shame because there’s this perception out there like, “Peloton is getting sued left and right.” Yeah, but they seem to be winning the lion’s share of them and the ones that are not winning, they seem to be reaching fairly amicable settlements so they can continue on about their business, which is ultimately what you want.

People are like, “They’re in trouble.” Then a year and a half passes, and they’re not in trouble anymore. People have forgotten.

You don’t get a twenty-point font headline for that. ESPN.com had a story about the NFL and their love of Peloton.

I have to say it’s not just the NFL. There’s the PGA getting on board and the basketball people. It’s this whole gamut of athletes. They’re all teaming up and they’re taking these classes together. It’s like this open call to anybody who wants to join them. I want to point out that this awesome article was written by somebody who is a Peloton user. I don’t know that the person who wrote it is one of our audience, but one of his friends is, and he sent it to us and told us, “Heads up, this article is coming.” That’s Jeff Shelman, by the way.

I saw another article that the NFL is trying to come up with some system because I guess the players get bonuses on their workouts. They have to make sure that they’re working out. Normally, I guess they go into the NFL facilities, the team facilities and do it there and can be monitored. I guess it’s under the union contract. It’s not just a thing that the team can say, “We’re going to do a different way now.”

You have to have a certain criteria for it to count for.

Teams are operating under the same system. They’re thinking that Peloton might be a way to help with that. They can log in and they can monitor you and they can see your stats. They can know how hard you’re working. They can see that you’re actually doing it. If you’re an NFL level athlete, you can’t find somebody else to do it for you.

It’s going to show. These guys are kicking out like 700 to 800 KJs in 45 minutes. They don’t want me hopping on their ride. I will severely ruin their average.

I thought that was interesting. They’re struggling with that because not every team has the same money to have these intricate systems and so they’re trying to figure out a way to still allow for all that. That’s a little bit of sports knowledge kicking in my head. It’ll fall out soon. We found an interesting article from a Medium.com from a former Peloton employee. It’s from Liz Colville and it’s entitled, “What I Saw at the Fitness Revolution.” She talks about her time at Peloton glowingly and how she misses working there.

Does it say why she left?

I think she found a job that probably paid more or moved up in position or something. It did not seem like it was a scorched earth, she was mad at them, but it was an interesting look behind the scenes. It’s pretty lengthy as you can see as you scroll. It’s an interesting look behind the scenes at what it was like to work at Peloton.

This looks like a great article.

Moving right along, PopSugar.com had a nice little review of the new dance cardio.

It was complimentary as it should be because it’s a lot of fun and I think that they felt the same way I did because it’s titled, “I have a blast with Peloton’s new dance cardio workouts, even though I have no rhythm.” That’s totally me. This person is a gymnast and I am not. She has no rhythm and she had a bad Zumba experience. I understand that because I also had a bad Zumba experience. It’s when you had the moment where you struck out at tee-ball. I made a Zumba teacher yell at me. I found out that you go to the back of the room when you don’t know what you’re doing.

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They take it seriously.

That happens sometimes when you try new things. That’s why I love the Peloton dance cardio because even when I don’t get it right, I’m not running into other people and there was no one stopping the class and the music to yell at me. That didn’t happen.

It’s a much more supportive environment.

I will also say I have tried a couple of these now and if you’ve tried one and you’re like, “That was a little over my head,” I had that same experience the first time that I did one. Then I tried the one with Emma and Cody and it was broken down to my speed. I’m not saying everybody needs that speed, but I do. I need it to be broken down very slowly throughout. When you add on new steps, we’ve got to go back to the beginning and do it slow again. They did that and it was perfect for me. I definitely agree that it is a blast. If you have not tried it, you absolutely need to. It’s so much fun and it’s a great way to hang out with the kids because you know, they’re not doing anything right now. They need to get up off the couch too before they hurt their backs.

They also need a dance class that replicates the square dance in the gym class from grade school. That was the worst.

I’m such a nerd. I loved that. When I was in high school, we had a unit on square dancing, which then was followed by line dancing. I was in heaven.

You definitely grew up in the middle of Missouri.

I did, but I could boot scoot, boogie like nobody’s business.

You didn’t get Zumba into the back of that class.

I did not. I had that stuff down because they call it and it’s the same every time.

There are many variations on scooting your boots.

That is my kind of dance and yes, I know that makes me a giant nerd, and I’m okay with that.

USA Today had a five-part series on working out from home. They had a nice little feature on Peloton and how they bring community to those at home during the Coronavirus.

They featured Denis Morton right there on the front page of the article. It talks all about all the different content that Peloton has and different ways that they engage you. It’s very good. Here’s a sentence from it, “Running the same three miles gets boring real fast. You can only do so many pushups, sit ups and planks, but Peloton’s app has thousands of classes in its catalog and more than 32 instructors producing new classes.” It’s true. It keeps me going.

Robin Arzon was on Good Morning America.

She was telling them some great stuff about Peloton. In all sincerity, she was talking about staying healthy mentally while you’re at home, while you’re stuck at home. Obviously, there are a lot of different emotions that people are experiencing. Some are good, some are bad. I don’t know if you’re like me, it vacillates all day long. I could cry or yell or curl up in a fetal position. I might also laugh from insanity all in one day. She talked about ways that you can use the Peloton app or other apps to stay in a good space because it is hard. There’s so much change right now. Even if you’re in an area where you’re not completely confined to your house all day long, the world has changed and probably forever. I’m not saying the current state will be forever, but whenever we’re allowed to go back out, it’s going to be different. It was a great conversation. Here’s an app for you. It’s called Happify. You get to play games with a purpose. You like to play games on your phone.

I don’t like there to be purpose.

It means that you progress, so it doesn’t have to be a grand purpose.

How’s FightCamp going?

It’s going very well. It’s not going to go well today because I will not be fighting.

Is there like a corner man that’ll give you an inspirational speech?

