• Peloton ends the Century Shirt.
• The new class schedule started this week.
• Tom’s Guide reviewed the Peloton Guide.
• Peloton renews its partnership with Chase Sapphire.
• Peloton Australia celebrates World Price 2023.
• Peloton is hiring for Product Development, Games.
• Forbes calls earnings report “marginally positive.”
• The Motley Fool predicts where Peloton’s stock will be a year from now.
• Dr. Jenn – Dealing with a chaotic schedule.
• Matt Wilpers got married.
• Marcel Maurer got engaged.
• Tunde is hosting a virtual event for Black History Month.
• Robin Arzon is doing a book tour for Strong Baby.
• We finally have details on Swagger Society.
• Cody Rigsby sparks a “controversy” over washing chicken.
• Cody also issued an apology to Scottsdale, AZ business owner Kristina Girod.
• Cody was featured in Elle Magazine Canada.
• Susie Chan was invited to run in the Badwater HQ 135.
• Leanne Hainsby talks about the side effects of chemo.
• Christine D’Ercole’s cycling club was named USA Cycling 2022 Club of the Year.
• Ally Love was on the Take Command podcast.
• Alex Toussaint is playing in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game again.
• Angelo has tips for staying consistent.
• We have some insight from Barry McCarthy from the latest Team Call.
• Peloton launches Yin Yoga.
• Woot had the original Bike on sale for $1,055.
• Valentine’s Day classes are posted.

All this plus our interview with Craig Heisner.

—

Watch the episode here

 

Listen to the podcast here

 

Crystal Hospitalized After Being Hit By SUV While Jogging Plus Our Interview With Craig Heisner

Joining us is Gina Mitchell. How are you doing?

Thanks for having me.

Thank you for doing this. Gina is a longtime supporter and friend of the show. We actually hung out with her when we were in Philly. She’s kind enough to sit in.

I’m going to waddle back upstairs. I’ll let you guys have it.

Before we dig into everything, we figured people would like to hear the story firsthand.

I was running outside my house along Big Bend as I do.

It was a 60-degree day in January.

I want to take advantage of the nice weather. I had done it the day before. I had done a lot of miles outside the day before. I had done almost 7 miles outside, the same route. It was only going to be a little shakeout ride. It was 45 minutes. I was out and back in 1.5 miles. I’m coming up on the mile and I can tell that I’m almost to the mile marker because I’ve run this route a million times. I was crossing through an intersection, which there are a lot of. For anybody who is familiar with St. Louis, New Baldwin, where it crosses Big Bend is where it happened.

There are three sections of the intersection. I went across the middle one. I looked over my shoulder. Nobody was coming. Actually, two cars were coming. They were making a left in front of me, so I let them go. I looked ahead, nobody was coming, and they would be turning right toward me. Nobody was there so I took off running, and the next thing you know, I woke up in the middle of the street and I was very confused.

It was the weirdest thing because they always do that sound in movies where they tell you that a big explosion is taking place. That is exactly what happened. People started populating in front of me. I have no idea who any of these people were. I saw hair color and sizes. I know their shapes but I don’t know what their faces looked like. They are not there. They’re not in my brain. They’re gone, but I do remember that there was a teenage girl who was standing there above me. She was screaming hysterically. I figured out later that’s because she had hit me.

She’s the culprit.

She was driving an SUV. She had just gotten her driver’s license. She didn’t see me. I don’t know how. I don’t know what happened. I didn’t talk to her because I was not in a good place.

If you had talked to her, it would have been nonsensical or you wouldn’t remember it.

This nice couple was there. I picked up my phone. My phone was in my right pocket. I was wearing a brand new set of Beyond Yoga with Pockets. I’m upset about that because they got cut off. I took my phone out of my pocket and it was absolutely destroyed. It may have kept me from breaking a bone because it was right on my thighbone where it hit.

We think that’s where the car hit her. It took some of the impacts. Her phone, not only is the screen shattered, but it’s wavy now.

I didn’t even know phones could make that shape. I don’t think it’s supposed to. This couple came up and they were talking to me. They were making sure I was okay. I couldn’t use my phone. I didn’t know what had happened and I didn’t know how bad it was, but I knew I needed to call Tom, and my phone was dead. Luckily, I remembered the phone number.

It amazes me that in that state, you could. Who remembers phone numbers anymore?

Yours was the only number I had in there. I remember telling you, “I just got hit by a car. I’m okay.”

I’m on my way to work. We had a huge show at the Family Arena that day. It was going to do an estimated 7,000 to 9,000 people, which was a mid-size arena. That capacity. I’m on my way to work and I see a call from a number I don’t recognize. It’s a Sunday afternoon. I thought telemarketers took the day off. I answer it and it was her. She’s like, “I’m okay, but I just got hit by a car.” She sounds as calm as calm can be. I thought she was calling to vent, then I was like, “Why are you venting on someone else’s phone?” That’s a red flag.

The guy took the phone from me.

I’m trying to ask her. I’m like, “Do you need me to come to you?”

It was the right call for him to take the phone from me because I had no idea how to make any calls at that point. I don’t know what’s happening.

I was supposed to run the show that day. I’m like”Do you need me to leave? Is that what you’re saying?” She was like, “I don’t know.” She’s waffling and I’m like, “This feels like a test.” One of the couple grabs the phone and they’re like, “You need to come here now.” I’m like, “I will do that.” Now I’ve got an essentially sold-out concert and I’m stuck in concert traffic. Luckily, I got juice in this town. The cops stopped the traffic so I could hell out of there.

Sydney and Brian go to the crime scene where I was hit. They didn’t see me, but they saw the ambulance with me and it leaving. There was a cop standing behind me. I know he was a cop. I don’t know anything about what he looks like. He was like, “How are you doing?” I’m tired. I want to lie down. He was like, “Nope, you don’t do that. Talk to me.” He started asking all kinds of questions.

The next thing I know, I was on one of those boards and they were in the ambulance. The lady in the ambulance was super nice to me. She was like, “I’m going to take off all your jewelry because they’re going to give you a bunch of fluids. You’re going to get swollen. You’re not going to be able to wear it.” I was like, “Am I going to be okay?” She was like, “We’re going to do our best.” That’s what she said.

I started bawling because I thought I was dying. I don’t remember when they cut my clothes off. Part of it was in the ambulance and part of it was in the room. They took me right into the MRI. I got feedback from the scene that the teenage girl was going 35 miles an hour in this SUV and hit me and didn’t see me. I flew through the air and landed on the left side of my head, and then slid across the pavement. The thing that hurts the most is the road rash. It’s from my left shoulder all the way down past my butt.

It’s all the way down below her butt. It’s like three-quarters of her body.

It hurts. I’ve never had road rash. I don’t recommend it. I’m going to give that 0 out of 5. I also have a broken clavicle, which is annoying. I can’t move. They said it was a very clean break. I don’t even have to wear a sling unless I’m out and about. I can’t put pressure on it. They said it will heal by itself. They’re telling me that I will be back to running in no time, which feels hard to believe at the moment.

She was like, “I’m training for Big Sur at the end of April.” The doctors in the ER were like, “You will be fine. You might have to walk it, but you should be able to do that by then.”

They were that I had no bleeding in the brain.

We all were shocked. She’s lucky to be alive. That’s not hyperbole. From what we understand, when she got hit, she went airborne. She slid across on her head. Every doctor that walked in there, and I think there were three for different purposes. Every one of them was like, “I can’t believe that your injuries aren’t greater than they are.” They all seemed to concur that it was because she works out so much.

They said that I was in good shape and that had a lot to do with it. My dad has been telling me that I’m hardheaded my whole life and I think I proved it. That’s the story. People have been amazing. Tom has been sharing all the messages that people have been sending.

Also, our behind-the-scenes team that’s been helping out.

Nikki and Darcy have been keeping the socials going. I don’t even know what I would’ve done without them because I didn’t have a phone. It was completely trashed. They also told me I couldn’t be on screens because I do have a concussion. I’m not supposed to be spending a lot of time doing stuff. Everybody has sent so much love and I can feel it. I can feel everybody’s well wishes. I do feel like I’m lucky to be alive and I probably am going to stick to the roads. No more going to parks from now on. Parks in my tread. That’s it. Close roads only.

Because we were cataloging your maladies, we should also say that you also had some damage to your back.

I forgot about those. I have a bunch of cracks in my spine. They said it’s on the nodules that hold it together on the outside, not the inside. They said that it will heal in itself. It’s totally fine.

They weren’t super worried about it. She didn’t need a back brace or anything, but she did have some backbones break, which sounds like when they say that, it is like, “The what?” They’re like, “It’s no big deal.” You’re like, “That’s not what comes after you broke bones in your back.”

I have no idea how I flew through the air and didn’t do more damage. No bleeding on the brain and no major broken bones. I got to move slowly and stay off of screens and be careful. That’s it. I don’t even know how I got so lucky, but I am. Hopefully, it all continues to stay down that trajectory. I have to go to physical therapy so things could change. They could be like, “Now you have this problem.” For now, that’s the major stuff.

Let me show you, Gina, what I walked into in the ER. Are you comfortable with these sorts of things?

I work in healthcare. Go ahead.

For anyone on the YouTube channel, these were the pictures. We have not shared these on the internet. If blood bothers you, this is a good place to skip ahead. That’s what I came into in the ER. She was pretty loopy, which stands to reason. If you’re listening to the show and you want to hear it, now is a good time to check out our YouTube channel. We’re getting great content over there. Thanks, Crystal.

I forgot about my ear. Part of my ear got torn off too. They had to sew that back on. It was just a little cartilage. It’s three cuts. I can move my hair, but it takes way too much effort. They had to sew it up. It was over twenty stitches that they had to put in my ear. It could have been way worse.

You know it’s bad when you’re like, “I forgot about the part where part of my ear got torn off.”

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She’s delivering it so matter-of-factly. It’s like, “I grabbed a coffee, then part of my ear got torn off, then I had a sandwich.”

She’s like, “I’m starting Evander Holyfield tribute band. Anyone who wants to join me.” She’s been taking it very easy in the last couple of days.

This is the most activity I’ve had. I get my hair washed. I get to wash all the blood out of my hair, which was amazing. I highly recommend it.

I’ve been doing my part in order to help her out. She will put the clothes in the washer, but I will take them out.

No. I haven’t touched the washer. He’s underselling it. He has waited on me hand in foot. Every little thing I’ve needed, he has done for me. He’s been great. The kids have been great. People have sent flowers. Thank you for the flowers. Thank you to Jenn’s Men. They sent food and a blanket.

This package of stuff came. I forgot the company, but it came with soup, blankets, cookies, rolls, and little stuff thing that you could heat up. What came with it that I didn’t tell her is it came with a bell. I don’t mind doing things for you, but I will be goddamned if you are going to ring a bell every time you want me. That is a bridge too far. I’ve got no problem doing the things, but I will not be summoned like beetle chips.

