• What happened to referral codes?
• Peloton has been nominated for two Webby Awards.
• Peloton was out in force at the Berlin Half Marathon.
• PSL is having a shake-out run on April 16.
• he Bike+ trademark suit is back.
• Jenn – What’s the difference between “vegan” and “plant-based?”
• Christian Vande Velde is back!
• Rebecca Kennedy set her wedding date.
• Alex Karwoski missed making the Olympic Rowing Team.
• Oliva Amato’s dog tore her ACL.
• The latest artist series features Aerosmith.
• J. Albertson had tips for Strava.
• Elin Hilderbrand’s The Five-Star Weekend heading to Peacock.
• American Home Fitness files for bankruptcy.
• TCO Top 5.
• This Week At Peloton.
• New apparel drop.

 

All this plus our interview with Stephania Lewis!

—

Watch the episode here

 

Listen to the podcast here

 

Where Did Referral Codes Go? Plus Our Interview With Stephania Lewis!

Let’s do our first Bingo call-out.

Your first Bingo call-out is Charlotte Weidenbach.

What pray tell do you have in store for this episode?

First of all, we have our interview with Stephania Lewis. We also are going to be talking about what is going on with these Peloton referral codes or lack thereof. Peloton has been nominated for two Webby Awards. We’re going to talk about a recap for the Berlin half and what’s going on at PSL. Dr. Jenn stopped by and we talked about the difference between vegan and plant-based. We also have several instructor updates. Lots of big stuff is going on in the latest artist series. We have a couple of different past guest updates, competitor news, and more.

Before we get to all that, shameless plugs. Don’t forget, we’re available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, TuneIn. Wherever you find a podcast, you can find us. While you’re there, be sure and follow us so you never miss an episode. Maybe leave us a review. That’s super helpful. You can also find us on Facebook at Facebook.com/TheClipOut, like the page, join the group the group. You can also watch these episodes on YouTube at YouTube.com/TheClipOut.

We have a Patreon, Patreon.com/TheClipOut, where for $5 a month, you get all sorts of bonus content like ad-free episodes. You get a bonus episode weekly, which is 20 to 25 minutes every week of stuff we didn’t have time to put into this episode. Sometimes we tell little interesting stories about Peloton days gone by or weird stories of things that happen to us. A lot of times, we’ll share them over there. Also, the $5 covers a lot of the costs like the microphones, the computers, the web hosting, and all that stuff.

Surprisingly, we’ve been doing this for going on eight years in May.

We started in 2017.

It’s been so long. I can’t even do the math anymore. The point is things had to be replaced a few times.

If you got it, that’s great. If not, listening is great too.

You can always share articles or share the episodes. All of that is super helpful.

Very much so and we greatly appreciate it. There’s all that. Let’s dig in. Shall we?

We shall.

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Where did you go, referral codes?

A couple of people reached out to me saying, “Are you seeing that there are no referral codes?” I’m not because mine was taken a long time ago.

They seized yours years ago.

I started asking around and apparently like, it’s gone. Now all you see is you can give a guest pass to somebody for 60 days. That’s it. There is no more referral code. The question then is is this like a pause while they are doing their little Guide giveaway when you buy equipment or not? Here’s the interesting thing. I reached out to Peloton and asked the question of whether this is temporary. No response. Crickets. Not even like, “We’ll get back to you.” They never responded.

It showed up in the mail this morning. They sent her a box of crickets.

That is interesting that Peloton didn’t respond. I sent an email, no response. We’re not sure quite how to take that.

I have a theory. I don’t think this ties into the Guide thing at all. I think what this ties into is the free tier going away. Because they’re pushing you to the guest pass, you can’t come in and get a free trial period of any real substance, but if you know somebody, you can get a guest pass for 60 days.

Why don’t you still get money for referring to buy a bike?

Because they don’t want to give you money.

I don’t like that.

You aren’t getting anywhere. You did too many and they seized it. I think they’re trying to make it where what members have access to is you can give people two months of free Peloton trial instead of people who go to the website and get seven days. That’s what I think.

You could be right, but I thought it was very interesting regardless of whether or not you’re right or it’s about the Guide. I think it’s interesting that they did it. The weird thing is I’m not seeing it everywhere. I would think that I would be hearing more about this. It’s just a couple of people who asked.

First off, people aren’t probably pounding through referrals the way they were 5 or 6 years ago. I’m sure if you have a referral code, it still works. If you have referral credits, it’s still going to function. Probably people are slowly like, “I have a friend that wants to hang on, let me give a referral,” or they’re giving them the referral code. They go to the website to make the purchase. There’s no place to enter the referral code and they’re like, “Whatever,” and they move on.

That’s the weird thing. You cannot find your referral code. That’s what I’m saying. There is no referral code. That’s why I think that because, in the past, you had both. You had 60 days that you could give a guest pass and you had your referral code. Referral codes are gone, but the other weird thing is when you buy a bike or something, the box is still there. You could still put a code in there. If they were going to turn it off temporarily. Wouldn’t that be easier than taking everyone’s referral codes away? That’s what I think.

You also just can’t stack. If it’s about the Guide, it’s like you can get the free Guide or you can use the referral code.

They have done that before.

I’ve had lots of websites do that to me like, “You can’t stack these coupons. You can’t get your American Advantage Miles and use your Capital One promo code.”

Having said that, maybe everybody I’ve checked with no longer has one. Maybe it’s not across the board. It’s also weird that Peloton never responded. I’m curious. Let us know, people. If you have your referral codes and this all sounds like fake news, let us know. I’m very curious. Let’s do a poll.