You don’t need that because when you’re doing the workout, they integrate that in. These workouts are so hardcore but I mean that in the best way. It’s these sit-ups and these planks and you’re punching at the top of the sit-ups and you’re punching while you’re in the plank position. First of all, can I take a moment to celebrate the fact that I can even stay in a plank and then do punches? A year ago, I couldn’t have done that. Six months ago, I couldn’t have done that. Honestly, between Tonal and Peloton, that has gotten me there. Doing all the other strength work, I’m able to do that. I can even do elevated foot pushups now. I couldn’t have done that. It’s pretty exciting. That was a moment of happiness.

When you’re doing these workouts for FightCamp, I’m using all of the things I’ve learned thus far and I’m incorporating in one place. It’s such a great workout. I cannot believe how much you sweat in 15 to 20 minutes. I’ve only done the four-round workouts. I’m working through what they call the prospect path. You will learn to do each of the different moves and they keep adding onto them as you go through it. They’re all about four rounds. As you progress, they have longer ones. You have eight rounds and then you have ten rounds. I’m still in the four-round. They’re all about fifteen-minute workouts for the four rounders. They’re great. I really enjoy getting to know the different instructors and to know the different moves. When they call out the combos, now I’ve learned them. It’s cool. I like that they’ve added all this content on YouTube, different ways for you to get to know the instructors, different ways for you to work out at home, even if you don’t the equipment. They have shadow-boxing. They tell you how to modify it into shadow boxing. Even if you don’t have the bag, you can still get a great workout.

If you would like to check it out, you can go to JoinFightCamp.com. If you’re looking for something to augment your Peloton, it is a great choice. If you’re looking for something that doesn’t have a long waiting list because they don’t have to be delivered by a special team because of its installation, I don’t want to make it sound like people aren’t interested in it.

Let me tell you, people are snapping them up like hotcakes.

Because it requires special installation, they don’t have to have a special team to deliver it. You assemble it yourself in your house. It’s simple. Even we did it. It’s not something you’re going to have to wait a long time to get right now. Go to JoinFightCamp.com for more information.

If you do purchase it, don’t forget to fill out the survey at the end and tell them that The Clip Out sent you.

We have another new celebrity sighting. It is New Kids On The Block.

Did you like New Kids On The Block?

No.

I never was. I wasn’t into the boy bands.

There’s only one boy band that matters and that is The Monkees. They weren’t for me and they came on the scene when I was 20, 21 years old.

I know you have an appreciation for hooks in music even when it’s not something that you like.

If I had to pick one, I’d probably like Backstreet Boys or NSYNC more than New Kids. The New Kids songs didn’t do a whole lot for me, even just from a “That’s a good pop song,” standpoint. Obviously, lots of people love New Kids. Yeah, totally. They were doing an online like Q&A and they were all online together. On one of them, you can see a Peloton in the background. I didn’t watch the whole thing because one it was an hour and a half long. Two, it was New Kids on the block. Apparently, it sounds like they all have them. I read someone talking about it and it made it sound like at some point they all were like, “We all have.”

That would be great if they did rides together and then did a synchronized dance while they were riding.

It would make sense that they would need something with lots of cardio because dancing is still a huge part of their show.

That is not easy to sing and dance at the same time.

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As much as I make fun of them, that was before all the lip syncing and stuff. I don’t know if they do that to some degree now or not, but when they were coming up, it was before that was prevalent. If you were doing both, it’s because you were actually doing. They need to be in shape, even now that they’re in their 50s. I found an interesting blog post. Did you read this one?

I did skim it. This was not like a full read.

It’s from a blogger named Alison. I thought it was interesting because the headline was I Bought A Peloton And I Am Neither Rich Nor Thin.

She has a picture of herself and she’s a real person.

I wouldn’t describe her as heavy, but she’s a regular normal, everyday human being.

She’s not like somebody you would call like a Barbie doll thing or anything like that. She’s got curves and she’s got a real body. She talks about the fact that she became a full-time blogger and she hired a personal trainer. Somewhere along the way, she decided to get a Peloton and she absolutely fell in love with it. I love hearing that story because I’ve been there, I’ve tried different ways to exercise. I’ve tried going to the gym, I’ve tried working out with other people and Peloton is the only thing that’s ever stuck for me. I feel like that’s basically what this woman was saying.

I thought it was a nice point of view because there’s so much snark out there about Peloton in terms of it’s for rich and then people. It was nice to see someone saying that’s not true.

It’s a very nicely done blog too.

SoulCycle is doing virtual guided workouts on the Sirius channel.

You might remember several months ago we talked about how they started up a Sirius channel and it was all about motivational quotes from their instructors. Now, they’ve repurposed that because they don’t have gyms open. They started doing these guided workouts on the channel.

I think that is smart for SiriusXM because people aren’t commuting anymore. That’s when most people use their Sirius subscription.

I’m really curious about the percentage of people that have Sirius in their homes because I never did that whenever I had Sirius in my car.

I don’t think most people do, but some people do. You can get a little device or now you have an app that you can stream it through, but you have to pay extra for it. A lot of people bundled them into their package. I agree, most people think of Sirius as something for in their car. I think it’s smart for SiriusXM to try and be like, “Try and listen to it in your house. Here’s a reason to.” I don’t think very many people will do it, but it’s at least one way to try and remind their users that it works in their houses too.

It’s a good way to remind SoulCycle users that SoulCycle’s still out there hanging around trying to beat this virus so they can come back.

You found an article that isn’t necessarily Peloton related but was an interesting story. It’s about a triathlon athlete, not just an athlete.

She’s a three-time IRONMAN winner, champion. She is the real deal.

She’s not messing around. She was doing a virtual.

Many of the races have been canceled for obvious reasons. IRONMAN decided to do a virtual series and she was participating. She was winning until her husband decided to try and inspire her by bringing in trophies, “Here are some of your other trophies that you won, you winner.” Then he kicked the cord and unplugged her and disconnected her, therefore disqualifying her from the race.

