• You can now save your shoutout!
• Peloton launches new instructor pages.
• The screen freeze issue appears to have been fixed.
• Four showrooms closed this month.
• Will we see menopause programming at Peloton?
• Helper Bee Lindsey recaps Lulu Members’ Weekend at PSNY.
• Mainstream outlets covering instructors leaving.
• Cody Rigsby joins the Monsters Inc. universe.
• Mariana Fernandez completes triathlon.
• Ash Pryor featured in Women’s Health.
• The latest artist series features Lil Jon.
• Nike and Hyperice unveil tech-enabled footwear.
• NordicTrack finalizes class action settlement.
• TCO Top 5.
• This Week at Peloton.
• The Weight Bench is here.
• This and That.
• Spiritual Gangster is back.
• Birthdays – Katie Wang (6/25)

All this plus our interview with Stephanie Forte!

—

Watch the episode here

 

Listen to the podcast here

 

You Can Now Save Your Shoutout Plus Our Interview With Stephanie Forte!

We are back from Hawaii.

Our real life has encroached. I am no longer in a good mood.

It was nice while it lasted. I look forward to us having another seven days of that in a year.

I was hoping we might find time for that before then.

Through Christmas.

We go to the Podcast Movement. We also have the marathon. We will have fun that weekend.

You are not going to have fun that weekend. You are going to be so stressed out. I know how this works.

This is me being uncomfortable. I think it will be full of ups and downs. I don’t think it will be all stress all weekend. I think I will have fun and be stressed.

I think once it’s over, you will be like, “That was fun,” but in the moment, you’ll be like, “Oh my God, what if I don’t do it?”

I’ll do that for sure. I always do that.

That’s how Big Sur was. That’s how Atlantic City was. That’s how Alabama was.

Fine, whatever. Alabama, I was sick. Big Sur was twelve weeks to the day after getting hit by a car with not nearly enough training. I have every right to feel that way.

My point is you don’t have fun at the moment.

I will have some fun.

You will look back fondly. Anyway, we’re back from Hawaii. We will talk more about that on the Patreon episode. We’ll not bore you with that here. We’ll bore you over there. We’ll charge you money to be bored. Although we did ask like, “Patreon people, do you even give a shit?” They were like, “No, that sounds fun. Let’s hear your little adventures,” so I’m like, “We don’t want to bore people.” Let’s do our Bingo call-out before we forget.

Only a few weeks left. We’re almost done with this thing. The first bingo is Emma Lovewell.

Who are we talking to on this episode?

Stephanie Forte. That was a delightful conversation. People will enjoy this interview. I’m looking forward to that.

What pray tell do you have in store for people?

There is so much. I don’t know what is going on over at Peloton, but the news keeps coming out. We have a lot to discuss. New things have dropped. We have new items that are showing up on website pages. We also have updates that are coming up to issues that people have had on the platform, and showroom closings. We haven’t updated that in a while. I felt like we should.

We’ve had some great articles that have led to interesting discussions within The Clip Out that we wanted to share with people like menopause programming, and an overview of what happened at the Lulu Members’ Weekend. There was some confusion. Not to mention there’s a lot of Peloton stuff. There’s a whole bunch of outlets covering the instructors leaving and things are coming out about that. Cody and his new movie. There’s Mariana and her triumphant triathlon.

Cody is technically a TV show.

I keep forgetting that’s a TV show. I see Monster’s Inc. and I think of the movie. That’s fair. We also have some competitor news. We have the newest artist series. We’re going to be hitting on some content that we wanted to cover as well.

Before we get to all that, shameless plugs. Don’t forget, we’re available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, iHeart, 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 is super helpful and greatly appreciated. We had a review recently. I will share that here now. They are from Canada. It says, “What an enjoyable surprise.” This is so Canadian. It’s a polite way to say, “I thought this was going to suck.” The Canadian spin is, “What a pleasant surprise.”

The real takeaway is it didn’t suck.

It says, “Five stars. Don’t get me wrong. I love all things Peloton, but I never anticipated watching a show about Peloton and having so much fun. It’s packed with the most interesting news, but the gems are the hosts, Crystal and Tom. What a light to hear them talk. I love it.” Thank you very much. if you want to leave a review, we’d love to see it and read it if it’s appropriate. You can also find us on Facebook at Facebook.com/TheClipOut. While you’re there, like the page and join the group. You can find us on Patreon at Patreon.com/TheClipOut.

You got the right show this time.

I did. I got it wrong on Reel Spoilers if it makes you feel any better. I said The Clip Out over there. They were like, “What?” I was like, “What, dude?” We recorded Reel Spoilers on our way back from Hawaii. We had a six-hour layover in Phoenix. We got on a plane at 9:00 PM local time in Hawaii and landed at 6:00 AM in Arizona.

To our bodies, it was like 2:00 in the morning.

 

I then recorded Reel Spoilers in the middle of all that layover.

That would have been 3:00 AM local time.

In an American Airlines lounge with the shittiest Wi-Fi. They did have a nice business center, but the Wi-Fi was a joke so I flipped it to my hotspot, then I blew all my hotspot data for the month. I was like, “Dude, you better slow your roll. I’m high. You’re lucky I’m even here. I saw a movie while I was in Hawaii so we could talk about this.” We saw it twice because it was good. It was Inside Out 2. It’s all balancing out. It’s the yin and the yang thing.

Anyway, Patreon is a nice way to support the show. A lot of costs go in with this with the website, the articles, and all that. For $5 a month, you get all sorts of bonus content. We record a new episode every week except for whether we have a Hawaii exclusion, but there will be one now that we’re back. You get another 20 to 25 minutes of content every week. If we get an episode early, you get it early. Regular episodes like this are entirely ad-free. You’ll help us out and that’s super appreciated.

Another thing you can do if you want to help the show but don’t want to throw money at us is if you see a story, you share it somewhere. That’s super helpful. That goes such a long way. I know it doesn’t feel like a lot, but it is. Also, we have a newsletter, which I’ll get back to sending out. You can sign up for it at TheClipOut.com. Don’t forget, you can watch all these episodes over at YouTube.com/TheClipOut. There’s all that. Let’s dig in, shall we?

We shall.

‐‐‐

I think this is delightful. You can now save your shout-outs. You no longer have to get your weird phone filming the screen.

That’s tough to do because you got to do it. A lot of people can’t do that on Android. It’s pretty much an iPhone-only thing unless somebody else happens to be recording it. It’s a pain in the butt.

How does this work?

How it works is you get a shout-out in the class, and then after the class is done, you get an email with that shout-out. You can view and download it for 30 days, then you can share it on socials once you’ve downloaded it. #PelotonShoutOuts. That’s what they say to do.

I saw somebody in the comments somewhere shitting on it. They’re like, “The company is losing so much money on this.”

That irritated me. I saw that and that comment was pretty frustrating to me because the way I interpreted it was that Peloton should be doing only things that make money. Here’s the deal. If you make the platform stickier and more engaging, those are people that are going to stick around.

You’re getting your members to push the content in front of other people.

