TCO 217 | Workout

217: The Gamification of Peloton plus our interview with Jessica Menardy

Last Updated: May 2, 2023By Tags: , , , , ,

TCO 217 | Workout

 

Peloton is beta-testing a video game.

John Mills joins us to discuss if Strava will be the will winner of Peloton vs. Gyms.

Investors are betting on a short-lived return to the gym.

Dr. Jenn – When life’s curveballs disrupt your plans.

One of the families suing over Peloton’s Tread breaks their silence.

Peloton offers a free year of app access to United Health customers.

You can get a custom-built cabinet for your bike…but why?

The Every Mom reviews the Peloton Bike.

Cody Rigsby used to be a backup dancer for Katy Perry and Pitbull.

Jezebel writes about Robin Arzon’s MasterClass.

Essence goes inside Ally Love’s wedding planning.

Peloton launches its first-ever Community Challenge.

The Summer 2 drop has arrived (finally)!

Elin Hilderbrand name-drops Jenn Sherman in her new book.

The latest artist collaboration features Debbie Gibson.

The new Verzuz pits Rick Ross against 2 Chainz.

Usain Bolt joins the Champion Collection.

All this plus our interview with Jessica Menardy!

—

Watch the episode here:

Listen to the podcast here

The Gamification of Peloton plus our interview with Jessica Menardy

Can I share an embarrassing exercise story with you?

Please.

I got home before you because you have a longer commute now because of your new job. I was like, “I’ll do a Tonal thing.” It had me doing some move I’d never done before or maybe have done once before. It was like the chest fly for a white guy or whatever that is. It’s like you’re being drawn-in quartered, then you’ve got to pull everything together. I don’t know. You got a name for whatever that is. The weight is next to nothing.

It’s a pretty small muscle.

It had it on 5 pounds, which is the lightest and it was twenty reps, which is a lot of reps. I’m doing the reps and I’m like, “When is this going to be over?” I’m trying not to be a total puss and turn around and walk. After about 150 of them, I’m guesstimating, I realized that the battery in the handle was dying. It never picked up that I turned on the weight. Since the weight was so low, I couldn’t tell. It didn’t count any of the things. Now I still got to do them more. It’ll be like, “You only did 80% of your movements.”

To complete it you must finish. That’s pretty funny. Did you change the batteries though?

No, I don’t even know how to change the batteries on that thing, sorry. I was going to change the batteries but my arms were noodles from all the 5-pound reps. I couldn’t do it. I could barely turn on the computer now but I managed. I did it with my nose. That’s how I did it. Anyway, what do you have in store for people in this episode?

We got to talk about this new video game that Peloton is putting out. We have to talk about the stock market and what’s going on with it. There are some new-ish updates on the whole tread fiasco and being recalled that we’re going to hit on. There are also lots of interesting stuff about the instructors. We have a visit from Dr. Jenn Mann. She is going to tell us how to get back on track when your schedule changes and everything is in chaos.

Before we get to all that, shameless plugs, don’t forget we’re available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart, TuneIn. Wherever you find a podcast, you can find us. While you’re there, be sure and follow us so you never miss an episode. It doesn’t cost anything. While you’re there, you might as well give us a follow and you could also leave us a review.

This follow thing is more important than I realized. I need to tell people this because I am a recent convert to Apple.

You haven’t messed with the Apple Podcasts because you were working from home. When you were driving into work, it was a seven-minute drive for you. Now she’s pounding through podcasts.

You got to hit that little plus button and it will make your life so much easier. Just hit the plus button in the upper right-hand corner.

While everybody already has an iPhone, if you would be so kind, you could also leave a review. We have a new one and this is from Ragweed 77. It says, “Two claps and a Ric Flair.”

What is a Ric Flair?

He’s a wrestler.

I don’t get it.

I’m not a wrestler guy. I’ll have to give this to Joe from Real Spoilers. He can translate that back to the people for us.

It sounds good though.

He says, “I’ve recently joined the Peloton app community while waiting for my bike to arrive and found this podcast. I started listening from episode one but took a pause to listen to the most recent show where Tom’s secret was revealed. Even though I haven’t been around long, I can appreciate how big this is. Tom and Crystal, anyone else who is either thinking about starting a fitness journey or is currently on one, let me give two claps and a Ric Flair,” then there’s a Ric Fair “Wooo,” which I will not do. You know how I forgot to turn the weights on during a workout but that’s as far as I’ll go.

Thank you very much for the kind review. That was nice.

You should check out Real Spoilers because one of our cohosts loves wrestling. He has to sneak in a reference to it at least once an episode.

It’s like how you sneak in pop culture even when we talk about nothing related to pop culture.

That’s not sneaking it in and pop culture encompasses everything, music, movies, TV.

Even when it doesn’t, you do.

My Blazing Saddles anecdote was fascinating. Thank you very much.

I’m just sweating it out. That’s all.

Back to the shameless plug, you can also find us on Facebook, Facebook.com/TheClipOut. While you’re there, like the page and join the group. Find us on YouTube at YouTube.com/TheClipOut. You can watch all of these episodes and see our faces and things like that if our faces interest you. You can also get all the links and everything sent to you weekly in a newsletter via email if you sign up for that at our website, theclipout.com. There’s all that, let’s dig in. Shall we?

We shall.

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Joining us is John Mills. Hey, John, how’s it going?

It’s great, all good.

We’ll jump right in. Multiple stories have come out about Peloton looking to gamify your device.

We’ve talked about that being a plan for a long time. We knew this is coming but I don’t think this is what I envisioned at all. I don’t want to speak for you, but I don’t think you did either, John. This is not what I envisioned.

I thought it’s going to be something that’s referenced, replicated or somehow will show something that was more around sports or social. I expected something completely different. With that said, in reading some of these articles, I found out that there’s maybe a social aspect to this. I didn’t expect this.

I didn’t either, although I’m digging it. I like the idea. We should explain what it is. For those of you who haven’t read these articles yet. Peloton is going to launch an in-app video game. From my understanding, this is only going to be available at least to start on your Bike or Bike+ screen. You pedal to control this rolling wheel. You’re on a screen that looks like something that belongs to Tron.

It looks like a cross between Tron and rock bands. Rock bands had these things coming at you on the front of a guitar. This looks like that to me.

The faster you go, the faster the wheel goes. It’s also set to music and I can only hope it’s awesome and exciting music. What am I missing, John? What other details?

You spin the wheel to jump between lanes. You spin the resistance knob. If you turn it to the right and you make it harder, you can jump to different lanes. In the image there, it’s showing three lanes. With a higher resistance, I’m assuming you can get a higher score. That was another element of it. Turn the wheel like Tetris or something.

The name of it is Lane Brake in case anyone has not heard that as well. I was surprised about this because it came out of nowhere. I feel like Peloton leads this to the media because I didn’t hear any of the DL stuff and nothing came to me on the down-low.

That’s the interesting part about this to me as well. I was reading one of the articles on it. They talk about how they had been testing this out with users in these blocks for a little while. There are community members that have been playing this.

They already know it. Obviously, they have to sign an NDA. Sometimes it’s about who gets it because some people follow the NDAs, but then there are people in the community that do not take that seriously at all. Peloton cracks down on that. If they find out that you shared their secrets, they don’t choose you again. You only get one bite at that apple. I did think it was interesting. I read that it’s been over the past six months that they’ve been testing this with different people.