Peloton was nominated for not one but two Webby Awards.

When I first saw this, I instantly thought it was a Susie Chan documentary because it was the first one that was like, “Peloton Studios presents.” I was like, “Here we go with the awards.”

 

What was it?

It was the Shaunta Mae video. She had had a disability and she kept pushing, because when she first started, she could barely move the pedals. As she kept working, she kept getting stronger and stronger, and moving on the treadmill. She was able to move past that. That was what they won the Webby for. I was a lot happier about that. You know I love my Susie Chan. That is not about Susie. I thought it was obvious. When I heard that, I was like, “Did they only do this because they were trying to get a Webby?” It felt very scripted.

It felt like, “We’re doing this for a very specific reason,” but the Shaunta Mae thing was an amazing and inspiring story that they shared, and I’m happier about that. Not that they care. The other one was interesting. I didn’t even know you could win a Webby Award for something like this, but the little thing with TikTok fitness. They got a Webby nomination for that. Peloton needs your help. If you want to see them win, you have to go vote for them. If that’s important to you, go do that.

It’s very important to me that Peloton wins a Webby.

If it was 2018, I would have been voting every day. I would have been all over it. I just don’t care. I’m a little worn out.

We do talk about it day in and day out.

I get that.

Peloton was out in force at the Berlin half marathon.

This is another one that they have partnered with. We talked about this a little bit last episode as they were gearing up for it. Several instructors were there. In this reel, they did a recap of it. It looked like people were having a lot of fun. They had a booth like they had at the New York Road Runners. The instructors had shake-out classes, stretch classes, and all kinds of things. They also had several other I assume famous German runners that were part of it. They were also featured and helped teach the classes and things like that. It looked like people had a lot of fun.

While we’re speaking of shake-out runs, PSL is having a shake-out run on April 16th.

If you live in the area or visiting the area, you can sign up and join, but they start it right there at the studio location and then they do a little 3.2-mile loop. They do a little loop and then they come back. The instructors have been showing up to these and it’s been heavily attended by the community. It looks like people have been having a lot of fun with these. That’s good.

Talking back-to-back about the Berlin half marathon and then the shake-out run in London, I feel like they’re getting a lot more aggressive about doing grassroots-level engagement activities in the international markets.

You are right and that makes sense. At least to me, it feels like they’re doing more with the running community in Europe than they’re doing here. Not that Peloton doesn’t do stuff with the running community, but it’s not like there’s a 5K happening every month at the Peloton New York Studio. This has been happening for a few months at the London Studio. I don’t know why they are focusing more on the running classes in Europe than they are on the bike. I find that interesting because the bike gets hit hard here.

It is interesting. I think overall, there’s been I won’t say shift, but the amount of running focus is leveling up. I feel like they think their growth potential is in treadmills.

It should be. There are only so many bikes you can sell. That makes sense to me. I know that this is probably not going to be a super popular opinion, but I think there are a lot of bike instructors who have had a lot of attention for a long time. It’s probably not a bad idea to spread that around. It seems like the tread would be an obvious focus, as is strength, and as is rowing. It makes sense that you would probably do tread first since tread was around before anything else. It was the bike, then tread, then strength, and then row.

You have a more expensive piece of equipment to sell them from tread versus strength. It’s not like you’re going to sell them a couple of barbells or dumbbells. It’s a $4,000 to $6,000 piece of equipment.

That’s a very good point.

Remember that Bike+ trademark lawsuit that went away? It unwent away. It’s like The Walking Dead but for lawsuits.

It reminded me of zombie debt or zombie court cases. To reset for people who may not know this whole story, since you guys don’t necessarily all follow it as carefully as we do and you don’t need to, the Bike+ had been challenged as a trademark by World Champ LLC. They said, “We came up with Bike+ first. Every time Peloton uses that, they should give us a nickel.” More than that I’m sure. Peloton of course had an argument against that and then the court ultimately ruled that they don’t get to do that because it’s been years since they marketed this.

They were like, “Your usage is weak.” They used the Bike+ like 5 or 6 years ago in something or other, and then the company is practically defunct and hasn’t used it in years. They’re like, “You’re damaging our ability to use this.” They were like, “No. That’s dumb. Go away,” and then they said, “We don’t want to go away.” They said it in Latin or something because they are lawyers. It’s funny because it’s not happening to us. When the judge is like, “I’m ruling from the bench and I’m saying this in fancy terms, but that’s a shitty argument and your dumb for having said it. Good to you, sir.” Their appeal is like, “Uh-uh,” or in Latin, “I’m rubber, you’re glue.” What would make you think that would work?

The first time it went through was in the US District Court

Is this company running for president? Is that what’s going on? Do they just want to delay this judgment until after the election?

The first time this was discussed was in the US District Court for the Northern District of Columbia. Now it is going through the California Federal Court. That’s where they have placed their appeal. We shall see.

This is a legal precedent from the case of “Mom said no” versus “I’ll go ask Dad.”

I think it’s pretty standard. This is what they do.

It’s like, “Sure, let’s try over here. What about you? It’s like the tender equivalent of getting turned down and being like, “Is your sister seeing anybody?”

We will we’ll keep an eye on it and see what happens.

Coming up after this, we are going to talk to Dr. Jenn. She’s going to explain because I asked what’s the difference between vegan and plant-based and she was like, “Do another segment.” It’s coming up after this.

‐‐‐

Joining us once again is Dr. Jenn Mann, a 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’s 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.