How is he doing? Is he out of track yet? If you were doing something like that and I tripped over the cord, I would keep walking right out into the garage, get in my car and fly to another country that I’m not going to name because I don’t want you to know where I’ll go if something like this happens. I’m not going to tell you. I need that escape hatch and change my name and you would never hear from me again.

The good news is you would never get close enough to the bike to unplug it. I think you’re safe. Also, I’m not going to be competing anytime soon. Even if I were, I certainly would not be winning.

If you were even going to complete and I did it, you’d be mad.

I would be. I’m not even going to try to spend that another way. There would be yelling. I might throw things. That might push me up right over the edge.

We figured out how the virtual IRONMAN measures the swimming.

I meant to look that up.

That’s a little project for you. Someone will probably email it to you. You’ll forget because you’ll think it’s an article I sent you. We still have a contest going on. It will win a free tonal.

It’s going to be a very lucky person. I’m super stoked.

I am glad we have this special fancy-dancy website that selects a winner for us because I don’t even know what I would do. We need someone to take the responsibility off our shoulders because it’s such an amazing prize. I was also very excited. I get the Shout! Factory newsletter. Shout! Factory is like how Rhino used to be for videos. Rhino ended up focusing pretty much only on music. They put out Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Bob Newhart’s box sets and Mel Brooks’ and all sorts of stuff like that. That’s why love it is because it’s very nerd-focused. They were doing a contest where you could win $200 shopping spree from Shout! Factory. They were using the same website and same contest mechanism that we’re using. I was like, “We must have a good one if someone like Shout! Factory is using it.”

It has a lot of cool features.

You should check it out for all the cool little bells and whistles. You can find it at theclipout.com/Tonal or at our Facebook page. There’ll be a question that you have to answer. If you answer that question, they’re not typically too hard and it will tell you where to go find the answer. It’s not like homework. It’s pretty simple.

If you were to visit our incredibly awesome website, you would notice that there is a complete listing of every word we say in every episode past a certain point. That’s a hint.

It’s pretty spoonfed to you. It’s not as difficult as it might sound if you haven’t entered yet. Every week is a new opportunity, so it’s not like you’ve missed your chance. It’s cumulative, so people can enter again and again each week. There are also other bonus things for whether you want to go and find Tonal on Facebook or check out Crystal on Instagram, all sorts of things like that. It gets the extra entries. We’re getting closer and closer. We are over halfway through. We’re getting closer and closer to someone walking away with a free Tonal.

I’m excited. I can’t wait to find out who it’s going to be. Are there a ton of people that have entered?

We’ve had lots of people enter, so that’s awesome.

I want to head back to this whole virtual race thing. I looked it up. Here’s the thing, it’s races but they’re not doing a triathlon. They’re doing duathlons. The one that was done was a duathlon. So Mirinda Carfrae was one of the professional athletes. It was her that her husband made her lose. She was one of the people they mentioned as the pro virtual race. We have four women racing the bike portion and she was first.

Mr. Mirinda Carfrae, if you need a place to stay, we have a guest bedroom.

No, I can’t let him just on principle.

I can. I feel his pain.

Speaking of contests, do you remember when we did the awesome Stronger U giveaway?

I do.

In case that you weren’t an audience back then, we had a giveaway. We did The Clip Out Bingo challenge. Dane Newman was the winner. He posted an update, which I could not believe that it had already been ten weeks since we had that content. Dane has lost 37 pounds in ten weeks. He is thrilled with Stronger U. I wanted to put that out there for anybody that’s thought about it, wasn’t sure, there you go.

I though his take on Stronger U were on-point details and realistic because he was very much like, “I don’t necessarily do everything they say and it is not always easy.”

At the end of the day, no one’s making you do it. It’s all about teaching you better habits. You’ve got to get past the part where you do the things you shouldn’t do. That’s hard. He’s clearly doing it because that’s a lot of weight that he lost, especially in just ten weeks. That’s almost four pounds a week. He’s killing it. Congrats, Dane. That’s a double congrats. He won twice.

There is a new spring line coming.

I know that we just had a spring line drop. It was like a micro little capsule collection and it was all Nike. There a lot of Nike haters out there. I had no idea people still reserve that much hatred for Nike. Not because I care one way or another, I just didn’t know. Don’t pay attention. Anyway, there is a full spring line that is dropping on April 14th. Get your shopping fingers ready because you’re going to beat me to it. I’ve got some referrals. I’m burning a hole in my pocket. Whenever I find out dates like that, just so you know, it’s often the day before or two days before or a day after. Consider it an approximate symbol before the 14th.

We did another Zoom call and that was fun.

I keep confusing people by telling them last minute. I thought we would use this opportunity to tell people now. We’re going to commit now, Tom. When do you want to do the next Zoom call? Do you want to make it a Sunday thing?

Sure, we can do that.

Then it’s every Sunday afternoon.

We should do Saturday night.

No one wants to be here on Saturdays. We need to be very specific. We’re already waffling. This is why I don’t tell people ahead of time because we waffle. We’re wafflers.

We could either do Sunday or we could try and do see if Saturday works better if we give people more advanced notice. It’s not like they have places to go.

I don’t know. They still might be having their own parties. What time do you want to do it on Saturday?

7:00 Central.

That’s 8:00 Eastern, 7:00 Central on Zoom. There will be a link. It will be posted on Facebook and Instagram, so watch for it. Within the Facebook group, I will ask because we have our very good friend, Gina, who is giving us the Zoom link to be able to be used. We can’t record them anymore. Her company doesn’t allow that, so we’re not going to be able to record them anymore. We can still use it. I’ll ask Gina if maybe she can set it up and I can include it in the newsletter. That won’t work because I don’t usually send out the newsletter until Sunday.

You can set it up for the following weeks.

I could do that. We’ll see how many of you show up Saturday, 7:00 Central, 8:00 Eastern. There will be a link again posted in the Facebook group and on Instagram. If people show up, then I will include one for the following weekend in the newsletter.