What I read was there was only a thousand people, which doesn’t seem a ton of people in the grand scheme of things. They probably could handpick them. The casual reading that I’ve done of comments on your page, John, people seem to not dig it, which tells me that in this case, it’s a great idea. The people who are like, “I don’t like this at all.” “Good, go like something else. They got lots of other shit that you like, go like that for a while.” They got this other thing for people that don’t like that stuff.

The baseline is, “I want to workout. I want longer rides. I don’t need all that jazzy stuff,” then things happen. Everybody’s into the different things they have. I thought the same thing. This didn’t align with that base, which probably means that the number of people using this drops.

That’s the thing. We have the purists that have been around Peloton for the long haul. Especially those that come from a road rider background. They like things to stay the way they’ve always been. They like those long training rides. They like things to look the same. They like the same type of content. This feels gimmicky to them, but I call it fresh and new. I call it a fun way to use the bike that I haven’t been using before. There are not as many live rides. This is something that can totally take the place of that. I’m assuming you can go head to head with people at some point.

That’s the element of it. When I read the first article, I thought, “We’re going to release this thing like a single-player thing?” As you read the other articles, it sounds like it’s broader and you can challenge people. That made it sound much more interesting to me. They talked about how they’re still working on this. It’s like, “We put this out but we’re intending to continually improve upon this particular gamified product.” It sounds to me like it could evolve and continue to get better and people will continually want the updates for it.

It could absolutely evolve and it opens up a whole new realm of cross-promotion. Right now it’s all about artists series. How about instead of a wheel, it’s a boat and it’s the Rock talking about Jungle Cruise. I am available to hire, Peloton. You could change those skins. You could come up with all sorts of different things. In five years, this will look like Pong to us. It will feel so antiquated and amateurish. It is not amateurish but what we will see them do with this in five years is we will look back on this and it will be practically comical.

The other big thing is that we know that the comments have been made by a Facebook guy, whatever his name is, Mark Zuckerberg or whatever. He commented about how Peloton is working on gaming stuff and that it might go down the VR rabbit hole. Wouldn’t it be interesting five years from now if we’re having this conversation, but now you have a headset on while you’re doing this game? That could be a whole thing coming down the line too. That would be cool and that would bring in a whole other generation of kids to do something more fun and active as well. I could see that happening.

Along with that, I got the impression in reading these articles that this is just the first game. There may be others, an evolution of this and more.

They also mentioned that once the tread gets back online, this is coming for the tread as well. That’s pretty exciting. I can’t wait to run. I’m going to challenge you but only on the Bike+. I’m going to see head to head, how much faster you can go, John.

This is great. It’ll bring in people that they didn’t have before and engages people in a different way. We’ve mentioned in the past how there’s a huge Reddit community that have Pelotons and they don’t get Facebook. They don’t get why people are excited about Peloton for the reasons that they are. I feel like this is sort of a thing that is more apt to engage a Reddit user than a Spice Girls artists series.

That’s interesting. They’re more the Road Rider set to me. If any of the Reddit users out there listen to the podcast, I’m curious, weigh-in which is more interesting to you or less interesting to you. I want to know.

Especially if you consider what it could evolve into and how much more intricate and product tie-ins. Maybe you’re racing Mario or something. Who knows?

Talk about a licensing nightmare.

Moving along, we also saw an interesting article from CNBC about the real winner between Gyms and Peloton could be Strava.

I saw your post about this, John. I got to say, I’m with you but how are they the winner here? Are we only talking about users or are we talking actual money? If we’re talking to users, okay. If you’re talking money, then what? There are many people that don’t pay to use Strava.

I love these types of things. I post these things that I have no answer to the question. I just have the questions.

That’s a conversation starter. It’s what you call that.

I posted this because CNBC is saying that Strava is the winner out of this whole pandemic thing because they blew up during 2020 when the pandemic started. As things started opening up, they’re still blowing up because you’re going to want to monitor your metrics, what you’re working out, what activity you’re doing no matter what.

I have a secret for you. I don’t know that CNBC knows this, but schools started making all the kids use Strava to track their gym classes. It’s for real. Both of my kids have Strava accounts now and neither of them does a goddamn thing.

I promise you, as soon as that gym class is over, you have two abandoned Strava accounts.

Everyone needs someone that they can lean on. Share on X

It backs the question I was posing. CNBC is saying that they got 86 million users. They were saying that during 2020, they were gaining three million users a month. Now that everything is opening up, they’re still gaining two million users a month. They then go, “95% of those people don’t pay for it.” Only 5% of their 86 million users actually pay the $5 subscription. I was like, “How are they the winner? What is this telling me? I don’t know what this is telling me.” It then says that they had been operating at a loss and they still operate at a loss.

How do you gain all those people and you’re still operating at a loss? What do you need?

The people that were responding were going, “That’s 86 million people. They could get advertising. They could come up with some business plan and do something with the fact that they have all of these folks.” That’s the piece.

Strava might be getting advertising money, but when you look at your Strava, it all syncs automatically. You don’t need to look at it to get any information from it. It’s not like you don’t have to go through advertisements to get the information, at least the way it is now. They’re not capitalizing on that. If that’s really what they want. Granted that 86 million people is a lot of people, I just think that there’s a whole lot of accounts that nobody is using.

That’s what I think. It didn’t equate not only on that front, but they are also comparing it to Gyms versus connected fitness versus Strava.

I don’t understand that because I am a Strava user and I am a Peloton user. I use Strava to direct all of my activities. If I do an outdoor run or I do an outdoor bike ride, then I have one place to keep it. That doesn’t mean I use it over Peloton. I don’t even understand how you do that. What is happening CNBC?

There are some interesting answers though when I posted it.

I didn’t read the article but I read the headline. It’s like everybody’s talking about Peloton versus the Gyms, but the winner is Strava because no matter what, people seem to be using Strava to track their stuff. It’s almost like in the Gold Rush, the person that made the real money was the guy selling the pickaxes because most people would go in the hills and never find gold, but all of them bought a pickaxe.

You can track everything for free. Most people are still using the free level. Unless they find a way to leverage that, then you have to buy that pickaxe.

In this scenario, they’re giving away the pickaxe. The question is like, “You got this customer, but what are you doing with that number?”

They captured that miner’s data. They can now send that miner an email.

They just sold that miner’s data like a hundred people.

The jokes are on them because they are already data miners.

I’m glad you’re in such a good mood. He’s in a good mood, John. He’s feeling goofy.

Lastly, InvestorPlace says that you should buy Peloton stock because returning to the gym will be short-lived.

It happens to be what I believe so I included it.

It aligns with what Peloton has said, and what we see happening with people like Beachbody. And IFIT. They’re buying into this idea that this is a paradigm shift. This is like when streaming started happening and people went away from DVDs. That whole concept is aligning with that. They’re saying, “We saw that increase as soon as things started opening back up,” but that didn’t necessarily mean that online retail was going to go away. That just means people wanted to get out of the house. It then leveled off and now people are back to buying things online. They’re saying that this is the same thing that’s happening here. People went back to the gym. There was a slow down a little bit from a connected fitness perspective, but now it’s going to go right back to at home working out because that’s the future. That’s the paradigm they’re trying to sell.

I feel like it’s akin to books versus Kindle. You don’t see as many bookstores but you still see bookstores. There are some people that are like, “I want to read. I want to hold a book in my hand. I want to turn a page. I want to feel the paper. I want the smell of a book.” There are other people that are like, “If I can read it on my phone, awesome.” You’re going to see both, you’re just going to see a lot less of the gyms.

This article is aligning with that. When I post stuff like this, what a lot of folks come back with is, “This is it. The gyms are opening up and the connected fitness folks are going to take a hit from that.” I don’t buy into that either. I truly believe that this is a different thing now with connected fitness.