Now you’re using a hashtag and sharing it on socials.

Is there a one-to-one correlation between someone sharing this and revenue being generated? No, but I don’t know that there’s hardly anything that has a one-to-one correlation. This is something people have wanted for a long time even if they didn’t know they wanted it.

I don’t think people even knew this was an option to ask for. They just wanted it to be kept forever, and now you can keep it forever.

I feel like it eliminates a sizeable portion of the complaints about class purges because people are like, “But that’s the one where they said my name,” and so then now you can get it. There’s going to be a lead time.

There are thousands or millions of shout-outs that have been missed, but that’s a whole other story. At least now you have the option.

It’s like turning in your homework, better late than never. I think that’s very spiffy. Do you have to do something, or will it know that you got shouted out?

In theory, it’ll know. I did see someone complaining also because it’s the internet. Somebody said, “The instructor didn’t say my name right so why would I even want that?” If the instructor said your name wrong, what happens in the background that knows where to send it to? That’s the question I had. How do they know? I would think it’s based on AI or something in the background that’s grabbing this automatically.

The only other thing I can think is somehow the instructor on their interface can check the people they’re shouting out and it knows to send them something.

Maybe, but the instructors are already doing so much, I cannot imagine, but they also have all those producers and people that maybe are doing it. I don’t know but I would think that since it’s connected to your email address, then as long as they know what your leaderboard name is and it’s connected to an email that you check, you should be fine. If it’s not connected to an email, that sucks for you. You’re never going to get it. That’s a you-problem.

We also have brand new instructor pages that have been completely re-thinked.

They’re gorgeous. So far, only three instructors have them as of when we’re recording. That could change by the time this episode goes live.

They wanted to make sure that they were going to stick around. They did the three that they knew were going to be around next week, and then they’re ticking them off one at a time.

They go through and make sure the contract has been renegotiated first. Just kidding, guys. It’s okay. We’re past the contract negotiations for the year. Aditi Shah, Hannah Corbin, and Ally Love are the three that have been done. It’s cool because you open the web, you open their instructor page, and it shows a video of them teaching. It’s a snippet of that, and then it goes into this description of all the collections this instructor is featured in, and then it has a little bit of personal information about them

There’s the home address, social security number, and medical records.

No, not yet. It does have what they do outside of Peloton. I thought it was interesting. I read on Hannah’s today and this blew my mind. It was like, “Look for an upcoming thing that she’s going to be selling,” like a deck of cards like some kind of game or something. I was like, “What? What are we doing?” That was for Hannah Corbin, then it also has a listing of the hashtags that these instructors are popular with. Aditi might have like Pilates moms and Peloton moms, and then maybe Hannah Corbin had country moms. I’m making this up. I don’t even know that those hashtags exist.

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The point is you can get a flavor of where they are. It also has a breakdown of what music they play by genre. It’s like 40% pop, 20% this, and then it has the artists that are their go-tos. I thought all of that was cool because if you’re new to the platform and you’re trying to check out what instructor you want to try, this gives you a good way to see. You have the names of these collections. You have where they’re featured. It highlights and is very engaging for each of these instructors. In a way, that’s very boring and flat, and this is beautiful, in 3D, and pulls you in.

The page was very sticky. There are a lot of things to engage with and check out on the page whereas before, it was like, “We have an instructor. Here’s a bio.”

It was like a Wikipedia. These are engaging and fresh colors. Every instructor seems to have a different color scheme, which is also cool.

There’s video and there’s movement. You showed it to me and I was like, “That’s spiffy.” I think you know me well enough to know I don’t just throw around a word like spiffy.

You don’t. You’re very choosy about your spiffers.

You should be happy, Peloton.

Peloton appreciates that. Another thing that it does is each instructor has a link on it that gives a person who is new to the platform a 30-day trial so they can try out that instructor.

Can you do that over and over again for all 52 instructors like, “I haven’t tried out this instructor yet?”

No, that’s not a thing. It has their catchphrases on it too. I think that’s fun. If they teach the bike and the tread, it shows both of those things, which is nice because as we’ve been talking about there’s a lot more, and there’s a lot more of that. I’m excited about this. It’s one of those things that people are not even going to pay attention to. It’s not going to get the love that it deserves, and it deserves a lot of love because it’s spiffy.

I think one spiffy was plenty. Let’s not go overboard. You have to slow your roll. Plant your feet but don’t dig deep.

I got a little free with spiffy. Sorry.

For the past several weeks, there have been reoccurring issues with people with older monitors having their screens freeze. People have been very upset about that, and that appears to have been fixed.

According to a tweet that I got from Jason Weigel, he says that it’s been fixed. “The latest software update seems to have fixed the screen freezing. I’m glad to be back in the saddle.” I hope that is the case for everyone. Peloton wasn’t listing this as one of their issues, so I can’t track it that way.

It seemed to be happening exclusively with older monitors. My gut says you’re closer to the end of that monitor’s lifecycle than the beginning. You’ve bought yourself a little bit of time but know that the sword of Damocles is hanging over your head.

Facts.

Four showrooms have closed this month.

It brought us to a new milestone. Short Hills Mall, Austin, White Plains, and Jacksonville all closed this month. That brings us down to 30 showrooms left in the United States. It’s crazy because I remember at a high, it was like 68 at one point. I know it was at least 68. It may have even gone above that. I’m just talking about the United States. That’s specific to that but it’s getting to be a pretty short list over there.

You wonder how many more are only alive because they signed multi-year rental deals and so they might as well write it out.

I also think it’s interesting that Peloton does not list any Dick’s Sporting Goods. I don’t know if that has gone away in the US. The reason I say that is because I noticed that for the Germany listings, the UK listings, and the Australia listings, they have all of these partnerships with stores and they’re listed there. Does that mean that the Dick’s Sporting Goods partnership is no more, or does it mean they’re only selling online? They’re not selling in stores, or does it mean that’s not part of the agreement and they don’t list it on their website? I don’t know. More questions than answers, but there you go.

We spent years debating whether or not we should have a pause button. Now the question is, should we have a menopause button?

Can I take a moment to celebrate Howie Godnick?

He would have appreciated that long walk.

He would have. There’s been a lot of talk about Howie this week, which I’m not going to get into, but that made me think of him. I had to say that. I miss Howie very much. Anyway, menopause. There have been a lot of instructors who have been talking about menopause and perimenopause, and their own journey through those. In addition to that, we have long since been talking about it because I am in the midst of perimenopause.

Stacy Sims taught me a lot through her books. She was also on the show and we interviewed her. I feel like Stacy has been one of the biggest proponents of getting across the fact to the entire world that women and men are not the same. When we’re talking about fitness, being an athlete, how our bodies recover, and how we react to things, women are not the same as men. Her studies have led to this conversation directly.

There are a lot of doctors out in this space talking about this right now. I follow several doctors on Instagram who are talking about these things. All of that to say, there’s no real Peloton programming for menopause. We got to talking about it internally when you have all of these instructors talking about it and starting to have these conversations publicly. Does that mean that there’s something on the horizon? That’s the big question. We don’t have answers, but we hope that they do. We hope that we see sit training and heavy strength training that is specific to women.

