365. Kendall Toole Exits Peloton And Our Interview With Christina Kalie!
- Is Peloton a “zombie” company?
- Peloton expands YMCA partnership.
- Trish LaLonde covers the Lululemon event.
- Jenn – Knowing when you’re ready for your next challenge.
- Susie Chan held her book launch party.
- Hannah Corbin hosting at CMA Fest.
- Jenn Sherman & Pam Sunshine launch a lifestyle brand and podcast.
- Emma Lovewell’s Tread “residency.”
- DJ John Michael launches YouTube channel.
- Adrian Williams with…HAIR?!??
- The latest artist series features Lil John and Cher.
- Tinashe was in the studio with Tunde.
- TCO Top 5.
- This Week at Peloton.
- What is TS60?
- Peloton’s Road To Half Marathon.
- NBA pregame meditation?
- New Cadent styles from apparel.
- Birthdays – Assal Arian (6/9), Joslyn Thompson Rule (6/15)
All this plus our interview with Christina Kalie.
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Watch the episode here
Listen to the podcast here
Kendall Toole Exits Peloton And Our Interview With Christina Kalie!
We are gearing up for our big vacation. By the time you hear this, we will be in Hawaii. Let’s hope. We’ve thought that before. We’ve thought that two other times and it did not happen.
I won’t believe it till we’re on the islands, then I will believe it.
What about when we’re on the plane?
Nope.
Because it could still turn around.
Number one, I’ve heard some horror stories lately about planes getting rerouted places because of some asshole. That happens. Two, we could have a plane crash and die.
My goodness.
Have you been inside my anxiety-ridden head? This is where I go. Either of those things could happen. I’m just saying.
If that happens, feel free to cancel your Patreon subscription.
You won’t be getting a bonus episode.
That would be a spooky bonus episode.
On the flip side, if we do make it there, we’ll have a lot of fun. We will have a fun bonus episode for people. I’m hoping for that. I’m rooting for that. Just to be clear.
I would hope so.
I’m not rooting for that. That anxiety mind is not a fun one. I don’t know what else to say. Perimenopause, intrusive thoughts, look it up. It’s not fun.
You were having those long before that.
They got worse. I agree.
Before we forget.
Yeah, we need to remember Bingo. It’s Alex Kowalski.
There we go. What pray tell do you have in store for people?
We have a great interview with Christina Kalie. That is one thing. We’re going to talk about zombie Peloton land. We are also going to do a recap of the Lululemon member event. We have a visit from Dr. Jenn, knowing when you’re ready for your next challenge. We also have a bunch of In The News stuff about the instructors, not to mention new artist series, celebrity sightings, and a bunch of new content headed your way.
Before we get to all that, shameless plugs. Don’t forget, we’re available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, and iHeart. Wherever you find a podcast, you can find us. While you’re there, follow us so you never miss an episode. Maybe leave us a review. It’s super helpful. You can also find us on Facebook at Facebook.com/TheClipOut. While you’re there, like the page and join the group.
You can sign up for the newsletter where we send out all the links and stuff that we throw at you. I’ve revamped the newsletter in terms of where I put the links. They have more links than they used to. I feel like it’s gotten a little bit better. Not every story has a link but in the past, I was taking the links to the production company that helps us with this. I was looking like, “These aren’t very good.” I started doing it a little differently. There are more links in there now.
If you’re looking for some of the stories, you can sign up for the newsletter at TheClipOut.com and you will get that sent to you. You can watch these all over on YouTube at YouTube.com/TheClipOut. We have a Patreon. There are a lot of moving parts on a show like this, and there are expenses associated with that. If you want to help out, we would love to be helped out. For $5 a month, you get all sorts of bonus content, and you get ad-free episodes. Every week, we record a bonus episode that’s an extra 15, 20, or 25 minutes, depending on how busy that week is, of stories we didn’t have time to get to. If we get it early, you get it early.
Last week we even got it early even after I screwed it up, which was pretty amazing.
We were surprised by that.
The production company nailed it.
Some weeks are better than others on both ends of that equation. Anyway, there’s all that. Let’s dig in, shall we?
We shall.
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Now I’m going to have that Cranberries song stuck in my head.
I took a Peloton class today that played Cranberries’ Linger.
Here’s a hot take. I don’t like the Cranberries. Her voice irritates me.
I get it. I did like it when I was of the age that the Cranberries were new. I have to say now I don’t. I was telling somebody that it’s different as you get older because they don’t make music for what you’re going through anymore. When you’re a teenager and you’re going through a breakup, there’s a breakup song for you. The shit we go through as adults, nobody makes music about that. I don’t know that they should, but they don’t. I’m just throwing it out there. I’m not in the mood to listen to somebody go on and on about lingering or zombies. No yodeling in my life. Thank you.
Yes, especially of the Irish variety.
You are Irish.
I can say that. Irish yodeling is the worst.
It’s a little screechy.
The reason we bring that up is because there was an article from NBCConnecticut.com. It’s talking about zombie companies and it specifically mentioned Peloton. The question is whether Peloton is a zombie company. We will start by having you define a zombie company.
Very simple. They are companies so laden with debt that they are stumbling by on the brink of survival, barely able to pay even the interest on their loans, and often a bad business hit away from dying off for good.
So where’s Zombie Country?
That’s fair. It was an interesting article. Whether you think Peloton is, we’ll get into that. We’re not going away from that point. I did think that this was super interesting that the number of companies around the world has gone up by 7,000 publicly traded companies around the world, 2,000 in the United States whiplashed by years of piling up cheap debt followed by stubborn inflation that has pushed borrowing costs to decade highs. Peloton did do that.
There are a lot of places where the interest rates were so cheap and people want those interest rates back, which I get. There are certainly advantages to that. I also think people lost sight of the fact that those were historic lows. Interest rates weren’t supposed to be that low. That was something we did to juice the economy.
People don’t have a collective memory. They didn’t remember that. That’s how we got into the housing issue in the ‘90s.
When I bought my first house, I had 9% and when it fell to 7%, people were losing their minds like it was the deal of a lifetime because it was. Now people are shocked and appalled if it gets to 7%. It’s fascinating like how quickly people forget.
Especially since we spend a lot of time watching old sitcoms where they constantly talk about what’s going on in the world, circa whatever year that is.
Remember when Barney Miller’s apartment went condo? He was clutching his pearls because they wanted $125,000 for him to buy that condo.
It was not a high interest rate. It was like 18%. I was like, “Holy shit, that’s a credit card.”
That’s like putting a house on a credit card.
People do forget.
Back to Peloton being a zombie company, they acquired all this debt when it was inexpensive. Those interest rates don’t fluctuate. If you’ve already borrowed the money at that rate, you’re locked into that deal.
Yeah, but then the loans come due. Remember, Peloton’s loan came due and they refinanced it and tried to put a nice shiny face on it. It’s good that they refinanced it. They did what they said they were going to do.
They probably went from 2% to 8 % or whatever.