This is something I asked off the air after last week’s question, and I had accidentally asked a good question. It’s rare for someone to say, “We should record this.” Normally, it’s like, “Can we take out the thing he said that was weird? Can we make that go away?” There’s a lot of that. We had a question about plant-based diets and I asked the question, is plant-based the same as vegan? Is it a new fancy way to say vegan or does it mean something slightly different? Is it like you’re progressing towards that but you occasionally have fish, and no one is going to show up at your door and arrest you?

It is a great question. I’m going to answer all of that and more. As you mentioned before, I am certified in plant-based nutrition, in addition to being a licensed therapist. I’ve been a vegan for 14 years and a vegetarian since I was 10 years old. It’s more decades that I’m doing it. Typically, when we talk vegan versus plant-based, usually what we’re talking about is what’s called whole foods plant-based.

The difference between vegan and whole foods plant-based is that vegan not eating meat. You’re not eating anything that comes from an animal with a heartbeat. You’re not eating dairy. You’re not having milk. You’re not having eggs. You’re not having all these other things. Typically, also being a vegan extends to other things oftentimes, but not always. For example, I don’t wear leather shoes. I don’t wear leather coats. I don’t buy wool. I don’t buy anything that comes from an animal or, obviously with fur, where an animal was harmed to make that thing.

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Also, a lot of vegans won’t go to any entertainment that involves an animal like rodeos, circuses, zoos, that kind of stuff. I don’t do that because the belief behind someone who’s truly vegan is that animals are not for entertainment or consumption. You can be vegan and not make those choices about wearing animals or animals for entertainment. A lot of the time, once you start down that path, you look at animals very differently. It oftentimes occurs, but not for everyone.

Being Whole Foods plant-based means that you are getting the bulk of your nutrition, if not all of it, from holistic foods. You’re not eating any processed food. You have a lot of fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, legumes, and all that stuff. When I say not processed foods, there’s also the oil-free group of vegans, especially those who follow Dean Ornish. He believes in 10% fat. Usually, those are people who are focused on reducing heart disease and may have heart disease in their family or their history.

When we’re talking about whole foods plant-based, that group of people tends to consume minimally processed food. They eat very nutritious and high-density foods when it comes to nutrition, a lot of fruits and vegetables, and foods of their natural sorts. They’re not necessarily raw. Raw is a whole other situation.

There are a lot of raw vegans who believe that you don’t heat your food past a certain point. I forget what the degrees are. It’s like 118 or something. I don’t remember what the number is. The belief is that foods have the most nutrition when they are not cooked. Understand that when you say to someone, “You are vegan,” it doesn’t mean that they’re necessarily whole foods plant-based, raw, or anything else in between. There are a lot of different sub-camps within the vegan community.

Great answer, very detailed.

That’s a lot to unpack.

You have your pescetarians and vegetarians, which is different. There’s another one that’s different.

Methodist. No?

I was born a meat eater. I saw a documentary when I was 10 years old that showed slaughterhouses. After I saw that, I went into the kitchen. My mom was like, “Do you want a hamburger?” I was like, “I don’t think I can eat that after what I saw.” She’s like, “Hot dog?” I was like, “I don’t think so. I don’t want to eat meat anymore.” Fortunately for me, my mom was supportive and she was like, “Okay,” but she was worried about me not getting enough protein. She said, “Why don’t you eat fish?” She said fish have a low nervous system and they don’t know they’re being killed. I was like, “Okay.”

I was 10. I didn’t do a lot of research. There was no internet then so I went with it. I was a pescetarian for many decades and then I started to at some point do a little research and realized actually, fish know they’re being killed. It is not a positive experience for them. I decided to cut that out as well. I saw Kathy Freston on TV years later talking about the suffering on your plate and what it means to eat different foods, and even everything from the workers who were involved in the slaughtered houses or the fields or exposed to pesticides to the animals that are being tortured and killed, or in factory farms or heart.

It got me thinking. She talked about how when you look at the dairy industry, milk is what vegans call liquid meat. The dairy cow is in these horrible conditions. She’s in a cage where she can’t move. She’s impregnated to keep her producing milk, then she has a baby. If it’s a girl baby, she gets put in a pen and then she’s treated the way the mom was and trapped in a cage for her whole life. If it’s a boy, he is separated from his mom, put in a cage so he can’t move, and then slaughtered after he’s a couple of months old. Having built contributes to that system, not to mention that a lot of studies show that milk is highly correlated to osteoporosis, believe it or not, and cancer.

When I learned about that and then when I saw the factory farms where chickens are laying eggs and understood that when they say that something is cage-free, it means that they open up the cage for an undetermined amount of time. I was like, ”I don’t want to contribute to that pain and suffering.” For me, it was the right choice to stop doing that. When I first became vegan, I said, “I’m going to try this.” As you know, I don’t believe in deprivation. I was like, “How do I find that balance of I don’t want to be deprived and I also don’t want to hurt animals.”

I started off by saying, “If I feel like this is not working for me, I’m going to, maybe once a week or when I feel like it, have a piece of regular cheesecake or something else.” I then read a book called The Ethics of Eating. In the book, they talked about if you believe that robbing a bank is wrong, you don’t say to yourself, “Every Thursday, I’ll let myself rob a bank because I feel like robbing a bank.” When I read that, it resonated with me. After I read that, I was like, “I don’t think I can do that.”