I think that’s reasonable.

She’s been sleeping in a recliner. We’re hoping that maybe she can get back into a bed.

I am actually getting tired, so I’m going to go back up. Thank you for doing this, Gina.

I’m happy to help. I’m so glad you’re okay. You’ve been asking me for years to be on the podcast. You did not have to get hit by a car to get me here.

Facts are that I did though because I asked a lot of times and you said no. This is the only time you said yes.

She even said, “Do you think if I got hit by a car, Gina will be on the show?” I was like, “You might want to make an SUV because she’s going to start being like, ‘Is it a compact? Is it mid-size?’ You know how Gina can be.” Originally, I was like, “What about a truck?” She’s like, “She might have to be a permanent co-host,” so point taken.

That’s fair.

Thank you, Gina.

—

Crystal made it safely up the stairs. That’s good, which is why I’m back. This is the point of the show where I ask you, “What’s coming up on the show? Tell us, Gina.”

There’s a ton of news. We’re talking about the Century Shirts being discontinued and a review on the Guide. There’s some new stuff happening with apparel, lots of instructor news, and of course, you will still have segments with Dr. Jenn Mann. There’s more, but that’s as ready as I am.

That’s more ready than I am. It’s funny because what you got for show notes is not what they normally look like. Just a little peek behind the scenes for people. For the show notes, Crystal normally picks the topics and I put them in order of how I think they should run. She couldn’t do that because her screen time was limited. She didn’t even have a phone. Nikki and Darcy picked the topics and they did a great job. They put it in a Google doc and they have all these subpoints and A and B, and then A has two things under it. They do all that.

How Crystal and I do it is she gives me Instagram and Facebook links like, “Here’s the story,” and then I put them in order and write the show notes. The work they did was great and it was super helpful. I’m not disparaging it in any way. I’m pointing out that all of those things are in Crystal’s head. We don’t outline it because I’ll just riff on it on the fly for the most part. She does all that in her head with no notes of any kind. It’s like, “This entry is a shirt story. Got it,” then she will start talking.

That is impressive because there are several pages of single-spaced notes.

It’s four pages. Those are some insights into what Crystal does. Before we move on, shameless plugs. Don’t forget, we’re available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts. Wherever you find a podcast, you can find us. While you’re there, be sure and follow us so you never miss an episode. Maybe leave a review. That’s always helpful and appreciated. You can also find us on Facebook, Facebook.com/TheClipOut. While you’re there, like the page, join the group.

You can find us on YouTube. You can watch these. If you want to see the gross pictures of Crystal, they will be in this episode over on YouTube, YouTube.com/TheClipOut. Don’t forget our Patreon, Patreon.com/TheClipOut, where you can get these episodes ad-free. If they come out early, we send them to you early. We were going to record a bonus episode on Sunday, and then someone got hit by a car. I think that’s everything. Let’s dig in, shall we?

Let’s do it.

—

Peloton announced that the Century Shirt is no more, and people lost their ever-loving sh*t.

I think that was to be expected. I can’t say I was surprised by the news.

It’s a sad tradition to see end. It’s a tradition they wish they had never started. In the beginning, it did them a lot of good. It became the bane of their existence. They didn’t send them out fast enough and then the shirt didn’t live up to the hype, whatever hype you could possibly have around a t-shirt. I understand why people are upset, but most of the people that are upset already got their shirts. There’s a handful of people that are still in the middle. You have until March 15th to hit your 100th ride in order to get your shirt.

I appreciate that they gave notice. To your point, the people that I’ve seen that are a little up in arms have been Peloton community members for several years. That’s a bit of a head-scratcher. It had to have been such a burden for them. If you think about the inventory, the sizing, the shipping, and all the stuff that goes into it. I’m not surprised. I’m happy they’re giving people notice. If you are getting close to your 100th ride or even if you started but you want that shirt, you have until March 15th.

Take a lot of ten-minute rides to get your shirt.

That’s one way to do it. More than one person has done that. That is a common strategy.

Maybe you will know this, maybe you won’t. Is it one per address? If you have different sub-accounts, can each person get it? If I were to magically go in and start a Peloton account, could I also get a shirt even though Crystal has a shirt? Is it just one per paid membership?

My understanding is that it’s one per username, but it really is one. You can get it for doing a hundred runs or a hundred rides, but you can’t get it twice. It’s one per user.

Crystal can only get one, but I could also get one, theoretically.

You could do it and get one. I’ve been trying to get you to ride for years but I couldn’t. I give up.

You and everyone else, but I’m certainly not going to do it for a t-shirt. I got plenty of t-shirts.

I respect your commitment.

It also says that it will be available for purchase. There’s another little interesting thing buried in the text here. It says, “Going forward, we will continue to offer Century Club shirts and other milestone apparel for purchase through our store.” I’m interested to see the other because up until now it’s been the Century Shirt.

There was a time many years ago when they did have a bracelet that had a 1K charm on it. Maybe that was a fever dream but I do feel like that existed. That’s what came to mind whenever I read this. It was having little accessories like that. That has been something the community has been asking for years or more things to celebrate the many milestones that they have. In a way, it does seem like Peloton answering that common request. I will be interested to see how much they sell the shirts for. I checked the apparel store and I couldn’t find it there yet.

I don’t know if it’s still like this, but on the milestone shirt, it used to be $100,000 if you added it to your cart. The only way to get it was to achieve it, so they put a ridiculous price on it.

They then gave you a code that will bring it down to free, but about five years ago, a guy accidentally didn’t put his code in and his card got charged. He was very angry on the Peloton member page.

I’m skeptical.

I’m a little skeptical myself.

Maybe I’m too Midwestern middle class, but you got a credit card with a $100,000 limit on it. I know they’re out there but there are not many.

 

That certainly wouldn’t belong to me.

Nor me or us combined. Even if we chipped in, that isn’t going to happen.

I will be interested to see if they improve the quality of these shirts when they start selling them. That has been a common complaint. They work for the shirt, they get it, they wash it, and it disintegrates.

You would think if they’re going to charge you for it, then go ahead and get a good one since it’s not coming out of their pocket. Maybe now it won’t be unisex too because that has always been one of the complaints. There are sizes but there aren’t different cuts.

It will be interesting to see. We got another month and change to find out.

The new class schedule started. I have this up for the YouTube views because Callie Gullickson was talking about it on the Gram.

I was wondering why you had Callie up for the viewers because I wasn’t connecting the dots there, but there is a new schedule. In the previous episode, Crystal said that she felt like the schedule needed that 6:00 anchor spot in the morning. They’re delivering on that. I don’t know if it’s five days a week, but they have put the 6:00 AM East Coast back onto the schedule, which I appreciate.

I’m sure they do. Many people love that slot. One of the first groups that I remember people discussing back in the day was the 6:00 AM crew or whatever it was called, so clearly, people wanted that.

There are some other changes that are coming up. A 9:00 PM Eastern live ride is starting with Kendall. That’s a little late for me but I know some people enjoy those late-night rides. I’m sure that our friends on the West Coast will enjoy it.

For some people, that’s not so late.

I’m in Philadelphia, so the East Coast appeals to me.

We’re the flyover country.

The next thing on the schedule that I was a little bit confused about is this live bootcamp thing. Crystal would certainly be a much better person to speak to this because she’s always on top of things. They say, “Live bootcamps are back on the schedule. It’s going to be every single Tuesday,” but then the caption reads, “We’re going to be live every Tuesday, but sometimes they will be pre-recorded.” Time will tell if they are actually going to be live every Tuesday or if it will be just new content delivered at that same time every Tuesday.

Any anything else? There’s a live mid-day row.

I did not even see that because I don’t have a rower.

It’s funny because someone on our Facebook page pointed out that when Nikki and Darcy had posted the class schedule, they were like, “There’s also a row.” They were both like, “We don’t have a rower. We wouldn’t know that.” I think that got added a little later, which is why you weren’t aware. Someone had to point it out to us too. If Crystal is up and running, she’d be all over it.

Australian users got this message on their machines. They got this message up when they hopped on their bikes or treads that they are celebrating Pride 365. It says, “Celebrate Pride in Sydney in 2023. We’re championing individuality and diversity of the LGBTQIA+ identities and stories.” I know the user that sent it to us was super excited because they said this is the first time they’ve seen something just for Australia in their feed and on their bike.

That’s a great call out. They’ve talked about how they want to keep expanding their international presence. It makes sense to give them some specific content. I love that it’s Pride. Peloton has a strong history of supporting pride here in the US and in the UK, and now in Australia. That’s awesome.

I thought Pride was in June, but I could be wrong. I’m straight, spoiler alert. Apparently, there’s a thing called World Pride. It happens every two years. It’s a bi-annual event, which makes sense. It’s bi.

I walked into it.

It moves around the globe every two years. This 2023, it’s in Sydney, Australia. That’s part of what they’re tying into. If you’re wondering what’s going on because Pride is in June, this is why you’re seeing this for Australian users in February because it runs February 17th through March something or other.

I thought it had something to do with that time thing. They’re on the other side of the world, so it’s not June.

When they flush their toilets, it goes counterclockwise.

World Pride was in New York a few years ago. Peloton actually did some cool stuff around that. I remember that.

It says it has been in New York, Rome, London, and Toronto.

That sounds like a good time.

Tom’s Guide, which is not affiliated with me, reviewed the Peloton Guide.

When I read this headline, my brain turned off for a minute because I did think it had something to do with you. I was trying to make sense of why you have a Guide and why are you rating a Guide. The overall positive review they gave with this quote sounds like something you would say, “Turn your TV into a PT with this clever little device.” I could hear you saying it. I was very confused.

Overall, they did give the Peloton Guide a great review. I thought it was interesting though. They said that they thought it was great for beginners into workouts or beginners into the Peloton universe. I thought that was interesting because I know a lot of people that have the Guide who are experienced, including Crystal, who love it. I think it’s a great complement. I don’t know that it’s only for beginners as the review implies.

Crystal has it. She doesn’t use it a ton. The review makes a good point that for people that already have a bike or a tread, it doesn’t offer a whole lot that you can’t already do with a bike or a tread. A lot of people bought it because they’re Peloton nerds and they got to have all the things. The price point was cheap enough so they’re like, “Why not?”

I also think it could work on the other end of the spectrum of people that are maybe app users. They’re looking to level up, but they don’t necessarily want to drop $1,500 on a bike or $3,000 on a tread, or whatever it’s going for these days. It’s a good way to dip your toe into the water of Peloton equipment without actually plumping down or plunking down four figures.

Also, finding space in your house for it. The Guide takes up very little space, in my understanding. I did buy it. I was one of the Pelotoners you referred to. It’s still in the box. I bought that thing on a prime day. Maybe I will try it after reading your guide.

I’m glad I could convince you. Chase Sapphire Card has had all sorts of Peloton promotions, and they have re-upped their agreement through 2025.

