• Peloton changes live schedule.
• Peloton after cash crunch – Now what?
• Peloton Quick Hits.
• Jenn – Breaking up with your therapist.
• Tobias Heinze is leaving Peloton.
• Where are your favorite (former) instructors now?
• Kendall Toole talks to People about her next chapter.
• Callie Gullickson returns in September.
• Plus, Callie launches her own website.
• Jess King brings Sweat Steady to Tread.
• Boutique gyms are having a moment.
• TCO Top 5.
• This Week at Peloton.
• Peloton celebrates July 4th.
• Peloton celebrates Canada Day.
• Robin Arzon handles Tortured Poets Department duty.
• Another apparel sale.

All this plus our interview with Jennifer Armendariz.

—

Watch the episode here

 

Listen to the podcast here

 

Peloton Loses Another Instructor Plus Our Interview With Jennifer Armendariz

We’re finally back in our sleep rhythms.

Coming back from Hawaii was easier to adjust than getting to Hawaii because when we came back from Hawaii, it was over such an extended time frame. It was like eighteen hours of travel that we catnapped. By the time we got home, I was so exhausted. It was easy to go right to bed.

We went to bed earlier than normal like fraught through. We got home at 5:30 and we didn’t go straight to bed. We stayed up till 8:00 or 8:30, and then we were like, “Now we can let ourselves fall asleep.”

That was easier than on the Hawaii side, where we were trying to stay awake until 10:00, local time in Hawaii, and we struggled. We made it to 8:00.

That was a real battle. We were sitting there watching Golden Girls on cable, which was like many episodes, they had cut out so much so they could cram in commercials. I feel like they cut out the whole subplot of the episode. It was brutal, but that wasn’t Hawaiian. That was Hallmark or whatever we were watching. For our Hawaiian listeners, we are not besmirching Hawaii.

We are besmirching Hallmark.

Suck it, Hallmark. Let’s do our bingo call out so we don’t forget.

Callie Gullickson.

What pray tell do you have in store for people?

We have our interview with Peloton community member Jennifer Armendariz. She started with Peloton back in 2020. She’s a nurse practitioner, but this is a fun conversation. She has had friendships that she has formed. She also has this group of people that have collectively gone through divorces, cancer diagnosis, aging parents, and lots of other things. They are all part of the HardCORE Early Risers. You get to hear all about that. We also have tons of news in the Peloton. We have instructors leaving. We have days of live programming disappearing. People are freaking out.

People freaking out, I don’t know if that counts as news anymore.

That’s fair. That’s the one constant actually.

It used to be baseball, but now it’s people freaking out.

We also have a visit from Dr. Jenn, and we are going to hear about how you go about breaking up with your therapist.

That’s a difficult thing to do, but sometimes it needs to happen.

Also, watch the socials this week because I will be posting your opportunity to ask Dr. Jenn questions. Look for that. We also have all kinds of instructor updates. We have competitor updates, and we have a ton of things that are going on the content side, and a fun little In Case You Missed It.

Shameless plugs, before we get to all that. Don’t forget, we’re available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, and TuneIn. Wherever you get a podcast, you can find us. While you’re there, be sure and follow us so you never miss an episode. Maybe leave us a review. That’s super helpful. You can find us on Facebook at Facebook.com/TheClipOut. You can also follow Crystal on Instagram @ClipOutCrystal.

I never get a mention up here.

I probably should throw that out there. We focus on Facebook, but you have so many Instagram followers. You’re over there as well. Also, if you like the show and you want to support it, one of the easiest ways you can do that is by sharing an episode, an article, and things like that when you see them pop up in your feed. If you think your friends and family are Peloton lovers who might care, click share and people can see that from you. That helps us tremendously.

If that’s not enough, you can also check out our Patreon, Patreon.com/TheClipOut, where it’s only $5 a month and you get ad-free episodes. You get an extra episode. There’s a whole other episode every week of stuff we didn’t have time to get to in the main episode. If we get our episode done early, you get it early. That helps us cover the costs of web hosting, trying to get a little bit of money for the people who help write the articles for the website and things like that.

Don’t forget, you can watch all of these episodes over at YouTube.com/TheClipOut. You can sign up for our newsletter at TheClipOut.com, where you will have the links and whatnot for the articles every week sent directly to your inbox, and just a weekly reminder that we exist. There’s all that. Let’s dig in. Shall we?