What I have noticed is there are a lot of people in general from the original like the first wave Peloton buyers who I feel like they’ve been a Peloton user for so long, and Peloton looks so different now than what it did when they first started. They saw a vision when they bought it. Whatever their mind saw is not what it’s turning out to be. Now they feel like nobody’s going to like it.  The opposite is happening because Peloton keeps finding ways to appeal to more and more people. I get that it doesn’t appeal to them in the same way, but it’s appealing to more and more people in general. People are having trouble wrapping their heads around that.

I get the folks with those types of comments as well. I hear you, those purists from the beginning saw how it was in the early days. Now they’re put off a little bit. I see those folks as well. They are negative about it, no matter what you do or what happens because it’s evolving and changing. As you said, it looks a little different. I get some of those comments as well. In the end, I agree with what the article is ultimately saying. Connected fitness is here. As John Foley has said, it has shown a different way of doing this. At home is better and it is more convenient. If you can stay at home, you’re probably going to get a whole bunch of people doing that.

I would love to see numbers on how many people consider themselves exercisers now versus a few years ago.

Is it like in general or Peloton users?

In general, because what you would find is that there are more people that exercise now than before Peloton started. There are obviously a bunch of people that were already exercising that are like, “That is a convenient tool for me and I will utilize it.” They’ve reached a point where they’re creating exercisers that wouldn’t have been exercising otherwise. I think it’s a significant number.

Jasmine’s exercising. I would have never figured that was going to happen and she’s running now.

She’s lost 100 pounds. She’s amazing.

That to me is shocking.

She lost a whole person.

She’s never been active like that and to see her now, she’s like, “I’ve got this thing. I’m sore in my hip. Should I take a day?” I was like, “You should stop for a couple of days.” The next day she’s like, “I feel a little better. I think I’m getting on his thing. Do you think I should do it?” You could tell that the itch was there. She did not want to stop exercising. That’s a Peloton thing.

That is the Peloton effect right there. That is a true statement. It’s a real thing.

Thank you so much for joining us, John. Until next time, where can people find you?

They can find me on my Run, Lift & Live group or page on Facebook. They can find me on Instagram @RunLiftAndLive or at RunLiftAndLive.com.

Thank you.

—

Joining us once again is Dr. Jenn Mann, licensed marriage, family and child therapist, and sports psychology consultant. You may know her from VH1’s Couples Therapy with Dr. Jenn or VH1’s Family Therapy with Dr. Jenn. She’s also got a long-running radio show, the Dr. Jenn Show. She’s written four bestselling books including The Relationship Fix: Dr. Jenn’s 6-Step Guide to Improving Communication, Connection and Intimacy. She also loves her Peloton. It’s Dr. Jenn.

Thank you. I’m a little obsessed with my Peloton.

It’s the best kind of obsession if you’ll ask me. We have a great question that every parent especially can identify with. This is from Katie WB. She’s looking for tips for keeping up the workout routine with changing schedules. She’s had a lot of changes in her house in the past month. She’s got a new job for her spouse, new daycare for her kid and a new work schedule for her. She has yet to find her groove with her new workout schedule. She’s been averaging maybe two rides a week, but that’s way down from her previous norm. She’d like to get back to a place where she’s exercising more frequently. I’m about to start a new job so consider this question for me too.

A lot of people relate to this because there are kids who are going to summer school, going to camp, ending camp, ending summer schools, preparing to start in the fall year. There are a lot of changes going on. Some people who were working from home are now not. This is a great question. What I recommend that she do is sit down and visually plan out her week. Look at the reality, not what we hope it will be, but the actual reality. Sometimes what we do is we say, “I’m dropping her off at daycare. I’ll allow myself fifteen minutes to get there and back, which we know isn’t going to happen. You know that the reality is it’s twenty minutes there. You end up talking with another mom for twenty minutes, and twenty minutes back. You get back and you’re like, “Now I have no time to workout.”

What she wants to do is to time block her schedule. Looked at what is blocked out, transportation childcare, work, spouse and all that time. Also include time for your spouse and a time to prepare a meal or order a meal. Try to be as realistic as possible. What your goal bedtime is and how long it takes you to wash up. What we tend to do is live in a fantasy land where we’re like, “It will take me ten minutes to wash up.” I don’t know about you, but to keep my skin looking good, it is a long night washing up. I find that at the end of the day, I’m moving slower. If I think that I’m going to do it in five minutes, that’s a joke and that’s not going to happen. It was more like a 30-minute regimen because I’m moving so slow and there’s so much there.

Thank you for the honesty. Nobody ever owns that.

It is a late process involving many products, a lot of masks and led lights. It’s totally hardcore. She needs to look at it and then she needs to realistically say, “What are my exercise time blocks and where can I fit them in. Also depending on her job, accounting for if she needs to shower and put makeup on in time to get back to work, or if she has a job where she’s not doing a lot of Zoom calls, or it’s a more casual atmosphere where she can be in her exercise clothes. Look at what are the most important workouts for you? You want to get the best bang for your buck. It sounds like she likes spinning, but also you want to make sure that you’re doing some stretching. If you’re just spinning, you don’t want to get your muscles so tight that you’re then injured and then you can’t spin. What else are the workouts that make her feel good?

For me, there’s a five-minute abs class. Olivia has a couple of five-minute abs classes. I’m telling you, they’re harder than some of the 20-minute abs classes. If I feel like I’m in a crunch and quite literally I am, and I don’t have time to do a lot. I always feel great about myself when I do one of Olivia’s five-minute classes. Evaluate what are the most important workouts to you and what makes you feel the best. Also, what are the workouts that you need to avoid injuries like those stretch classes or yoga classes or foam rolling, and then plan it out.

The other thing is don’t beat yourself up if it’s not perfect. What you want to do is be able to objectively evaluate and say, “What worked this week and what didn’t? What can I do better next week?” Especially those of us who are obsessed with our Peloton, we make a plan and then if it doesn’t work, we feel bad and upset. We’re like, “I didn’t meet my goals.” Instead, I’d rather you go, “What if this plan was not realistic.” Typically, if you’re someone who cares enough to listen to a podcast, write it on the Facebook page, hear me answer this question, you’re someone who cares about working out. You’re someone who values that.

Don’t beat yourself up. You’re on the right path and you just have to figure out how to find that balance. Any working mom has this struggle and working dads do too. I think that this is a great question. Hopefully, this will help her find some balance. I love it.

That is good advice and I’ll be using that. I want to give a little plug and this is free charge. I am in love with the Laurel Studio planner. It’s a digital planner and I have been using it to organize the heck out of my life. When you were saying, “Go through there and time block things,” it has every method under the sun for you to do that, whatever works for you. I just want to throw that out there because I’m in love with this planner.

I’m a paper planner girl. I use Erin Condren for many years. I switched over to a Leuchtturm. I’m going a little more bullet journal, but I do think that everybody has got to find the right method for them. That can help you organize your time.

In case anybody’s concerned, I don’t plan at all.

I felt like everybody knew that.

I married a planner. That was my plan and so far so good.

That’s a good plan.

You guys a dumb for not doing it.

All of us women need wives.

I’m starting to sense a flaw in this theory. I hope you and Dr. Jenn are very happy.

We are. We’re going to have the most organized life and household ever. I personally am aiming to marry one of the Home Edit women, but Crystal is a hot catch too.

They’re a little out of my league. I must admit.