The great news is that there are so many incredible substitutes. There is nothing that I miss. Years ago, I had dinner with a friend of mine and he was like, “I know the best cheesecake,” and he sent me a cheesecake from a place called Vegan Treats on the East Coast. It was a brownie cheesecake. That was one of the greatest cheesecakes I’ve ever eaten in my life. The point is you can find substitutes so much that you don’t have to feel deprived.

Thank you so much for all that additional information. We greatly appreciate it. Until next time, where can people find you?

On all social media @DrJennMann.

Thank you.

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Christian Vande Velde is back on the schedule.

This has been a long time coming. I thought it was funny. The funniest thing I saw was when Jen Cotter posted about it. She said you can stop with the emails, he’s back. I was like, “They’re going to ask about something else.”

I was like dear God don’t tell them that or they’re going to start emailing you about Daniel McKenna again.

Christian Vande Velde is back. In Matt’s 90-minute Powers Zone class, he had Christian in the class as part of the endurance ride. He interviewed him while they rode. That was pretty cool. People were very excited about that, and then he was back on the schedule the next day. I think he was going to be on for Thursday. We’ll get to it later in the TCO Top Five, but let’s say both of those rides were very popular.

Rebecca Kennedy has set her wedding date.

We are looking at a September wedding for Andy and RK.

That’s when my parents got married, in September. They got married on my birthday. I wasn’t born yet, but it ended up being my birthday.

Congratulations, Rebecca and Andy, on setting your wedding date. The wedding planning shall begin.

Alex Karwoski did not make the Olympic rowing team.

He did not, but he put forth a good effort and he went out for it two different times. They had two different kinds of qualifying events. I had more than.

I think he was rowing on the right side versus rowing on the left side, so you do them twice. I know a lot about this.

Okay, Valerie Bertinelli, audience member.

Oh my God. This story is hysterical, but we’re not going to bog you down with it here. We’re going to tell it on the Patreon. We went to see Valerie Bertinelli. We got to meet her briefly because she was in St. Louis promoting her new cookbook called Indulge. It’s a book a cookbook entirely of MetPro unapproved recipes. There was an epic mansplaining incident. It was jaw-dropping.

It made me speechless.

As a man, I was nervous. There were only three of us there, but I was like, “There’s going to be an estrogen uprising and they’re going to lynch the men in this room.” I’m not even going to blame them. While they’re beating me to death with their purses, I’m going to be like, “I am innocent, but I get it.” We will tell that story on Patreon.

Alex Karwoski was going for the Olympic team. There were at least two different events that he tried to qualify for. You had to win a certain round to make it to the next round. I don’t have Nikki here explaining so we’re going to have to go with my terrible explanations. He didn’t make it but we’re all hopeful that maybe next time. I love it when these instructors try things like this because they’re always telling us to go after our dreams and try for big things and they’re doing it. They’re putting their money where their mouth is. What’s cooler than that?

 

It’s also nice to see that not everybody gets it and you have that’s okay. I’m sure it sucks for him. He’s like, “I’m glad you feel good about it, but I don’t.” I think it’s nice, or when you see an instructor that’s like, “It doesn’t make sense for me to do this marathon right now,” and that’s okay. Even though I’m sure it’s heartbreaking for him, in the big picture, it’s good to see that they’re not superheroes. They’re going to win some, they’re going to lose some because that’s what life is. Same as it is for everybody.

We’re sorry that Alex didn’t make it, but we’re proud of him for trying and for inspiring all of us.

He’s very far in the process. To even get to that point, you are a next-level rower. Olivia Amato’s dog tore her ACL. I didn’t know dogs had ACLS.

I didn’t either, but it’s her dog Rue because Olivia has two. Rue has to have surgery. Rue is home resting with Olivia. Olivia is feeling much better now that Rue has had her surgery and doing better. It was a very scary 24 hours.

That’s good and her dog that did have to drop out of the New York City half marathon.

For real, Jon Hosking did and we will talk about that over in the bonus episode. I don’t think that’s on this list.

Coming up after this, we’re going to talk about the latest artist series. It features someone I’ve heard of and seen in concert multiple times, so stick around.

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The latest artist series features Aerosmith.

I wrote this article, which I very rarely do. Nikki is very busy and I had to write this article. I love Aerosmith. I gave a little history in there about Steven Tyler’s larynx injury and that they had canceled last year’s farewell tour that we had tickets for. I thought since they were kicking off this artist series, that meant they were about to announce the new concert for this year and they did.

Our date got rescheduled. We did not refund our tickets. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Aerosmith

It has for me too. I think it was back in the early 2000s last time I saw them. I saw them three times in a row when they came here. I was like, “I got it.”

I saw them once in the ‘80s. I saw them on the Permanent Vacation tour with Dawkin. They came back nine months later. My buddy was like, “Do you want to go see them again?” I was like, “I just saw them.” I don’t even know who the opening act is, and it was Guns N’ Roses. I wouldn’t have known any of the songs yet. It’s monotonous to listen to a band you don’t know any songs yet.

I saw them on the Eat the Rich. That’s when I saw them for the first time in ‘96. I don’t know what they named the tour. That was the name of the album.

There’s a funny story. The first time I saw Aerosmith, I was hanging out with a buddy of mine, Steve Brown. I would have been 16 and he was older than me. He was like 21. We would go see all the rock concerts together. I was like, “Aerosmith is here.” He was like, “You don’t want to see Aerosmith. They are awful.” I was like, “Really?” He’s like, “They’re awful. They’re horrible.” They had been. They were all drunk or high. They didn’t sound worth a shit and they were awful.

That would be the early ‘80s.