They probably have more favorable terms than then the average person because they’re borrowing so much. It didn’t stay where they had it, I’m sure. This article also says that they are defined as companies that have failed to make enough money from operations in the past three years to even pay the interest on their loans. I feel like that’s important to point out. I don’t know that that’s true about Peloton. We talked about the earnings call and we only got the numbers they put out there in the SEC filing. It’s pretty well regulated. We have to assume they’re telling the truth. It’s a whole different set of problems.
That’s fair. Aaron would never lie to us. I’m not saying Peloton is in. I’m just saying it has happened. It is also one likes to think, not good, that it’s rare.
You do like to think that. I will say you know the old regime never would have let anything like that happen. I could say confidently that I can no longer say that.
Right now, we don’t have a regime.
There you go. It’s exactly right.
It’s like The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training, where they used the field keeper guy to trick their parents into thinking they had a coach.
They’re not trying to trick anybody. They have a CEO. We’re paying a lot of money. By we I mean all of our money.
They haven’t hired the groundskeeper to take over Peloton yet?
They haven’t, but It does concern me whenever I see these numbers. I don’t think that is necessarily true because yes, they have not made as much money on the sales of equipment, but I don’t know that they haven’t made the same sales they were hoping to get. They’ve gone up higher than they thought they would be on subscriptions and things like that. I don’t know what number they’re looking at.
You look at a financial report and you can pick one little thing up, and you can make it sound bad or you can make it sound good. What I will say is it does concern me that Peloton refinanced their debt and they do have a lot, and the whole world doesn’t seem to be doing that great when it comes to finances. It’s not just Peloton.
They list a lot of companies in this article besides Peloton.
There’s a ton. I think it’s safe to say that there are a lot of companies in general that we should be concerned about, and it’ll be interesting because then you also have, not getting political here, but sometimes the government goes in and bail certain companies out. I’m not saying Peloton is anywhere near that. Don’t worry.
I can’t imagine a situation where the government would bail out Peloton.
No, but there are other things that we don’t know about.
When they’ve done that in the past, it’s been either major financial institutions and they’re afraid if that company collapses, the infrastructure of how money moves through the system is going to collapse, so they felt like they didn’t have a choice, or automotive industry where it’s linked to so many other things that they didn’t have a choice. If Peloton went under, I don’t think it would rise to that level.
Also, I still stand by the fact that Peloton is a strong enough brand name. Someone would assume the brand. Your bike would still work. You would still have instructors on there telling you things. It might not be all of the instructors. I don’t think that your bike, your tread, or your row machine will just become bricks if, God forbid, it comes to that. We have no reason to think that it will, it’s just that this article raises the question. I think that Peloton, in some capacity, is going to be around for a long time. Maybe you’ll have fewer classes than you’re used to, but there is so much content. Even if they cut it in half, you’d still have a ton.
At the end of the day, when they’re writing articles like this, it’s always good to get clicks by putting Peloton in it. That’s important to remember. Peloton just refinanced their debt. They’re in the news about that. It was an easy thing to pick on. I don’t think this has any real bearing on Peloton’s actual financial situation because all the other companies they talk about in the situation have already failed. They’ve already gone under. I do think this is more about opening people’s eyes in general to the fact that a lot of companies are not in a good place. We should all keep our eyes on the next earnings point report.
That being said, Peloton has expanded its YMCA partnership.
We hoped that they would. If you’re in the greater Chicago area, you’re going to have more chances to have cool YMCA stuff. Eighteen YMCA community hubs in the Chicago area are going to be equipped with Peloton Bike+ and rows.
Is that the first? I’ve seen bikes out in the free world, but Bike+?
It might be the first Bike+ in this kind of setting. They did start talking about rows in hotels recently. It’s not the first and we’ve seen a row.
It wasn’t the row that caught my attention as much as the Bike+.
I knew somebody would ask the question. Somebody out there was wondering and I was filling in the blanks, but it could be the first time on a Bike+. It also makes me wonder how well they’ll be able to keep those Bike+ up and if they are doing anything differently to them to make them strong enough to have thousands of different people use them. Daily in the OPP, I see somebody complaining about hotel bikes. I don’t want to see that happen.
I would like to think that maybe the YMCA would take better care of them because that’s the whole reason for their existence, not spin bikes, of course, but exercise in general. where at a hotel, that’s one of many things. There’s a gym down the hall somewhere. I’ll go use it. I don’t care. If the tread is broken, get on a bike. If the bike is broken, you use the free gym. I don’t care. Maybe that potents better.
I hope so, but that’s cool. That’s great. They had already had this connection with the YMCA in Chicago It’s awesome to see it continuing to grow. I hope we see it in other cities soon as well.
I’m surprised you haven’t seen more YMCAs jumping on this.
I can’t even imagine the conversations that go into the types of things that have to happen. I don’t know if it would be worse than a music deal or the same, but it feels like a lot of work.
It probably is but I would think that once they have it established at one YMCA, they’d have a template and they could roll that out.
Each YMCA is its own little kingdom, each city. We have the YMCA of the Greater St. Louis. They are completely different from the YMCA of Chicago, so I don’t know that that’s true. Not all the YMCA.
I thought there could be an umbrella thing.
I’m not saying there’s not an umbrella. I’m just saying there’s probably some bureaucratic red tape that slows things down.
It’s a leaky umbrella.
I’m saying it’s like anything else, it’s a bureaucracy with lots of red tape.
It does take a while. A lot of people don’t realize it, but the Village People wrote that song in 1962, and it took them that long to be able to release it, which ended up being fortuitous because that song would have sounded very weird in 1962. There would have been more hand claps. It sounded more like a skiffle, Good thing that happened.
It’s a good thing that that happened.
Lululemon had their members’ weekend at PSNY. Trish Lalonde attended the event. She took pictures and whatnot and has reported back to us. You will now report back her report.
It was great. I was a little taken aback by the Peloton next to the Lululemon logo. I’m not going to lie, that freaked me out. I can handle the logo being on the towel. I can handle the logo being in the store, but right next to the P where we all did the photo op? The giant P had a Lululemon logo. I’m okay with it, but I was taken aback by this. I’m okay that it’s there for the weekend. If it’s living there, I am not okay. There were tons of Lululemon apparel to be purchased and everything was 20% off while you were there.
I guess that’s a good deal on Lululemon.
Also, there was an amazing swag bag that everybody got. Not to mention the Lululemon water bottle. There was also a key chain and there were wipes to keep yourself fresh after each workout.
The water bottle is why there’s that giant P.
It’s funny that you say that because Trish had to purchase an entire carry-on because every single class she went to, they gave her a new one. She ended up with a whole row of Lululemon water bottles. If you need a Lululemon water bottle, go to her eBay page. It was everybody who attended that this happened. This was not a Trish thing. This was how they designed it. I was a little confused by that. Also, they had a special flat instructor little image that you could get. There were three instructors on it. For those of you who are new to Peloton, you may not know what a flat instructor is.
That’s true. They stopped doing that.
They did. It used to be that when you made any kind of apparel purchase, you also got in the mail a little postcard from one of your instructors.
People took to calling them flat instructors.
We put them in all kinds of little positions and we post them all over the OPP. It was a lot of fun. That’s the way the OPP used to be. Now, it’s a very different place and there’s very little joy there. If you have never seen a flat instructor, you have three for one. They put three of the Lululemon ambassadors.