If you’re going to lose. There’s no shame in losing to one of them. Thank you so much for joining us. Until next time, where can people find you?

You can find me on social media @DrJennMann. Also in InStyle magazine, I have a column called Hump Day With Dr. Jenn, all about relationships and sex.

—

ABC News had a story about parents who claim their toddler was severely injured by Peloton treadmill call it a death trap. It goes into one of the families that are suing Peloton over the treadmill broke their silence. This is the first family we’ve seen go public.

TCO 217 | Workout

 

I was trying to remember. I know we had a video of the child that the CPSC or whatever they’re called posted, but we did not see the parents in that video.

Their faces were blurred out and things like that.

To my knowledge, this is the first time. To be clear, this is not the family of the child who passed away. I only say that because there are a lot of people talking about this like they know all the details. There’s so much happening with this particular story that there’s a lot of confusion because of that. This is one of the families that sued Peloton. It’s not the family that caused Peloton to come forward and write the letter that they wrote to everyone saying they were concerned.

Their child was injured but he or she did not die, thankfully. It also sounds like from the article that they do not own a Peloton. They sent the child to a friend’s house for a play date. They had a Peloton and the child was injured there.

Some people have asked the question, why is it that the person did not sue the person who was having the playdate instead of Peloton?

That’s a fair question. At least, why isn’t that person also a part of it because it seems like they would bear some responsibility? There’s an inherent risk with a treadmill like we’ve talked about before. I also get that these parents did not elect to take that risk. They sent their child to somebody else’s house.

If you sent your child to a house and they had a gun, and God forbid somebody got shot, would you blame the gun maker?

Legally, you’re not allowed to because they’re protected, but let’s not go down that route.

Would you be upset with the parents or would you be upset with the gun maker? I feel like there are a lot of places you could go with that. There’s a lot of blame that could be spread around.

Something else I noticed in this thing is there are inherent risks in life. We choose to take those risks at different points in our life. I found it interesting if you’re watching the video online, they have two pictures of their children that they presumably supplied to ABC. One is he’s walking around with his child on his shoulders, which not everybody would choose to do. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, but there are people who think that could be dangerous. They’re out in the woods. You could walk by some low-hanging branch. He could lose his footing. There have been cases of someone tripping and falling, and their child getting injured or we’re dying. The very next picture is that kid is there bowling and that kid has his hands right where the bowling ball is going to come out.

I saw that and it made me nervous because that’s where kids smash their hands all the time.

I don’t think anybody’s going to die from that and I’m not saying that they’re hypocrites. I’m saying that it’s an example of we take risks in life. That being said, they did not buy a Peloton.

They sent their kids to somebody else’s house.

Who fully researches treadmills and stuff if you’re not going to buy one? I also get that aspect of it. There’s a lot to unpack there.

I have no answers but this lawsuit thing is not going away. I want to point out again that Peloton had said the smaller treadmill, the new redesign would be released in mid to the end of July. The larger Tread+ or the original one would be coming at some point later on, but we don’t have dates yet. I don’t know if that’s been revised. I do know that customer service is answering this question. They’re fielding it a lot. Peloton customer service is saying that the CPSC has not signed off on any designs, including the one for the smaller tread. I’m starting to wonder if that means that that’s going to be pushed back. We’re not going to see it by the end of July. We’ll see. We’ll keep everybody updated. I’m sure we’ll hear more whenever the next earnings call. If it’s not out by then, I’m sure we’ll hear more about that.

People are going to ask on that call. On a lighter note, moving along, Peloton announced that they’re offering free workout classes to anyone that has United Health as their insurance coverage.

This is cool. For an entire year starting in September, you can get Peloton for free. A couple of things. One, it sounded like it was the online version, not the full version like the kind if you have an actual machine at home.

If you have a bike or a tread, it’s basically app access.

People keep posting that you can get up to four months free if you have full access. I have no idea where they’re getting that information. I don’t know that it’s accurate. I just keep seeing it over and over again. Also, I thought it was interesting that people keep mentioning, “What if you already have Peloton and you’re a UHC member?” That question mark is still open like, are you going to be able to still get a year’s worth of vouchers? Questions that we don’t quite know the answers to yet. I’m sure we will soon. It starts at the beginning of September.

We’ll see a lot more of this because, from the insurance company standpoint, they’d rather you stay healthy. It’s cheaper for them for you to be healthy. You’ll see more and more of that. There was an article going around that people seem to like.

People are passionate about it.

It’s This mid-century style cupboard is designed to conceal your Peloton effortlessly. First off, I’ve never met someone who wanted to conceal their Peloton. Who is this fictional person of which you speak?

I got a lot of responses to this and there were like three people that said they’d be down. It seemed to be people that have larger living spaces. They also host parties or they have kids in that room. They would like to be able to not have their kids touch it. It’s almost like a baby gate. There were a few different kinds of people that could use it. Also, I think that you could see this with celebrities who have Pelotons. I could see them getting this because they have ginormous living spaces. However, they also have gyms.

That’s where I was going. The problem is that the people who have a big enough house to where they would dedicate a piece of furniture that does nothing except hide the bike probably have a dedicated workout space that’s cool looking. The people that have it tucked away in their apartment and wouldn’t mind hiding it also don’t want to take up all that space. I feel like it has a bigger footprint.

It has a ginormous footprint. It has twice the footprint of the bike because it slides into the cabinet and it has to slide out for you to access the bike. Another problem I have with this and seem to upset people a lot is that if you leave it on the cabinet that slides out. The way that it looks when it comes out, you’re up against a wall at that point. How could you do anything with the arm movements? You can’t move your hands above your head. You can’t do the weights on the bike. I am not convinced that was the intent. You’re supposed to pull that thing off of the platform. Regardless, who wants to do that? I don’t know which answer is right? I just know that nobody would want to pull that off and on.

I wonder if it makes more sense to just flip the bike and have it go in the other direction.

Maybe, but you’d still be close to a wall.

Your back will be against the wall like when the revolution came.

Do you see how there’s a window next to the bike? Even if you flip the bike around, you’re still going to be next to that window. There are exercises you do on the bike with your arms that you could not do.

I was thinking more about being able to look at the screen, turn the screen around to get off the bike.

If you have a Bike+, yeah.

I’m assuming if you’re buying this cabinet, you probably sprung for the Bike+.

There are a lot of people that never bought one because they had the regular one.

You’re right. Your inclination is to put it against the wall. If you put it in the middle of a room, then what’s the point.

People were very outspoken about it, which would make for great conversation.

There was an interesting review from EveryMom.com. It was from one of their editors and her review of the Peloton. I thought it was interesting that she claims to have auditioned to be an instructor back in 2013. She was like, “This is dumb.”

Jenn Sherman immediately was like, I’m 100% in.” This lady was like, “No, this is the worst idea ever.”

Now she’s like, “Whoops, this bike is amazing.”

I got to give her a lot of credit for putting that out there. It’s not easy to admit you weren’t right about things. It’s also not easy for a lot of people to admit like, “I started off not liking something. I got additional information and it turns out I do like it.” It’s not that it became popular but she herself uses it and loves it. Now she sees the benefit of it 100%. It was a great article.

—

If you’re looking for a new way to get your cardio, obviously, you love your Peloton, but if you’re looking for something a little different, you should think about FightCamp.

If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to box or kickbox from real fighters, FightCamp is for you. You can also get your kids involved in the fitness journey with you.

It’s great if you want to punch something.

Who doesn’t need to punch something sometimes? I know I do. It can bring boxing and kickboxing right to your home with full-body workouts that you’ll look forward to and a freestanding punching bag that can take your hardest hits.