Peloton has family classes now available.

We need to take one because it’s family. It’s for the whole family.

Why would I do that?

It’s for the whole family and I thought since we’re stuck at home, we could all hang out together.

I’ll just watch.

It’s annoying because they put it on the app and once again I don’t have any way to see all the classes together. If you’re in the same boat as me, you can hop on over to the Cardio section and then you can pick through and find them that way. It’s not nearly as quick and concise, but it’s doable and very fun classes. They have some stuff that’s like some PE style classes that you can do with the kids. It’s good. I’m glad that they’re adding great activities and stuff.

PE style classes, that’s great if your kids are homeschooling because a lot of kids, especially in grade middle school, they’re still making them do a PE segment. Finally, all of the Peloton Power Zone instructors are doing an Encore FTP test together.

This is the first time this has ever happened. They’re all going to do an FTP test at the same time. This has never been a thing. If any of you were following along with Power Zone, you need to check this out on Sunday 1:00 PM Eastern, and you too can take your FTP test at the exact same time as the Peloton instructors.

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Joining us is Priyanka Gadinski.

My first question always is how did you find Peloton?

I took the largest gamble in my entire life. I have never been on a spin bike. I never knew anybody who took a spin class. I used to be a model and bodybuilder. I never focused on cardio. I never did cardio my entire twenties. I saw this commercial on TV and it was Robin Arzon. I was like, “I need this. I need to buy this.” We budgeted it out. The gym wasn’t a practical approach for us between the two kids. My husband, Brian, would go to the gym two days a week and then I would go to the gym two days a week and nobody was losing any weight, so it was not working out. We were excited, October 1st, 2018 is when we got our Peloton. It was 100% gamble.

I’m sure you’ve seen commercials for equipment that claims to be similar. Why do you think that resonated with you more than Bowflex or a Nordictrack or something?

I hate to say that Robin is my spirit animal but she was also on Good Morning America. Her personality and her drive, I’m like, “I can do that.” For the first time in a long time, I had confidence in myself that I said, “This is something I can do. This is someone I can aspire to emulate.” That was why I connected with Peloton. Robin is one of my favorite instructors for that reason. She doesn’t know it but she has been a huge catalyst in me finding myself again.

You subsequently lost quite a bit of weight after you got the bike?

When I got married in 2014, I was 165 pounds. I had the first baby, put on 60 pounds, and then with my whole gym rhetoric lost about 20 or 30 pounds in the following year. By my next pregnancy, I’m like, “I’ve got this. I’m going to macro plan it. I’m going to watch my diet.” I did everything. We come to the realization that it’s hormones. I gained 60 pounds again. We got the bike on October 1st, 2018 but I didn’t start my diet journey until December 24th, 2018, which was when I was officially done nursing my second child simply because of what happened. It’s like a seizure disorder. When my sugar is out of sync, I have had a convulsion. Once I was at a gym, I had to step off an alley love ride, and I almost went through my coffee table.

Teachers are organically busy people. Share on X

The nursing thing wasn’t helping with the amount in and didn’t match the amount out. I wasn’t losing anything. At some point, I’m like, “I cannot drive myself crazy.” December 24th, I said, “I’m tracking my macros.” It was something simple, 30 minutes a day every other day. That’s all I had said to myself. That’s four times a week. That’s how I started that. That was my original goal. Peloton became this obsession where it was like, “I can do 30 minutes. What more can I do?” Which then added in, “By 30 minutes, I’m going to add in ten minutes arms toning after every ride, and then what more can I do?” My 30 minutes had to be chiseled out of a day, which I don’t have. I found a new hour for myself, which I call my 4:00 AM workouts. I need a little bit of time to get it together. I would wake up at 3:15, have my coffee, my protein waffle and start working out at 4:00. It increased and I even stopped tracking how much I weighed because, at this point, the weight loss is a side effect of what I’m doing. My goal is not the number anymore.

You said you began on December 24th, 2018, on Christmas Eve. You’re like, “I will deprive myself of things.” You could have done December 26th. I would like some insight as to what the thought process was there.

It was one of those things I’m like, “I can’t wait anymore.” I’m a teacher. We had a week to start planning. We said, “We don’t need an extravagant Christmas dinner. Let’s start tracking now.” We’re both at home. We can prep all our meals, get everything done, which is why December 24th worked for us because we were both home to get everything together.

Your husband, Brian, also helps. He works out and he’s doing all these things too?

He was fit but he’s lost about 30 pounds. He’s gotten himself from a size large to medium. He used to be a 36, 30, but he’s like 33, 30. He was never big to begin with. For him, it was more to support me which makes him wonderful because he does all the cooking.

You were tracking and you were doing the bike. How much did you end up losing?

In seven months, I lost 60 pounds. I’m back at my pre-baby weight. I’m back in my 2014 self, which is huge.

Congratulations. That has got to feel amazing.

I feel like this person was lost in that whole hustle bustle of mom-hood. Personally, I’ve always been an awkward mom. I never fit in with the other moms. I never had interests in things they did. I’ve always been active. I’d like to do things. I’ve never been a drinker like a wine night out. I’m like, “Let me have some water.” That never resonated with me.

I totally relate to that.

For me, my husband’s like, “Let’s go hiking. Let’s go do this.” I’m a doer. I had knee pain from going up and down the stairs. I was unable to carry the baby because I didn’t trust myself for my leg not to give out going down the stairs. The condition I was in after two babies and I’m like, “This is terrible.” That was one of my red sirens going off in front of my face because I saw my mother. My mother can’t even walk a mile in the cold without her knees are hurting for the rest of the week. That was like, “You cannot turn into your mother. You need to fix this now.” It’s not that you’re young, I had to figure it out.

Are you riding the bike? Is that your sole exercise or do you do other things?