If they kept giving her bags, I guess she got the whole set.
Not bags, no.
Getting a Peloton is more affordable than doing a series of bar classes with a class pass. Share on XIt wasn’t in the swag bag?
There was a water bottle in the swag bag, but every single class she went to, she also got another water bottle. Not another bag, just another water bottle. That was the first day, and then day-two started with a big community 5K. It was a lot of fun. Rebecca Kennedy led it. They had a little warm-up beforehand. Tons and tons of people participated in the 5K.
They had a huge bank of post-workout snacks. There were a lot of different bars and things like that that you could get after you did your run. You could go into the recovery lounge, which we also do not have a picture of. They had Normatec set up so you could get your legs refreshed. They also had an area where you could do yoga blocks. They also had the thumper guns. Trish called it thumpers.
Must be a Canadian thing, the thumper guns.
You could also try out the new shoes from Lululemon. You could go try them on in a class. You could try them walking around. That was all in the recovery lounge, plus they had a cool photo opportunity where you could take selfies in front of a machine or it could do these little GIFs. That was all day-two, and then that night, they had a big wrap-up party. Trish is here in front of the logos and they had recreated the whole studio where they had done lights and made it very party-oriented.
They also had a special drink menu. They had a whole bunch of different drinks. They had signature drinks. They also had wine and that kind of stuff. I thought it was worth noting they also had non-alcoholic drinks, which a lot of parties forget to do. That was nice. There was a special visitor. They had Matt James from The Bachelor. Matt James was there from The Bachelor and it seemed because he was a Peloton member.
It wasn’t like they didn’t bring him in for the event. He just wanted to go.
I don’t know. Who knows? Undisclosed, but he appeared to be like a member. I thought it was funny because they had a whole thing with Matt James and Adrian Williams. There was a big scene where Adrian Williams started twerking and dancing. They started doing the limbo. It got crazy and then they started getting other people out on the dance floor. They also had a huge spread of food, and the food went on and on like it was a giant buffet of food.
It is a lot of food. I don’t know if there’s one thing on there I would eat, but it’s a lot of food. Normal people would like it. I assure you.
Everybody that I’ve talked to had a great time. It was HRI vibes all the way. Everyone had a great time. For those of you who don’t know what HRI means, that is Home Rider Invasion, which is what they used to call whenever all of the people went in to see Peloton in person. Those days are over. It was beautiful when it happened. It was wonderful. One of my favorite things.
Thank you to Trish for getting us all those pictures.
It was great. Thank you so much, Trish.
Coming up after this, we’re going to talk to Dr. Jenn. She’s going to give you tips for knowing when you are ready for your next challenge.
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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 Doctor 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.
We have a question from Jackie. She says that all of these instructors and other people on social media she sees are running races and doing all these things. She feels inspired to do one of these big events but she’s nervous about taking on the challenge. She’s been riding her bike for about a year. She’s not done a lot of running. How can she go about gaining the confidence to know that she is ready or she should wait and then have a different path forward for now?
I love this question. I suspect, Crystal, that you do too because we have been there and done that. I have a few recommendations. My number one recommendation is to start small. The way you get your confidence is by having experiences that are positive when it comes to trying new things like races and events, and then building on it. I do not recommend going from riding your bike for a year, which is awesome, I commend you and that’s great, to be like, “I’m going to run a marathon this year.” That’s not how it should work.
Start with a 5K. If that feels a lot then start with the 1-mile run. Start with a fun run and also do your research on training. I was a huge fan of the Galloway method when I trained for the LA Marathon in 1999. I worked with the training group called the LA Lakers and they pushed John Galloway’s method. He’s an Olympic runner who says you should use the walk-run method because it avoids injury. It allows you to go longer and it’s a better approach for the long term. You don’t want to end up missing your race because you injured yourself.
Understanding the pros and cons of different methods, being smart about training, and also getting some feedback from people who know about this stuff if you want. Let’s say you say, “I’m going to do a 5K.” Don’t just be like, “Next Saturday, I’m doing a 5K.” Find out how to train for a 5K, go online, do some research, and talk to someone like Crystal who’s certified on how to put together a proper exercise regimen to prepare yourself for an event like that.
Once you’ve got a 5K or two under your belt, try a 10K, try a half marathon, try a full marathon, or whatever event you want to do, but build up because you want to build on your success. Also, as we who have done some of these things know, sometimes you do an event and then it’s some of the dumb things that kill you like, “I wore new shoes. I hadn’t thought about that. That killed my run.” If you do that in a 5K and you learn, that’s great. You’re not going to suffer when you do a full-on marathon. You’re going to know that about yourself or even just what power bars, what gels, and what hydration methods work best for you. Being able to figure that out with smaller events and building up to the bigger events is important.
Excellent advice.
I can’t even imagine doing a marathon with new shoes.
I wish that was my issue.
Did you wear new socks?
I did use different socks, but when I went to see my physical therapist after Big Sur, he said that he felt it was because I had inserts in my shoes. My feet pronate and I had inserts in there, and the fact that the road we were on was tilted to the side where all the water had to drain off. With those two things combined, my foot didn’t have enough room to flex. I still think in addition to all of those things. I was clenching my toes as I walked. I was like, “Hurry, hurry, hurry,” and I was tense.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen worse blisters than what you had when we did our Big Sur race. I don’t know how you kept on. It was your sheer will.
I kept thinking it could not be worse than getting hit by a car. I was thinking that.
You probably would have welcomed that because we would have carried you. We wouldn’t have let you stop and we had to carry you.
I know you guys would be like, “Let’s run to the finish.” I was like, “Screw you both.”
She’s like, “Tell me all about it. Sounds fun.”
Start small. Do not start with Big Sur. The other thing I would say and I know you’ll back me up on this, Crystal, is to do your research about your event. Fortunately, we went into Big Sur knowing it was a 2,000-foot elevation and that we were going to be facing tough hills and probably some hard elements and some wind. Granted it ended up being the windiest race that they had in decades. It’s not like we did not prepare you but look if you’re going to do a 5K, make sure it’s not a 5K that’s all hills to start with. Look at what’s the weather going to be at that time of year. You don’t want to do your first 5K in the snow. You want to start in a more gentle atmosphere and work up to more difficult elements.
Thank you so much for all that. Until next time, where can people find you?
On social media @DrJennMann.
Thank you.
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Susie Chan held her book launch party.
The book is officially out in the UK and it will be hitting the United States on August 6th. I cannot wait. I thought it all came out at the same time. Susie was like, “No.”
I don’t know why they do it like that.
I don’t know but every instructor that has a book in both places has been that way. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me. That makes sense. I guess publishers already have a schedule, so to get on both schedules is probably as complex as anything I can think of. Also, the author can’t be in two places at once so if there is going to be a press tour, I can’t do it at the same time. I’m hoping there’ll be a press tour. Bring it on to St. Louis, Susie. It will never happen.
I’m sure we get so much Peloton Peloton attention.
St. Louis is not exactly a hotbed of places to stop. They call it flyover for a reason.