Peloton is always skewed female. It seems like a very logical progression.

We’ll get to this when we talk about instructors leaving a little bit later, but one of the touchy points about that is that 2 of the 3 people who left were older instructors. Is that sending a signal? I didn’t take it that way. I took it as if it had more to do with yoga and a person who wanted more money than they should have been asking for. That was what I took.

I would agree with that.

I don’t know if that’s the case. If that question is out there to some people, it’s probably more people than I even realized having that discussion. I feel like it’s worth a mention. I hope that Peloton sees the need and the want for this. I hope they see people having these discussions. I hope that it is in the works. That’s all.

 

There was recently the Lulu Members’ Weekend at PSNY and there were some issues.

Questions or just confusion because Lulu came out and said they were going to have another one of these weekends and it’s probably going to be in the fall. One of the questions that came up a lot was how do I get invited? Part of the reason that this got so confusing was these responses. This is all from Lulu on their socials.

The first one says, “The first step is to register with our Lululemon membership program, then stay tuned to hear about future events. Be sure to stay tuned to our social accounts and sign up for product notifications. Invites for our membership weekend and summer series are sent through email notifications.”

This goes on and they keep changing every time. “We’re loving your curiosity, be sure to keep tabs on our socials.” Here’s the final word, “This was an invite-only offering that was extended to a limited group of members. Please know we’re grateful for your feedback. Be sure to stay tuned for future events online or in your area.” Here’s another thing that was weird about this. There were hundreds of pictures taken, so people said, “Where can we get our pictures?” You can’t. They’ve literally said, “Enjoy your memories.”

#SuckIt.

Thank God Trish was there and took all of her amazing photos. We would have no coverage of the event otherwise.

That’s so weird.

The other weird thing about this is that you can download the Lululemon app if you have an iPhone. It does not exist for Android at all. You can then sign in and check out the free classes that are available to essential members. That’s their free tier. There were several that were recorded on Members’ Weekend and they use the word exclusive a lot. The thing is they’re not because they’re available on the Peloton platform to everyone who’s a Peloton member. One last thing, if you were like, “What are their other membership tiers?” There is an all-access tier, but that was only related to Lululemon Studio, which was formerly known as Mirror, which is only for current subscribers. You cannot get it if you want a new subscription. It does not exist.

You’re grandfathered in, but that’s it.

We felt like we needed to address the fact that there were way more questions than answers because the biggest question we got was how do I get invited? There’s no answer to that. By luck, that’s it. It’s all I got for you.

It’s like getting a tour of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.

It’s wackadoo.

It’s Wonkadoo.

Fair enough.

Stick around. Coming up after this, we’re going to talk about Cody’s venture into the world of Disney/Pixar. We’re also going to talk about how mainstream non-Peloton outlets are covering the exodus. Sit tight unless you’re a Patreon subscriber, in which case, it’ll start right now.

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There was all sorts of coverage about the exodus. I think it’s funny that we use exodus in our title and here, the Us Magazine also refers to it as an exodus. It’s been interesting to watch that unfold.

I feel like we need to start with Jess King’s comments that were addressed on page 6. She was giving an interview. I think it was for the Cannes thing. I don’t know where she was. She was doing something as part of dropping her big new platform that she was having. They were having a conversation about all the things she was doing. They were like, “What about all these instructors leaving?” Jess King seemed very awkward when this conversation came up.

They said, “How do you feel about it?” She said, “I love my teammates. Everyone has their own reasons and unique experiences for how they navigate the Peloton landscape and their careers and professionally. As I said, there have never been any bad apples. I’m so sad to see all of my teammates go. I love them deeply, but in the same way, I’m not concerned that they’re not in my life anymore.” People jumped on that last sentence.

There are two ways to hear that. There’s a way to hear where she says, “I’m not concerned that they’re not in my life like they are going to stay in my life,” and then there’s the version to say, “They’re gone and I don’t care.” I think there are two ways to hear it. Either they’re going to stay in her life and it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t concern her, or it’s like, “Who gives a shit?”

I took it as the second, but not so harsh. I took it as “I don’t have anything else to say here and it’s weird and I want to move on to the next question.” It was awkward for her. I think it caught her very off guard. I think she was trying to bring it to an end and it wasn’t quite as eloquent as it could have been. I don’t think there was anything other than, “It doesn’t affect my life,” not in a shitty way.

I have co-workers that used to work at the Arena and now they don’t and I’m like, “Okay.”

It’s not the first time instructors left Peloton.

There have been a lot and in quick successions. It feels like it means something more than it probably does.

I think a lot of people are betting on that. That takes us to the other article. You have Us Magazine talking about the fact that people are super upset about all these instructors leaving. You have to take this with a little bit of a grain of salt. AI clearly wrote this article because they have Kendall Toole who teaches running and treadmill classes. No, she doesn’t. She has never touched the treadmill. I only say that because this is what happens when you have somebody who’s not familiar with Peloton or AI writing about it. It goes on and on about how devastating that is, and then it also called Robin Arzon as the Grand Dame of Peloton. That sounds very AI to me.

It’s not necessarily wrong, but that’s old-timey talk.

They talked about two instructors being let go in 2022, Chase Tucker and Daniel McKenna. They say nothing about Oliver Lee. We’ll leave it at that.

I think unless you’re into Peloton, I don’t think people remember Oliver Lee. He was there for such a blip and they swept it under the rug so quickly. He’s been lost to time. If that had happened today, that would be in every newspaper in America.

That could be. Anyway, sorry, I don’t want to go down that road.

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I know. I get that.

I was also thinking that it’s interesting that Us Magazine picked up on Daniel McKenna commenting on Kendall’s exit. He put yes, freedom, except super dramatically with lots of letters.

They used Braveheart GIF. He didn’t, but it’s on brand.

Yes, it is. The other interesting thing is when Kristin McGee left and then she posted that it’s not okay to stay somewhere where you aren’t valued and appreciated, which we talked about last episode. I think it’s interesting that Us Magazine picked it up. There are a lot of people that are seeing this and thinking this and I don’t know. Does it mean anything other than contract negotiations? We already talked about the fact, and I will repeat what we said last week succinctly, and that is I think there was more to Kristin McGee leaving. That’s all I’m going to say about that.

In my mind, the way this breaks down is Peloton is not as excited about yoga as they are about cycling, and I still say Kendall asked for what they thought was too much money. Some people might hear that and think she deserves every dollar. Sure, whatever, but they didn’t think so. All three of those can be seen as not being valued and appreciated. If you think you’re worth X and the company says you’re worth Y, and those two numbers are far apart, you don’t feel valued and appreciated.

Now what do you do?

You leave, and that’s what they did. I don’t know, but I think it’s interesting that it’s getting all this coverage.

Cody Rigsby is a monster.

He has a new animated character. If you couldn’t get enough of Cody, you now have the option to see him on a TV show, not a movie.

Or hear him.

That’s true. You could see a caricature.

I don’t think it’s a caricature of him.