We shall.

 ‐‐‐

We have changes to the live schedule. Insert screaming panic noises here.

For real, people are flipping out about this. It’s important to note the number of days available to members who come into the studio has not changed again. A while back, they had changed the number of open days on PSL, London side. Specifically, what is happening now is that on Wednesdays, they will not be broadcasting any live classes that day. None. Also, in London, they will not be broadcasting live classes on Thursday or Wednesday. That is a big deal.

What I’m hearing, let me make sure if I understand this correctly, they’re going out of business.

That is what people are saying. A lot of people feel that this is a cost-cutting move. That is the big takeaway from a lot of people. Although, I will say, “Yeah, but I’m not so sure.” I don’t know that that’s what’s going on here. I want to go back to a few months ago when we had pictures of all of the instructors with barbells and benches. We talked about this because recently, Andy released his Density 2 program and benches showed up in it. I think this has to do with it too.

The picture that Peloton chose to release with their press release is Rad Lopez on a bench lifting a heavy barbell. That is important, I feel. I think it’s more important than the takeaway that this means it’s cost-cutting. I don’t think it changes the cost-cutting. I don’t think it changes the cost astronomically to film one last day. Here’s the thing. They’re still going to be dropping on-demand classes that day. They’re not changing the fact that they will be giving us on-demand classes.

I think that what it tells us, the bigger takeaway in my opinion, is that there will be more types of classes coming now because Peloton did not say to everybody, “We are just changing the number of classes that we are doing.” They also said, “New content coming.” I think that we are going to see different things. One of those things I believe is going to be strength training. I think you’re going to see more of this barbell. I think you’re going to see more of this bench, maybe potentially more Pilates. Maybe potentially more things like that, things that are a much bigger deal and a much bigger takeaway.

People who love live classes make the most noise. They are also used the least. The data has said for years that on-demand classes get used infinitely more than live classes. I think when they’re weighing options, it makes sense.

I will say there are some problems with this because I don’t know who all is in this majority with me, but I know it’s a lot of us, and I know it is truly a majority. Matty’s walk-in talks are one of the best classes of the week, bar none. That got affected. There is no more Wednesday walk-in talk. Now, they did move that to Tuesdays. Matty confirmed that on socials yesterday.

The class is still around, just not a Wednesday.

That one is but now, look at the rest of what’s offered on Wednesdays. One of Alex K’s rowing classes. There are already very few rowing classes. What’s going to happen to the rowing classes? Is that one going to be replaced? No comment on that yet. It doesn’t mean that it won’t be, we just don’t have a definitive answer yet. Peloton is saying not only are they going to be having strength but they are also saying that strength is their second most popular modality. That means it passed up the tread. That means it passed everything else.

They also are saying there are going to be more ways to run, walk, and cycle using audio-only cues. Some people automatically assume that is going to mean AI programming. I don’t know. There’s going to be new cross-modality training coming in where members are combining strength and other modalities more than ever to level up training. I am very curious to see what that means. They’re saying, “We’re still going to have all these great classes that have always been part of Peloton. They’re also saying that they launched this greatest hits of all time collection, top classes from our most beloved Peloton instructors, which I think are also the ones that left, so that was weird.

Maybe that’s their first foray. That was the obvious choice and they’ll be collecting other things later?

That is possible.

I’m sure for a new user, the amount of content has to be overwhelming.

It is overwhelming. As a user, I am overwhelmed by the amount of it. People who have been involved in Peloton since the beginning, and they are big bike users, always feel bike has suffered. It used to be ten classes a day, now there are three classes a day. Now there’s going to be a whole day when there are no live classes a day. I don’t think it’s good for you to only ride your bike. I think that if you want to be a well -rounded fit person, you need to do some strength training. You need to do something else.

One modality is not the best way to do it. Even John Foley said that back in the day. I remember him very clearly being like, “These people that are riding 20 hours out of the 24, I’m concerned for them. They should not be doing that.” He said that very off the cuff and as a conversation. It wasn’t like he was making some big press release. That was a friendly conversation.

Back when he was allowed to have them.

 

We might need to remember that it’s good to do lots of things.