We are the reason. Blame us.
I’m super excited for Susie. She had a huge soiree at the London studio. Our very own brand-new writer Kim Holiday wrote all about it. There was a whole zebra event. if you don’t know what I’m talking about, zebra versus alligator, you’re going to have to read the article. It’s the whole thing. Susie loved it.
Hannah Corbin is venturing into the world of hosting events. She is hosting a big one, CMA Fest in Nashville.
She was already there. It already happened. I don’t remember when the CMA Fest is because I know you have a loose connection there, but I don’t remember when it is. I know it’s the same time every year. It happened this week.
That’s a big deal in the world of country music.
She was specifically asked to do it by UMG. Do you know anything about the different music groups?
That’s Universal Music Groups. I think it’s what used to be Inner Scope. I think it got absorbed and now it’s all under the UMG umbrella. I believe that’s how that works.
I suspect this is why we’re seeing so many country artists on her Country Music Happy Hour this year. There are a lot of people pushing it. Probably a lot of cross-promotion as part of that deal, which makes sense and is very cool. Does she like country music enough to appreciate how big of a deal this is? Do any of the instructors like country music? I think Matt Wilpers might, only because he’s from that area of the country. I know Hannah likes country music. I’m not right being rude. That’s not the world most of the instructors live in and I’m not sure if they know.
I’ve always found it fascinating that you don’t see more country music in movies. It is such a popular genre of music. There are so many country artists that can sell tens of thousands of tickets and you never see country songs pop up in movies. It’s always hip-hop these days. Not that hip-hop isn’t popular, but so is country. It used to be you would see country music all the time in movies. At some point, that completely went away.
I guess it does not cross multiple different kinds of generations and lines. I could only guess.
When you look at it, I could think of multiple country acts that can sell out stadiums. I can only think of like one or two hip-hop or Top 40 acts that can sell out a stadium.
That’s a good point. I don’t have an answer to that.
It’s something I think about because I’m weird.
It’s pretty cool. Congrats to Hannah Corbin.
You might remember us talking a while back about Jenn Sherman and her friend Pam Sunshine who went viral on TikTok and then started a TikTok channel that’s doing very well. They are extending that into a lifestyle brand and a podcast.
Makes sense. You have to strike while the iron is hot. That’s what’s happening. There’s not a lot to say here because it’s so basic information. There’s not anything. I guess one thing to explain is it’s not just going to be a fashion. It’s also going to be wellness, self-care, food, entertainment, travel, and more. We will see what comes out.
Emma Lovewell launched her tread residency.
I wanted to call attention to the fact that Emma was going to do four different hikes in June. I had thought when she got back from her maternity leave eventually that perhaps more types of tread classes would be added. She is doing more tread classes. I thought it was interesting that she referred to it as a tread residency. Does that mean that we’re going to start seeing instructors do this in other places? We’re going to see more swapping, but they’re not necessarily taking it on full-time. I thought it was a very interesting concept. It makes those classes more special than makes people more upset when they go away.
I’ve always been surprised they haven’t done more of this kind of cross-pollination if for no other reason than if a tread instructor pops up on the bike and you take that class. You like that instructor and then they go back to the tread. Maybe you’re more inclined to buy a tread or start using the tread classes when you’re at the gym like Matty when he taught a bike class.
It’s so interesting because it’s all about marketing. I didn’t think of it as a marketing thing when I was doing Two For One when they did the row bootcamps. Katie had those bootcamps where she had other instructors come in and do a row bootcamp with her. I didn’t see it that way. I didn’t see it that way when we had the recent meditations that were a Two For One where they brought in other instructors. When I hear this as a residency, it’s all marketing. It makes total sense. I just didn’t hear it that way. For me, that word brings up a whole different set of possibilities. They have been doing more of this. It’s just that I didn’t see it.
It didn’t have a moniker. Lots of instructors showed up to support her.
They all wanted to be there for her big day. There were eight instructors who all showed up to support her, including Mariana. In our article where we had all of the graduation things, we said she was everybody’s friend and she showed up for everybody. I’m saying that’s a great example of the type of thing that she does. She always shows up for everybody.
DJ John Michael has launched his own YouTube channel.
It’s called House Plants. Isn’t this cool? It’s so random. He’s DJ-ing with this beautiful background behind him. I talked to him a little bit on Instagram because he was excited that there was an article about it. There should be people pushing this. He told me that Brian is the one who grows all those plants. It is not DJ John Michael because I was like, “I don’t know how you keep all those plans alive because I kill plants left and right.” He was like, “It’s all Brian.” I was like, “That is impressive because air plants are all I can keep alive.” I thought this was beautiful and cool. Episode two hit this week. Check that out. DJ John Michael has a great persona and he’s a lot of fun. We want to make sure that he gets all the recognition he deserves.
We had a fun post about Adrienne Williams. This is courtesy of Christine D’Ercole. She spots Adrian Williams in the wild, but he is unrecognizable.
This was at the studio. She sees this man sitting there who looks nothing like Adrian Williams. She was like, “I don’t know who that is.”
She then figures out who it was.
It’s Adrienne Williams with hair. Christine says to him, “Who put hair on your head?” He looks like a completely different individual.
He’s not like me in a lot of ways. I mean that to my detriment, not his. He shaves his head because there’s no hair there anyway. He has a full head of hair and he chooses not to.
I think maybe he’s not necessarily on board with that gray. I have no idea. I think it’s hilarious. Kirsten Ferguson’s face when she sees his hair is hysterical.
Maybe he has gotten on board with the gray.
He’s like, “Whatever.” It changes his look completely. Good for him letting his gray out.
Coming up after this, we’re going to tell you about the latest artist series.
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This has not been officially announced, but it looks like we have a Lil’ John artist series in our not-too-distant future.
These classes are showing up on the studio website that you can go and schedule. I just wanted to let everybody know that it is on the horizon.
We also, for Pride Month, have a Cher collection.
I think I said last week that Matty said he had a Cher class coming up on Thursday, and it’s his first Cher class since Christopher Street. That’s how long ago it has been. Also, I’m excited to see that it’s going to be a series across multiple disciplines. It’ll be an official artist series, not just a one-off class, which is nice.
There are quite a few classes.
Vlogging is all about producing good content and not just posting something because you have to. Share on XI didn’t count them, but it seemed like there were 15 or 20 classes. It was a lot of classes. It makes sense for Pride Month. It fits right in.
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We have a celebrity sighting. Tinashe was in the studio taking one of Tunde’s classes.
Both Cody and Tunde learned the nasty dance.
That’s her new single.
Apparently, that’s a thing, and you have to put your finger in your mouth to make it a whole thing.
We just stopped COVID. What are we doing?
In your own mouth.
Still, you’re going to be touching doorknobs. Here we go again.
I’m sure everyone washed their hands before and after.
It is called nasty.
It says true. There was a lot of dancing and a lot of fun. People were excited about it, so that’s cool.
She took a photo with everybody afterward.
It’s so nice for her to hang out and do a group photo like that.
She had a recurring role on Two and a Half Men. She did motion capture for Polar Express.
I also heard she was on Dancing with the Stars Season 20.