I don’t mean that it looks like him. I feel like when they animate and they have voices, it always has a little bit of that person’s personality.

Sometimes it does, but I don’t know if that looks like him.

It doesn’t look like him. I didn’t mean it like that. I meant that the character might feel like you’re looking at him. You’re hearing his voice and it has what I can only assume are going to be his mannerisms. It’s going to feel like you’re watching him.

Maybe it is designed to look like him because the character is on a bike and it says Spinner G. Maybe that is supposed to be a monsterized version of him.

I don’t know, but the character’s name is Reese and he’s going to be in episode 2 The Creep Show.

We’re talking about Disney+’s Monsters At Work, which is the TV spin-off series for the Monsters, Inc. Monsters University world.

It’s cool.

I want to say a quick congratulations to Mariana Fernandez for completing her triathlon.

She’s going back to triathlons. She’s done triathlons in the past and she was super excited about this. It had a 1K swim, a 30K bike ride, and a 10K run. She blew away the competition. She placed second in her age group, females 35 to 39. Even though she is a season marathon runner, we haven’t as Peloton seen her do triathlons. She completed the course in 2 hours, 14 minutes, and 31 seconds. That 10K, she ran with an average pace of less than 7 minutes, 6:53 to be exact. She got her swim done in less than 18 minutes. She placed 67th out of 255 participants and kept an average pace of 16.61 miles per hour for her 30K ride. That’s freaking fast.

Good for her. Whenever we talk about triathlons, I’m always like, “That’s how you spell it?”

I know. It feels like letters are missing.

Are we saying it wrong?

I have no idea. We have a long and rich history of saying words wrong.

That’s fair.

This same issue came up when we looked at Duathlons. That also does not have an A there.

Finally, for this segment, Ash Pryor is featured in Women’s Health.

Congrats to Ash. I love this link from her, “I have a voice. I know who I am and I’m secure in who I am.” She’s not playing small anymore.

 

Coming up after this, we’re going to tell you about the latest artist series and talk about some very interesting items coming from some Peloton competitors. Stick around.

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The latest artist series features Lil Jon.

Several classes are dropping. There are going to be a total of six new classes dropping, including ride, full body strength, and meditation. There’s going to be a run. There’s going to be a row and a Club Bangers with Alex. The other cool thing we want to make sure that we mention is that he is going to be in two classes in person. It will be in Chelsea’s meditation class. That’s a big question mark. Also, he is going to be there for the Club Banger’s ride.

I’m curious to see how this meditation is going to go. That will be interesting to see. I want to hear how the music is going to flow. I want to see if he is sitting down or dancing. I have so many questions about how this is going to go. Chelsea is a rockstar. I have no doubt that it will be a well-done meditation, but I have questions about how the music is going to be incorporated and how his presence will be incorporated. I’m curious to see that.

While we’re on the subject of this artist series, I want to bring up the fact that the rumored Taylor Swift class should be tomorrow, in theory, if it is in fact occurring. By the time people hear this, it will have already occurred. We talked about this a couple of weeks ago. We thought that it was going to be the Tortured Poets Department class because there were all of these people who had Taylor Swift hashtags and who were in Taylor Swift groups that were invited to the class. It still doesn’t say and it was an invite-only class. I don’t know what that means. We also talked about the fact that, in theory, Taylor Swift could theoretically be there.

She is over in Europe, but she is not performing tomorrow. There’s a gap in this to where she could theoretically jet over and jet back and she’s not opposed to doing that.

We know because everyone is following her love life, and she has done it in her private jet. There is all of that to contend with. I don’t know whether that’s happening if it’s going to be about her, if she’s going to be there, but I can’t wait to find out. I don’t think we had it on our list today because so much has occurred. I guess it was the Lil Jon artist series. I felt like there was another artist series we missed but never mind. There has been too much happening.

‐‐‐

Nike and Hyperice, I have a feeling when you combine those two companies, it is going to be high priced. They have tech-enabled footwear. Is this going to be like Marty McFly’s self-drying sneakers?

What it’s going to do is it’s going to give you recovery for your feet. This vest is going to give you recovery for your upper body. You put it on your feet. Do you know the Normatec leg things that you wear for recovery and they compress? It does that to your feet. You’re able to run a race or do hard workouts, and then while you’re wearing them, have your feet recover, and do the same thing with this cool vest. I’m all about it.

A flashlight has something similar.

It is a little different. I do think there are some differences there, but I’m down for this. I think it’s super cool. I even reached out to Hyperice and I was like, “If you need somebody to try it, I have feet and I am training for a marathon.” I never heard back. Shocking, I know. I think that’s super cool. It’s neat and I can’t wait to see how this takes off. The people who are talking about it are loving it. They are over the moon about all of it, but they’re also paid too.

If you have a NordicTrack or whatever their other product is called, ProForm. iFIT is the corporate umbrella. They have finalized their class action settlement because the touchscreen didn’t work right or something.

It says, “The consoles failed due to mandatory updates from iFit.” Uh-oh, Peloton.

No wonder they were getting that fix and did not want to talk about it.

I mean for real. I guess this is talking about consumers who purchase certain ProForm and NordicTrack workout equipment before January 23, 2023. They have a whole list that you can browse on their settlement website because I don’t care enough to look. If they have an unrepaired device that failed after November 1st, 2021, you can get a free repair. Those repairs include a no-cost replacement and installation of a tablet or console on the machine. If you paid iFIT to repair their machines before May 6, 2024, you can get a refund for the amount you paid for the repairs. That’s a fair settlement. Sometimes these settlements are stupid. That one is reasonable.

I hear that settlement and I’m like, “Where are the lawyers making money?” I’m not like, “Poor lawyers.” Normally, it’s like everyone gets a check for $6 and the lawyers make $300 million.

Usually, there’s more to this. You do have to fill out a claim form online. You have to do that by May 6, 2025.

You have plenty of time.

You have a whole year. The clock is ticking but really slow.

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Your second Bingo call-out of the episode is Jermaine Johnson.

Otherwise known as JJ.

It’s time for the TCO Top Five. We ask you to do our work for us by telling us the best classes and then we say them back. Here it is. It’s the TCO Top Five. Number one is your favorite walk.

Your favorite walk is the 30-minute Camp Walk with Matty Maggiacomo leading the charge on the 22nd. Mara was back. I love Matty and how he brings back Mara. The outfit, the hair, and the makeup are amazing. It’s amazing that he or Mara is teaching this class. Apparently, Matty was stuck in line at Trader Joe’s, so Mara had to take over the class.

That was nice of her.

I know. She’s a mom of twins in New Jersey, and she commits to the role, and I love it. We were on vacation. I have not had a chance to take this class. I can’t wait to. Mara is always my highlight of the year. I love my time with Mara. Nancy Nielsen said that this was her favorite walk and she said that Mara is back in fabulous form with a custom Brittany Allen outfit. The walk puts a smile on your face. We’re so lucky to have the return of Mara in her classic form. I have to add that Matty is truly a treasure and a blessing to have in the community.