That’s a long time to re-up the agreement, but they have been doing it for a few years. I have to imagine it has been mutually beneficial for both of them to go ahead and extend it like this. It is cool that you can get bonus points whenever you purchase the equipment. There had been some sales lately, so you could even double up. Get the equipment on sale and use your Sapphire card. It’s a win-win. Get your 100 rides before March 15th, and get a free t-shirt out of it.

Look at that. You got it all figured out.

I do. I don’t have a credit card. I have the equipment. I don’t need another t-shirt, so I can’t take advantage of it, but someone can.

Peloton is hiring which is interesting because, by and large, it seems like the hiring freeze has been in place. They are looking for a product manager for games, which seems to indicate that they must like the feedback and engagement they’re getting from Lanebreak.

I would think so. I thought this was cool when I saw it on the list because Lanebreak is a cool experience. A lot of people were skeptical when Peloton announced that they were going to dip their toes in this direction. It has been a huge success. Everyone I know who has tried it loves it. I tried it and loved it. It was way harder than I thought it was going to be. I thought we’ll play a game and it will be a nice easy ride. It was not a nice easy ride. It was difficult. Especially for people with that little bit of competitive fire in them, it’s a great way to mix up your routine. I will be very excited to see what they come up with next. This doesn’t sound like it’s a replacement role. It sounds like they’re looking for somebody to develop new games for them.

It seems like they don’t want Lanebreak to be the only gamification aspect that they have. I’ve always wondered if you’d see any sort of movement toward how you have artist series now. Will you see any sort of crossovers either with other video games or other IPs in general? Was it Echelon that did something with Jungle Cruise when it came out? It seemed weird at the time that they would do something like that.

They do a lot of things we think are weird.

Touche. How cool would it be if you could do a scenic row, but it’s Jungle Cruise? I wonder if you will see something like that with other IPs, so they can start cross-promoting with movies or TV shows instead of just musical artists.

That sounds like a great opportunity for them. I also want to see games hit other platforms. I would love to be able to do something on my tread to switch it up.

I wonder how you would do that. You also have to be careful about doing anything that might distract somebody while they’re on a tread in a way that you don’t have to worry about that on a bike.

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That is true, but I’m not applying for this job so I don’t have a problem.

You’re like, “I’m an ideas person.”

I’m an ideas person. I’m not the executor over here.

Recreate Super Mario Brothers and make them jump and hit boxes.

That’s what I was thinking. My kids are into Sonic the Hedgehog. Can I run and jump to grab a coin? Maybe.

Recreate OK Go videos. If they get hurt, that’s your problem to figure out how to solve that, Product Manager of Games.

If you’re applying for this role, be ready for that. That’s my suggestion.

—

We’re still seeing articles from the earnings call. Forbes has a backhanded compliment of an article talking about Peloton, Stock Has More Upside Despite Struggling Equipment Business. They say that their outlook is marginally positive.

They made sure also to point out how down it is from peak pandemic days still, which we know. It was nice to see the tide turning a little bit. It was nice to see that stock going up, and to start to feel like these changes that they’re making are doing something over here.

A lot of places have set the stock target now at around $19, which is great because it had been living in about the $7 to $8 range. Obviously, you want to see it get back to IPO levels and above. You also need to make your peace with the fact that 170 was pandemic driven. If that’s your metric for success, this company will always be a failure to you. They’re not going to get back to 170.

That’s absolutely right. When the IPO was issued, I believe it was $21.

For some reason, I have it in my head at $29. I don’t remember, but it was in the twenties.

Whatever it is, we are getting closer to that and away from the $5 to $6 range, which is good.

We don’t want to get delisted or made a penny stock. I can say we because we bought some.

You can definitely say we there.

While we’re talking about stock stuff, Motley Fool had an article about Where Will Peloton Stock Be in 1 Year? It’s interesting that they still call it Peloton Interactive. Does anybody else call it that?

You know I’m in marketing, Tom. When I read this article, I saw SEO strategy all over it. This article has a lot of words that say absolutely nothing.

That’s Motley Fool’s business model. We’ve bagged on them for years about how a lot of times, they will do two articles that say totally different things in very close proximity to each other.

They covered all grounds here. They give you a whole history lesson on Peloton and everything to make sure that when you’re searching you find this blog post. If you’re interested, it’s there. I’m sure the link will be in the newsletter.

I hate how they write articles like that now. I get a lot of Disney stuff sent to me in my feed about theme parks. As soon as I start reading them, I will scroll past the first five paragraphs because it’s like, “Disney World was founded in 1971.” I’m like, “I know that.”

Have you ever tried to find a recipe online?

No. I don’t cook or eat adventurously.

Good for you. If you look up a basic recipe for the most basic meal you can think of, you will have to read about the summers the blog writer spent with her grandmother in Connecticut and a special coat that she wore. It’s pages and pages and then finally, it’s only two ingredients in twenty minutes. It takes you longer to read the story behind the recipe than it does for you to actually cook the meal. It’s infuriating.

Finally, they’re like, “Here’s how you make scrambled eggs.”

That is what this Motley Fool article reminded me of.

I get that. Coming up after the break, Dr. Jenn is going to talk to us about dealing with a chaotic schedule.

—

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, VH1’s Family Therapy with Dr. Jenn, or her long-running radio show, The Dr. Jenn Show. She has written four bestselling books including The Relationship Fix: Dr. Jenn’s 6-Step Guide to Improving Communication, Connection and Intimacy. It’s Dr. Jenn. Hello.

Hello.

We have one from Mae Sakharov. She has been on the show before, Dr. Jenn. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard us talk about her, but she’s one of Peloton’s older riders. She’s had an amazing life. She’s been everywhere. She’s done everything and she’s super fun. She has been around Peloton for a long time. She is trying to make the best of the chaotic scheduling. She finds that without consistency, she’s getting bored. She’s given up hope with the pro cyclist coming back and bumbling along. She is bumbling along. She’s trying to find a new place and it’s a struggle for her.

First of all, I would recommend that she meet with someone like a trainer or someone who knows about it and is also a Peloton person like Crystal, for example, to do a consultation. Sit down with someone to look through and say, “Let’s try something different,” and help you put together an actual schedule that’s different from what you’ve been doing. They also will say, “Why don’t you try a shadowboxing class? How about Pilates? What about this dance class?”

There are all of these classes that a lot of the regulars don’t necessarily do. I know when I’ve gotten into a bit of a bind where I’m doing the same stuff over and over again. When I meet with the person who I meet with on a regular basis. Every once in a while will be like, “What about this? What about instead of doing strength, we do strength for runners?” Even though it’s a simple change, it feels so different and refreshing, and it’s positive.

I agree with that. I know Mae has done a lot of Power Zone training, and she likes the Power Zone training. She likes getting up at 6:00 AM. We all used to have that 6:00 AM live ride. What’s tough is there are not as many live rides. Mixing it up and trying out some different classes that might be live in the morning might be a good idea. They do have those strength roll calls every morning at 6:30 AM Eastern. That might be something for her.

That’s part of people’s frustration. You get used to a rhythm and then they disrupt it.

They do. The instructors have to have changes too. Not everybody likes to get up at 4:00 in the morning to teach a class.

Also, to take a class. Not a chance.

Mae, I hope that helps in some way. Let us know if maybe you found something new. We’d love to hear about it. Thank you so much for all that. Until next time, where can people find you?

People can find me @DrJennMann on all social media.

Thank you.

—

Matt Wilpers got married in Nicaragua.

It looked so beautiful and so fun. There were so many instructors there. Cody Rigsby was the flower girl. He had nice floral pants on. He made a nice production of sprinkling the flowers everywhere and seems like he was a big hit when he came down the aisle with his little basket. I would expect nothing less. Cody is always a hit.

 

That is true. I guess they must have asked him to do that. Do you think he offered? You can’t just go to a grown man and be like, “Do you want to be our flower girl? We’re going to smell it with you. It will be funny.”

I see what you’re saying. I also don’t think that a grown man can go to his buddy and be like, “Can I please be the flower girl at your wedding?” That’s imposing.

Cody Rigsby can.

I don’t know. He had to have been asked. What delighted me is that Cody and Matt are not two people who I tie together. They have very different styles. I thought that was so cool to see him that involved in the wedding.

It’s the buddy-cop movie you didn’t know you wanted.

Now I want it. Maybe that’s what he was filming.

You could be onto something.

Do you like that callback there, Tom?

I do. It’s funny with him being the flower girl. Somewhere I picture a seven-year-old girl sitting there with her arms crossed at the wedding like, “Why is he doing this? That’s my job. He’s taking my job.”

“It should have been me.” It seemed like all the instructors were involved in the wedding. I saw a video. I think it was Emma Lovewell who posted it. It was her, Ally, Hannah Corbin, and some other people. The caption said something along the lines of when the groom asks you to learn choreography for his wedding, you learn the choreography. Those Peloton instructors must have put on a whole production there.

The full list of instructor attendees includes Denis Morton, Adrian Williams, Ally Love, Olivia Amato, Kristin McGee, Hannah Corbin, Alex Toussaint, Hannah Frankson, Cody, Emma Lovewell, Christine D’Ercole, Tunde, and Jess Sims. It was a full house for Matt Wilpers.

It sure was. It’s a good thing they’ve grown their instructor roster because there was a time that that list would have shut the entire Peloton studio down.

Especially with them launching their new schedule.

It looked like they had a great time though. It looked absolutely beautiful and congratulations to Matt and his new wife.

I know nothing about his wife. Maybe you don’t either. Is she from Nicaragua? Why did they pick Nicaragua? Do we know?

I know that they got engaged there, but I do not know anything about her aside from that.

We will let you off the hook then. Not to be outdone with wedding news, Marcel Maurer got engaged.

He posted a beautiful picture. They look so happy and so content together. That warmed my heart to see it. Congrats to them. It made me mad to see people so happy. Can you imagine?

I hope they look happy in their picture. If you can’t look happy in that one, just cut and run. That’s my advice.

That’s probably good advice.

Black History Month is upon us and Tunde will be hosting a virtual event for Peloton called The Power of Community.

This is cool. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Peloton do this outside of a homecoming event. The community is actually invited to register. Especially when they were in the office, Peloton would be having conversations like this for their staff, but they’ve never invited the broader community to attend. I think it’s neat that they did that. You can go to the site and register. It is free and it is on Wednesday, February 15th at 3:15 PM Eastern Time.

I think Tonal has done stuff like this in the past. I don’t know if that has affected their desire or willingness to do things like this or if it’s just a coincidence. They might not pay any attention to Peloton or Tonal whatsoever. I just know that they had done stuff like this. I know they’ve backed off of it recently. I don’t think it’s because of how of they’ve changed their opinion of Black History Month, but because they got rid of a bunch of instructors and it got weird for them. They stopped doing things like this because people would come on and yell at them. I think they were trying to let that calm down. I know Tonal has done things like this in the past. I thought that was interesting.