From December 24, 2018 until around June 2019, I was 100% dedicated to the bike. It was a chance visit. I went to the studio and I was scared because I went by myself but my mom came and supported me. She didn’t take a class. She’s like, “You can do it.” Something inside me was like, “I’m excited to be here.” I had originally signed up for a 45-minute ride with Cody. It was a Sunday. I did that but then I got there early and there was a 30-minute walk in and they’re like, “Do you want to get on the 30-minute ride? I was like, “Okay.” I got on the 30-minute ride and then I did my 45-minute ride. I asked them if they had any open spots for Emma which was in an hour. They’re like, “Yes. Do you want to go on one?” I was like, “I’ll go for it.” I took another 45-minute ride. This was the girl that was doing 30-minute rides plus 10-minute arms and toning every other day. At this point, six times a week. That’s all I was doing, 40 minutes on the bike tops. When I did that and I wasn’t tired the next day, that was the big thing, I realized that I am capable to do more. It became like, “What else can I do?” It opened up a new door for me where my fitness level was tested and I was amazed.

You also have other jobs that you do.

I’m a full-time high school teacher. I teach Biology and Algebra Two. I dislike where I work but I love my job and they pay me a lot, benefits and all that good stuff, so I can’t leave. If I leave, I start down on the pay scale. I feel a part of me is burned out. I also tutor part-time because daycare isn’t cheap. I used to tutor about ten hours a week and I want to stab myself in the eye at some point. Part of the burnout I’m talking about, I’m bored. I sit in place for four hours. I can’t do it anymore. I’ve cut my tutoring schedule down to 5 to 7 hours a week. I thought in my head I can do this. I was a classical Indian dancer by training from three years old to about 26 years old. I retired out of the entertainment industry. I see the model do commercials, the little stuff. It would be fun side jobs. By the time I hit 26 or 27, I figured I needed to settle down. Find Mr. Right and do all those things.

Did you?

I did. He’s amazing. He cooks and preps every little thing like a container. I don’t need to pack my lunch in the morning. My lunch box and my coffee are ready. I come downstairs, eat my breakfast, that’s already heated, walk out of the house and go to work. I love Bollywood music. My entire family has always been a part of Bollywood. My mother was a singer when she was younger. I’ve done a few shows in my teens to early twenties. My uncle is an actor. My other uncle used to be a singer. He’s got a couple of songs out there. I felt that indoor cycling could use a little bit of the Indian flavor. I made it the mission that I wanted to bring that Bollywood fusion ride, the music that I love which is organic to me. I can’t be one person that loves this music. This music resonates with half a billion people around the world. I had gotten an offer from CycleBar, however, I did not pursue that because it later came out that I wouldn’t be able to do what I wanted to do. I’m not looking to make another career but I want to get started, get my foot into the fitness industry because I am a complete newbie. Granted my Master’s in Math Education is not going to help me. I’m learning from the ground up.

There was a local gym opening up and the general manager is pretty much like, “You do whatever you want to. I’m going to trust you. You’re going to run the ride program.” I’m one of the lead instructors there and I do five classes a week. Here’s what’s insane. It is 6:45 and the 8:00 class, they’re both 45-minute formats. How I haven’t died yet? I don’t know but I love every minute of it. In fact, all the negatives of my job have magically become bearable. Another reason I love it is my riders love the different music I’m putting in. They’re hearing Indian music, they’re loving it, and they’re loving my rides which have been great. I have been selling out all my rides which is insane to me especially when I have back-to-back rides and they’re both packed.

It’s not necessarily bringing in people who like the music, it’s exposing people that were unfamiliar to new things.

I literally have three Indian people who take my class. Indians don’t even make it to the Olympics. We’re not people that exercise, especially when I look at my mom. My mom is an inspiration to do the things that will not make me her.

That should be on a Mother’s Day Card.

If you guys admit it together.

It did. I was like, “Wait.”

It’s the second time you said something like that. It’s like, “I hope your mom doesn’t read this.”

She knows. Every text message I get from her, “My knees, they’re hurting. My back is hurting.” She’s not even old. It kills me when she says these things. She’s like, “I’m old. I’m done. I can’t do this.” In India, there’s a huge fitness revolution and I would like to be part of bringing this indoor cycling to India. I don’t think anyone understands the value. People look at it as you’re riding a bicycle. That’s not at all what it is. For me, I’ve got my life back. My heart works better than it ever has. I have more energy than I’ve ever had. I’m the fittest I’ve ever been and I see that. I used to be a bodybuilder. “How am I fit?” My lofty goal, which is 5 to 10 years down the road, I would love to see more Bollywood fusion rides happening and even bring indoor cycling to India. I don’t know where this path will take me.

Why do you think that fitness hasn’t been a priority in that culture?

Growing up in my family, besides my dad, nobody ever was fit. Even my sister who is a doctor. Our culture promotes a lot of sitting around, talking, having tea and snacks. Nobody ever goes to work out. In fact, if you work out too much, people look down on you. My mom tells me, “Take it easy. You’re doing too much.” There’s a huge shift where people’s mindsets are changing because there are new gyms opening up. They have an Orangetheory called the Cult, which is taking up in India. The keto diet is big in India too. They’re tracking their macros. The other issue is our food is also not conducive to a healthy being. I don’t want to be my grandfather that only ate rice, potatoes and lamb until he was 80 years old.

It seems way healthier than what we do.

I don’t eat red meat, so that saves me. Our entire culture is more rice and carbs. When I see my parents eat their food, they mix rice and quinoa and I’m like, “What are you doing?” They’re like, “Quinoa is healthier.” I’m like, “I understand but you’re mixing carbs and carbs.” If you did the quinoa and threw in some cauliflower rice, which is just cauliflower. They don’t understand that. Getting back to spinning. I had my dad on the Peloton and he was like, “I’m addicted to this.” He would come over when they were in the country. He would ride at least once or twice a day while he was here. He loved it. If I can get somebody like my dad on board who used to run marathons, I’m sure there’s a market for it.

I want to point out that you went from never having ridden a spin bike to becoming a spin instructor all because you found Peloton. That’s powerful.