Number two is your favorite Peloton Power Zone disguised as a non-Power Zone. They tricked you.

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This was in our unstackable last week, but people are clamoring for it. They can’t get enough of the Christian Vande Veld. This class took place on June 1st. It was a 45-minute pro-cycling class. It was nominated again. Kerry McGilvery Logan picked this class saying, “The class is awesome. It’s not labeled as a Power Zone specifically, but it is one. It’s all zones 2 and 3 work with super high cadences and two zone 6, 30-second sprints. I didn’t realize I could sustain an average cadence of 99 for 45 minutes. Christian is great. It was my first ride with him.” Holy cannoli, 99 for 45 minutes is a lot.

Number three, your favorite Peloton ride.

On June 17th, Kendall taught a Pop Punk ride. Rich Glass loved it and lots of other people too, but Rich said this was one of her best and that’s saying a lot, “Great tunes with great class structure. To see her choking up as she was talking about leaving humanized her as well. Just a great class.”

Number four, your favorite Peloton ride again.

This was a classic rock ride. Lisa Jan brought it up. We haven’t heard from Lisa in a long time, so nice to hear from Lisa. I guess the entire Emma group was there. It was one of those rides where they take over the studio, and so this was her ride, where a whole bunch of her members took over the studio. The energy was super high and it was a great playlist. It had Emma’s upbeat style combined with classic rock songs like The Rolling Stones, Alice Cooper, and Crosby Stills and Nash.

Finally, your favorite unstackable run.

This was a 30-minute live DJ run. DJ John Michael’s share remix premiered in it. He was gushing with excitement as it played. They were laughing and had a great time. She was four months postpartum and PR’d her 30-minute run output from pre-pregnancy. That’s all from Sarah Grace. Thank you for submitting that.

Let’s take a look at This Week at Peloton and what’s in our future or immediate past, depending on when this stuff is scheduled to occur.

Since these come out on Monday, by the time people hear it on Friday, it’s stuff that you might have missed, but we’re making sure that you hear about it. More classes hit the platform for Kacey Musgrave. Anna Greenberg is going to have a 20-minute restorative flow. Aditi Shah has a 20-minute Pilates. Both of them dropped today. There’s a full artist series, so there are lots to go from there. Also, a bunch of chili scenic classes dropped.

Do you have to wear a hoodie?

No. It’s like from the country. There are gorgeous views in this picture. They’re amazing. Those dropped on demand today as well.

We also have intention-setting outdoor walks.

Kirsten Ferguson also has been doing these intention-setting walks on Sundays for quite a while. They are a huge hit. Now there is an outdoor walk hitting and she’s super excited about it. I hope that people love it as much as she does.

Finally, Mayla is back.

Mayla Wedekind is back. She just had her first baby and she is back on June 20th night. That’s a Saturday and it will be a 30-minute rock ride in German.

The weight bench is here. The wait for the weight is over.

I think it’s funny because a while back, some instructors were posting in their stories left and right about benches and we were told, “It’s just for gym classes. It’s stuff for the gym.” That’s why you can’t always trust the communications department. I didn’t believe it, but I said it. Here we are. The Density 2 classes dropped. We talked about that last week, but not long after we recorded. Andy talked about on his socials that one of the classes was going to have benches that day, and some of the other classes do as well. That’s super exciting and everyone is loving it. I’m hoping we are going to see a lot more of this.

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A quick up of some smaller stories that are worth a mention but not necessarily a full segment. We call it This and That. PSL Pride-themed 5K.

We talked a little bit about that the London store studio was going to have a themed 5K and it’s going to be all Pride. It was yesterday that it took place. They had a bunch of different people showing up. They asked everyone to come in and be in their bright colors in support of the LGBTQ+ community. People got a free shake and participants got a one-time use for discounted apparel.

Did they play any Jock Jams?

I don’t know. On that note, it dropped today, but the WNBA is teaming up with Peloton for Pride-themed WNBA classes. It’s weird because it seems like it’s other classes that Peloton has done in the past that are being rebranded.

They are repurposing old stuff.

I get it, but I also don’t get it. I have mixed feelings about that. There’s that.

It’s a little odd, I’m not going to lie. Back to This and That, Becs Gentry has taken some time off.

She missed her last live class that took place on Friday. She posted about it and she said that something came up. She said that in addition to that, she was going to be taking off for three weeks, so she will be back on the leaderboard. If you hear people freaking out because she’s not on the schedule, spread the word. She’s back.

Kristin McGee is full of thanks and it’s not even November.

She has been sending her thanks out to all of the people who’ve been supporting her as she prepares to leave Peloton. A lot of people have been saying a lot of nice things.

Emma reveals her healthy habits.

 

She has that Substack called the Love List. She was talking about how she does things like make her bed daily, doesn’t sweat the small stuff, and only always gets fresh air daily. She also gave up her recipe for sought-after summer scallop pasta and had a very nice picture of it as well. I also want to mention this while we’re on this because we posted another article that we haven’t gotten a chance to include here. It was a few things that were coming up. All of the instructors who are leaving, Kendall, Ross, and Kristin McGee, are all having their final farewell classes on Saturday.

There will be cake in the break room if you want to stop by.

I don’t know if that’s true, but I’m sure that they are doing something for the instructors. I don’t think they were going to invite the rest of the community.

That seems unlikely.

Also this weekend, I guess all of the people who lead Power Zone Pack took over the whole studio, so they’re all going to be in the studio for one of the Power Zone classes with Denis as well. Just some things you might want to be looking for as you’re checking over the schedule. By the way, a little nitpicky thing for Peloton, they listed on their stories today those classes that were farewells for Kendall, Ross, and Kristin, but It was weird because only Kendall said it was a farewell class. The other two just listed a class and it was like, “Really, guys?” Is anybody checking this stuff before you post it?

 I wonder if that means something because as they said with Ross, “The door is open.” I can’t help but wonder if that’s their way of saying, ” Kristin and Ross if you want to come back.”

Maybe. That’s interesting that you took it that way. I took it as a mistake and I’m not saying you’re wrong, but with the way that people are interpreting Kristin’s comments on social, she would be in that farewell camp too.

I know we’re reading between the lines here, but Kendall’s exit feels angry whereas Kristin’s feels sad. She’s disappointed that it came to that. Maybe there is some sort of sentiment at the corporate of like, “If we can figure out a way to rework this somewhere down the line.”

That could be. You never know.

This is all conjecture. We do not have insides or sometimes we do. In this case, we don’t, so don’t read between our lines. I want to be very clear. We’re not giving you coded hints. We are reading the tea leaves just like you are. We should also talk here about the greatest hits collections from the instructors who are leaving.

Peloton has also posted over on the app or your bike, wherever. There are now new collections listed that say Kristin’s greatest hits, Ross’s greatest hits, and Kendall’s greatest hits. They’re all separate. The question immediately came up from one of our listeners and I thought it was a good one. Does this mean these classes will never be purged?

Are they purge-proof?

That’s a good question. You and I talked about it before we started recording. I don’t know if it means that or it doesn’t mean that.