Here’s a conspiracy theory since it is election season. I know that Peloton is not in a position financially to acquire anything right now. Hearing that strength is a second favorite, you have to wonder if that somehow puts Tonal back in play. Tonal is having its own struggles at the moment.

I don’t think Peloton is in a place to buy anybody.

Yeah, but with Tonal having struggles, maybe it’s not a purchase. Maybe it’s a merger of some kind.

Other people are saying that maybe this also means we’re going to see something more with the Mirror. I don’t know. I would love to see a Tonal-Peloton. That would cement the future of Tonal, which I would be here for, and I think both companies could benefit and need to do more of, especially Peloton, women-centric training. As you said last week, Peloton is always pro-female. What are we doing? How is this not a main focus?

This is what a feminist looks like, honey.

I know and I am grateful. I am not a fan of other things.

CNBC had an article talking about how Peloton staved off its liquidity crunch. Now what?

I thought this was an interesting article, most of which we’ve already hit. We know that they have a new $1 billion term loan. We know that they raised $350 million in convertible senior notes and they received a new $100 million line of credit. They all come due in 2029.

That’s a good chunk of time.

Although it reduced the debt from $1.75 billion to $1.55 billion, it also means that their payments per month go up. That is something that I’m not sure everybody does necessarily have a takeaway from. That stuff bores me. I’m not going to lie. When I read the financial stuff, my eyes glaze over. I think they’re saying that Peloton is going to now be spending $133 million annually in interest, and that’s up from $89 million previously.

That’s a big bump.

It is a big bump, I mean $50 million is no joke. That’s not nothing. Coddington, who is their CFO, acknowledged to CNBC that the higher interest rate is going to impact free cashflow, but that’s partly why they started to cut the costs in early May. They expected to reduce the annual run rate expenses by more than $200 million.

Coddington says that even with these higher interest payments, Peloton will be able to sustain a positive free cashflow without having the business materially grow in the near term and that the cost reduction plan made them a lot more comfortable with that. This article also goes on to say that two of the largest debt holders, Soros Fund and Silver Point Capital, did go ahead and refinance. While that sounds great for Peloton, it is also probably that those companies are trying to put themselves in a better position should Peloton shit the bed.

Cross our fingers for no bed shitting.

That is what we are crossing our fingers for. No train spotting moments here.

If not, perhaps they can come out with their own line of rubber sheets. A lot is going on, so let’s do some quick hits of things that have gone on in the world of Peloton this week. Tunde was honored at the BET Awards.

That took place on June 30th. She wore a beautiful dress, and people were super excited about it. That’s a huge honor.

Although, I guess maybe It was besmirched slightly in that they also honored O.J. Simpson.

That was a weird one, but that was in their in-memorium.

He did have a hell of a career, but he also did the other thing. That puts an asterisk on things. That was an odd choice.

That documentary we watched was fascinating.

The O.J. Made In America. I know it’s been out for years now. When you start it, It’s going to hit a point where you’re like, “We aren’t talking about O.J. What is happening? It zooms out so far so we can zoom back in. It’s masterful.

It all comes back around. Also, Kirsten Ferguson introduced her intention-setting outdoor walks. Those started this week. We talked about this last week, but the iFIT class action settlement was reached, and the screen freeze is fixed. I did want to touch on this for a moment. I had somebody reach out this week, and they thought that Peloton had announced it. I wanted to clarify that Peloton did not announce that the screen fix was okay. This came from members whose screens started working again. Peloton still has not announced anything. I don’t know that they ever will. I think that is probably on purpose.

They’re like, “That’s fixed. Why don’t we need to talk about it?”

Also, there is a big sale going on right now where you get $700 off your purchase and you get two months of Peloton membership for free.

That’s interesting that the membership deal is back because they used to do that. I think some people are still riding for free.

I think they have all quit, but it was up until last year.

Some people were early adopters that when that bike was so hot, they racked up years and years of use.

This only lasted until like mid-July. You have a very small window.

They’re not doing that again.

No, they learned their lesson.

Although, honestly, wouldn’t you like to sell bikes like that again? Is that the worst thing ever? I’m not saying that that deal is what was selling the bikes.

No, the bikes were selling the bikes. Just one last mention, don’t forget, Amazon Prime days are coming. If you have your eye on the Peloton equipment, now is a good time to make sure you are a Prime member and get ready for those sales. They take place on the 16th and 17th, and People Magazine is reporting that those invite-only sales I talked about last week are going to be up to 60% off on the original bike. That is what people are reporting. I have not found that anywhere else, but that’s what they’re saying.