I hope people don’t log on and yell at them for this.

They weren’t getting yelled at for doing a Black History Month thing. They were getting yelled at for getting rid of all of their instructors simultaneously and bringing in new ones. They scaled back their live interaction to let that die down. There have been layoffs and things like that. I just think this hasn’t fired back up yet.

It will be interesting to see if this is something that Peloton is doing as a one-time only or if it’s just a new way for them to engage with the community now that it’s massive. In this post-pandemic world, we can’t have homecomings anymore in person. That’s been proven. Maybe this is a way to stretch that out throughout the course of the year to help members feel more connected.

I also feel like Tunde wants to have more of a hosting role. Not that she doesn’t want to teach classes, but I feel like maybe her career arc is looking toward something like that. You see her doing a lot of this with her Speak series. They had that podcast that came and went. I don’t know if that’s still out there somewhere. I don’t know if it’s ever coming back or if it was worth their time. I don’t know but they keep playing with all these different ways to engage people. I’ve noticed Tunde has been at the forefront of a lot of them. Not all of them, but a lot of them. I wonder if she’s driving that to some degree like, “I’m interested in doing this. Let’s find things for me to work on.”

It’s possible. She’s good at it. I could absolutely see that happening.

Robin Arzón is going on a book tour for her new book, Strong Baby.

She’s getting to both coasts in 24 hours, which is amazing.

That’s like Phil Collins at Live Aid. He’s the only artist at Live Aid that played at Wimbley and wherever it was in the States. He opened the show in London and then got on a plane and flew to wherever it was over here and then did another set. I think he played drums for Zeppelin.

That’s pretty impressive. What year was that?

I think ‘85.

I was two. That’s probably why I don’t remember. “Gina can’t be with us any longer.”

The Zoom link is getting fuzzy.

Robin is starting her tour with a virtual event, which is nice. She has a speaking engagement in New York on the 22nd of February, and then the very next day she’s in Menlo Park, California. When I was pregnant, I didn’t get off the couch, let alone fly and do events on each coast in a matter of 24 hours.

I forgot about she’s doing this whole pregnant thing.

She has Strong Baby and Strong Mama. She can do it. Anyone can do it with Robin.

While we’re speaking of Robin, we finally have some insight as to what the Swagger Society actually gets you.

Do we?

I could tell by the way you were giving me the side eye. You’re like, “Really? Does this make sense to you?” It says benefits and access, and then there are little check marks. It says, “For benefits, behind-the-scenes messages from Robin.” You get that with tier-one, tier-two, and non-members. The limited edition Swagger Society merchandise, tier one, early VIP access. You get that tier-one and tier-two, but non-members have to earn them. It doesn’t say what you have to do to earn it.

I’m going to guess you have to have some swagger. First and foremost. That seems to be a requirement. I saw this in my feed. Admittedly, I couldn’t even have the brain space for this because I didn’t understand it. Now, I’m actually a little bit intrigued. Before I couldn’t even look at it because I had no idea what was going on. Now, I’m like, “What is it that you’re doing? I still don’t know that we have a whole lot of insight into what this all is. It does seem like maybe it’s some way for people to connect with her outside of Peloton.

It says you also get personalized motivational messages from Robin, and you get award hustle points to community members. I’m reading between the lines and this is my interpretation, so don’t hold Robin to this if I’m wrong, but I feel like the hustle points are probably how you earn things.

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That sounds like a reasonable assumption. Robin is always so good about engaging with her community. For a long time, she was one of the first people that I saw. Maybe even the first instructor. If I’m wrong, I apologize. She had one of those text numbers. She could text you about stuff and you could text her. I texted her once after a ride. She sent me a personalized voice note in response. I was shocked.

You thought, “This is BS.” You’re like the marketing person that was like, “I’m going to go down this rabbit hole to see what it is.”

I wanted to see the engagement. I was fully expecting that her assistant was on the other side texting back. Instead, I got a voice memo that was very clearly Robin who was responding exactly to what I said. It wasn’t pre-recorded, “You got this, queen.” She addressed the text that I had sent her. That was years ago now, but knowing that, I do think that once the pieces of this come into play and we understand a little bit more, it will be enticing. People who are looking for some extra connection with her will find it here.

She’s been taking a lot of heat in some quarters for it. Based on you telling that story makes me think that there must be more to this. She must be pretty confident because she doesn’t seem to be backing off of it at all.

Robin is confident. If anyone is confident, it’s Robin. In the beginning, I was like, “Come on. What is this?” Now, I’m intrigued.

Running down to other things. You also get access to in-person meetups. Tier-one gets VIP access with a plus one. You also have Robin’s annual Swagger Society Community event, and tier-one gets a plus one. I guess tier-one is you and then it depends on how much you earn. Also, accountability coaching sessions with Swagger Society. That doesn’t say Robin though. It says Swagger Society, and then partnerships and colabs, but I don’t know what that means. It is starting to come into focus for those who are interested.

Cody had a whole little run of things going on. Let’s start with the less controversial controversy, which is he started something of a firestorm over whether or not you should wash chicken before you cook it.

If there’s ever any question about whether the word Peloton gets you clicks and views, it is settled. I cannot believe that I’m currently looking at an article that says, Should You Wash Chicken? Peloton Instructor Cody Rigsby Sparks Fiery Debate. That’s crazy. I do wash my chicken.

Do you? I never washed my chicken.

I rinse it off because I don’t like touching it. I don’t like the way it feels so I rinse it off.

Uncooked chicken is gross. I make chicken all the time for the MetPro thing that I do. I would throw it in the air fryer, but I never washed it. I guess so far so good.

Here we are having a fiery debate about it.

I wouldn’t call it fiery.

It was more like, “I don’t care.”

I’m like, “I’m cooking it. If I cooked it, I can’t wash the inside of it. Why are you washing off the chicken? Do you wash your beef before you cook it? Do you rinse off a steak?

No.

Why would you rinse your chicken?

You’re making a good point.

What would be on the chicken that’s not on the steak?

There’s slime on uncooked chicken.

The slime is also going to be in the chicken. You cook it and then it’s less slimy and now it’s edible.

I want you to put a poll in the Facebook group asking if people wash their chicken. We need to know. It needs to be yes, no, or a third option, “Yes. I was influenced by Cody. I didn’t until Cody did it.”

Even he said that he sometimes washes his chicken.

I don’t get that. Either wash it or don’t. You’re either a washer or you’re a not-washer. You can’t ride the middle lane on this. Pick one.

While we’re talking about Cody, we should address the more controversial controversy he found himself embroiled in. Somebody tagged him in a post for an exercise. It’s a fitness studio in Scottsdale, Arizona owned by a woman named Kristina Girod. I haven’t seen the footage of her classes, but I guess there’s choreography involved comparable to a Soul Cycle is what I’m envisioning.

It’s one of those spin classes where there’s a lot of choreography involved. It actually reminded me of the groove rides that Cody himself used to do, but with a little bit more dancing than that.

He replied to getting tagged. They were like, “You need to do stuff. The Peloton needs to do this and Cody needs to lead it.” He said something to the effect of, “That’s dangerous and a joke.” She then took it to the Gram and took him to the task.

She did take him to the Gram. I actually stumbled across the story on TikTok. She took him to task there also. This woman, good for her, has built a strong community through her studio in Scottsdale, Arizona. They were all over Cody.

She has 1.5 million TikTok followers or something. Is it dangerous? I’ve always heard that this stuff is dangerous. I would think it’s dangerous for Peloton because if someone fails in her studio or if they fall off the bike and get hurt, she’s there to help them. If you were riding your bike at home and you suck at this, there’s potentially no one there to assist you.

I think he said it in-artfully, but I definitely think there’s a big difference between this sort of a spin class when you have other people there to pick you up if you fall than there is doing it in the privacy of your own home, where quite possibly you’re all by yourself. Also, people can’t judge your capabilities. Some people ride the bike with different abilities, whether it’s a limb difference. I’m not saying those people can’t do it, but maybe some of them aren’t sure. If they’re trying it by themselves, who knows what could happen? Some people ride the bike and they’re 90 years old. They’re out there.

As somebody who used to take in-person spin classes, it was super common for the instructor to shout out modifications if somebody was dealing with an injury. You let them know in advance and they would say like, “We’re getting out of the saddle but you stay in it to help you with your form along the way.” A business wouldn’t be able to get insurance coverage on that business if it was that much of a liability. I agree that for Peloton, it would not be a great decision to offer a class like that. He could have had a little bit more tact in his response, recognizing that he’s one of the most high-profile Peloton instructors there are.

He stepped in it a bit. The other thing on this though was not a lot of people knew about that controversy until he posted the apology video, and then they went looking for it. If you looked in the comments of the apology, a lot of people were saying, “What is this about? Somebody fill me in. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He did the right thing by apologizing. I also think it grew the audience for the controversy.

We should say that he did issue an apology. Give credit where credit is due.

I wonder though if he reached out to her directly to do it or if he just did a public one.

That’s a good point. I don’t know.

Neither do I. Crystal would probably know.

She would know. That’s why she’s Clip Out Crystal.

More Cody news.

This is the last Cody story for this episode. He was featured in Elle Magazine, the Canadian edition.

This is a cute little article about how the sausage gets made with his LOL Cody series. I enjoyed the read. One of the questions they asked him was who his dream guest would be. When I saw that they were asking him that, I thought we already did this. I thought it would be JC from NSYNC. He got him and he actually acknowledged that, but he said Shangela would be a dream guest, and then Lance Bass. Lance Bass and Cody Rigsby share the same talent agent.

That seems something that should be achievable then.

I would think so.

I’m sorry but who is Shangela?

 

I believe Shangela was on Drag Race. She may have even been on Dancing with the Stars, though I don’t think it was Cody season. It would be fun though.

Susie Chan was invited to participate in Badwater. Crystal tells me it’s one of the hardest, if not the hardest Ultramarathon style thingy out there. I know they have a better way to say it than that.

Surely, they don’t. That has to be it. I think that’s the official tagline on it. This is invite-only too. She said she has been waiting for twelve years to get an invite. That’s cool for her that she’s going to check this off her bucket list. It is called The World’s Toughest Race. It goes from Death Valley to Mount Whitney, California.

I believe Mount Whitney has an 8,000 feet elevation, and you’re starting in Death Valley. I guess the Death Valley part gets into the 120s while you’re running. Crystal was telling me that there was some other lady that maybe Susie Chan was talking about. She did the whole race on 400 calories. My first thought was, “Why would you do that?” She was like, “It wasn’t intentional, but she kept throwing up.” It was so hard. She ended up only having, in terms of actual calories, consuming 400 calories.

You’ve got to want to do this to complete it while vomiting. I don’t know that I’ve ever wanted anything that bad in my life.