I’m reading the Wikipedia. She was in Night Ride and Joyride, which are unrelated films. I watched Joyride on the plane and it was funny. I like that a lot.
I remember you watching that one.
Anyway, that’s cool.
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Every week, we ask you to recommend your favorite classes, and then we share them with the world. Here it is, the TCO Top Five.
The first one is a running class. This is the intro to Pace Targets with Matt Wilpers, which I took. We talked about it last week. I loved it. Jenny K is so excited about this feature. She loves Power Zones on the bike. “Having something similar on the tread is amazing, plus Matt is so knowledgeable about running.”
The next item is up for bid.
Favorite Peloton ride. This was the sold-out show with Jenn Sherman that took place on 6/9. I believe this was the Rolling Stones. This was all Rolling Stones music. Nancy Nielsen described this ride as amazing, “It was a Stone sing-along. All the songs you know and love are there and the smile never left my face during the ride.” Next is the favorite Peloton hike. This took place on June 6th. It was Crush Your Climb with Emma Lovewell. Her debut hike and people were super excited about it.
The first of her residency as we now know.
Christina Kalie, who happens to be our interviewee this week, picked this class. It was the first of Emma’s tread classes and she said the energy was electric not only from Emma but from the other fellow instructors in the room cheering her on.
You had all the spotlight there, Christina.
We had a favorite Peloton outdoor run. This took place on February 29th with Jon Hosking. It dropped that day. It was an outdoor ‘80s run. Connie Park recommended this one and said, “What a playlist. Jon songs will take the Gen X-ers back to those high school gymnasium dances complete with aquanet and plenty of neons.” I took this class and it was fabulous.
The joke is on you. I’m Gen X and I never went to a dance. Shocking, I know. Finally, your unstackable.
This was a full-body true tread bootcamp class from June 9th. Jess Sims 60 minutes because they all are Sims 60. Jess is always going to put you in a place where you’re not going to want to take another class after this. Everybody was chatting about this one.
We forgot to do our Bingo call-out.
Bingo number two this week is Aditi Shah.
Let’s take a look at what’s coming up this week at Peloton.
There are a lot of fun stuff. There is going to be a Crusher Climb, which we just talked about. That’s going to be all through the month of June every Thursday. Also, City to Surf. Peloton Australia announced they are going to be official partners with City to Surf. That’s this big run that’s iconic. It takes place every August and there are going to be two special classes. One with Kirra Michel and one with Joslyn Thompson Rule. There’s going to be a focus flow for runners and Aussie Heartbreak Hill Run with Joslyn that’s going to premiere on June 13th. You can also learn more about City to Surf and get involved.
It is a big deal because I remember talking about that in the past. We also have Tropical House classes.
You can keep the festival vibes going with the new classes that are dropping from Callie Gullickson, Jon Hosking, and Marcel Maurer. They are all on-demand. Live classes are also going to be added to the schedule, so you’re going to be able to dance to your workouts all summer long.
Speaking of dancing, there’s new dance cardio.
Four new classes dropped with Camila Ramon, Hannah Corbin, and Leanne Hainsby-Alldis. They are all going to be on-demand this week. One of them is going to be in Spanish.
It is Pride Month so let’s take a look at what they’ve got in store for you.
It’s a lot. This has been the weirdest Pride rollout they’ve ever done because they did this whole big thing for the Pride ball in Germany and then later, they came out with a Pride ball in the United States, but not on the same day. It’s weird and confusing. Here’s the deal. There are going to be four different genres from allies and artists beyond the binary. That’s the idea. There’s Queer Coded, so you’re going to rock out with allies and artists beyond the binary of gender and sexuality. There’s also going to be Pump the Beat, which is going to be able to celebrate the creativity and imagination of Pride with music deep in vogue.
There’s also HyperPop. Light up the dance floor with electrifying beats that shout here and queer. Not to mention Camp, embrace the flamboyance and playfulness of Pride with these camp classics. All of that is happening. There’s a bunch in Germany. There’s a bunch in the United States. There are Lanebreaks. It’s all over the place. It’s going to be all month long. It’s going to be great.
We also have TS60 that’s out there. We have an article explaining that to people.
It was written by Kimberly Holiday, one of our new writers.
I thought it was like the length of a VHS tape. There was the 60s, the 90s, and the 120s.
That’s true. It’s a good point. It’s been rebranded. It’s been taken over.
He’s competing with Samuel’s video store.
This is called total strength 60. It’s a 60-minute strength class. Andy Speer went on to socials the other day and he talked about why you need to take them and what benefits it has. He goes on for a while, but the main thing that you need to know is that every month there is a different training focus. There will be total strength 60-minute classes every week and each month they build on each other. If you’re looking for programs that are going to help you do progressive overload and get better and stronger, this is a great place to be because every month, you’re going to have a different training focus. That is the cool part. You’re going to be able to work on strength, power, coordination, balance, and better overall athleticism. Make sure you check out the series with Andy Speer.
If you’re looking to venture into the world of marathons, we now have Peloton’s Road to Half Marathon.
People have been looking for this for a long time. This is going to be a 10-week, 52-class collection. I think it’s interesting because Peloton calls it a program, but they put it in collections. Nothing like confusing people. Remember, a program is locked until you go to the next week. I’m glad they didn’t do that because you have a lot more flexibility. You can pick and choose as you want to go. On the other hand, whenever you have structure, you know what classes and how to program it because it’s already been done. That’s the whole point of a program.
Confusing for people who are starting and they may not know exactly where they need to go. It’s 10 weeks of classes. You’re going to get your strength. You’re going to have tempo classes. You’re going to have endurance runs. You’re going to be able to do all of the things you need to do. Remember, it is completely different than taking a marathon training and cutting it in half. That is not the way to approach this. That’s why they didn’t do that or tell people to do that. Don’t do that, Take this and you will have lots of expert guidance from all the different instructors.
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We wanted to bring this up because we found a meditation that we thought was funny.
I don’t even know how you don’t laugh at it.
It’s an NBA pre-game meditation.
What are we meditating about? I love Chelsea whether this was her idea or not.
I’m about to watch a sporting event, so I better meditate first.
Maybe it’s to help you get in the right headspace. It doesn’t matter who wins and we don’t need to be yelling at each other.
I guess you should say that you haven’t taken it. Maybe if you took it, you’d have a different vibe about it. It was a head-scratcher.
I do love Chelsea. I’m sure she has a better take on this than what I have. At first glance, I was like, “What are we doing?” I also thought it was interesting that there was this article. It’s everywhere, but I got the one from Yahoo because it doesn’t require me to sign in for anything. I thought this was meaningful because this article is saying that the NBA is on this rampage to make sure that they are out in front of everyone all the time.
We know that Peloton signed a partnership agreement with them, but I thought it was interesting because I keep seeing these little crayon drawings. I don’t get why Peloton keeps doing them. I haven’t gotten the point of them, and so I still don’t get the point, but I’m not the demo. I do think though that it explains to me why we’re seeing things like a meditation, why we’re seeing things like these weird stories that look like crayon drawings. The NBA is trying to get in front of as many different kinds of people as possible. I thought that was worth pointing out.