If you get that deal, it’s worth buying a bike to flip it if you have a spare lying around.

Remember, invite-only. You have to ask to get on the invite list. Go do that now, and then cross your fingers,

Coming up after this, we’re going to talk to Dr. Jenn. She has tips for you on how to break up with your therapist. Sometimes it needs to happen. It doesn’t mean they’re bad. It doesn’t mean you’re bad. Sometimes people just don’t click. She’ll walk you through it. Stick around.

‐‐‐

Joining us once again is Dr. Jenn Mann, a licensed marriage, family, and child therapist, and sports psychology consultant. She was also a five-year national team member in rhythmic gymnastics and sports psychology for USA Gymnastics. It’s Dr. Jenn.

Hello.

Peloton instructors always introduce new moves for you to learn and master. Share on X

A few episodes back, we talked about finding a therapist. I thought maybe you could give us some tips on how to unfined a therapist. Let’s say you got one and you’ve been there for a while and you’re not feeling it. They’re telling you things you don’t agree with or it doesn’t feel like a good fit or you found out that there are nut jobs.

It does happen in this day and age when you can google therapists and find out all kinds of them.

You see the bumper sticker on the back of their car and you’re like, “You voted for who? Hard pass.” How do you extract yourself from that situation?

It’s a great question and the number one issue that stops people from ending that relationship when I talk to people is fear of upsetting or hurting the feelings of the therapist. I cannot tell you how many people I have talked to who have stayed in therapy relationships for months if not years that were no longer serving them because they worry about hurting the feelings of the therapist.

First of all, that is a red flag about the therapy relationship. If you are feeling like you need to take care of your therapists, then either the therapist has communicated something in some sort of way that is unhealthy in the relationship or you’re recreating something from your childhood or your history. The therapist hasn’t picked up on it and has missed the mark that you’re being such a people pleaser that you’re not getting your needs met.

One caveat I should say is that there are times when people feel like this therapy relationship isn’t working for me, but they also haven’t addressed it with the therapist, “I need you to be more directive,” or “I need more tools,” or “I’ve noticed that when I talk about my mother, you keep bringing it back to some other stories. I know you’re trying to be helpful, but it’s distracting and I feel like it’s preventing me from getting to the emotion of my story.” It’s very hard to say and do those things, especially if you are feeling vulnerable and you’re new to therapy.

You’re not a therapist yourself so you don’t know about this stuff. It is important to be able to process in your therapy what’s working and what’s not. I’ve had plenty of clients over the years who have said, “This intervention didn’t feel good to me,” or “The way you said that hurt my feelings,” or whatever it is. As a therapist, we have an expression called grist for the mill, which means whatever happens in there because therapy is a microcosm of how you function in the world, it’s a great material for us as therapists to help you.

There’s that category of stuff. I always encourage people that if something in your therapy relationship isn’t working, first talk about it with your therapist because that’s grist for the mill. That’s important information. Also, you’re learning the skill of asking to get your needs met which is important, and then there’s that other category of this person is not the right fit. They’re not getting you. Their interventions do not feel like a good match, in which case, it’s important to terminate the relationship.

Keep in mind, in therapy school, they teach us how to help a client terminate a relationship and that is a normal expected part. If your therapist is a good therapist, they’re going to first process with you what’s going on that you may be acting out. Are you not addressing things that may be scary for you to address and you’re trying to bail, or is this not the right fit? Any therapist who is worth their weight will want to know this. If it’s not the right fit, ethically, you want the client to find someone who is the right fit. Therapists should give you three names of people that might be the right fit for you. That’s what we are taught to do, always give three referrals.

Keep in mind that this is part of the therapeutic process. Also, there’s the positive end of therapy, which is like, “I’ve accomplished my goals here. I feel ready to move on. I even enjoyed our work and I feel like it’s time for me to be able to go off on my own,” in which case, the therapist should be happy for you. That’s a positive. That means that you’ve done great work together and that’s a good thing.

It’s a shame dating doesn’t have the three referrals.

When I was single, I would do that. I was like, “You are an awesome guy. I’m just not feeling the chemistry, but I have a friend who’s adorable and I think you’d be a good match with her.”