I would agree.

Good for her though. That is cool.

When they say it’s the world’s toughest race, I was like, “I think the one Crystal did on Sunday was a little tougher.” She wasn’t technically racing.

She didn’t know she was racing that SUV, I guess.

She wouldn’t go into it knowing it was going to be tough.

That’s neat. It will be fun to follow. I’m sure that she will let us in on her training journey and the entire experience, as the instructors always do when they’re doing stuff like that.

Our past guest, Ali from Ali on the Run talks to Peloton instructors all the time. She had Susie Chan on her most recent episode 608.

I did not listen to that.

There’s a lot to consume out there. It’s okay.

There’s a lot of Peloton material to consume. I have listened to Ali on the Run before, and it is a great show.

She was a lot of fun. Leanne Hainsby was posting talking about dealing with the side effects of her chemo treatment, whether it be eyebrow tattoos or fake eyelashes.

It’s amazing how vulnerable and transparent Leanne has been with all of this. People are saying how amazing it is that her hair hasn’t fallen out. She said, “You’re wrong. My hair has fallen out, and my ponytails, every single hair is strategically placed on my head so that you can’t tell. My eyebrows are tattooed on.” She is one incredible person to get back on the bike. The way that she has shared and been as vulnerable as she has been with millions and millions of people is absolutely incredible. I love seeing also that Ben is by her side through all of it.

I’m sure it’s quite a struggle. It takes a lot. She was also featured in Cosmo UK. There’s an article there if you want to check that out. Christine D’Ercole’s I am, I can, I will, I do was named the top Running Club of the Year by USA Cycling. How about that?

That is cool. It says that there were over 130 entries for that award. They beat out a lot of people to get that. That is a big achievement, a super high honor, and very cool to see the connection. She posted about it on Facebook and is rightfully proud.

She should be. Ally Love was on the Take Command podcast, which is part of the Dale Carnegie collection of podcasts. I didn’t know Dale Carnegie was still a thing.

Neither did I. That was actually the most surprising part for me as well. It sounds like she talks about her journey. Ally does have an incredible story about how she wanted to be a dancer and then she suffered major injuries and came back. She came back and is dancing and is a Peloton instructor. She is hosting a bunch of stuff.

She’s hugely successful in a career that she didn’t even know existed potentially when she began her career path. Peloton wasn’t an option when she decided on whatever career she wanted to get into. I tell this to the kids all the time when they’re talking about colleges and where they want to go. Have a dream but be prepared to pivot because there are so many things out there that don’t exist yet and you don’t even know.

You find yourself preparing for it and you don’t even realize you’re preparing for it. Matty Maggiacomo is another good example. If you go on YouTube, you can find all this footage of him hosting red-carpet segments for different networks. Clearly, that’s a skill that serves him well. At no point was he like, “I’m doing this so I can teach tread instructing.”

Any instructor hired before probably 2018 had a similar story. Alex Toussaint was mopping floors at a local spin studio. None of them ever dreamt that this was possible because it didn’t even exist. Look at them now.

The height of success before Peloton was if you became a personal trainer to the stars. If you got a couple of famous clients, that was a success and that was making real money. The idea that it could be a path to stardom was not even a thing.

What’s fascinating is I’m not even aware of any Peloton instructors who were on that path you just said. It’s not like they pulled in celebrity trainers that were like, “I was Jennifer Aniston’s yoga instructor.” They pulled in people from a wide variety and made them all these celebrity instructors now.

If you think about it, especially at the beginning, they probably had to because if you are Jennifer Aniston’s yoga instructor, you’re already making good bank. You’re not walking away from that for a startup. They had the moneyball. Now, they probably don’t want those people. They’ve already got such a brand and Peloton is such a big brand. They want to bring in people where they’re like, “You can be famous but we are the brand.”

I’m sure they have no shortage of applicants for those roles.

Finally, for this segment, Alex Toussaint is competing in the NBA All-Star celebrity game again in 2023. He played in 2022 and absolutely killed it.

He didn’t just play but he also won the MVP award, and his team won. I know Alex loves Dwayne Wade so I’m sure he is super excited to be on team Dwayne. It should be fun. My elder Millennial heart got excited to see The Miz on the team. I remember The Miz from when he was in the Real World way back in the day.

It’s so funny that he’s famous for wrestling because that’s all he ever talked about in the Real World. He wanted to be a wrestler and he actually made that happen. I know that part of how he got to make it happen was the juice that Real World gave him. All that does ultimately is open a door. He was able to stick with it and become successful in that world on his own. I wouldn’t think the average WWE fan is a Real World fan. If anything, it probably worked against him at the beginning. It was a double-edged sword. It opened a door for him, but a lot of the fans were probably like, “Real World?”

It’s not like the Real World is this breeding ground for celebrities. You probably couldn’t name most people who’ve been on the Real World.

I remember Puck, but it’s only one word that I have to remember.

He’s probably the most memorable person to come out of the Real World. That guy was problematic.

There was the other guy that is big in the comic book world, or at least he was. I haven’t read newer ones for a while. He was working on major DC comics for a good chunk of time.

I can see his face but I don’t remember his name. Either way, Alex will be playing the All-Stars celebrity game. It looks like he hired a basketball coach to help him get ready.

It’s like, “We saw what you did last year. You don’t have to get ready. You are ready.”

Alex always says that. You don’t have to get ready if you stay ready. He is practicing what he preaches and he is staying ready for this game.

Maybe this is like The Miz situation. He is working at Peloton and he’s trying to use that to get into the NBA.

Crazier things could happen. I don’t know that we could roll it up.

Coming up after this, we’re going to talk to Angelo from MetPro. He’s going to have tips for you on how to stay consistent.

—

Joining us is Angelo from MetPro, here to answer all of your nutrition questions to help you achieve your fitness goals.

Thanks for having me back.

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Thank you for coming back after we put you on the hot seat last time. This question comes from Amy Robinson. I feel like a lot of people can identify with this or it resonates with a lot of people. She would like to know how you stay consistent, whether it’s food or working out. How do you get that consistency down?

I got the answer to this. Are you ready, Amy? The answer is accountability. The trick is it can come from any number of places. We are in the accountability business. That’s what we do at MetPro. We help people with that accountability. It is a fundamental law of humanity that we are willing to let ourselves down sooner than we will someone else. When you have a coach and when you’re working with someone, there’s a science side and the manipulation and all that.

Make sure you’re on an optimized program, but it cannot be understated the benefits of having someone that you’re accountable to because it pushes you to stay consistent. It’s the same psychological principle. With the seven-step programs out there, part of it is sharing your journey, verbalizing, and committing audibly, “Here’s what I’m doing to someone else,” or to other people.

If you are doing this on your own and you want additional accountability, share what you’re doing with others. Be practical. Make a plan in advance. If you want to exercise daily, four days a week, three days, or whatever it is, and your plan is to say, “I’m going to find some time to exercise tomorrow,” it’s not going to happen.

I’m in the coaching business. I have this conversation day in and day out. I can sniff it coming a mile away. If someone tells me, “I’m going to work out,” I know whether they’re actually going to or not. What time? If they’re hesitant, it’s not happening. It’s the truth. You have to plan in advance and have a routine. If you know when it’s going to happen and it’s on the calendar, then your follow-through is significantly higher.

They’ve done studies on this. When somebody is trying to get into a routine for regular exercise, every hour past noon that goes by, statistically and mathematically, your percentage is less likely to exercise that day. if you don’t know where to start, try and exercise earlier in the day. If you can’t exercise early in the day, anchor it to something you won’t miss. If you’re picking up kids from school, perfect. Workout right before or after that because I know you’re not going to leave Johnny sitting in front of the school until 9:30 at night.

I actually did this in a seminar years ago. I had everyone in the room divided up by different nutritional strategies they implemented. They would go, “I’ve counted calories. I’ve cut carbs. I’ve done this or done that.” I said, “What we’re going to do is we’re going to split up the room. We’re going to create a mental hypothesis here. This third of the room is going to count calories. That third of the room is going to keep their carbs under this number, and this third of the room over here is going to eat whatever the heck they want.” Here’s the catch. They can only eat what they’ve prepared in advance the day before. They have to make their food in advance. Which group do you think lost more weight every single time?

That last one?

Yes. Intention and prep outrank any other strategy. You may have the greatest strategy in the world. If you were a fly on the wall with any of our coaches’ conversations with their clients from day one. Here’s what we hear a lot. “I started and I already lost this much weight and this happened. I’m already seeing it. I’m doing it.” I’m like, “I don’t care. Here’s what I want to know. You’re not getting graded based on pounds lost.

In week one, you are getting graded based on routine and preparation. It’s my job to teach you all the little tricks of the trade to do that quickly so that it’s not cumbersome in your life. You are getting graded on preparation because even if someone struggles with the execution, Amy, if you have those pieces in place and something is prepped, then you have the tools to not just have a win for a day or a week but a lifetime.

The number one thing that I tell people is, “Here’s your priority. When it comes to nutrition, you can just do one thing. Prepare in advance, an afternoon snack, and commit to it.” I won’t get into all the reasons why we actually use an afternoon snack. Trust me, there are a lot of disruptive benefits to that. If you can do that and you can execute that, then I want you to commit to a clean breakfast and an afternoon snack.

That is a great start that anyone can do. If you check that off, then go breakfast, lunch, afternoon, snack, and get those dialed in, simultaneously, commit to it. I don’t care how hard you train. I don’t care how long you train for. In my first month of working with a client, what I care very much about is frequency and consistency. Pick the lowest common denominator. Do something very easy so you can commit to it and repeat your exercise. Get consistent first. Once you have the routine and the consistency in place, then we can start layering on intensity. That’s my best pitch for a five-minute response.

Thank you.

—

There was a team call, where they get everybody on the phone, even the stores and what was left of them. They have a conversation. We had some intel from things that were said on the team call that we thought you might like to hear.

Barry said he’s not going anywhere and the company is not up for sale.

He was very adamant that he is here for the long haul. No matter what you read, they are not shopping for this company.

I thought that was interesting for a number of reasons. One, he never said that he was leaving or that the company was going up for sale. It shows you how quickly and how massive rumors can get that start from who knows where.

It’s from people wanting clicks. We saw an article like that. We didn’t cover it because we were like, “This article is BS.” It was on Yahoo. It wasn’t even on something smaller. It was on Yahoo Finance. They’re like, “Is Apple buying Peloton?” When you read it, a guy was like, “I think Apple should buy it.” That’s a Yahoo Finance article now? People keep having this dream that they’re going to sell it to some other big company, and then it’s going to be amazing again. It is amazing.

It’s already there. Your expectations of the pandemic level, you need to adjust them. The rumors got so huge that he actually had to comment on it. That’s wild to me. I saw this the day after I saw a headline saying that both Nike and Apple wanted to buy Peloton. I didn’t even click on it because it’s always a clickbait. He said it himself. They’re not for sale. Not on his watch.