It’s made for beginners all the way up to experienced boxers. If you’ve already loved boxing, don’t feel like you can’t keep up with it. If you’ve never boxed, don’t feel like you’re going to look stupid because you’ll be in your home and nobody will see you.

It comes with all the gear that you need to box at home, a free-standing punching bag, boxing gloves, quick hand wraps, and their unique punching tracking sensors that challenge you to hit the minimum amount of punches each round. It allows you to track your boxing and kickboxing journey. You can see all the progress you’re making.

Here’s the other thing. If you’ve got kids, it’s great for them. It’s one of the only home workouts that’s completely safe. There are no heavyweights. There are no spinning wheels. There are no real moving parts. It’s just a bag and they punch it.

They can start the second it arrives. Learn from six qualified trainers, all with real fight experience ranging from a pro-MMA fighter and a mother of two to a kickboxing champion.

You can pay for your FightCamp over 24 months for less than the cost of a boxing gym and get it right away.

To get free shipping on FightCamp, go to JoinFightCamp.com/clip.

—

There’s an interesting article from Insider.com about Cody Rigsby and his previous career as a backup dancer for Katy Perry and Pitbull.

Did you know this?

I did not know this.

I did know this. I knew that he was a dancer. I don’t remember knowing that he specifically was a backup dancer for Katy Perry and Pitbull, but I did know that he was a dancer.

I was like, “Was he the left shark?” I looked it up. Let’s not start any rumors. He was not the left shark. He could have been the right shark. The left shark is the one that screwed it up. The right shark is the one that did it right. Maybe he was the right shark. Let us know, Cody.

This continues the many articles that have been written about Cody lately.

Hat tip to your publicist.

They’re on a roll, Cody.

Jezebel.com talked about Robin Arzon and specifically her masterclass that she has going on, which is MasterClass. It’s the name of the thing in case people aren’t aware. They bring in various big-name people to teach how they do the things they do. Steve Martin taught one about comedy. Aaron Sorkin taught one about being coked up and writing, and so Robin Arzon has one.

Postpartum depression is hard, but you will get through it if you have a great support system. Share on X

Hers is about mental toughness. I’m not sure how I feel about this article. I don’t know if you’ve actually read it.

I’ve read a good chunk of it.

What was your take?

I thought it was interesting that the whole article reads like she doesn’t like her anymore, then at the end, she said one thing and did a complete 180. You got to get to the end before she pulls the rug out from under you. It sounds the whole time like she’s being shitty about her.

She’s mad at her but in a front of me way. She’s everything that this woman wants to be, but she also doesn’t want to put forth the effort to be that because it’s not like just being in shape. It’s being in Robin Arzon shape, which is the top of the game.

It’s also being Robin Arzon level of hustle and achievement in her career field. That’s a part of it as well. She talks about how Robin reframes jealousy for her like if you’re jealous of someone, then that’s something that you want, so try to be like that, not take what they have.

Emulate the things that are working for that person.

How can you achieve that thing? I don’t want to say it was oddly written.

It didn’t have the straightforward approach that typically these kinds of articles do.

Especially with the way people tend to read on the internet with skimming the first three or four, you’d walk away going like, “Robin Arzon is awful” or “This person hates Robin Arzon.”

That’s not the case. If you want to read it, get our newsletter because it’ll show up there. If you do read it, read to the end before you make a decision on how you feel about it.

Essence magazine had an article about Ally Love and her wedding, and how she’s trying to focus on making a community impact, and having purposeful wedding planning. I always see it written and I don’t know if you’re supposed to say BIPOC.

I’m not sure either. I don’t want to offend anyone by getting it wrong.

It stands for Black Indigenous and People Of Colors. She’s picking vendors that maybe get overlooked. She also has a charity registry. Instead of someone who is presumably doing okay for themselves saying, “Send me a bunch of stuff,” you can instead take that money and donate to that, which I thought was cool.

It’s definitely a unique twist on it. This was in an Essence magazine, which I mentioned because she had that feature covered in The Knot. I thought that was interesting because that was about wedding planning as well. We were talking about who’s going to cover the actual ceremony. We’ll be finding out soon.

It will be interesting to watch.

—

We have our first ever Community Challenge.

I can’t tell if this is going to replace what they had in 2020 or if this is an addition to Peloton. My theory is it’s replacing Peloton because it tracks everything that you do. If you’re on the app, the bike or the tread, it does not matter. It tracks the number of hours on the app. The idea is to track as many hours of workouts as possible between July 23rd and August 8th. If you’re active on any of your devices, you will have your time included.

If you run yoga meditations in the background for 24 hours a day, you win.

There are people that will do that. Remember, you’re against yourself. This isn’t something that you need to do for anybody else. You get badges for meeting certain milestones though. The real prize here is the cool badges. My point being is if you’re doing this to win something, there is something you’re getting that is the completion of it. Don’t necessarily try to be other people. Don’t be that person.

The Summer 2 boutique drop finally happened.

I still don’t know what happened there. It dropped and I did buy some things. The Beyond Yoga was pretty. It was very muted colors this time around which some were not too fond of. I love that they have bold colors sometimes, muted colors other times because some people never want to wear bold colors, and some people never want to marry a muted color. It’s great that they keep going back and forth. I also heard a lot of complaints about why is it Summer and there are no bike shorts? Why there are all these leggings and there are no capris? There were a lot of complaints about that. I’m curious to see if they will take those comments and do something with them because they haven’t in the past. I don’t know why that is because bike shorts are hot right now. They’re everywhere and they’re across all different vendors. I don’t know why Peloton isn’t doing that. I don’t like bike shorts. They are not flattering on me, but I know lots of people do and they are everywhere.

There was an interesting exchange and I thought it was interesting because Dr. Jenn brought this to your attention who is our guest on the show every week. It was Elin Hilderbrand who’s a past guest.

She’s a famous author for those of you who don’t know who that is.

She’s the Queen of the Beach Reads. She’s written 27 New York Times bestsellers. She embraces the Queen of the Beach Reads. That’s not being derogatory or dismissive of her work. In her book, which is titled Golden Girl, she name-drops Jenn Sherman who was also a past guest.

The way that this appeared to me was quite magical. It’s like the Peloton community, the way these things show up. I’m going through my stories and there I see Dr. Jenn. She has this video that she’s showing where she’s opening Elin Hilderbrand’s Golden Girl book. She opens it to the Jenn Sherman passage and she has it highlighted. She’s like, “At Elin Hilderbrand, one Peloton.” She’s a fan. First of all, I’m already nerding out because Dr. Jenn who I’m a huge fan of is reading Elin Hilderbrand who I’m a fan of. They’re all talking about Jenn Sherman who I’m a fan of. I keep scrolling and the next thing you know, I see Elin Hilderbrand on her story where she says, “Nothing gave me more joy than sending a book to the woman who got me through quarantine at Peloton, Jenn.” That is, of course, Jenn Sherman. That pretty much made all of my Peloton nerd dreams complete. That was so cool.

Now all you need is for them to turn that book into a movie and the main character is played by Andrea Barber.

My head would explode.

There will be Clip Out Crystal shrapnel everywhere.

—

Speaking of things I’m a huge fan of.

Debbie Gibson is your next artist collaboration with Peloton.