That’s what I’m saying, Peloton is amazing. I’m sure they do realize that but the stories that they have are generally, “I got my weight back” To me is almost the side effect of what has happened. I’ve gotten my weight back but the story is not what I’ve lost. The story is everything I’ve gained. I’m physically the best version of myself. I’ve taken what they’ve given me and I’m spreading that joy of indoor cycling. I even mirror my classes after Cody and Robin. This comes from somebody who’s fearful of Robin’s Tabata. I incorporate Tabata in my classes and my members love it. They’re like, “How many Tabata intervals do we have this ride?” I use what I have seen is successful and that comes as Peloton. I’m an unofficial Peloton Brand Ambassador. I don’t go around preaching but I am doing what they have taught me. I was taught by the best. I’m certified with Mad Dogg Spinning but I also took a second Schwinn cert. The stuff that I learned there is exactly what we do at Peloton. It’s tested true methods of indoor cycling that are proven results, except for the weights and the bike.

You seem to be working 50-something hours a week. How are you finding time to work out, still be a mom and have a moment to yourself? Do you ever get a moment to yourself?

Moments to myself doesn’t happen often. This is where my twenty-minute saunas come in. What I’ve had to do is severely decrease my time on my Peloton bike. I do focus on strength more especially on days where I am doing two 45-minute rides back-to-back. My personal workout will be a 30 to 40-minute strength workout whichever body parts. I always do one of the core workouts off the Peloton too. I incorporated myself all into Peloton’s tread. I don’t even do any of my bodybuilding stuff. I do Oliver Lee and Jess Sims, all between their legs and glutes, chest and back, arms and shoulders and then I do a core workout.

I have different methodologies of why I would stack certain workouts. I did fifteen-minute glutes and legs. I did a ten-minute core. I did another ten-minute glutes and legs. I finished off with a ten-minute climb to soak in what I did on my legs. There is a methodology as to how I pick my workouts but for the main part, I’m 100% on the Peloton board. I don’t use any machines outside of my dumbbells or my Peloton bike. Finding time has been difficult. Luckily, I do have days where I was at home, which is nice. I have my kids all day. My husband has been a great asset to helping me orchestrate things. The other blessing has been the gym classes are late at night. I can tuck my kids in at night and then teach at 8:00 at night, which is not too terrible for me.

I didn’t realize that they did classes that late.

As a teacher, I’m out of the building by 3:00, so I have my kids from then until about 5:00, 5:30, 5:45 and I get ready to go. All our meals are prepped so we don’t even think about cooking. Even the kids’ meals are prepped. Brian has this down to a science which is amazing. I have to worry about nothing. Everyone is getting fed, I have food in the fridge and he has food in the fridge. He has made it easy for me to do all these things I have to do.

Do you guys ever see each other?

He also works full-time. I don’t want it to sound he’s a house husband who would have been phenomenal. We do see each other. Weekends are a big thing especially Friday nights and Saturdays. I’m home all day every Saturday. That is my day at home. That is when the house gets cleaned. Granted he’s a great chef and takes care of everybody, the house looks crap and I can’t clean. That’s where I come in.

That seems a fair trade-off.

That’s a great balance.

Sundays are usually my big day of tutoring and ride. Sunday schedule is almost a nightmare. I need to figure it out. I tutored 8:00 to 10:00. I go directly to teach an 11:00 ride. I come back home, gobble something, and take my oldest ice skating. Both of the kids hang out but take both of them so Brian can get some time to work out. I come home again, eat some dinner, and then go tutor again from 4:00 to 7:00.

We’re fortunate that our kids don’t do things.

My oldest is also an inspiration to me. She is an athlete in the making. I don’t ice skate. My husband doesn’t ice skate. We’d barely watch hockey. At a young age, she said, “I want to ice skate.” I was like, “Okay.” It was nearly impossible to find somebody who would even take her out on the ice because I’m not going out there and hurting myself. I found a program to take her and she went out on the ice. They don’t give them any tools to support them because they say that hinders their learning on how to stabilize themselves. She fell every ten seconds and I’m like, “I paid for six classes and she’s never going to want to go back.” Sure enough, we got in the class, she’s like, “Mom, when am I going back next?” I was like, “What is wrong with this kid?” She going to do her first official competition and invited to a county competition where there were over 50 performances. She nailed her performance and I was incredibly proud. She’s a little thing and got on the ice all by herself, did her routine to perfection, and not even nervous. Sometimes, I look at my own kids and I go, “I need to be like this.” She has learned this hopefully from someone.

She doesn’t see it.

She doesn’t know to be scared yet.

She’s like, “This is what I want to do and I’m going to do it.”

I feel like the year is a learned behavior, so I find that fantastic. I can’t get my little one to do anything. She barely wants to touch a balloon. She’s scared of everything.

Balloons are awful. She’s right to hate them. I hate balloons so much.

You and Aria would be friends.

We would be and I would never buy her a balloon.

I did not buy any balloons for their party. I combined a birthday since they’re so close. One of their birthdays was a Frozen theme. I bought so many Frozen balloons. She pretty much cried every time a balloon looked at her.

That’s how Tom is.

I’m okay with Mylar balloons but the other ones like the regular old-fashioned balloons, no.

They don’t sell latex balloons anymore because of the helium shortage. Not all places but there is a significant helium shortage. Once the helium runs out on Earth, we’ll have to mine it from the moon, which will be an expensive balloon. You won’t have to worry too much about latex balloons.

I didn’t realize that it was not a replenishing source.

The helium in the air is useless. We can’t harvest that in any way, shape or form. The helium we used for balloons also known as in the tanks has to be mined at the rocks.

How would people talk with squeaky voices?

What’s going to happen?

It’s always huff up with those paint cans.

Nobody at home does that. You’re going to get us taken off. FCC is going to be after us.

I’m just kidding.

The internet is not regulated by the FCC, so we’re okay. Huff away, people.