Peloton announced that they are introducing Yin Yoga. Does that mean anything to you?

Sort of. When I saw this, I wished they would do a better job of educating me about the different types of yoga. I’ve been doing yoga for a long time. Yoga is one of my favorite offerings from Peloton. I don’t understand the difference between all of the different classes. They all feel the same to me. Maybe I’m doing it wrong. Let’s leave that door open as a possibility. Maybe I’m doing it wrong. Dr. Chelsea Jackson Roberts would say you can’t do it wrong. I will believe that. It says that Yin Yoga focuses on the stillness within the body featuring a slow steady pace practice along with deeper poses for meditative exploration. It sounds relaxing. I’ll give it a try.

I know nothing about yoga and I don’t do it. I get teased about when I do the Tonal. I skip the stretches at the end. I will do the ones at the beginning, but at the end, I’m like, “I’ve done the work. I’m done now.” I know. Crystal and Dr. Jenn both made that same face at me. I always tell people, it’s like you don’t go into an AA meeting and yell at them for smoking. You pick your battles. You got them to stop drinking but let them have their Camels.

We have an article about this on our website. It went up while we were recording this episode. If you want more information about it, you can check theclipout.com or check The Clip Out page or the group on Facebook. You can find it there going into more detail about what this is because I don’t know. We know listeners don’t expect me to know.

They don’t know me at all so they can’t have expectations.

They have zero expectations.

I like living life like that.

Same. It’s like my favorite line from Say Anything, “When you start off the day mildly depressed, everything is a pleasant surprise.” We should also point out that the Peloton original bike went on sale via Woot, which is now owned by Amazon. It started as a deal-of-the-day website. Now they have a lot more things on there. They had it on sale for $1,050. I believe that was shipped.

That is giving it away. Yeah.

I guess they must have a lot of them sitting around. I don’t know.

I don’t know either. I was surprised to see that price point. At the same time, it feels like another day, another sale on Peloton equipment.

It’s been a bit since it’s been quite this inexpensive. We talked in the past about Barry and his A/B test. You’re going to see this from time to time. They’re going to blow out a bunch. It’s a way to bring in members. It’s a way to get people over the hump that are sitting there debating. It was also interesting because of the data we saw in the past. We talked about this a few months back. When they introduced Bike+, it increased the sales of the bike.

I would’ve thought people would be like, “For the little bit extra, I will get the one with the bells and whistles.” Instead, they created a value proposition where people were like, “The bells and whistles aren’t great enough so I’d rather get this cheaper one.” If you’re already having that internal debate and they drop it $400, it seems like a no-brainer.

I thought the strategy here was interesting too, to put it on a daily deal site. Remember when those were all the rage in 2010? Groupon was one of them.

They’ve all gotten away from the deal. They may still technically have a deal of the day, but they started to figure out quickly that if they wanted to maximize revenue, they needed to sell more than one thing a day. The problem was when they sold one thing a day, they would sell a ton of those things. I know because I will put tickets on Groupon sometimes where I work. Groupon used to sell tickets like crazy for me. Now it doesn’t move tickets at all. There’s so much stuff on there that it gets lost. I say this all the time, “All italics are the same as no italics.”

If it was only one deal of a day too, you’d get into the habit of checking to see what it was. Now there’s no reason to go check unless you’re looking for something specific. That’s how I use Groupon. I’m like, “This feels like something that might be on Groupon.”

If I’m going to another city, I will be like, “I bet you there’s travel stuff.” If I’m going to go to Philadelphia, I will go to Philadelphia and look at things to do. I will buy the things there. Finally, the Valentine’s Day classes have been posted.

It is a packed schedule. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen them do this many classes for Valentine’s Day before. There are nearly a dozen listed here of all different sorts.

I’ve never noticed it. Had they had special Valentine’s Day classes before? I don’t remember it.

In 2022, around Valentine’s Day is when they rolled out that LOL Cody series. That was sort of Valentine’s Day. I don’t know that they’ve ever gone this deep on it. They also rolled out Valentine’s Day apparel, which I know they’ve done before. That was launched yesterday. We record this on Wednesday. It was launched on Tuesday. When I looked at it this evening before coming on to record, they already had marked it down, which I thought was interesting. If you’re super into Valentine’s Day and Peloton, we have good news for you.

My Valentine’s Day plans have been scuttled.

I bet you that placing an order from the apparel site might help Crystal feel a little bit better.

Especially if I can find the outfit that was destroyed.

 

Maybe it will be on sale. It does seem like they’re running a sale right now. I didn’t look at everything, but a lot of stuff is on sale right now.

The doctors were like, “Do you need anything else before we leave?” I’m like, “Can I get a note from you that says I didn’t do this?” Every time I go out in public with her, people are going to be like, “What the hell did you do to her? You, monster.”

I don’t know that people will say that, but I do feel for her that Beyond Yoga got screwed up. That stuff is great.

It was Beyond Yoga leggings and it was a Robin Arzon tank top. She said it might’ve been one of, if not the first Peloton item she ever bought.

You’re going back to 2016 then? That’s rough. I’m sorry.

She was very upset about that. Once she knew she was going to be okay and she could be upset about trivial aspects of what occurred, she was not happy.

She might be able to earn something similar through the Swagger Society though. Time will tell.

She can get her Swagger box or whatever they have. Coming up after this, we’re going to talk to Craig Heisner. He’s our interview of the week. He works at New Balance. He has all sorts of interesting thoughts about shoes and his Peloton journey. Stick around.

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Joining us is Craig Heisner. How’s it going?

It is going great. It’s great to be here. It’s great to meet you guys.

It’s so great to have you here. I like to always start with, regardless of our guest, how did you originally find Peloton?

I was thinking about that. I purchased my bike in the summer of 2018. At the time, there was a woman that I worked with who told me about it. I’ve always been this early adopter gadget geek guy. I always got to have the latest and greatest. When I saw this, I thought, “This is pretty cool.” I had always been a guy that loved spin classes, but I hated beating the clock to beat everybody, get your bike, and then getting this stare-down when you take someone’s bike who’s been riding there for the past ten years or so.

How did you not know?

I know. You guys know this. Getting out of bed at 5:45 AM, walking across my apartment, and getting on a bike for a 6:00 AM ride is pretty easy to do or hard to say no to, I suppose. Somebody at work told me about it, so I went to a store. I was living in Chicago. I went to a store and walked out with a purchase. Two days later, it was delivered.

Back in 2018, that could happen in two days, especially in a big city.

I love it. In fact, I just realized this. I’m on ride 999.

Look at you. Congrats. Who are you going to take 1,000 with?

I don’t know. I do a lot of the Power Zone classes. I’m in the middle of a Power Zone challenge, so I’m tied to some of the classes there. I’ll find someone. I don’t get too hung up on the shout-outs as much.

I get that, but 1,000 is special.

I’m excited. Honestly, it didn’t hit me until yesterday. I knew I was creeping up on it. I’m on 999.

Congrats. That is very cool. You said you’ve always liked spin classes. Have you always been active in general? Did you have some time periods where you weren’t and you were all over the place? Tell us about that.

We all have some time periods where we’re not as active. I’ve always lived an active lifestyle. I was an athlete through college. When I got out of school, I try to satisfy that competitive thirst by getting into road races. I used to do a ton of triathlons back when I was young. I was always a strong swimmer and a decent cyclist. I watched everybody run past me on the runs as I suffered. I’ve lived an active life and I’ve worked in the sports space for almost twenty years.

Cycling has been a nice compliment to how I live my life. I’ve done CrossFit for over sixteen years. It is off and on because, with CrossFit, I’m in my 50s, you wake up in the morning and every day, you feel like you rolled your car down a cliff. You’re that sore all the time. I spread out my time lifting heavy weights and trying to keep up with some of those young folks. I do a lot of different stuff.

That’s awesome. Do you still do all those things even with Peloton? Do you still do a little CrossFit?

I do. I even row. I don’t have a Peloton rower because I have a smaller apartment and I have a Concept2. I’ve rowed on a Concept2 for years. I’m off and on with the rowing. I get bored. The only thing that has been steady for me, and I haven’t missed a week since July of 2018, is riding my Peloton. I get my rides in. It’s a lot.

You’ve been in the sports industry. What exactly do you do?

I work for New Balance Athletic Shoe here in Boston. I work in the corporate headquarters. I work in their strategy group. I am responsible for looking at opportunities in the health and wellness space for the brand. It’s interesting because I worked for New Balance back in the ‘90s. I mentioned I’ve been in the biz for a while. I’ve worked for a few different brands. I worked for Brook Sports. I worked for Reebok. I worked for a little brand out in Boulder, Colorado called Newton Running Company. I returned to New Balance about a year and a half ago initially in a contract role. Now I’m back as a full-time employee. They told me I’m the longest boomerang to ever return to them. I don’t know why they let me back in, but it’s been 22 years since I worked there.

The strategy group supports all functions of the organization. There is a lot of variety in terms of what we’re asked to do across the department. I work with a lot of young people who are considerably smarter than me. It could be anything. It could be brand, product, distribution, or digital. You name it. I’ve done a lot of different stuff throughout my career, which is a good perspective to bring back to the company as an older guy.

They just sent you out to get experience from all these other companies, and then come back.

He was doing research, intel, and deep cover-up.

They were like, “Get their playbook and come back to us in twenty years.”

That‘s corporate espionage at the highest level.

I’ve worked primarily in the running business in the past. The truth is there is a lot of sameness. There’s a cadence to how the business is done with events, cyclicality of holidays, and so forth that dictate in many respects how you flow goods to the market. In some ways, it’s almost like being on a different team with a slightly different playbook with each brand that I’ve worked with. There are a lot of great brands in our industry, and they all have unique points of view for the most part. New Balance has one that’s unique. It’s a very special place. It’s privately owned by Jim and Anne Davis. They celebrated 50 years of owning the business. It’s a cool place.

When you went to your interview, did you not wear dress shoes? Did you wear New Balance shoes?

Were you kicking your New Balance shoes?

Thankfully, I didn’t have an interview this time around, but you don’t wear dress shoes to work. You got to wear running shoes primarily. It’s a cool environment. There are a lot of brands that exist in this active lifestyle that are passion-driven brands. It’s a fun place to be. It’s different from when I left twenty years ago. It’s much larger. Back then, we were tipping the brand in many ways. It’s a cool place. It’s a great industry to be in. I feel lucky.

I feel like I see this question posted at least once a day. How can people know the best shoe for them when it comes to running?

We could geek out on this all day and talk about it. This is probably not the answer that you want. You should purchase the shoe that feels the most natural on your foot. I realize that oversimplifies it. Anytime that you have what I would refer to as superfluous extras that get in the way of your body wanting to move in its natural state, it’s not good for you. It depends on who you talk to because everybody has a different opinion.