Permanent Vacation put them back on the map. I was like, “I’ve never seen them.” He was like, “If you’re going, I’ll go.” Back then, concert tickets were like $12. We went and I was like, “What sort of bar have you set for this band? They’re amazing.” He was like, “That is not what they sound like when I saw them two years ago.” I was like, “Jesus Christ, man. Do you expect bands to bring the heat? They sound unreal.” Anyway, there’s an Aerosmith artist series.

I’m excited about it. They have so many hits, like 50 years-plus of hits that you can draw from. I hope we get a Little Dream On. I wonder if they’ll play Crazy. That’s always been my favorite. Many good ones; Jamie’s Got a Gun.

‐‐‐

CJ Albertson was featured very prominently on the Strava website.

They did a whole article about him. They talked about unique coaching tips and he’s got some unique ones. The way he trains is very unique. Remember how he told us how he had the heat lamps? He goes through a lot of intense training. He’s got some good advice for people, but also he’s an amazing runner. We’re big fans over here.

Also, past guest Elin Hildebrand, Queen of the Bee Tree as it says on her business card. Her book The Five-Star Weekend is heading to Peacock.

They’ve been working on this for a while, but she announced that they had a development team. It is happening. That is so exciting.

Congrats to her.

I remember when we interviewed her, we talked about whether there would be a day. She made it sound like she was already working on stuff.

This one takes a while.

It could have been this.

My guess is it was, especially because that was right when you were seeing lots of success with things like Big Little Lies and Pretty Little Fires everywhere. You had a lot of those female-driven cast and creative team books being turned into very successful TV miniseries.

I’m looking forward to it. Congrats to Elin.

‑‑‑

American Home Fitness has filed for bankruptcy.

Who are they? They sell a bunch of different brands like Echelon, Inspire, Precore, Power Plate, Stair Master, Octane, and Hyperice. They have brick-and-mortar retail locations. They also have online sales. On April 2nd, they entered into US bankruptcy court. They estimated their assets at the time between $1 million and $10 million and that their liabilities were between $100,000 to $500,000. What’s up with the estimates? I would think that you would have to be a little more exact.

That’s why they’re going bankrupt. They don’t even know how to do math. They’re like, “I got it over here somewhere. Nope. That’s the newspaper.”

They’ve been around for quite a while. They said that before COVID, they had very strong years. During COVID, it was very strong, and then post-COVID, it’s not been strong. They said foot traffic is down significantly in their stores and they still have leases to pay on. Why do we tell you about this? We tell you about this because of two things. One, I have said for a while that I feel like the fitness industry is going to contract. You’re going to see mergers. You’re going to see acquisitions. You’re going to see bankruptcy, and here we are. That continues to happen.

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It’s special worth noting that people are not happy with Peloton’s stock price, which I get, but none of them are killing it. I think out of all of them, Peloton is the one that has their head above water the most. I don’t think that gets enough credit.

There are a lot of people, especially those who were all over a Peloton back in its glory moment, who are against it now. It’s frustrating to watch. I know that they think that because I love and support Peloton, I am the one who’s not looking at it clearly. I think they’re a bunch of haters and they’re not looking at the big picture. They want Peloton to fail because they don’t like Peloton anymore. Therefore, they want it to go away.

One case in point, and we’re going to talk about this more in the Patreon for this episode. There was an article written about Peloton not paying all their bills on time. All I’m going to say here is that when you look at the data, it isn’t that accurate. There have been bills not being paid on time as all companies have, but it’s not nearly as bad as they say it is, especially with the way Peloton packages their days paid. I think that people are very quick to look at a headline and make assumptions. I don’t think it’s as bad as people think it is. There you go.

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Let’s do our next Bingo call-out.

Bingo number two is Kendall Toole.

It is time for the TCO Top Five, where you tell us your favorite classes of the week and then we say them back to you. These are not in order, just to be clear. Number one, favorite Peloton Power Zone ride.

No surprise here. It was the 90-minute Power Zone endurance ride with Matt Wilpers. Christian Vande Velde was back, as I said earlier, and people were super excited about it. Kathy said, “Christian Vande Velde was in the studio and Matt interviewed him. It was great to see Christian again and the interview section was fun.” This is according to our writer, Tina said that it was a toss up between this and Christian’s 45-minute debut for their favorite ride.

Number two is your favorite Peloton ride.

This was on April 5th. It was a house ride with Jess King. Sue Fleischmann said that this was especially exciting for her because she took it in the studio. We are jealous. She got to be there and it was the best of the Jess King experience, which she loved. She certainly danced her way through the class.

I have not dated any Sue’s but I have dated seven Fleischmanns. They were all related. It made family reunions very awkward. Number three, your favorite Peloton run.

The Cardi B run with Marcel Dinkins from March 28th came up over and over again. Diana Volk said, “The Cardi B run was amazing. The song choices were perfect. It was fully uncensored and with walking breaks, you could push on the run portion, 11 out of 10. First run, I want to do it again.”

If a Cardi B run or ride was censored, it would sound like a test of the emergency broadcast system. It’s like, “I think Peloton is sending me a message in Morse code.”

That’s why we have uncensored rides and runs.

Number four, your favorite Peloton strength class.

This was a 45-minute full-body class with Rebecca Kennedy from February 9th. Kim Harden Battle said that Rebecca put this into her unofficial split and it’s a good one. This was the four-day unofficial split. That is an awesome workout.

Kim Hardin Battle. I have not dated a Kim and I have not dated a Harden, but my first marriage was quite a battle. I don’t know if that counts. Number five, your favorite unstackable.