This is so cool. It’s going to be Emma Lovewell and Debbie Gibson. They were live on Instagram, which was beyond amazingly cool. In addition to that, there’s going to be a live DJ ride on the day that this episode airs. I believe it’s at 7:00 PM Eastern. That’s 6:00 PM for me, Tom. That’s when I have to be there. It’s a 30-minute live DJ class. The other cool thing is there is a Peloton exclusive remix of Debbie Gibson song. I believe it’s called One Step Closer, but the most exciting part about that is it was remixed by none other than DJ John Michael and DJ Skribble. How cool is that?

I heard it’s going to be used on the soundtrack to the movie of Elin Hilderbrand’s book that Andrew Barber is starring in.

You’re a rumor starter. Seriously, how cool is that? Congrats to the whole team. DJ John Michael was posting about how hard it was to keep that secret. I bet it sure was. There are so many fun things. I am totally nerding out. This is going to be a very fun artist collaboration for me. This totally makes up for how disappointed I was about the Spice Girls.

People love the Spice Girls. It’s not just your jam.

Many people were so excited about it. Now I get to be excited, that’s all I’m saying.

If you’re looking for something that’s maybe a little different from Debbie Gibson, you have the new Verzuz which features 2 Chainz and Rick Ross.

Who would you vote for?

I’m not a hip hop guy. I have no idea.

I don’t either. These guys have been around for a while. This is more like the 2000s. I’m very curious to see who wins this one.

Finally, continuing the Champions Collection, you get your Usain Bolt classes.

It’s an exclusive program. He went through and curated classes with Peloton teachers. I believe there’s going to be classes from Robin, Becks, Gentry and Adrian Williams. It says, “You’ll zip through striders, build your core, and sink into stretches and all to Usain Bolt’s top dance hall and reggae tunes. It’s very cool. Remember that it is very likely that Usain Bolt will show up in these classes. If so, you just filter on the featured guest and you will be able to high-five him. You will be able to see how you stack up in these classes compared to Usain Bolt. He’s the fastest man on the planet. I’m pretty sure that we’re not going to be able to keep up. That’s the theory.

That seems like a fair theory.

—

Joining us is Jessica Menardy. How’s it going?

How are you?

Good. Thank you for taking the time to do this. We’re happy you’re here.

Thank you for having me. I truly appreciate it.

I always like to start with finding out people’s Peloton origin story. I need to know where you found Peloton and how you decided, “This is the workout for me.”

This was back in 2016. I was getting more into my health journey. I had lost 50 or 60 pounds with Beachbody. I was getting into spinning. I was into SoulCycle and Barry’s Bootcamp. I was doing all of the boutique workouts plus dancing and teaching dance fitness along with working full-time. My husband was like, “The amount of money that you spend on fitness, I cannot.” I was like, “There’s this bike that’s coming out.” He saw the price and he was like, “That’s cute. No.” The universe heard me because he kept seeing the ads and then all of a sudden, we were laying down one day in bed and he’s like, “This Peloton.” I was like, “Don’t you play with my heart.” We got it in January 2017. I nagged him for a year in 2016.

I’m a little confused by your husband’s logic here. I get it if you had not exercised at all or it had been a long time.

You’re clearly into this. You have a good track record.

He wanted to be sure that I was into the spinning because I’m like, “Let me try this.” I’ve been to many boutique fitness when we were in New York, rowing, everything. I’m like, “I like this.” He’s like, “I’m sure.” He goes to SoulCycle and he’s like, “You do like this.” He needed to be convinced. I don’t think he knew how much SoulCycle was. I was like, “I’m going to buy a ten-pack.” He’s like, “How much is that?” I’m like, “It’s three-something.” He goes, “I’m sorry, what?”

Now you’re in a weird spot. If he doesn’t know how much SoulCycle costs and you want to use that as leverage to get the bike because it’s cheaper in the long run and he says no to both, now where are you at?

I was like, “I’m going to keep my mouth shut.”

“I started buying these because you wouldn’t let me buy the Peloton.” That’s what you say.

We got it in 2016 because I got into a car accident that summer. We had gotten the bike the month before my car accident. I was injured for a year, so I couldn’t ride. I got it in 2016, but it took a while for me to ride consistently on the bike.

How did the weight loss come about? Was this something that you had been focused on? I had never worked out consistently until I found Peloton. Were you in a similar place? Had you worked out and then got off the fitness wagon and back on? Tell us about your journey.

I had a rough start to my journey. In 2009, I went to go bury my brother in Haiti. My family, some that I met and some that I never met, the first thing that they said to me was how fat and ugly I was. Haitian culture can be a little bit rough.

TCO 217 | Workout

 

I was about to ask is that a cultural thing coming in hot like that?

Yes, they come in hot. They’re like, “You’re fat.” You’re like, “Hi. How are you? I’m Jessica.”

You’re like, “I can lose weight, but you’ll still be a dick.”

I wish my brain did that, Tom.

I started losing weight, not for myself but more so because I don’t want people to greet me like that anymore. I then found Beachbody and started working out at home. In early 2016, I got cast to be a part of Shaun T‘s dance fitness program called CIZE. Before I got into CIZE, I lost 50 pounds but was unhealthy and hating myself. I was bulimic for a little bit, pills. It was a whirlwind of self-destruction all in the name of weight loss. My loving middle sister wanted to get me out jogging and everything. I hated it. I was like, “I don’t want to run anything.” I hated walking even. I tried to do everything but exercise.

I found this woman who was jumping around her living room and I was like, “What are you doing?” She showed her before and after from Insanity and I was like, “Did you take drugs? Is this all from jumping in your living room? What’s going on?” I did my first at-home program and I lost another twenty pounds. I felt great, then I got cast for the infomercial and lost 50 pounds. It was all momentum building of weight loss and falling in love with fitness. After I finished the infomercial, I love the dance fitness format so much that I started teaching classes part-time. I was also getting more into SoulCycle and Barry’s and all the other things. I was like, “Fitness is life.”

We did the Peloton and I was into it. I was loving it. At the time, I was into Alex that it wasn’t even funny because that was the only person on the screen that looked like me. I was like, “He is me.” I did Robin but she was super intense. I was into fitness, but I was like, “I don’t think I’m ready for this. This lady is crazy.” I stuck with Alex for a long time and rode leisurely. I’m still going to SoulCycle because I had built relationships there. I rode when I could. It wasn’t the way that I am now. Now I have issues. The accident happened and I was off the bike for a year and then we decided to move to California.

Can I ask what happened? That sounds like a hell of an accident.

It sounds like a major accident.

It was a three-car collision. I was sleeping in the back of an Uber. I was a public tax accountant at the time. I’m a tax manager now with an alternative investment firm. At the time, I was with PricewaterhouseCoopers. It was a busy season. We were coming out at midnight and I was sleeping in the back of an Uber. I was tired. I had been there at 8:00 AM.

That’s a huge fund. They screwed up the Oscars.

It wasn’t their fault.

I’m a movie nerd. That’s my other podcast. It wasn’t but that’s a huge firm. It showed the pressure you must have been under, too. That’s the firm that, for generations, tallied up all the votes at the Oscars.

I was coming home. It was rainy. We were on the Brooklyn Bridge. The driver was drinking. I still can vividly remember the smell of whiskey in my eyes, but it never came up on the report. He hit a car and that car hit my Uber. It was three cars. I didn’t have my seatbelt on and I was sleeping. I slammed to the back and hit all different places. I had a reverse curve of my neck, a few herniated disks in my back, some bulging disks in my neck, a meniscus tear on my left knee, and a few other things that sort themselves out. It’s mostly the herniated and bulging disc in my back that’s crazy. I slowed down when I do a lot of burpees. Sometimes I still get dizzy. I don’t wear super heavy hair anymore. I used to wear long, crazy braids. I can’t do that anymore because the strain on my neck is too much.