You’re so classy. I love it.

What a great letdown.

We should teach this to the children.

Someone can be an awesome person and be attractive but you’re not feeling it. It’s not what you’re looking for. They should be recycled. You want to pass them to someone who you like and it could be a match.

When in doubt with your therapist, write them a bad check and they’ll drop you.

Yeah, but not too much.

In all seriousness. Are there any ways that you don’t want to end a relationship with a therapist? Maybe 1 or 2 of those as well.

Ghosting, not showing up for appointments, and not canceling the appointments, or canceling the appointment, and then not saying, “I’m not feeling like this is going to work for me.” Typically in Psychology school, they teach us to have what’s called a termination session. If a client says, “I don’t want to work together anymore,” one of the things we are trained to do as therapists is to have a termination session. We go over like, “Here are some of the tools you’re leaving. Here are some of the changes I’ve seen in you over time.” It should be a positive thing.

Some people freak out. They’re like, “I told my therapist I don’t want to work with them anymore. Now, they want a termination session. They’re going to be upset with me. They’re going to yell at me.” That’s not what a termination session is. A termination session is a celebration of all the work that you’ve done over the years. A lot of the time, most therapists will say, “My door is always open to you if you hit a bump in the road. Know I’m here.” It’s all good. That’s important to keep in mind.

They should probably give it a better name than a termination session.

It sounds like you’re getting asked. It sounds like that thing they do whenever you quit a job.

An exit interview.

I hate those.

It is, but the therapist is giving you some positive feedback.

It makes total sense. It’s just that the marketing guy in me is like, “It’s a shit name.” Thank you so much for all of that. Until next time, and there will be a next time.

We weren’t in a termination session.

We are not terminating. I’m coming back.

Until next time, where can people find you?

On social media @DrJennMann.

Wonderful. Thank you.

—

Another week, another exiting Peloton instructor.

This one was wild.

It was very weird. If anybody knows that Tobias Hainze is leaving Peloton, they should send you a thank-you card because it seemed like they were trying to let this quietly happen.

Before people get upset about that, let me say Peloton has had a very long and rich history of letting the instructor decide how they want to announce and if they want to announce. If people think back to Steven Little when he left, it was dead silence for a week and a half. People were losing their shit. Finally, Steven Little stepped forward and was like, “I’m leaving,” and did his final class. Peloton did not push that. He did that because people pushed him from the ether.

In this particular case, Tobias had not had a live class for a while. This got very strange. I have to thank the person who DM-ed me. This is not like you guys don’t know because I said it. You guys know because this person DM-ed me. She expressed her concern because Tobias was supposed to be at Pride. He was supposed to be at London Calling. He didn’t show up on either. There was no announcement, no explanation, nothing.

At the end of May, he announced on his socials he was going to have his brand new signature series, and then it never got posted anywhere. When she laid out those facts for me, I was like, “This is not good.“ I reached out to people and no one answered me, which is never a good sign. Silence is not good in the Peloton world. We went ahead and put our article up saying, “Where is Tobias?” Twenty minutes later, Tobias announced that he was leaving. Five seconds after that, Peloton released their statement. Was it because of us? I don’t know, but I do know that the timing was notable.

This is odd because they said that they were done with shedding instructors. Their statement even said, “This isn’t that.”

 

The timing has me curious though because he posted that about Signature Series in May. That was after Ross had already announced he was leaving in June, which means contract negotiations were about done. I’m not sure I’d buy that.

I also don’t get why not just lump them in.

Maybe he hadn’t made a decision.

It felt like they were trying to let it fall by the wayside like, “It’s a German instructor. People in America and Canada don’t pay that much attention to foreign language instructors so that one doesn’t count. We’ll let it wither away,” and then they got called on it.

I still say that was Tobias’s decision, in Peloton’s defense.

I’m not saying you’re wrong. I just don’t understand the logic behind that. You have a high-profile job and you walk away from people who are going to wonder. These instructors are still all over Instagram and whatnot. Aren’t people going to be like, “How come you’re not in Peloton anymore?” That’s going to be every comment thread you’ll have.