I guess it makes sense because, on the one hand, you’re like, “NBA is already huge,” but on the other hand, the Major League Baseball was huge and it’s still huge, but it does not command the focus the way it did twenty years ago. Maybe they fear that Major League Baseball rested on their laurels thinking, “Of course, we will always be the 800-pound gorilla,” and now they’re 600-pound.
That’s true. You can’t blame somebody for trying to stay ahead and keep growing.
Especially in today’s world. It’s so hard to stay in front of people.
There are so many different places to get in front of them.
It used to be there was a handful of outlets. You went to those outlets especially if you had a brand as established as MLB, but those days are over.
Long gone.
Peloton apparel has some new Cadent styles.
It’s just more colors and they have it in brown, black, and navy, so new colors. Apparel is going to have to mix things up. Maybe it’s time to bring back Jill Foley.
I think that’s unlikely.
I know. It’s too bad because I’m bored with the whole thing. It’s been months since I’ve bought anything.
Maybe this isn’t a bad thing.
For you, but I’ve heard other people say that. When we talk about Peloton and what’s best for them, it concerns me because there are sales constantly. It’s not what it used to be when they would put something out and everybody went for it. It was insanity. It was a treasured piece that you had and that is gone. I miss that for Peloton. I think that was a good thing.
I think they see it more as a revenue generator. Before, it was a brand enhancement. It had cache and now everybody has a Peloton leggings or sports bras or what have you.
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Two birthdays. One I missed again in a row.
It was that same week.
Assal Arian on June 9th. We missed that one. Sorry about that. Coming up on June 15th, Joslyn Thompson Rule.
Happy birthday to both.
Coming up after this, we’re going to have our interview. We’re going to talk to Christina Kalie so sit tight.
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Joining us is Christina Kalie. Christina, how’s it going?
Thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited.
Finding Peloton
We’re so excited to have you here. If you listen, you know how I always start these. I want to go back in time. How did you originally find Peloton?
Peloton allows you to see different instructors and get a feel of what they bring to the table. Share on XCrazy enough, someone I went to college with had the Peloton in 2017 or 2018. It’s like the OG group. I knew about it then but being a college student, I was living in a dorm. Peloton wasn’t accessible for me. Flash forward to 2023, I was having the hardest time being an adult trying to schedule my life and fitness classes. We just got a puppy and we’re getting married. There’s so much going on and trying to balance my schedule with boutique fitness, like a studio owner’s schedule.
Are you marrying a puppy? Is that what you just said? They’re cute but draw the line.
There was a comment in there, Tom.
Puppy and fiancé. I was like, “It’s so hard to balance working two jobs, planning a wedding, and dealing with a puppy it’s basically a kid.” It was so hard for me to balance and prioritize fitness in my schedule. I knew about Peloton for years. During the pandemic, everybody had the bike. With the lead times for getting the bikes, it was nearly impossible. We were in the process of buying a house in the pandemic.
Once everything settled down, pulled down, and settled with the dog, I was like, “Let me dive in. Let me look into Peloton.” Surprisingly, the bike, looking at it from an outsider’s point of view, it’s very expensive just looking at the ticket price. I do finance it through a firm and I pay $48 a month for the bike. It’s like, why would you not? I don’t know what took me so long but I got it.
You can get 0% financing so many times too. Why would you not do that? Take your time. Some people can’t even afford that. I’m not knocking it like you can’t if you can, but if you can, it’s a great way to do it.
It’s more affordable to do that than doing a series of barre classes with a class pass or something. For me, it made the most sense to do it that way and I’m paying for it. I use it every day. Why would you not? I’m like, “Why did I take so long?” It is 10 out of 10.
It’s funny, I feel like that’s a conversation we had quite frequently in the first few years of the episode of people talking about doing the math and realizing the sticker price seems high, but the value proposition, when you break it out per month and class, it is significantly cheaper than trying to do that through a gym.
Now more than ever. You can get so many different kinds of classes. It’s a good deal.
Also, different kinds of bikes. Not just bike and Bike+. You can get refurbished. They made it so much easier to buy on the secondary market with the little tool they’ve got now. It used to be like, “It’s $2,200. Suck it.” Now they have a lot of different ways to access that or buy a different bike totally.
Use your iPad.
That’s what I do with the tread. I am probably buying the tread very soon, but that’s what I do with the tread now. I hook up my iPad, put my headphones in, and go. That’s the nice thing about them too.
Dogs
I have to ask what puppy you got though. I feel like that’s an important thing we skipped over. I need to know.
Goldendoodle. Her name is Malie. She’s something.
She didn’t try to chew up your cord on your bike or anything.
Thankfully not. That is the one thing. She has severe separation anxiety. Our bike is in our basement. I like to ride when my fiancé is home. I don’t have to leave her and put her in the crate and not let her free room because that scares me. I would not want something to happen to her or my equipment.
We used to have a dog, Marshall. Marshall was the weirdest dog because he had severe separation anxiety except for when we were home.
He acted like we beat him all the time. He always had this mopey look. He was like if Eeyore came to life in a dog. It was Marshall.
What dog was he?
It was like a German Shepherd but black. He was all black and gray. When he barked, he had the biggest bark. People thought he was going to eat them.
He sounded ferocious. We almost didn’t adopt him because he barked and we were like, “That’s too much dog for us,” but then he sat there and was like, “Now what?” We’re like, “Okay, Marshall.”
I’m such a dog, so I had to ask.
Do you have your own voice that you do when you talk to the dog?
Absolutely. If someone heard me, they’d be like, “What is this girl doing? What is wrong with her?”
The voice I always did for Marshall was and this is deep nerd stuff. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the TV show from the BBC. There’s a robot who’s a clinically depressed robot. He’s supposed to have a brain the size of a planet but they only have him ever do butler things. He would always walk around and be like, “Brain the size of a planet. They have me opening doors.” That was Marshall.
Dogs are so special.
Riding Peloton
They are. Back to Peloton, when you decided to get the bike, what had your fitness life been up until that point? Was it just dabbling? Did you workout all the time? How did that work for you?
Growing up, I did competitive cheerleading. I was in the pre-professional ballet space. I always grew up doing something. I did track and field in middle school and high school. I always had something going on. The pandemic happened and I was like, “I need to workout more.” I went to school for athletic training. I had a science kinesiology background. I was like, “Post-graduation, let’s dive deep in. Let’s do this.” I was working out on YouTube with a trainer, Sydney Cummings. She’s amazing. I love her stuff. After you do the same person for the same like a good amount of time. It was not redundant, but it was like I was looking for something more.
I’m a little worried about your upcoming marriage.
He’d be hysterical. I felt like her workouts were great for me but that was the pandemic time in my life and I needed to advance forward and doing different boutique fitness classes and trying to coordinate my schedule with other people’s schedules. I start my day at 5:00 in the morning. I get home from work at 4:30 in the afternoon.
Am I going to job two? Am I doing social media stuff? What am I doing? It’s like, “Let me go to a fitness class.” It was a lot to balance, then I cooked dinner, showered, went to sleep, and got my life all over again. For me, I’d say like pretty high level of fitness then we got the dogs. It’s like having a baby. It’s like going downhill. I don’t know what that’s like, but I could assume it’s a lot just from a puppy.