From there, I took a lot of rehabilitation and going through therapy. For a year, I couldn’t move my body and I had stopped fitness classes. It was sad. When I was like falling in love with fitness, the rug was pulled underneath me. It was devastating. My husband and I decided to move to California. That was another year. We did a year bi-coastal. He’s in hospitality management, so he was looking for a job here on the West Coast. It’s not as easy as you may think in terms of his position. He’s an executive. People don’t move when they’re at the top like that. It took a year for him to find the right hotel. That was another year off of the bike. I got this beautiful machine and I couldn’t use it.

When he finally moved here and all of our stuff got here, I got excited. The next day, I found out I was pregnant. I was like, “Wonderful.” I rode, but it was uncomfortable. Pre-pregnancy, if you haven’t been riding on the bike before, you get uncomfortable. I still worked out, don’t get me wrong, but it was a different feel. Also, with all the modalities, Peloton wasn’t the same as it is now. When I first started, I was like, “You’re spinning.” They came up with yoga and I was like, “I don’t want that one.” All the other things happened. I didn’t fall in love with all of the modalities until I got my tread and then I fell in love with Jess Sims and then it opened up a world for me.

What about Jess Sims that pulled you in? What happened there?

She was my saving grace. She is what got me through postpartum depression. I am a health and wellness coach with Beachbody part-time. I follow programs, run accountability groups, and help women on their journey. Coaches need coaches. Everyone needs someone that they can lean on. I saw Jess and it wasn’t even about weight loss. I don’t know how to explain it. I felt like she was talking to me. There were several classes where I’m like, “She’s saying everything that I need to hear and I can do this. You can do hard things.” Yes, postpartum depression is hard, but every time I stepped into class, she made me believe in myself and made me feel like I’m going to get through this no matter what. I always saw a brighter day. I try to remind her as much as possible that she is heaven-sent and she is saving many lives and she has no idea. I love that woman a little too much.

She’s a bright light. I see why she was a teacher. She always is positive, but she doesn’t do it in a Pollyanna way. She does it in a real way.

Realistic, the happily ever now, every little gem that she drops, I’m like, “That was for me. I don’t care about anybody.” I never thought that I would run like that again. I ran for a while. I ran my first half marathon because of her. I owe so much to her from my heart. She’s an incredible human and everything she stands for.

Originally, you said how much you hated running. At some point, you turned around and bought a tread. How did you get there?

It was a push present from my husband. He then fell in love with Peloton and the Kool-Aid. He was like, “They have a treadmill.” I was like, “Shut your mouth. Do you want the treadmill?” “Yeah.” As we were moving here and I was getting back into fitness and trying to ride while pregnant and then postpartum, I was like, “I want this treadmill.” He was like, “I want it, too.” He likes to treadmill too when he goes to the gym. If we were going to do something, we’re going to do the crème de la crème. We already got a taste of the bike and I compared it to Soul and I’m like, “It’s different. It’s not the same. This is for performance and that’s what I want to focus on.” I know how to lose weight. I’m not pressed about that. I want to feel like an athlete and that’s what Peloton makes me feel. It makes me feel like, “Roar.”

Two months after we got it, he was like, “Can you look downstairs and see if there’s enough room for the tread?” We had been talking about it. I was like, “I don’t want to talk about this anymore. If you’re going to get it, get it. You’re such as spoiled brat.” We had bought our home and everything. I did not think that we were going to get an expensive item like that. We spent all of our money. We have the money. He’s like, “See if we have a room downstairs. I’m thinking about the tread in the corner.” I was like, “This is no way to play with my emotions. I’m not okay. I’m already going through a lot.” He’s like, “The truck is going to be there. The delivery time is at so and so time.” I almost thought I was going to pass out. I’m like, “Excuse me.”

At that moment, I took my first walk with Chase because I am big on supporting people of color. I am big on the African American community wrapping their hands around each other. It’s important because there’s a lot of stigmatism and a lot of things out there where we’re not depicted as such. I want to be one of those where I support everyone. I did my first walk with Chase. I was like, “I did walk with this guy and he’s Haitian.” I was all into it. The next day, I saw this beautiful woman and I was like, “Let’s try her. She looks pretty. Is she black?” She starts talking and I was like, “I’m in love. I’m going to leave you. I’m moving back to New York and this is my wife.”

Did you ask Jess before you did any of this? I’m curious.

She still doesn’t know yet, but we’re going to end up together.

How does your husband feel about that?

He’ll get over it.

He’s probably like, “You don’t have to leave.”

“You can bring her here.”

“I’m blue sky-ing. No bad ideas in a rainstorm.”

“No need to uproot everything.”

“I like you to be happy.”

With her, I got back into running and I never considered myself such a runner and she’s like, “You are. You have legs. You’re moving them. You’re a runner.” I’m like, “I’m a runner.” It shifted. Before, I would run outside, run on the treadmill, but it didn’t give me that feeling as if I was a runner. She’s like, “You’re an athlete.” I’m like, “I am an athlete.” It’s the way that she says things. I’m like, “Yes, I am. I’m powerful.” It was exactly what I needed to hear, every bit. Every class was for me. There was no one else on the leaderboard. It was my class. I tried other instructors and I was like, “She said this person is good. Let’s try this.”

I gravitated and then Tunde got on the bike. I still rode with Alex and other people. When Tunde was announced, I started following her immediately because she was this chocolate goddess. When she was announced, she had posted her before picture. I cried looking at that post because I was like, “I see me. I see what I would want to be.” I remember trying out to be a spin instructor. Seeing her, I feel like it was foreshadowing. I’m like, “One day it will be me. I may not be on Peloton, but I’ll be there.” It’s a joy to take the two of them. I take other instructors, but, hands down, those are two queens that I love dearly.

Which is your favorite tribe? There are many Facebook groups. Where do you hang out the most?

None. I get on Facebook and I have small heart palpitations. There are many notifications. There are so many things happening and so many different groups. Hands down, I am part of BGM. I love Danielle. I’m in BGM when I go every quarter on Facebook.

It’s to make sure the password still works.

She logs in often enough to keep the account active.

I go to BGM and then simultaneously, I go to the You Get To Crew for Jess. Throughout 2021, I might have posted twice on Facebook. That’s active because, in 2020, I don’t think I even had one.

Are you on social media elsewhere? Is there another?

Instagram.

Where do you hang out on Instagram?

In Jess Sims’s, Tunde’s, and Adrian’s stories, I’m a story lover. I don’t do the feed too much. This is going to sound terrible, but this is not Peloton-related. I am a stickler for The Shade Room. It’s my ghetto CNN.

I don’t know what that is. Tell us about that.

It’s trash. It’s a gossip page that’s wonderful. Dealing with investors and asset management all day long is exactly what I want to turn off my brain.

We stopped watching the Jersey Shore so we could come downstairs and record this.

That’s how we roll.

We love our trash TV. We watch the fancy highbrow. We’ve seen Mad Men, The Handmaid’s Tale. A good one is Love After Lockup on WE TV.

I heard about that. I saw a preview and I was like, “What is happening?” I need to get into that.

It’s good.

It’s bad that you cannot turn away. It’s amazing.

For people that don’t know what we’re talking about, it’s a reality show where it’s people who have started relationships with people in prison. They’re pen pals and then the people get out of prison. Now you get to watch them start their “relationship.”

Most of the time, they’ve never met. It’s crazy.