I don’t think everything is ultimately purge-proof. Eventually, everything will go away. That’s the nature of life. To me, this sounds as though they are protected in a way, maybe some of their other classes aren’t. As their classes start to drop off, will these maybe last longer in this little bubble?

That is very possible. Either way, I hope that that’s the case. They have no design to take any of their classes away. They’ve said about all three instructors. They plan to keep them on the platform for the time being, barring the normal purge. We have to wonder about the specific ones and what that means. We will keep an eye on it.

Finally, for this segment, if you like your Peloton apparel, Spiritual Gangster is back.

They posted a new collab. It will not surprise you to note that Kendall is not part of it.

That would make sense. We’re not even being shitty.

No, that would be weird, but it’s nice because people do love Spiritual Gangster. I’m glad to see that they will be continuing their relationship with Spiritual Gangster.

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Finally, a birthday we missed while we were in Hawaii is Katie Wang’s birthday on June 25th.

Happy birthday to Katie.

Coming up after this, we’re going to talk to Stephanie Forte, so stick around.

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Joining us is Stephanie Forte. How’s it going?

I’m good. How are you? Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to be here.

We are so excited that you are here. Thank you so much for doing this. I always like to start back at the beginning of your Peloton journey. Let’s start there. How did you originally find Peloton?

I’m from Toronto originally. Throughout COVID, we were very locked down. Toronto was one of the most locked-down cities in the world. I was someone who enjoyed fitness and the gym. Not being able to get out there was hard. One of the times during COVID when there was a little bit of a break, I was out with my best friend. She had mentioned that she and her husband purchased a Peloton. She said, “I think you would like it.” I told her, “I don’t think so. I like spinning.” That was my reaction.

I’m not a spinner. I was a runner and I had done a couple of different spin classes. I never liked it. A couple of other friends said very similar things to me shortly thereafter. I was like, “If they’re all telling me that I’m going to like it, let me look into it.” I looked into it. I bought it at the height of when everyone was buying it. My shipping deadline or timeline was twelve weeks. That’s how I started. I got my bike in November 2020. I’ve been enjoying it ever since. They were right. I’m glad I listened to them.

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Stephanie’s Peloton Moment

You are now on a Peloton podcast so something happened. Was there a moment? Was it instantaneous or over time, you’re like, “I like this.”

It was over time but a short period of time. When I would run, my body didn’t react well to running in the sense that my knees felt like they were beach balls. It was hurting me. I enjoyed it but it was not pleasant. The bike was the first thing that I could go hard at. My body responded in a healthy way. Nothing hurt. My joints were fine. I felt better than I ever had in terms of my actual joints and ligaments.

I became a little bit addicted to that feeling of, “I can get a great workout and feel good.” There’s no residual impact on me the next day or the next couple of weeks. That’s what got me to come back every single day. It was the physical aspect of no limitations and no hardships on me that I was previously used to. There are a ton of other reasons, but that was what was my buy-in early on.

That makes total sense. If doesn’t hurt, you’ll keep doing it more.

Sometimes pain is beauty and sometimes pain is not beauty.

I do think sometimes people do have trouble gauging the difference between pain and discomfort. You see all these supposedly motivational affirmisms like sweat is pain leaving the body. I’m like, “Not really.” If it’s pain, you should stop. Things might be difficult but if you’re in actual pain, that’s not the purpose of it.

That’s true. I don’t think I’ve ever done sports that hurt because I didn’t do sports. That wasn’t my reason for not doing them but when I started doing it, the bike never hurt, the things I did. I only felt sore if I do weights. That’s the only time I ever get truly sored. Even then, now I know where that line is of discomfort, but it’s so true. You even hear instructors say on the bike to push yourself.

They’re not saying anything wrong. They’re telling you like, “Where you’re comfortable, stop. Don’t keep going if that doesn’t work for you.” They’re also saying, “Push yourself into that unknown a little bit. Find out what’s not comfortable.” The first time you do something, it’s uncomfortable. It is hard to figure out what’s the correct line.

It is for sure. When you find something challenging versus uncomfortable, then you become hooked on that feeling of like, “I’m going to challenge myself in a healthy and positive way,” versus “I’m out here schlepping on the ground. Tomorrow, my knees are going to feel like they’re beach balls.” There would be times that I go for walks and I thought, “I can’t walk anymore.” My knee felt like it was going to explode. It’s been almost four years and I’ve done it pretty much almost every day. There’s a difference.

What you said is spot on. Push yourself into that comfort zone, but don’t do it if it hurts. It’s simply not worth it. I’m getting older and it’s not worth it. There’s that fine line. Once you find it, that’s a huge benefit for yourself because you discover what you can do, what you can’t do, and what you want to do. It’s spot on.

When you moved over to spinning, did you go back and still run? Tell us how that’s working.

I didn’t run for two years. Not a single run. Not one single run. I would look at runners in Toronto and think, “I would never do that again. It looks awful.” I have this PTSD feeling. It was like, “Oh my God.” Immediately, I felt tense and like, “That’s not good.” I then discovered Peloton running. I don’t have a tread. We are going to get one when we move.

All my runs, I’ve been doing it on other terminals or outside, which is crazy to me because running outside is one of the things I didn’t like doing at all. I mixed it in. I found a good balance between the bike and running. I am back running, which is cool. I love the feeling of running. I’m glad that Peloton has such a great platform for it. I find it very motivational. I said this before to a couple of friends. In the past when I would do running or any form of exercise, you’re always counting up to something like, “I’m going to get to 5 kilometers.” I say kilometers because I’m Canadian.

My Canadian friends will understand. “I’m going to get to 3.2 miles. I need to do this.” You’re trying to get there and it almost seems like a task of I’m failing if I don’t hit that mark. Whereas in Peloton, it goes backward. Whatever I do in this 30-minute class, that’s what I do. There was something so freeing about that thought that I’d never had before. I almost love running more than ever and I’ve been running for fifteen years as a serious runner. Over the last year and a half, I picked up again. Honestly, I’m happy that I did and I’m doing it with Pelton. It sounds funny but that mind shift did a lot for me. I enjoy it again, so it’s great.

Do you think you’re going to get a tread or a Tread+?

Probably the tread. Honestly, I won’t lie. I don’t think I need the Tread+. It’s a beautiful machine. I’m good with a plain old tread. We have two bikes. We can get into that later. We have two regular Peloton bikes and it works for me. The tread would probably be fine but you never know.

Let’s have Crystal give you the pitch.

I do have to say with having knee issues, you’re going to have to try the Tread+. That could sway you and change your mind because I run on other treadmills. Let’s say, I go to a hotel and I use one of those treadmills that are in there and my knees hurt. They don’t feel like beach balls but they hurt. I never hurt on my Tread+ ever.

That is a good plug. Do you know what’s crazy? I’ve only ever run on one Peloton tread. It was an Adrian William’s Thunder 45. It’s the only time I’ve ever run on a Peloton Tread before. That’s the only litmus that I have. My whole time, I was so focused on like, “Don’t fall off the treadmill in a class.” I wasn’t even thinking about anything else. I was number one by the mirror.