As I said earlier, it was a toss-up, but Christian Vande Velde’s return to Peloton wins the unstackable. Courtney Castle Brickenhoff said, “This ride gets a rare unstackable for me. I don’t usually do Power Zone but even not following his advice to follow his metrics, I was hot and sweaty. He was at 60-plus resistance and 90 cadence for four minutes. That is how some people get those high outputs. Another listener, Catherine Doelger was appreciative that the class was at a very nice 9 a.m. Pacific Time. Jodi Holman Palamides gave it a chef’s kiss. It was perfect.

Let’s take a quick look at this week at Peloton. We have a stepping out in tune with Jon Hosking at the club. First off, I would like to say hats off to Peloton for resisting the urge to say, “At the club.”

It’s fair. the entire series is called At The Club.

They still resisted the urge and I am grateful.

This is a 30-minute long run and walk class that’s going to be taking place on April 11th.

Springtime serenity with Ross’s spring meditation.

He’s going to be unveiling a spring meditation on the 13th. As Peloton says, “It’s going to provide a pocket of Tranquility in your hectic schedule. It’s a gentle 10-minute session harmonizing the breath work and fresh themes of rejuvenation and bloom.”

Jenn Sherman’s My Mixtape.

We haven’t done these for a while. They are back and she is going to be doing a ride on the 14th at 10 AM Eastern and it’s going to be mixed tape decades

Finally enhanced, running experience with focus flow for runners.

Because we’re in the middle of marathon season, this is the perfect time for these focus flows. There’s a 15-minute with Mariana and a 10-minute with Denis. They’re going to be tailor-designed specifically to a company you run. Whether it’s post-run recovery or pre-run focus, they are going to be perfect for you.

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We’ve got a new apparel drop.

I thought this was worth mentioning because it’s another Lululemon collaboration, but exclusive colors this time. You can’t get them anywhere else. Lululemon is not selling them. They might be selling them at Lululemon, but not anywhere else. Lululemon partners with other companies and you will only be able to get it from Peloton and Lululemon. Very bright yellow and a very beautiful purple.

Coming up after this, we’re going to talk to Stephania Lewis, so sit tight.

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Joining us in this episode is Stephania Lewis.

 

Thanks for having me.

We’re so happy to have you. You are our first guinea pig on our new recording platform. Thank you so much for bearing with us.

Thank you very much.

Start Of Stephania’s Peloton Journey

That was interesting. I love to start with a little bit of background. When exactly did you decide Peloton was what you were going to try? Where were you in life? How did this happen?

It was the end of 2019 and early 2020. I never worked out ever, leading up to this but I always struggled with a lot of anxiety. At that point in life, I had switched jobs and moved to another state. With the pandemic, I ended up not working out so I came back. I was in a place where so many things were happening. I lost a lot of weight to the point where it was unhealthy. I felt weak and my clothes weren’t fitting me right. People were asking me, “Are you eating?” I was like, “I need to make some change.”

I never did well at gyms. The reason I never did the gym thing is I didn’t like going to gyms. I felt weird working out in front of other people. I was insecure. Also, slight germophobia, even though things get wiped out. It’s so silly but it was the actual process of getting up and going to a gym. I was lazy. I finally reached that point where I was stressed out and physically weak. I was not in a good place.

I saw the commercial when it was a whole thing, the controversial commercial, which was how it caught my attention. I was like, “This could be an interesting solution to my problem where I had something at home that I could do by myself but still have an instructor to Guide me.” I don’t know what I’m doing. Even if I look ridiculous and dumb as I do it, I’m in my home. I brought it up to my husband. I’m like, “I’m thinking that this would be maybe worth trying. Maybe I could finally start getting into shape.” He was like, “This is going to be the biggest waste of money.”

Was that him being doubtful of your ability to achieve that or him being like, “I’m not going to say a word and sound like I’m being like, ‘Yes, you need to start working out?’”

He was more like, “I think it’s great that you want to start working out.” He had been encouraging me because he works out. He doesn’t Peloton but he rides outdoors and does other forms of exercise. He wanted me to join him in that. He was like, “I’m glad that you want to,” but in his mind, he’s thinking, “Yeah, right. We’re going to throw towels on it or something. It’s not going to work.” He didn’t fight me on it. He was like, “Let’s try it.” I had to wait three weeks or something.

I got the app at the beginning of March 2020. I started with the walks, some of the core workouts, and things like that on the app. I’m like, “This is cool. I like it.” The bike came. My husband does the outdoor riding so he could show me like, “Here’s how you clip in.” He has a road bike so he knows how to clip in and out and all these things. He taught me how to clip in and out of the bike. I did my first ride. I was like, “This feels good.”

I was so determined not to be physically weak anymore. I had more protein and started doing the Peloton thing. I loved it. I started posting about it on my personal Instagram and then realized, “I’m going to turn into one of those people who posts all this stuff about working out.” Half of my friends are like, “I don’t care.” I started a fitness account and met other people who were also on the platform. That’s when I started connecting with people and the high fives, which makes it that much more fun. I have not missed a blue dot since.

Is it every day? Wow.

Some of those are doing a meditation.

I was worried. I was like, “If you haven’t had a rest day in four years, I’m concerned.”

No. I have taken breaks from the actual bike and working out but I would always get my blue dot with the meditation or a stretch. When I was working, I’d have the five-minute yoga anywhere where I could do it real quick and move around a little. The app had so many things so I started getting more and more into it and trying different classes. Here I am addicted to Peloton years later.