Running footwear and athletic footwear has changed a lot in the past. It’s always evolving. If you look at how things were fifteen years ago, we used to do a lot of stability features in shoes that tried to limit pronation and natural movement. It’s almost forcing runners to wear something that was guiding their foot in a direction that may not necessarily be natural or comfortable for them.

Now shoes are getting almost stripped down to simplicity and working with the foot and the body. It’s your brain telling you, “This feels right for me. This feels good.” Consequently, people tend to move a little bit more efficiently when they’re in something that works for them as opposed to fighting against their natural movements.

I’m a big fan of trying on a lot of different pairs.

What shoes do you wear?

A better ride posture position on your bike allows or contributes to greater sustained effort over time. Share on X

I go back and forth between a pair of HOKAs and Brooks Adrenaline. I’ve been doing my Brooks Adrenaline because the front of HOKA is too tight for my feet. I keep getting blisters. When I was running for short periods of time, it was fine. I didn’t get that many blisters, but as I started increasing how long I’m running, the blisters started to get on my nerves. It was happening all the time, and it never happened in my Brooks.

The reason that I went with Brooks Adrenaline is I always had issues with my knees my entire life. I went to a shoe store and I was like, “I’m going to start running.” They were like, “Try these on,” because they do have a little of that stability feature that you were talking about. I do have pronation. My feet pronate on their own just standing there. I love having a little stability. It’s not too much, but I do need some because if I don’t wear something that has some stability in my shoe, then I end up having my knees ache. It makes a huge difference in running on the Tread+ as opposed to outside. Even running outside in a pair of shoes that has stability makes a huge difference.

Stability is important. It’s the form in which it’s showing up in footwear designs now rather than big, clunky, dense materials on the inside or the medial side of the shoe. You’ll see it with Adrenaline. I was the head of marketing and product at Brooks years ago. It might be hard for you to find a brand that I haven’t contributed to in some way.

I’m starting to think you can’t hold a job.

It depends on how you look at it. I like to think that it’s because people from other companies would like me to come to work for them because I’ve done good things, but I’m sure it’s a little bit of both. Brooks places materials in a way that offers stability without restricting your natural movement. The other thing that’s happening in shoes is this thing called super shoes. You have probably seen it.

Those are the carbon plates.

We have our version of a super shoe. Shoes have gotten thicker in the midsole, but this has a full-length carbon fiber plate. Different brands have their versions of carbon fiber plates. You’ll see this with other brands. When you wear a super shoe, you can feel almost balanced in the shoes. It’s wild and unique. You’re always looking for what’s the next thing in this world. It’s highly competitive. You’re living in the past, present, and future all at one time. Our teams are designing products for two years out.

I’ve heard amazing things about those carbon plates. I’m always super skeptical of whether or not it will be good for me because I’m so slow. Let me be very clear. I am the slowest runner on the planet. You’re talking about people that are using these that are fast runners. It’s helping them be 1 second faster or 2 seconds faster, but I’m still going to be at the back. I can’t win no matter what. Many people love them. They talk about springiness and how it makes their feet still feel fresh even over long distances and running fast. That’s amazing.

I haven’t done any personal analysis of my performance in these things, but I like how they feel.

Do they feel different?

They feel very different. It’s cool. Tom, if you talk about someone who buys shoes, I am the shoe guy.

Do they still make you pay for them? You can’t take a pair home?

I’ll get large discounts, but I have so many shoes that I don’t even know what to do with them.

What size do you wear? Maybe you can send some our way.

I am an eleven. I’m happy to send you some shoes. I will send you some shoes.

Tom wears almost exclusively New Balance, in all seriousness.

I moved on. I’m very brand-loyal. Before that, I was nothing but KangaROOS. That’s all I would wear. I like a little pocket to keep a quarter, in case I need to make a phone call.

I haven’t thought of those in years.

That’s great to hear. We are the only brand that’s still making shoes here in America. We have factories. Granted it’s not all of our products because we’re so big. We have factories in the Boston area as well as up in Skowhegan and Norridgewock, Maine where we do our own cut-and-stitch products and we assemble the product. We make shoes here in the States. The majority of our shoes are 3 to 5 widths. We certainly address the fit concerns of folks.

I switched to New Balance a couple of years back because we were going to Disney World. The last time we went to Disney World, my feet hurt by the end of the trip. I was like, “I’m going to do some googling and see what’s the best walking shoe.” We all know I’m not going to run in the shoes, not even if chased. I’ll be like, “You win. Take my wallet and do whatever you’re going to do to me.” It was a game-changer. It was night and day. I forget what I was wearing before, but it wasn’t something I found at Buster Brown. It was a name-brand shoe. It was Nike or something like that. It was probably more like Sketchers. That’s more my speed. It was a total game-changer.

There are a lot of good brands out there. Tom, don’t be ashamed to walk. Walking is good for you. I’ve run four Boston marathons. It’s been twelve years since my last one. I don’t know that I’ll ever do another one. I’m a big guy, but I check my ego. I get on a treadmill and walk. I then move to the run-walk deals. People tend to try to jump into the running thing too fast and they get hurt. I often ask people, “What percent of runners do you think get injured?” I’ll ask you guys. What do you think it is?

100%?

Yes.

I didn’t know it was 100%, but I knew it was high.

It’s 100%. That’s my opinion. I will argue with everyone. If you’re a runner, you’re going to get hurt.

I was impressed with New Balance at the end of the trip. It was not even the end but like day three. In fairness, I was also in much better shape for that trip. I don’t feel like my physical fitness in terms of having a better capacity for walking long distances would have a dramatic effect on how my feet would feel.

It wasn’t like his legs were sore and everything. It was just his feet hurt.

The bottoms of my feet felt sunburned. I would have to start walking. Once I got up, got moving, and got going, I was like, “I’m 100 years old.”

The Army has its research lab locally. You can imagine what these guys want to do ultimately. They want their soldiers to be safe. They want them to be healthy. Their feet are incredibly important. You can imagine carrying all this gear and weight. It’s your ankles and your feet. Footwear is important, whether you’re at war or you’re walking around Disney. You’re at war at Disney.

It’s a different type of war. I’m the real hero.

Disney is hard. I’ve done a lot of work in Orlando. All I ever see when I’m down there are moms and dads fighting and kids crying. I’m like, “This must be Disney.”

Usually, about 2:00 PM is when it’s a real sh*t show.

Does New Balance make shoes for the military?

We’ve done work with the military in the past. The military business is huge. It’s challenging with the specs and the requirements, but we have done business with the military in the past. We don’t do a boot.

Are there military-grade running shoes? Is that a thing?

There are a lot of specs that go into the durability of the product and the content standards. You would expect that they love products that are made in the States here with the material usage. There are a lot of performance needs.

I always think of the military as a boot.

They would need combat boots, not shoes.

This is training, so you can imagine this is bootcamps. It’s all about the training.

You’ve worked in the sports industry, but you’ve worked in the shoe side and the apparel side from what I understand. I’m curious what your thoughts are on Peloton and Lululemon working together in the future, given the settlement that occurred.

It’s interesting. Believe it or not, I’ve consulted with Lululemon. One of the things that are interesting is when I was the president of this smaller brand out in Boulder called Newton Running Company, I reached out to the folks at Lulu because I was always a fan of their brand. I knew that they were looking to move beyond the female yogi and get into some running and some fitness, and even start to address the male side of the business.

Long story short, we got down the path of a proof of concept with a shoe. The idea was that we were going to do a licensing deal with Lululemon. We’re the manufacturers of the product, but they were going to work with us and we’d stick their logo on it. After I left Newton, they hired me full-time to explore the whole footwear side of the footwear business and the opportunity for their brand.

I’m sure you’re aware of the fact that they have a footwear business. I bring that up because, first off, Lulu is a fantastic brand. They’re smart people. They’re good at what they do. At the same time, they recognize that there are certain areas of their business that they don’t have an infrastructure. They don’t have the expertise, so they lean on folks like myself and others who were brought in as consultants to help them.

 

That’s where Peloton needs to be too. Apparel is hard. Forget about the cost associated with it. Before you start to sell something, all the research, merchandising, procurement of materials, designs, and fit, there’s a lot of work there. I always felt that Peloton, as fantastic as they are, should continue to work with some of these other brands, specifically, in this case, in apparel, and let them do it like how they’ve done it in the past with not only Lulu, but Rhone, Fourlaps, and some of these other brands.

I don’t know how Peloton is structured from an apparel or accessory merchandising team now, but my opinion is to work with brands like Lulu and others. I don’t know if that relationship is so far gone that they can’t bring it back. There are going to be a lot of other opportunities out there, but Peloton needs to get better at merchandising. When I say that, I mean how they flow goods to the market, how they forecast, and how they buy. You don’t want to get over-extended without knowing, but seeing the number of markdowns and where they’re liquidating products, which is great.

Get rid of the stuff. Get a clean slate and start over. Develop a strategy for what apparel and accessories should represent for their business. Lean on folks who are good at it outside. Develop some of the partnerships similar to what I had when I worked with Lulu and I was with Newton Running. They should do what they’re good at and work with the others who are the experts in those areas, and then benefit from it. That’s a long answer. Does that make sense?

It makes total sense. Focus on your strengths. Bring in experts to do the stuff you don’t know how to do.

A lot of people probably feel the same way. It’s not as if I’m coming up with anything that’s mind-blowing here. There’s a lot of opportunity in extensions of their brand and where it shows up, but they have to control the exposure financially. Inventory is expensive. Additionally, as a retailer and from my experience, I’m throwing out my opinions here, you want to train your customer to want to come back. Sell out goods. It’s okay. You come back with something else and get turns with your customers. Peloton has a gigantic community of very engaged consumers who love the brand. Develop a strategy and a cadence for how they release goods and manage goods. Have key items in line all the time. Come out with some stuff. Take some chances, sell out, learn, and get better. They will.

We’re headed in the right direction. It was a tough time because they used to sell out all the time, and then they got into this, “Let’s create these huge releases so people don’t get mad all the time.” Right at that time is when everything collapsed. It was poor timing, but their heart was in the right place. I believe that. I agree with you. The strategy needs to be there long-term.

I don’t know how they’re structured. I’m sure that they’re thinking about it. People are posting pictures where they see stuff at TJX or wherever. I’m not hung up on that. I’m okay with that. Rip the Band-Aid off. Let’s baseline our inventory, get a plan in place, and move forward. That’s the outsider’s understanding of how they’re doing their business. That’s how everybody should be doing it in many ways. It’s okay to sell out. It’s okay if it’s gone.

It creates excitement for the next thing. I’m sitting here watching Crystal do that stuff because I don’t do anything. People used to get so excited about the next apparel drop. Now it’s like, “It’s another one. There will be stuff there.” There is not a sense of urgency like there used to be. That’s for sure.