You were right there.

You cannot unsee that if it happens. I’ll go to a showroom probably and test them out because I honestly don’t know very much about the Tread+ at all. That’s very interesting and it’s a very advantageous perk for me. Thank you. I will check that out.

The bad news is I don’t know that the Tead+ delivers to Canada.

Love Peloton, Peloton Love

I spend a lot of time in the US with my partner who I met through Peloton.

Tell us about that.

Some folks who tune in to this will probably know this story and some may not. Charlie and I met through Peloton’s Instagram. The community is very small and the algorithm connects you with people who are in that community. I’m usually a very private person. I hardly post on social media ever. I had an account throughout COVID for a creative outlet and ended up getting closed down and I was bored. Honestly, I was bored. I started this Peloton Instagram. One thing led to another and we’ve been dating for two years.

I have to ask more questions.

I was glad that they were in the other room because this sounds like the first five minutes of every episode of Catfish. Please, dear God, tell me you’ve met this person.

We have met. We did it very backward. We spoke online for almost six months. It was like nothing was going to ever happen. It’s another Peloton friend. You then start thinking, “Maybe something could happen.” Honestly, never in a million years that I think I would meet him ever. I never thought that. It was so backward. We talked for so long because of COVID, you couldn’t travel. Even if we wanted to see each other, we couldn’t.

Here I am sending sweaty selfies after a good workout. They’re very PG. I would never do that. If I were trying to date someone, that’s not something I would send ever. When we finally met, it was like I felt like I knew him. I was not nervous. It was bizarre. I thought the same thing, Tom. I was like, “Is this a Catfish? What’s going on?” We Facetime and I was like, “You’re real.”

Did you have him hold up a thing saying, “Here’s today’s date. This is really me,” moving in the frame?

“Show me today’s newspaper with your signature,” or something like that.

I was worried for a second they didn’t say catfish in Canada. Is it halibut? Is that what they’re doing?

They do. I love that show. Sometimes it’s unbelievable like, “How?” It’s not our situation, thankfully.

Who flirted with who first? How do you even go about turning that into a relationship? I don’t even understand that.

If you ask him, he’ll probably give you a different answer but the true answer is that he was in a class with Jenn Sherman and I was in the class too. We’re high-fiving. He posted a photo and I commented, “Great riding with you in class,” and he ignored it.

He was playing hard to get.

That’s fine.

He doesn’t want to look eager. Smart.

That’s funny. That’s my reaction to that sometimes. I don’t even remember honestly who slid into the DM. It was very neutral and very Peloton-based at the beginning, but it was me who commented first. I vividly remember. I don’t tell a lot of people our story.

You’ll tell a lot of people this story now.

I was scrolling through Instagram and I scrolled past him. I scrolled back down. I was like, “He’s cute.” I remember it like it was yesterday. I thought, “Is he cute? I don’t know.” Years later, here we are.

Hopefully, after two years, he’s more than cute.

He’s cute. That’s how happens. He came to Toronto first. We joke that all of our dates were overnights because you had to visit each other for a couple of days here and there. He’s in New Jersey and I’m in Toronto.

That’s a big role of the dice. If you go on that first date and it’s not going well, you have two more days.

Did he come to your house? I remember dating and I remember dating on the internet. When you date, it’s a dating app.” The point is you’re dating. This was long before Tinder. The point is that it would be terrifying if one of these people were coming to my house. I would be so scared. I would be like, “Here’s a friend’s list. Everybody needs to know where I am at all times.”

We were married for two years before she let me know where she lived. She took it very seriously.

To each their own. We had similar minds. I got a hotel in Toronto and I shared my location with my two best friends. I said, “Here you go,” but I trusted him. We had talked pretty often and I knew about his family and knew about my family. Still, you never know. It’s a sad thing to say. I did take those safety precautions.

I didn’t tell my family. I said I was going away with girlfriends. I wasn’t ready to delve into that. I had left a relationship, a very lengthy one. I wasn’t ready to share it with too many people. I had to tell my two closest friends so that they could keep tabs on me. They checked in and everything. Once I met him, I was like, “It’s going to be fine.” He came to Toronto. I went to New Jersey back and forth. Luckily, neither of us had to share our location ever again.

Now, where are we at?

Where are we? Are we in Toronto?

I don’t mean physically. I’m talking metaphysically. Are you dating? Are you engaged? Are you married? Where did we go with all this?

We are dating. I am currently in New Jersey. It’s easier for me to stay here for a longer period of time. I’m very lucky to work remotely. Everyone knows that I spend a lot of time here, but I go back and forth. It’s more difficult for Charlie because he has an office job and he has kids. It’s important that he’s present in New Jersey. I go back and forth a lot. Currently, I am in New Jersey. We’ll make it work. We crossed the border together and the guy said, “How do you know each other?” We explained the situation. He goes, “Two years of back and forth. That’s a long time. When are you going to pop the question?” I’m not waiting for anything. I like where we’re at and he’s a great guy.

It’s great to have someone to talk Peloton with someone who knows it. That’s the biggest selling feature. I’m half kidding. It’s funny because we went to Peloton together. We’ve been to a studio a few times. One of the benefits of being in New Jersey. We’re in South New Jersey, so we’re still about two hours away from New York. We went to Adrian’s Thunder 45 and I was like, “I’m so excited it’s Adrian.” I’m pumped up and we’re going to meet him after. He goes, “Charlie, it’s so nice to finally meet you. This is awesome.” I’m like, “I’m next. I do all of Adrian’s classes.” He goes, “I’m Adrian. What’s up? Who are you?” I can’t believe this. Charlie and Adrian are BFFs and I’m just on the side.

You were the third wheel.

He got a shout-out from Adrian. He’s like, “It’s so nice to see you in all the classes.” I’m sitting in there like, “Adrian, hello?” It’s a big perk to have someone who gets my obsession like I have. He’s less obsessed, but he’s easy to talk to. We make a good team.

He gets the perk of you having your own health care. That’s forever. It will never go away.

Navigating Differences

That’s true. I have learned a lot of things. I did a little thing on my Instagram about some differences I picked up on nutritionally and random things I never would have known had I not spent a lot of time here. There are pretty crazy differences out there. I’m going to continue exploring it.

 

What’s the craziest one you’ve run across? I’m curious.

It’s a food-related one. There are two. I don’t know if they’re super exciting, but Americans put high-fructose corn syrup in everything.

Everything. It comes out of the tab.

It’s crazy to me. It’s what makes it taste good. I don’t understand.

We use it instead of sugar. It’s a problem.

It’s crazy. The FDA here, you essentially don’t need their permission. You put on the label, “This is not FDA approved.” It’s buy or beware. Whereas in Canada, there are very stringent regulations with things that hit the shelves that go into your body. It’s a lot different here. I had a pretty scary thing last summer that happened to me where some of the ingredients made me have almost stroke-like symptoms to the point where I googled like, “Am I having a stroke?” It was pretty scary. I read that the ingredients in it were known to have neurological issues. I was like, “I can’t believe this.”