Putting On Weight In A Healthy Way

We have heard so many stories over the years where people are motivated by weight loss. I find it fascinating that you were more motivated by weight gain or muscle gain. You recognized that you needed to build your strength. Was there a specific moment that you realized, “This is something I need to address?”

Yeah. I remember getting on the scale. I was constantly tired and feeling run down. I got on the scale and I was 94 pounds, which is scary. It wasn’t like I wasn’t eating or anything like that purposely but it was because of my anxiety. I didn’t have much of an appetite. I would have to force things down. It was unhealthy. I lost so much weight and I’m like, “This is not okay.”

It’s funny because people usually think, “You work out to lose weight.” First of all, it helped alleviate the stress and anxiety that I was feeling during that time and helped open up my appetite that way too, as well as working out. I felt better physically. I was able to eat more and I was eating healthy. I’m 117 pounds. I feel so much better. For me, it was about putting on that weight in a healthy way. I remember seeing that number and being like, “No. It’s not okay.”

That’s great that you recognize that and were able to address it, especially if anxiety is an issue. Luckily, the pandemic was famous for soothing anxiety. You had that going for you.

I couldn’t blame the pandemic for the anxiety but for me, it was a lot of life changes going on. The pandemic came along, which didn’t help things for a lot of people but in a way, the pandemic did help me because I spent a lot of time working on myself, working out, and getting back into a strong place. Even though it was weird because we were all locked up most of the time, the community and the friends that I met virtually because of the bike made getting through that time. It made such a difference getting through the pandemic. I’m in a twisted way grateful for it. I wouldn’t want to live through it again but I came out of it healthier with a group of great friends and a community.

I feel like that is Peloton’s superpower. It’s not the instructors or the classes that you take. It’s also the people and how they lift you. They’re there for you. They keep you going on days when you might not feel like it otherwise.

It’s an amazing community of people and the instructors, too. All of it works for me. People always ask me, “Do you work for them? You’re always talking about them.” I’m like, “No.” When something has such a positive influence on your life like your health and also your emotional wellbeing by means of this community, you’re going to talk about it and tell other people about it. Anything that’s such a positive influence in your life is worth talking about.

With your diet, did you follow any specific dietary changes or eating plans or did you make an effort to eat a little bit more and you had increased hunger because of the workouts?

It was mostly the second one. I was raised on the Mediterranean diet, which is a pretty healthy and good diet to be on. For me, it was a matter of supplementing. I would do protein shakes as a snack, not as meal replacements but as meal supplements. I was trying to make sure that I was eating enough each meal. It was a lot easier to do that when my body wasn’t feeling all tightly wound up and anxious. After working out, it’ll open up your appetite, especially after you do a PeloFondo, which was my first one of those over the pandemic.

I remember going to my mom’s and it was funny because you’re sitting 6 feet away. It would be like pushing all this food across the table. I was eating and eating. She goes, “What is going on with you?” I’m like, “I cycled 101 miles.” They were staring at me like, “What is happening?” Anyone who knew me before the pandemic afterward was like, “Are you the same person?” I was all about working out. The diet didn’t change. It was enhanced.

You focused on eating more of the good things. When you say people are like, “Are you even the same person,” enough time has passed so you may have had an evolution of feelings about this but do you feel like you have changed as a person or do you think that all of those elements are still there but you have more self-esteem, confidence, and excitement about things than you did before?

In many ways, I’m still the same nerdy person that I’ve always been. That’s never changing. I have a lot more energy in general and I do. I feel more comfortable in my skin because I feel better. I don’t feel weak. I went from being somebody who was exercise averse like, “You guys can go on your run. I’ll see you later. You guys can go to the gym. I’m going to sit here and watch TV.” Now, I’m like, “I got to get my workout in.” Folks who knew me before are like, “It’s not like you. We couldn’t get you to do anything and now you’re like, ‘I got to do my workout.’” I’m so happy about that change. It’s been all positive changes but it hasn’t changed me fundamentally as a person. In most ways, I’m still the same goofy human that I’ve always been.

It’s now you do this.

Visiting The Peloton Studio In New York And London

You had been to the studio a couple of times. Tell us about the first time you went. What that was like? What did you love about it? What you were not sure about? How did it go?

I love visiting the studios. The first time I went to the New York studio was in the fall of ‘22. It was before they did the red card, white card, and black card thing. There was none of that going on yet. Even the booking was different and it wasn’t on a Thursday. I remember I had a friend who always knew when they were going to be releasing classes. He messaged me and was like, “Go book. Let’s see if we can book for the fall.” I booked two classes with Ally and Emma. I ended up timing it so I was able to do my 1,500th ride in the studio.

The first one was Friday morning and I flew in on a Thursday night. I’m on the West Coast and I don’t ride very well in the mornings. I was like, “I don’t know how I’m going to do a 7:00 AM New York time ride after flying in on Thursday night but let’s see how this goes.” It didn’t matter because once you get there, you’re in the moment with the adrenaline and it’s all great.

I remember going in and everybody was super nice meeting other people in the locker rooms and stuff, exchanging leaderboard names with people in the line. It wasn’t like the card system so I remember we had to rush and stand in front of the studio super early. You had to have your friend hold your place in line so you go to the bathroom for the class. It was a wonderful experience.