I agree, Tom. There’s subjectivity around designs, but we’re not even getting into that. There are ways that they can evolve designs. For example, I don’t necessarily always want a giant Peloton written across my chest. There are certain colors of things that should be basic, heritage, and in the line all the time. I don’t see that. I don’t see a plan that addresses different needs. There are people like the three of us and I’m sure many folks who will buy anything and are into it.

You got to think about different customers. There’s going to be primary. There’s going to be secondary. At least that’s how I always think about briefing products. It’s identifying who is the primary consumer, who is my secondary consumer, and what are we trying to do with this. Some items are not going to be for everybody.

It makes sense to all have certain items that are just perennials. L.L. Bean will always have a barn coat.

I agree completely. I’ll mention one thing. Under Armour exploded on the scene. I saw Kevin Plank, their founder, speak at a seminar when they were very young in the business. They were doing well. They were doing 90% of their business with five skews, which were green, black, white, gray, and blue compression, short-sleeve tops. That’s it. They had a lot of other stuff, but they were focused on being this compression top business to start. I’m not suggesting you streamline your line to that extent, but find out what you’re good at and then build from it.

That’s good. I was going to change gears and go to products because I wanted to make sure we got to talk about the hoods that you came up with.

I mentioned that I used to do a lot of cycling. The other thing I didn’t mention is part of why I wanted to start riding on a stationary bike is I was crashing a lot on my road bike.

It’s so dangerous out there. It’s terrifying.

When you turn 50, the last thing you need to do is to fly over your handlebars again. In my experience riding a bike and then certainly my experience in product design and development in footwear, especially performance running, you have to acknowledge or recognize and address the subtleties of design. Millimeters make a big impact on people’s posture and how they run, how they feel, how their hips align, and so forth.

When I got my bike, I realized pretty quickly that my ride posture was less than ideal. Part of it was I was holding the handlebar, and my wrist was sort of ulnar deviation. It was shifted here. I was locking my elbows. I didn’t feel as if I had an efficient ride posture. If you watch the Tour de France, you’ll see the majority of the time, the riders’ hands are on the brake hood covers. The reason for that is it places your hands in a more comfortable position. It allows you to stay more relaxed in your upper body. It places less strain on your neck, shoulders, and lower back.

I’m like, “I’m going to steal the shape of break hood covers from bikes. I’m going to make clay versions of them and quick-dry epoxy. I’ll tape them to my Peloton and see what I like.” I found the shape that I like and patented them. They’re the simplest thing in the world. They snap onto the handlebars. They’re in the shape of a conventional road bike brake hood cover. They pop on. It gives your hands a place to rest and it mimics the experience that you would otherwise find on a conventional road bike. I launched Hizeman.com. It’s a little side gig for me. People buy them and they love them.

It makes sense. For many people, that’s the bike they’re used to riding. You get on there and you’re like, “Where do my hands go?” That’s the comfort you’re used to.

You can achieve that with the bullhorn handlebars that come with the bike. You can certainly achieve that. A lot of the instructors will suggest that you rest your hands in the corner where it bends, which makes sense. You can do that and stay relaxed. It’s another hand position. It helps with added comfort. It certainly reduces injuries.

I haven’t missed a week since I started riding. It improves ride posture. Mr. Wilpers will say that rightfully, and I’m you’ve heard him talk about ride posture. When you have a better ride posture position on your bike, it allows or contributes to greater sustained effort over time because you’re set up well. It’s no different than a running shoe. If you’re in the right shoe, you’re more comfortable.

Getting back to my point about something that works with your body, it’s the same thing and the same principle here. A lot of this starts with your hands. You got to set the bike up. We know that the bike fit, seat, lever, you know, and handlebars, all that has to be set up. This is another way to help improve the experience. It has been fun.

I know from a million years ago, when I was a kid riding my bike, sometimes, I feel more comfortable like this, and then I want to shift positions.

On a ride, you should always be moving your hands around. We don’t have drop bars. I don’t ride on the highest hoods the whole ride by any stretch. I’m constantly moving my hands around. That’s how cyclists think about things too. It’s another option to allow for greater comfort on the ride. Sometimes, I cringe when I see the way that people have the Charlie Brown shoulders. I think, “Oh my God.”

I’ve seen posts and I will send a message and say, “I’m going to send you these. Don’t ask. Just try them.” There are a lot of injuries on Peloton. People are either not getting their bikes set up properly or they’re not riding properly. It leads to injuries. That’s something that we always want to try to protect against. That’s the HIZE Hoods. Thank you for asking though.

You’re welcome. We didn’t ask what your leaderboard name was either.

It’s Hizeman.

I should have known. I sense a theme.

I was never a Heisman candidate as a football player. In fact, I never even got on the field much in college. The brand name is HIZE. The site is Hizeman.com. Hizeman is my name on the leaderboard. I’m on ride 999.

Do you have a preferred instructor?

I have a lot. I’ll tell you some of my favorites. For running, Jon Hosking cracks me up. I love that guy.

He has great music.

He is awesome. I have a daughter who rides the bike also. She lives out in Denver. We do classes together at times and get the biggest kick out of him. We love Cody. It’s hard to get me to laugh out loud, and Cody will do it.

I’ve seen it. Pronation was funny, and here we are.

I don’t know if this is the right term or not, but I’m going to try to use it. Everyone’s athletic, but I like the more performance athletic instructors like Wilpers. I love Denis. Alex is great. Those are my guys.

They’re more goal-oriented.

I love to ride live rides. I wish there were more. That’s a bit of a concern for me.

We were talking about this. I posted about it. It’s January 30th, 2023. When this is published, people going to be like, “This is old news.” It’s not old news. We’re recording it by the time you read this. On February 8th, 2023, things will start to change on the schedule. On Wednesday, February 8th, 2023, there’s a ride at 9:00 PM and one at 9:35 PM, both Eastern times. I say that because there’s rowing. There’s a lot more happening that week. We’re starting to see things shift. Tunde announced that she is going to be part of the strength team officially. There’s a lot happening in February 2023, hopefully. In that same week, they’re also back to 6:00 AM classes. That’s 6:00 AM Eastern time.

I’m not in the class, but I love live classes. I don’t know why. It feels different to me.

Everybody is riding together at the same time. It’s a good feeling.

I’ve been fortunate to have been in the studio 3 or 4 times over the years, which has been cool. I’m hopeful on my next trip down to New York to plan ahead, get lucky and have a chance to ride in there. That’s always a cool experience to be around all those people. It’s fun.

Do you have any advice for people who are just getting a bike or a tread?

My advice to newbies is to check your ego at the door. What I love about Peloton is its inclusive nature. You’re not running a gauntlet where you have to walk into a CrossFit class, a gym, or even a spin studio. You can do your thing. You can be a part of this. You can feel great. Everyone is incredibly inclusive. It’s checking your ego.

Peloton is not a cult; it's a tribe. Share on X

Ease into it. There’s no reason to get worked up about how hard you’re riding. I used to and I don’t anymore. It’s enjoyable. We’re at different places in our fitness level. It’s all about how you feel. Most importantly, what does Christine say? It’s most important that you’re on the leaderboard, not at the top of it. I believe that. Try a lot of different classes. There are going to be instructors you don’t dig too much and there are going to be others you love. They’re out there. That’s why you have so many of them to choose from. That’s the beauty of it.

I agree with that.

Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to join us. Before we let you go, remind everybody where they can find you and all the things.

Hizeman.com is where the HIZE Hoods are found. Our Instagram is @HIZEHoods. Check us out. We’d love to see you out. There are not a lot of us out there on HIZE Riders, but there are a few that have joined us. Don’t forget about New Balance. Check out New Balance products too. This has been fun. I’ve watched you for some time whenever I can. It’s always entertaining. Tom, you kept me on my toes. I appreciate that.

It’s what I’m here for.

You’ve got great shoes for those toes to be in, so it’s okay.

Thank you, guys. This was so much fun.

Thank you.

—

It’s back to us. You can tell because it will not be Crystal talking anymore.

I’m back.

I guess that brings this episode to a close. Thank you so much, Gina, for finally doing the show. You weren’t the guest but you were a guest host, which I guess you were holding out for the real position.

I wanted the marquee banner with my name on it, even though that’s not happening. I hate the circumstances that brought me here.

We’re going to need to know your whereabouts on February 5th at 3:00 PM Central. This is an elaborate ploy for you to get on this show.

As I said, I hate the circumstances that brought me here, but this has been a very fun experience. Thank you for having me. I feel honored to have been asked to fill in for Crystal.

Thank you for doing it on such short notice. Would you like to be found? Would you like to share your leaderboard name or your socials if you care?

My leaderboard name is GeneMachine. I’m on Instagram @GiMitch. It’s mostly pictures of my kids, but they’re cute so why not.

Once again, thank you so much for doing this. We appreciate it. Don’t forget, you can find us on Facebook at Facebook.com/TheClipOut. You can watch us on YouTube if you want to look at Crystal’s bloody pictures. You can find those at YouTube.com/TheClipOut. That’s it for this one. Thanks for tuning in. Until next time, keep pedaling, and running, and rowing.

 

Important Links

• New Balance
• Hizeman.com
• @HIZEHoods – Instagram
• Apple Podcasts – The Clip Out
• Spotify – The Clip Out
• Google Podcasts – The Clip Out
• Patreon.com/TheClipOut
• Patreon – The Clip Out
• Facebook.com/TheClipOut
• YouTube.com/TheClipOut
• Stock Has More Upside Despite Struggling Equipment Business – article
• Where Will Peloton Stock Be in 1 Year? – article
• Dr. Jenn Mann
• The Relationship Fix: Dr. Jenn’s 6-Step Guide to Improving Communication, Connection and Intimacy
• @DrJennMann – Instagram
• Strong Baby
• Should You Wash Chicken? Peloton Instructor Cody Rigsby Sparks Fiery Debate – article
• episode 608 – Ali on the Run podcast
• @GiMitch – Instagram

 

About Craig Heisner

When I was a kid I was obsessed with sports and gear, constantly visiting local sporting goods stores to see the latest and greatest in footwear, apparel, and equipment. I even “designed” my own line of products in elementary school.

My passion for sports ultimately led to a career in athletic footwear and apparel where I led the Running businesses for brands like New Balance, Reebok, Brooks Sports, Li Ning, Newton and others as an independent consultant on brand strategy and product design and development. The jobs provided me amazing opportunities to constantly push the boundaries of product design, manufacturing, innovation and unique story-telling, all grounded in biomechanics.

I’ve collaborated on technical design with some of the foremost authorities in biomechanics including Macarthur award winner Dr. Jim Collins of MIT, Dr. Casey Kerrigan (Harvard MD and Chairman of footwear brand OESH) and Jay Dicharry PhD, who runs one of the the nation’s leading speed labs and is an expert on Bike Fit and biomechanics. All of these experiences provided a deeper appreciation for proper biomechanics and an overall understanding of movement in sports.

 

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