It’s like that on testosterone because it keeps growing and developing. You have eighteen years of it. With a dog, they get to a certain point where they’re on autopilot. You know what to expect. You have your routine but kids will constantly change up on you. You think you know, then they turn into teenagers, then it’s a whole new world.
I’m not looking forward to that but the dog was enough. Once you hit the year mark, it was like, “Let’s dive in. Let’s do this.”
You mentioned in our off-screen topics when we were going back and forth that you feel so much better now that you’ve done Peloton. I want to hear more about that. What way? Why? How did that happen?
Mentally, I feel like I’m in such a good headspace. Not that I wasn’t before but now I jump with the crazy endorphins that pump through your body when you’re doing these classes. I feel happier. People have mentioned it to me. They’re like, “You just seem so much happier.” Not that I wasn’t happy before, but from doing these classes, you’re in this community and connecting with people on the leaderboard. I didn’t smile. Talking to you guys, I feel so much better. You the physical side of things too. You’re doing crazy amounts of workouts. You’re breaking up these classes, mentally and physically like in such a better place than what I was up to before.
That makes sense.
That’s one of those compliments that you have to stop and make sure it’s a compliment.
My supervisor came up to me and he was like, “Christina, I’ve never seen you not smiling.” If I don’t smile, I think people think I’m mean. I’m just going to keep smiling.
That resonates with me because I get that a lot. Although, my face transforms quite a bit when I don’t smile. It’s been drilled into me to smile all the time. It’s like beyond resting b*tch face. I look like, “Grrr.”
Active b*tch face.
It is active b*tch face. I smile all the time.
It sounds like when we were in New York. I’ll talk to you as I’m on deck and I’m like, “I need to practice my faces.” Sometimes when you’re writing it’s hard. They’re like Kendall in one of her classes. She’s like, “Show me your teeth. Give me a grin.” I’m practicing my faces because I’m like, “What if someone like see my face and it’s not nice?”
That’s such a sad thing that I’ve only ever heard women worry about.
Men never worry about that because men don’t have to worry about being approachable. Men can say whatever they want, do whatever they want, and get away with it. With women, no. There will be hell to pay. Tom’s changing the subject.
I’m like, “This road ends with me getting yelled at.”
He’s like, “I am changing the subject.”
Vlog
Moving right along. It says you got a vlog. Let’s talk about that.
What got you started with that?
I started doing TikTok around the pandemic. I had a couple of videos go pretty viral. I was doing a lot of different content. It was niche but it wasn’t niche. It was Lululemon. It was like shop with me and fun silly stuff. That adds up after a while. You’re not making money off of things and just doing it. You have this community that’s behind you. When I got the bike, I was like, “I can make some friends doing this. I can make a journal and be accountable and use this as my online diary.”
I was like, “I try to get content out every day. Let me go ahead and film these videos. Take classes that people are asking me to do, and let’s run with it and see how it goes.” I started riding my Peloton every day. I’m also like 250 now. It’s so funny when my friends see me and they’re like, “What day are you on now?” Everybody knows and it’s so funny. I feel like it’s built such an awesome community. I have so many friends on the leaderboard now who have followed me on TikTok. They’re like getting me.
They go back to the beginning and watch all of them with you?
Yes.
That’s fun. Has that changed how you interact with the classes? Over time as people have started following you or asking for classes, has it changed what you perceive coming at you from Peloton or how you interact with it?
Yes and no. Thankfully, when I’m picking on my phone and vlogging the two-second portion of the class. It does make me stop and think like, “They said something funny. I wish I got that on T.” When we were at the studios on Monday, I wasn’t thinking about vlogging. I was living in the moment and having fun. In a way, I feel like it does take away from my experience because I’m focusing on vlogging it, getting it off, and getting the right piece of content and that little snippet of the class. At the same time, I feel like I’ve been like, “Give me recommendations on classes,” or like, “I just took this. I loved it. If you haven’t taken it yet, go ahead and bookmark that for your staff leader.”
That also resonates with me because it’s like you want to try to make everything accessible to everyone. Back when we first started the show, there were so many people that couldn’t get to the studio. They couldn’t even go to like a store. It’s returning to that world now but there were many people that wanted to know, what is it like at the studio? What does it look like? How does it feel?
We didn’t have a lot of ability to see that. When we would go to Homecoming or something like that, we had to put a lot of content out. I felt obligated to not like somebody made me do it. To your point, it does take you out of that moment because you want to make sure and get that for everybody else. It is a little hard to do both at the same time.
It’s like producing that good content that you want to put out and not just posting something because you have to. If the instructor says something, I’m like, “That’s so funny. I wish I got that on tape.” I’m like, “Whatever. I’m not going back. We are moving forward with this.” Cody is going to say something funny. Kendall is going to say something funny.” I get you on that.
Other Classes And Studio Experience
Do you take any of the other classes or do you just bike and tread?
I love the form classes. It’s with Ally Love. They are my favorite. I worked at a bar studio for a little bit of time and I love bar. When I saw that these classes were so readily accessible and they were all different lengths of time, I was like, “Yes, I am pumped. Let’s do it.” I love her classes. I love the strength classes. Adding on a good ten-minute arms after a workout or on the bike, adding a ten-minute arms on. It’s simple and effective. I love that. She has stretching classes too. The post-ride stretches have elevated the game for me and adding that on quickly for a little five-minute post-ride stretch onto my staff has changed the game.
You were talking about visiting the studio. Was that your first time in the studio?
I was part of the group that was invited with the newcomers
Friday First Timers.
I was in the group that was invited to Kendall’s original class. We got the date changed. I had like total PTSD when I got the email but it was like, “The date has been changed.” It went from the 22nd to the 29th. I had to delete my PTO and re-add in my PTO. My supervisor was like, “What is wrong with this girl?” We ended up changing the date then we got the notification that the class had changed from 30 minutes to 45 minutes. It got changed from Kendall to Emma.
Kendall was still at a hotel or stagecoach. Whatever she was at. We took the class with Emma and I literally cannot express enough how amazing that class was. We all were expecting it to be Kendall since February but Emma is so amazing. She’s so iconic. We’re like, “Let’s do this. Let’s go.” My fiancé, Brent, got invited to come into the class with us. He’s the nicest person. He was talking to the security guard. The security guard was like, “I watch the platform on TV.” The girls out front that were doing the check-ins.
He ran to the restroom and came back. One of the girls came out and they were like, “We have one bike available. Do you want to take the class?” He’s never ridden Peloton once and it was a 45-minute ride. I’m sitting there with the girls that I know from online and somebody comes up and taps me on the shoulder. It was him. I was like, “Are you coming to say hi? What’s going on?” He’s like, “I’m taking this class.” I’m like, “No, you are not. You’re not taking this class. You’re kidding me. It’s 45 minutes. You’re going to die.”