You’re like, “I’m never buying anything in the United States again.”

I know. Those are some of the things I’m learning but it’s interesting. I love learning. It’s cool to know all these different things that never would have had a clue about.

Do you have to make your own poutine?

I’m a bad Canadian. I’m not a huge fan of maple syrup and I don’t like poutine. Every Canadian exited the podcast.

They’re too nice. They wouldn’t leave.

I just lost a lot of fans. There is some good food in the States though. It’s a tradeoff. I just read the labels a lot more closely now.

I bet. That makes a lot of sense. You mentioned that you went to the studio. I’m curious, do you take any of the outdoor classes or do you take any strength classes? How do you mix it up besides the bike?

I love the strength classes. I will always do strength classes either following or before I ride. I mentioned Adrian is my favorite strength coach but I love most of the strength coaches. I use strength every single day. I do the outdoor classes. The outdoor runs, I love it. I love it when they say, “You’re halfway. Turn back again,” going back to when it counts down versus counting up.

I don’t never have to think about anything. You put it on and you go. That’s a great thing for people like me who are always thinking, “How far am I? How much longer?” Here, it’s like, “Wait until they tell you to turn around.” I like that. I do a lot of the outdoor walks of just walking as well where I can put on my own music or have a phone call.

I love that they added that feature. I use that probably more than a lot of the other actual classes. I’m a big walker in Toronto. I never changed in New Jersey. I still walk everywhere. Strength riding and running classes, I do as well. I want to get better at Pilates and yoga. I used to do it not through Peloton that much, but they did help with flexibility and stuff. My next goal is to explore the platform there.

I love the strength collections. I’ve done Adrian’s. I can’t even remember how many times I’ve done his five-day split. I loved the strength. It took me a while to get into it. I was resistant and I don’t know why, but I’d had my bike for about a year. I didn’t do any of the strength classes. I found them elsewhere, and then someone said, “Why don’t you do them?” I didn’t have an answer.

Now, that’s the only thing I use. Even if I’m at a gym, I’ll throw on a class and turn the video portion of it off and listen to what they’re saying. I do the strength classes like that. I think they’re great and I love them. Going back to the pain thing, they’re well-structured and I don’t feel any pain. I was in good pain as you mentioned. I love everything that they are offering that I’m taking.

I’m starting to learn about you, and that you are resistant to new things a little bit.

I am. Typical like Canadian behavior. We’re very fickle to change. Slowly and surely, it reels me in. All of a sudden, I drink the Kool-Aid and I start telling everybody about it. I’ve converted so many people to Peloton. I’m all in now.

They have lots of room for growth in Canada.

I know. I agree.

What is your leaderboard name?

It is StephStrong. That’s because my last name translates to Strong. That was my nickname throughout university. A friend, David, came up with it. He’s like, “I’m going to call you Steph Strong,” and it stuck. I’ve gone by that on different social media platforms. I always wonder, “Do people think I’m big-headed or egotistical?” Nobody knows. Now everyone can know that it’s just my last name. That’s what it translates to. I love a good alliteration. I thought that’s it. That’s what I’m going to be. It stuck.

It has a good ring to it. I like it.

Thank you. I think people think my last name is strong though. We can quash those rumors. That’s how I came up with it. It’s the nickname I’ve had for a bunch of years. It’s my name.

I would think that would lend itself well to shoutouts.

I would too, except apparently for Adrian.

 

I finally got one from him. I’ve been very fortunate. Sometimes I don’t post them because I have been very fortunate. I’ve gotten quite a few and I do think it is because of the leaderboard name. The easier it is, perhaps you get more of a shout-out. I don’t know if that’s true, but I’ve been very fortunate to get a few. I will credit my leaderboard name.

It is true. I remember years ago when we had Jenn Sherman on the show. We talked about leaderboard names. That was the first thing she said. She was like, “Make it easy. If it’s easy and it’s fun to say, we will say it.”

For sure. It’s easier for them. You see how many people are on that board and you’re scrolling. It’s moving and jumping. Some of them are funny. I give so much credit to people who come with a punny name. Sometimes I wish I had done that. Sometimes I’ll laugh out loud as I’m riding. “That is such a clever name.” I love a good pun. Kudos to everyone who has a great leaderboard name.

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

My advice would be don’t listen to anyone. Find your own way.

Except for the show, I believe, is what you meant to say.

I did have to say that part.

Which is why you didn’t say it. Go on.

Everyone is like, “Who is your favorite? Who should I do?” You have to find it on your own. Try different lengths of classes. My dad has Pelotoned every single day for the last year. He hasn’t missed a single day. He’s 65 years old. He had a knee replacement. When he started off, he said, “What should I do? Which class should I take?” I said, “Dad, you have to figure it out on your own. I don’t mean I don’t want to help you. I don’t want to influence you because what I like may not be what you like or may not work for you.”

My advice to people who are new would be to try everything. Don’t think anything is either too good or too hard. Don’t be intimidated. I remember the first time I did a live class. I had no idea what I was doing. Now, looking back on that, it seems like such a silly thing to say, but I was like, “How do I join a live class? Will people see me? Is it going to be hard? What if I don’t do well?” It doesn’t matter. You have to find who works for you, who you vibe with, and the level of difficulty potentially that you’re looking for in a class. My advice would be to try everything. Find what works for you, stick with what you like, and then continue exploring. You’ll fall into something that you love and stick with it.

Excellent advice.

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.

My Instagram is @StephStrongFit. I had to add the fit. StephStrong was already taken. That’s my Instagram handle. I post here and there. I post random things. There’s a lot of dog content. I have a dog. He’s my best little workout buddy. If you like to hear about random Canadian-American differences and see Charlie sometimes and the dog, I’m the person you want to follow.

We’ll watch the relationship between you two continue to evolve over time.

We officially came out of hiding because we kept it very quiet for a number of months, and I had a warm reception from folks. We want to know if we’re the first Peloton couple. That’s what we’re wondering if there was anyone else.

You are not. I can verify that there was somebody years ago who moved cross-country to get married. There’s been a proposal in the studio that I have seen. There are a few different people that I know of. I don’t want to name names but they might have gotten divorced and then had a new relationship begin with somebody that they had been friends with a long time in the Peloton world. That’s happened a lot. It is still special. You should be excited about that and you’ve crossed the border also.

It could be the first international incident.

That is probably the first.

You’re right. It probably is. Thank you. I’m going to put a badge of honor for sure.

For a long time, they weren’t international. It wasn’t even an option.

We couldn’t. We’re making it work across borders. Peloton should delve into the world of online dating because it’s working. It’s an untapped market.

It goes well to be tapped.

A million-dollar idea right here on the show.

Thank you very much. We appreciate your time.

 

This is so fun. Thank you.

‐‐‐

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

People can find me on Facebook at Facebook.com/crystaldokeefe. They can find me on other socials 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 where we are going to record another 20 to 25 minutes of stuff. Hopefully, we’ll see you over there. That’s it for this one. Thanks for tuning in. Until next time, keep pedaling, and running, and rowing.

Bye.

 

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