I’ve been twice in New York. I was able to do a class with Robin, which meant a lot to me because my daughter was diagnosed with diabetes a couple of years ago. I didn’t know anything about diabetes beyond it’s an issue with insulin and sugar levels. Suddenly, it became a huge part of our lives. I saw her and have her as this example of it doesn’t stop her at all. It was great to be able to do a class with her in the studio and thank her for being that role model and advocate. My daughter will jump on the bike and do a ride with Robin. It’s cute. The studio experience has always been great. London was my favorite, though.

Why was it your favorite?

The members really are the best part of Peloton. Share on X

Partly because Sam Yo is my favorite.

He’s the nicest.

He’s the best. I love Sam. I love his ’80s music and that he’s a Star Wars nerd because I’m a big Star Wars nerd, Top Gun, and all these things. I took a lot of his rides in 2020. He’s very Zen. I love his whole vibe. I’m all about Sam. I remember I randomly decided, “Let me see if I can book a London studio class. If I book one with him, I’ll see if I can make it happen later.” I ended up booking it and getting into a class. I waited to see what class it was.

First, I was on the waitlist, made it into the class, and then found out it was an 80s ride. I was like, “I don’t know what I have to do.” It was March 2020 so I was able to find a good deal on a flight. I was like, “Listen, fam. I’m going to go to London for 48 hours to attend a class. It’s Sam. It’s an 80s ride.” My husband was like, “Okay.” He knows what that means. He also knows, “This is something that’s changed your life. You’ve been doing this every day for years. If you want to go do a class with Sam, go do a class with Sam.” That’s what I did. It was for my 1,800th ride.

I had reached out to the studio before and was like, “It’s my 1,800th ride. I’m coming from California. Is there any way to get a front bike?” There isn’t. They were like, “No, we can’t do that.” What they did do after the ride was one of the employees came out and gave me this card. It was a card saying, “Congratulations on your milestone.” It was signed by Sam, which was super sweet. We did the class. The class was amazing and the photos after. Sam sat and hung out for 20 to 30 minutes after the class and chatted with us. It was such a great experience. I couldn’t even tell you. I left the next day. They were very welcoming. The whole experience was amazing.

I will say this. If Sam Yo ever gives you theater recommendations, follow them.

Take his advice.

When we were there, he recommended that we go see Guys and Dolls. I was like, “Why would I fly all the way to London to see Guys and Dolls? It’s a 60-year-old musical. It’s the quintessential American musical and we’re in London. That sounds dumb.” He was like, “I’m not going to explain it to you. I’m going to ask you to trust me. Get floor seats if you can.”

It was life-changing.

It was a blast. I love theater but I’ve never had that much fun at a theatrical production in my life. You stood on the floor and they performed right in front of you on risers that lifted up and down out of the ground. They would move you back and forth on the floor so you weren’t on the riser too. You never knew where they were going to pop up from. It was like they had merged a play with a rock concert. It was crazy.

We were blown away.

It was so much fun.

It was great.

The theatre was great. I stayed close to the studio. At that time, they had the Back to the Future show. I didn’t realize that that was even a thing until I got there. I’m like, “There’s a theater right next to my hotel and it’s Back to the Future.” It was a great show. If I ever go back, which I would love to go back for my 3,000th ride, which my goal is to go back to PSL for a Sam ride for 3,000, I’ll ask him, “What do I go see?” It would’ve been fun to watch him perform.

I wish we could’ve. That would’ve been amazing.

What is your leaderboard name?

My leaderboard name is UnicornSteph. Growing up, it was my thing. I love unicorns. I’m a big nerd. I’m this magical sparkly creature, UnicornSteph. I threw it in there. It’s a pretty easy leaderboard name so I never changed it. UnicornSteph forever.

Advice For Those New To Peloton

Do you have any advice for people entering the world of Peloton?

Welcome. You’re going to love it, which isn’t a bad thing. I would tell them to try all the different instructors because there are so many different vibes and styles. Explore the app. There are so many different classes and categories within the categories. You’ll find something, most likely anyway, that is for you. If you want to be part of the community, I’m not on Facebook anymore but I’m sure people are still in the different Peloton groups on there as well.

Instagram has a huge Peloton community. Meet people that way and get to know them. Make a fitness profile if you don’t want to drive your friends crazy on your personal one. Reach out, get to know people, and do group rides. There are so many different community aspects of Peloton to explore. The members are the best part. Some of my best friends that I have in my life I met through Peloton. I would tell them, “You made a good decision.”

Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to join us. Before we let you go, let everybody know where they can find you in all the places if you would like to be found.

On Instagram, I am @Steph58_Fitness. Add me so we can be Peloton friends.

I love that. Thank you again so much. This has been a lot of fun.

Thank you.

 

Thank you so much. I love this. Thanks for having me.

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I guess that brings this episode to a close. Until next time, where can people find you?

People can find me on Facebook.com/crystaldokeefe. They can find me on all social media and the Peloton leaderboard @ClipOutCrystal.

You can find me on Twitter @RogerQBert or on Facebook at Facebook.com/tomokeefe. You can find the show online on Facebook.com/TheClipOut. While you’re there, like the page and join the group. Don’t forget our Patreon at Patreon.com/TheClipOut. That’s it for this one. Thanks for tuning in. Until next time, keep pedaling, and running, and rowing.

 

Important Links

• ​Stephania Lewis – Instagram
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• Patreon.com/TheClipOut
• Facebook.com/TheClipOut
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• Dr. Jenn Mann
• The Relationship Fix: Dr. Jenn’s 6-Step Guide to Improving Communication, Connection and Intimacy
• @DrJennMann – Instagram
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• @ClipOutCrystal – Instagram
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