He’s a natural athlete, so I knew he was going to be fine. He’s like, “Take it.” Keep in mind, slipping in and slipping out. That’s a whole entire thing in itself for somebody who’s never been there and the class is starting in five minutes. I’m like, “Good thing you were dressed in fitness clothes because you were going to walk around New York after.” I’m like, “You lucky, duck. People probably couldn’t get into these classes there or fighting tooth and nail to get into these classes.” There, he was strolling in like, “I’m here.” The whole time, I walked to him behind me.
I kept turning around. I’m like, “Is he dead? Is he okay?” It was his best life. I love that for you. He went home, bought shoes, and now he’s riding my bike. Amazing. Now we’re like, “Let’s buy the tread. That’s where we’re riding.” They know what they’re doing there. They know what they’re doing at Pelton Studios. They know.
They do. It’s the best crew at the studio. They take such good care of everybody.
I like New York. I’m close to New York but I’m like, “Do you have the anticipation like all New Yorkers?” Everybody’s so cutthroat. They’re like, “Let me take a photo of you. Do you need help with the adjustment of your bike settings? Do you need another top?” The nicest people in the world. I could not believe it. Even to get a tour of the studio. I was expecting to go in and be like, “Here you go, figure it out.” They’re like, “They have somebody waiting for you. They’re going to take you on a tour.” I’m like, “They do?”
That’s right. I do want to say for people reading, that is probably because you got the invite because that was the first time you were there. That is not something they do for everyone.
Set expectations.
I’m sorry.
No, you’re fine. I just want to make sure people know that.
I truly got caught off guard by that though.
The reason that your husband got in is because are you folks married at this point? You are married, right?
October is when we’ll get married.
I’m sorry, your fiancé. He probably got in because they had a waitlist open up last minute. If they didn’t have anybody there to fill up that spot, then they’d offer it to people. That’s why like I’m always trying to spread the word, “Getting in on the waitlist is the best way to do it.”
There probably wasn’t a waitlist if it was an invite-only class.
They still open up the spots.
It would be like a secret.
If a person says they can’t go, they’ll open it up to the public. That’s what they’ll do.
That’s what they said to him. They were like, “We have it. You’re here. We’re offering it to you. If you don’t want it, we are going to extend this out but you’re the first person that we see. You have someone in that class. Do you want to take it with her?” He’s like, “Yes.” I’m like, “How did that happen?”
He’s a lucky guy.
Now he’s like, “They just got another person.” That’s awesome.
Leaderboard Name
What is your leaderboard name?
My leaderboard name is Christinaakaay.
Is there a special reason for that?
Funny story, I got Instagram back when I was in 9th grade when Instagram was just coming to life. I was sitting there with my friends and I was like, “I need a name.” I kept going back and forth on the username. Everybody always calls me Christina K. I was like, “I could put on another A to the name Christina then just spell out K.” I was like, there are two As in the Christina, so I’ll add two As and a Y. It’s so dumb but now it’s something that’s stuck with me. To this day, I still use the same thing.
It’s your brand now.
Got to stick with it.
Although, when you get married, will you take his name? Will that be a whole thing?
I am taking his name but I’m like, “Now people know me as Christinaakaay. Kendall gave me two shout-outs in class, “The one there is Christinaakaay. I can’t change my name now.”
No, you can’t.
Maybe you can get him to change his name.
There you go.
That’s right. He should change his name. Those are all the fees.
You got him into a Peloton class. I feel like he owes you that.
He does. He could be BrentKalie. I love that.
You could both pick a whole new last name.
We could put them together.
There you go.
You’re last name could be Peloton.
Even better.
Preferred Instructor
Do you have a preferred instructor?
I’ve been touched in a lot and everybody says the same thing and I’m going to say the same thing. I feel like I like so many different instructors for different reasons. My top five are Emma, Kendall, Cody, Ally Love, and Olivia. They all do awesome things. They’re so different, but I like all their music choices. I love their personalities. Everybody brings something different to the table. Those are my five riders.
That’s a good combo. I like that you have five that are your top go-tos. I’m sure you still take classes with lots of other instructors. I feel like when there’s such a huge list of instructors, we all have a couple that we super hone into. Those are just the ones you connect with the most.
They’re the ones that I’m always taking on live classes. Every Wednesday, I’m taking it if it’s a good class. I look at the schedule and I’m like, “We’re doing a Cody 5:30 class on a Friday. Emma had her live class on Friday.” I look at the schedule and I’m like, “This sits under my schedule. I’m going to take it live.” If not, then I’m going to bookmark it and save it for later.
Advice For Newbies
Do you have any advice for people entering the world of Peloton like your fiancé?
I’m petty new to Peloton myself as I’ve only had the bike not even a year yet. The biggest thing for me was I love taking the You Can Ride series that they offer. They have it for the rower and the tread. For the bike, it’s three weeks and three classes. You get to see the different instructors and get a feel for what their music is like and what they have to offer and bring to the table.
I like that because I was able to take different classes, like lengths and styles. I was able to see everybody. loved doing that. I would recommend getting the bike and starting with that, and then adding in those beginner rides, the advanced beginner rides, and starting with that. Getting a feel for what instructor you connect with the most or what group of instructors you connect with the most.
As I said before, add in those extra stretches, the post-ride stretch, post-ride, pull-downs, and the warmups. All of those are great to add to that as you’re getting your body prepared for the class, then you’re able to pull yourself down and get your heart rate going. We can all use a good stretch. Adding that has changed the game for me.
Very good advice.
Thank you so much for joining us. Before we let you go, remind everybody where they can find you in all the places.
Including your vlog.
On TikTok, it’s just my name, Christina Kalie. On Instagram and my Peloton leaderboard name, it is Christinaakaay.
Episode Wrap-Up
Thank you so much for joining us.
Thank you so much for having me.
‐‐‐
I guess that brings this episode to a close. Until next week, where can we find you?
You can find me on Facebook at Facebook.com/crystaldokeefe. You can find me on the other socials and the leaderboard @ClipOutCrystal.
You can find me in Hawaii. Would you care to join me?
I would.
You can also find me on Twitter @RogerQBert or Facebook at Facebook.com/tomokeefe. You can find the show online at Facebook.com/TheClipOut. While you’re there, like the page, join the group, and if you can’t get enough of us, there are more of us over on Patreon at Patreon.com/TheClipOut, where you get bonus content and ad-free episodes. If we get it early, you get it early. Come join us, won’t you? Until then, keep pedaling and running and rowing.
Important Links
- Christina Kalie – X
- Christina Kalie – TikTok
- Thousands of so-called zombie companies barely surviving due to debt: ‘They’re going to get crushed‘ – article
- Apple Podcasts – The Clip Out
- Spotify – The Clip Out
- iHeart – The Clip Out
- TuneIn – The Clip Out
- The Clip Out – Patreon
- The Clip Out – Facebook
- The Clip Out – YouTube
- Dr. Jenn Mann
- The Relationship Fix: Dr. Jenn’s 6-Step Guide to Improving Communication, Connection and Intimacy
- @DrJennMann – Instagram
- @crystaldokeefe – Facebook
- @ClipOutCrystal – Instagram
- @RogerQBert – Twitter
- @tomokeefe – Facebook
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