Going back to how I balance everything. When I’m working, I’ll stay at the gym later because I have an 8:00 class. I’ll be done by 9:00. I’ll do my Peloton digital there and I’ll be done by 10:00. I’ll be home by 10:30. That’s not too terrible. In days where I was home, I prefer to wake up at 3:00 AM, I did my workout at 4:00 because I knew I wanted to spend the day with my kids and work around the house and stuff. Shyla had a cooking class. I wanted to make sure I was free for them. I did my work out early. I also like my sauna times. I like to do that too.

If you’re staying at the gym until 10:30 and you’re getting up at 3:15, are you sleeping 5.5 hours every night?

I sleep around six hours every night.

I’m jealous. I can’t function on six hours of sleep. It’s not a thing.

I’ve also gotten good at the twenty-minute naps when I come home. I do take a quick nap. My kids are great. They will sit next to me. I’ll give them a couple of snacks in bed, they’ll sit in my bedroom, they’ll watch TV, I’ll lock the door, and nobody’s going anywhere. The bathroom is in my bedroom, so they can use a bathroom there. They do well with my twenty-minute nap so far. The older one babysits the little one.

I love that you have taken a complex schedule and you have made it work for you. That’s fabulous because everybody has their own challenges.

When people tell me, “I don’t have time,” I look at them like, “What are you saying to me? You have no idea.” One of the things that Peloton and the coaches are fantastic, some of the things that resonate with me is you make your own time and decisions. That is what has been central to my focus when I plan everything. Every minute of my day is planned and it has to be. If I want to be effective and accomplish everything that I want to, I even plan my rest time. I’m getting my braids so I’m excited. I love it because it lasts 2 to 3 days. I can’t afford it every week. I get them done every other week. I know from 8:00 to 10:00 is total rest for me and we’re hanging out, watching the Outsiders or whatever show my husband has me watching. I don’t watch TV, so he usually picks a show. I pretend to pay attention to what’s going on.

All the things that have changed and shifted around, what do you feel has changed the most since you found Peloton?

I have changed the most, that’s it. Everything about me, the person who I was, I looked back and said, “I’m so happy. I changed myself off that trajectory.” I was heading into early osteoporosis. I had high cholesterol, high blood pressure. I’m predisposed to genetically. Back in December of 2018, I had my blood test. All those things have gone away. For me, why it’s important is because I do want to beat my genetics to some extent. I do want to make sure I can give my very active little people the mom they need because I would have loved to have a mom that would run around with me. My mom never ran around with me but my dad did. It’s important for me to be there for my kids and try to live as long as possible because my four-year-old is insightful. She said to me one day, “How old are you going to be when I’m 99?” I am logical, I don’t sugarcoat things not even to a four-year-old and I said, “Honey, I’m going to be dead.” Brian got mad at me. He was like, “I can’t believe you told a four-year-old.” I’m like, “When she’s 99, I’m not going to be up there. I’m going to be 128.”

That question hit home with me where it was like, “I want to try.” I never in my entire life thought about how old I wanted to be until my daughter asked me how old I would be when she was nearing the end of her life. I thought to myself if there’s a way that I can do something about it. I don’t believe in supplements, I take no supplements. Let me disclose that too. I’ve had no surgeries related to weight loss or any dietary modifications. I believe in all-natural. I believe in the power of I can. I took it upon myself to do this. Peloton has these amazing instructors. They share their recipes, they share their daily secrets and routines. Honestly, this is going to sound terrible but I also learned from Mark Wahlberg what it takes to be a successful person. I’m not emulating Mark Wahlberg but when I saw his schedule about he wakes up at 4:00 AM to work out, that’s when it hit me, “Why don’t I do that? What am I doing at 4:00 AM? I am sleeping. Can I train myself to function effectively on six hours of sleep?” More so, work out early in the morning too because I’ve never in my entire life worked out in the morning. I was in after work kind of workout girl. It was an entire overhaul into how my body works.

In a way, I take inspiration from Mark Wahlberg too. More like the Wahlberg’s end of things.

When you’re doing all these different things, you’ve got your workouts, you’re eating differently although it sounds like you don’t focus that much on food. Who are your go-tos for Peloton? Who are you spending the most time with?

Oliver and Ben. I’m sure I’m dating Ben. I’ll be honest though, as much as I love Oliver and I have a picture of Oliver and me together. I look mortified because he touched me. I’m not a big hugger. I know people get upset when they don’t want to be touched but I don’t want to be touched by anybody. When Oliver hugged me, I had the face at discus. I love all of them and they’re such great people. My go-tos are Ben, Robin, Cody and then on the strength side, Jess Sims, Oliver and sometimes Chase. I always go to Emma for core. Emma, Robin, and even sometimes Olivia have a good core workout. I hate to be married to one instructor. They all do amazing things and they all have great insights to add to things. I’ll change it up, I’ll do an Andy Speer’s workout, I’ll do a Jess King ride, who is fantastic in studio. I never ride with Jess King. I still do ride with Jess King at home but I was like, “I’m going to do two studio classes.”It does not matter what you do; it’s the consistency that you do something every day. Share on X

I was going to see Robin and Jess had the class after her. I was like, “I’m going to take a class with Jess too.” The best decision ever. She’s amazing in the studio. I would take a class with every single person in the studio. I sent you a picture of my Peloton wall. There are still a couple of people that are missing off my wall. I wouldn’t take all their rides at home simply because I need somebody to wake me up in the 4:00 AM workouts where Cody was that guy. Sometimes, Ben has fun stories, not often but I love Ben. He knows this. When I got my urine review, he was my PR. I haven’t gotten a PR in anything. He was my 60-minute PR on his climb ride. I tagged him in that and he was excited. I started working as an indoor cycling instructor. I’m trying to find a new balance for me. Before I was doing 45-minute classes, 2 to 3 times a week and then 30-minute classes but I was doing 30-minutes of strength every day. That’s gone out the window because I need to sleep sometimes. I’m trying to find a newer balance.