There was this one woman and she was like, “I’m going to meet the love of my life.” I was like, “People are doing this? What year is this?” I checked my watch and everything else and I’m like, “What’s happening?”

It’s funny because every time we watch it, I feel like I’m in an alternate universe. The people talk about it as this is normal everyday life. I’m like, “No.”

I always check. I’m like, “Where are they?” I need to understand the premise of this. People still get catfished and I’m like, “How?”

This is a whole other level of catfishing.

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For the most part, there are a couple of people in prison who have lied about who they are because they’re trying to get people to send them money. It’s a train wreck of epic proportions. It’s fascinating.

I’m going to watch an episode, my husband and me. He’s in the hospitality industry on the executive committee. We deal with important things all the time.

That’s how we are, too. Tom doesn’t have a serious job but we go all the time. When we don’t go, that’s what we do, too. Now that you have your tread and the bike, how are you balancing those two? What does the workout schedule look like?

Do everything. I wake up at 4:00 AM. It depends. If I’m following a Beachbody program, that’s my primary workout. I run the accountability groups. I don’t have one going on. That’s when I wrangle mostly women. I always cater to women, especially women of color. We get into this group and it’s a set amount of time. The next program was thirteen weeks long. It’s expensive. I help them with eating, getting into fitness, getting back into feeling themselves, and then I carve out time for myself. I feel like I’m still teaching fitness in a way, but then I got to get to my workout and what’s for me. Usually, 9 times out of 10, there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t do something, Jess. My goal is to finish her entire library. I’ve done all the runs and walks. I’m almost done with strengths. I have 30 more strength classes to do. I have a few more. I hate cardio. Bike boot camp, I have one. I always get Jess in.

All the time we’ve done this, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anybody say, “I’m going to do every single class that instructor has ever produced.” That’s a monumental task.

People in the Jenn Sherman tribe do that all the time. Jenn’s been around a long time, but then they deleted all those. They deleted so many. It changed the game. I have a question. When you say all of her runs, do you mean the boot camps, too, all the Saturday 60s?

Yes. I only have nine more tread boot camps. The boot camp, I kept as a separate modality.

What are you going to do when you get to the end?

Are you going to go to a new instructor? What’s going to happen?

It’s like Moby Dick. You’ve caught the white whale and now what?

I’m then going to move on to Adrian. I’m always in every single one of her lives. I follow her schedule religiously.

It’s more than religiously because religiously is once a week, that’s Sundays.

How do you have time for this? You have a real job. How are you having time to do the Beachbody and Peloton? Are we talking four hours a day?

I wake up at 4:00 every day. I’ve been doing this since my third trimester because of trimester insomnia and I just kept going. I try to carve out at least two hours for myself. Before then, I wake up, I pump, get myself at least 30 minutes, and then travel to work because it will take me 1.5 or 2 hours, and come back. Now we’re working from home, so I’m like, “I don’t have to travel. I’m going to work out more.” I try to get two hours in the mornings and then the lives.

Will your job make you come back to work when things are calm?

We’re going back to three days a week, which isn’t terrible. I’m going to have to catch some more things on demand. The other few days are fine. I can do my two hours.

You look sad. I feel like a job change is coming.

She’s like, “My co-worker might watch this.”

I feel like I should write a letter. I will be severely depressed if I have to come back and miss classes. Her schedule works with mine in terms of my weekly reoccurring meetings. They aren’t too bad. I’ll skip lunch so I can get a live. I work around it. Yes, I do some stuff in the morning and I get my dose of her and whatever instructor that decide to do. That midday workout, there’s something about it. It brings down my anxiety. I am in a stressful environment. It helps a lot. Dealing with a toddler, that’s hard. The second workout isn’t for anything else except for endorphins and getting my mood better.

That’s a huge thing.

I’m sure your husband agrees.

He’s like, “Did you work out?”

Priorities, to work out.

Before, he used to think I was crazy. He then realized how much my mood shifted and he’s like, “Can you please go and do something? Doesn’t Jess have a live?”

He’s following her schedule closer than you are at this point. He’s like, “I laid out a towel for you. There’s some water.”

“Here are your shoes.”

“I already Bluetooth you to the speakers.”

How are you communicating with the community? I feel like you’re involved in the community. You said Instagram, but it sounds like you’re watching other accounts. You’re not posting but you have all these connections. How is that working?

I feel like I had a base with Beachbody and then getting more involved in BGM. I’m more BGM Instagram as opposed to BGM on Facebook. I pop in every now and then. People do know who I am. I try to make lives. The Swarm, I try to follow that schedule. Sometimes Danielle gets crazy and tries to kill us and I was like, “You do know I planned out all of my workouts on top of this. I’m not going to die today.” When I can, I make the Swarm classes. Instagram has bought some people to me. Some instructors have reposted me and stuff, so people get to know me that way. That’s where I get people from. I’m bad at Facebook.

I’m like that with Instagram. I have an Instagram. Everyone’s logging in and in the notification, I got a new follower and I’m like, “Why would somebody do that?” I haven’t posted anything for over 1.5 or 2 years. I don’t get it.

Posting on my feed, that doesn’t happen often. In my Instagram stories, I show up every day. Sunday is the only day that I have now forced myself to take a rest day. Historically, I worked out every single day.

Do you have any advice for people who are new to the world of Peloton?

Start. People overthink Peloton. There’s something for everyone. There is a class for everyone. There’s an instructor for everyone. Start and go, “I like your face. I like your smile. Let’s try you out.” Try the person out. You’ll never know. I end up falling in love with Denis. I would never think that I would you take Denis. He seems chill. Robin is my vibe. Before, she was a lot.

Now you’re a lot and you’re ready to go. You caught up.

I needed some winding up. He’s such a vibe. Emma is such a vibe. I like to try different instructors. I have my go-to’s. Try everyone. Do a beginner class in every single modality. Dr. Chelsey Roberts made me fall in love with the yoga modality. Do a strength class. Try everything. Try meditation. I need to get better at meditating because maybe I’ll be a little bit calmer. I’m not there yet. In general, try everyone and see what you’d like. It’s worth having. If you start with an app membership, there’s nothing wrong with that. You don’t have to have a physical machine to be a part of the community. Everyone is welcomed and there’s something for everyone.

Peloton meets you wherever you are.

I love this space. It’s incredible. Everyone encourages everyone. The leaderboard is incredible because it’s there to uplift each other and empower. If you’re not in that space that day, that’s okay. Hide it and take the next class.

Speaking of leaderboards, what’s your leaderboard name?

JDMenardy.

Thank you for joining us. We appreciate you. Before we let you go, let everybody know where they can find you if you want to be found, your social media handles, and whatnot.

If you look for me on Facebook, I probably won’t get to you until 2022. Instagram, @Jessica.Menardy. I’m there. I have my little name on there, Unicorn Jess. Hit me up. I am not always the greatest at answering all of my DMs, but I try my hardest to answer them.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

It was our pleasure.

—

That brings this episode to a close. What pray tell do you have in store for people next time.

We are going to talk to Katrina Sophia, otherwise known as Katrina frauded by TLC, who you might remember left a review that we read and that we’re incredibly intrigued by.

We get to the bottom of that and she has lots of scoop about some reality TV shows that are very popular that people get a kick out of.

Of course, lots of love for Peloton.

Until next time, where can people find you?

People can find me on Facebook at Facebook.com/crystaldokeefe. They can find me on Twitter, Instagram, the bike and 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 and join the group. Don’t forget our YouTube channel, YouTube.com/TheClipOut. That’s it for this one. Thanks for tuning in. Until next time, keep pedaling and running.

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