It takes time to shift, adjust and figure out what works and what doesn’t whenever you have to make those shifts. That makes total sense to me. I have to ask you, what are you doing on social media? I see you on Instagram all the time. Are you in all the Facebook tribes and everything too?

I am but I’m not as active. I was active in this forum but not so much anymore. I do try to keep an open mind. I’m not as active as I’d like to be because it brings drama and I don’t have time for all of that. I am an admin for the Peloton Teacher Warriors group. There’s not anything exciting. I’m trying to kickstart something but I feel like teachers are organically busy people and I totally understand that. I try to be a part of every tribe because I feel like every instructor is amazing. When I went to see Alex, I posted once or twice in the Feel Good Fam. The Sweaxys are the biggest groups. I’m going to try to make it part of their riders’ invasion. I’ll try to go out there but I try to keep an open mind. I don’t want to say I belong to one tribe and one tribe alone. To go back to what you had said, the biggest thing I gained was my identity. Where I work, I feel invisible for other reasons that are out of my control. With Peloton, I have claimed myself back.

My original leaderboard name was TeachSpinMom. I was injured and I was off the bike for 4 to 6 weeks and I was devastated. I was like, “Here it goes. I’m completely gone.” I realize at that point, I have become the person I was meant to be because of this amazing machine. I’m not scared to tell people that they’re wrong. I’m not scared to stand up for myself. Let’s say people have an issue with celebrations of Indian holidays being celebrated in “Anglo-Saxon” environment where I live. Things of that nature, I’ve taken in where I’m not invisible. I come with a culture, I come with a story. I’m not going to sit there and pretend I’m the wrong shade of white so I’m going to sit here and be quiet. That has been a huge thing for me. I know that leaderboard names are as cute and funny but I feel I was hiding for so long where I needed to take ownership of my leaderboard name. That’s why it’s Prigad86 even though nobody can say it, but that’s okay.

What a fantastic reason. It matters what you think of it and if it makes you feel empowered and strong, that’s all that matters. I love hearing that because I feel the sense of community and what it does for people is what Peloton is all about.

Do you have any advice for people that are now getting their bikes?

I worked for three months. I’m not ashamed. I wore padded shorts for three months. I used a gel seat. Anything to get my butt on the bike. That’s it. I didn’t care how much the butt hurt. I had 30 minutes, I was getting on a bike because it’s the consistency. Peloton has cornered that market where, “You can do a 10-minute ride or 20-minute ride. How much time do you have to invest?” That was it. It’s the consistency that you do something every day. It doesn’t matter what that something is, you find something to do. You try to push through the pain and you make your time. I feel like there’s a lot of mom guilt that people have. “You have to spend every waking moment now that you’ve made babies. You’ve got to live your life for themselves.” That’s not true. You never stop being a person. Granted you made babies, but they had their lives and you still have to live too. You have them for eighteen years. They think they’re adults. I can’t emphasize enough where there’s no guilt in making you time. I’m nothing special. I wanted to claim my life back. I’m your regular, average, hardworking person that saw Peloton as an opportunity to be to become the best version of myself. Peloton ended up becoming this magic solution that allowed me to work out whenever I want with these amazing coaches.

It gave you the tools to do what you wanted to do.

The tools are there. It’s been amazing to see that. The result in me, this has only been a year in the making. If I can accomplish this much in a year, I was sitting pretty for years and I haven’t done anything novel. I was existing. I was doing my job. I was going out with friends. Doing anything to better myself. I never improved on me. When I sit and reflect as to my journey with Peloton, it’s been amazing what I have accomplished with only 40 minutes a day with Peloton.

All those years before you were resting up for this moment.

I can’t say how grateful I am to all the tribes that have taken me in. I’ve made a lot of friends in the SweaxySwarm. One of my good friends, Martin. He and I have talked almost every day and it was just me looking for a friend in the Sweaxy’s at one point and he’s like, “You need a gay boyfriend.” I’m like, “Okay.” He’s in Chicago. I made great other friends from the #BooCrew and she’s in New York, so we’re going to go up to the studio for my birthday. I’ve met such great people through this journey. I’ve heard many great stories because everyone has their own story of their journey which is what makes it special. I’m also eternally grateful that a gym crunch fitness took a risk on me and said, “You seem like the personality that would do great in the ride room so go ahead.” To me, that is a lot of trust in somebody who’s completely new. I was like, “Are you sure you trust me? I don’t even know how to turn on a mic.” It’s huge that they were people who were willing to risk it with me. What do I bring to the table? I have a great understanding of microbiology and mathematics, not so much in the fitness world. I am self-learning, but with Peloton coaches. I don’t think could have better coaches.

Before we go, where can people find you on social media?

Feel free to follow me on Instagram. My handle is @Prigad86, which is also my leaderboard name. Feel free to follow me on Peloton as well. I also have a great digital workout schedule. If anybody does want to follow what I did to boost up my strength, I have a great PDF format I’m willing to share, so let me know. Send me a message and I can share it to you.

Thank you so much for taking the time out of what is clearly a busy schedule.

Enjoy your family time and chilling.

Thank you. You guys are awesome.

Thank you. Bye.

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What pray tell do you have in store for people next episode?

Another awesome interview. We are going to be talking to Brendan Dunn. You might remember him from the amazing Humans of New York post that went crazy viral, not just on the Peloton page but everywhere. It was all about he had a Peloton and he wasn’t using it and he was frustrated. We get to catch up with him, find out how things are going and in general find out how he feels about all of that.

Until then, where can people find you?

People can find me at Facebook.com/CrystalDOKeefe. They can find me on Twitter, Instagram, on the Bike and of course the Tread, @ClipOutCrystal.

You can find me on Twitter, @RogerQBert or on Facebook at Facebook.com/TomOKeefe. You can find the show online at Facebook.com/TheClipOut. While you’re there, like the page, join the group. Check out our website at theclipout.com. That’s it for this one. Thanks for tuning in. Until next time, keep pedaling and running.