I think that these contract negotiations were not nearly as black and white as Peloton would like us to believe. I also think there are a lot of hurt feelings from these instructors. We’ve talked about Kristin McGee. I think it is possible that Tobias was another one of those. It’s also possible it was unrelated, but he had not officially made his decision about how he was going to announce and we pushed their hand by making a big deal about it. There were people asking questions, but I do think that the clamor wasn’t as loud as it would have been had it been a US instructor. I think that it was manageable before attention was drawn to it.

My guess is a lot of the big media outlets were like, “Another instructor left,” then they were like, “Who?” They were like, “You don’t need to write about that.”

It’s sad if that is the takeaway for a lot of people. I saw comments, especially in the OPP, that we’re dismissive of Tobias. They were like, “I don’t know who this is.” It goes back to what I was saying earlier. Do more than ride your bike, guys. I’m not saying you have to buy a treadmill. There are lots of ways you can interact with these instructors. Tobias is known for being an excellent instructor with a great playlist, and I feel like a lot of people missed out on that.

It’s too bad when you stay in your little bubble and you don’t try new instructors. Having said that, we don’t know what happened. We never will unless Tobias comes out and says it because Peloton is not going to. Unless he comes out and says what the deal was, we’re never going to know. We don’t have to know. We wish him luck. We wish Tobias to have luck. I hope everything goes well and I hope that his next chapter is wonderful.

Speaking of that, we wrote an article talking about where your favorite former instructors are now.

This was our Helper Bee Elizabeth. Elizabeth is new to the writing team, but she knows how to make a splash. All of our new writers are fantastic. You’d think they’d been doing it the whole time, writing with our team. They fit right in. I love this article because she went all the way back to the beginning and covered all of the instructors.

We did miss that German instructor who was here for three months. That got snotty on social media. We did go back and correct that, but everything is in here, where everybody is at now, and what they’ve been doing since then. This is a great article. For those of you who don’t know, there’s so much more to Peloton than what you’ve lived since however long you’ve been here.

It’s a good deep dive if you’re like, “What happened before I got here,” if you’re a pandemic baby or whatnot.

There’s a lot that goes with Peloton. Not that you need to understand it to enjoy the bike or whatever product you have because you don’t, but it’s nice. It gives a different level of history, a depth there that when you hear people talk about the good old days, you see where that’s coming from. I also was very charmed by the fact that Oliver Lee shared the story. He didn’t ask me anything this week. That takes balls, my friend. I love it.

Maybe that’s not the best choice of words.

I think it was appropriate, Tom.

Your word choice, you mean?

That is what I mean.

I’m just making things clear.

Pun intended.

Speaking of former instructors, Kendall Toole spoke with People Magazine about what she’s got in the offing.

Good for her. She’s going to do a podcast. I am so tired of hearing about Kendall Toole. I cannot wait to never bring her up again. I’m so tired of her self-congratulatory personality. She has moved on. She’s doing one of her new ventures because I’m sure there will be many. It is a podcast with some person who has a fixer-upper show, Galen or something. I’m not doing justice. I don’t follow her, so I don’t know. They posted a picture months ago, the two of them, sitting in a tree and doing the little hand heart. I thought that was interesting.

That was the most interesting thing of all this because it was like seeing how long the life cycle is. It lights up my business brain. That was seven months ago that they posted that. That’s how long this has been in the works. That’s fascinating. Let me get this lady’s name, Galey Alix. The new podcast is called Wholeheartedly and you will be able to find it everywhere. It drops on July 17th, so every Wednesday. It’ll be up.

In non-former instructor news, i.e. instructor news, Callie Gullickson will return in September.

She comes back from maternity leave and presumably, she will move back from Florida to New York when she does that, you would think. How fascinating that this very week when all of the buzz was going on with all these instructors leaving, she launched her own website that was very much not about Peloton. That is fascinating to me. I can’t help but wonder, when is Callie’s contract up?

Maybe she realizes. Speaking of the contract stuff, it does get me wondering how many instructors have signed new contracts begrudgingly. Did any of them have to take a pay cut to stick around? That forces their hand on other ventures to offset the loss of income. Peloton, in a lot of ways, has these instructors by the balls. There are some like Cody, Robin, and Ally Love that have super huge followings and can pivot easily. A lot of the other ones, their fan base is contingent upon them being a

I think that that is a fair question. I don’t know about any of them or how they feel about signing their contracts. I don’t think any of us could possibly know that. I found it interesting. Callie covers a lot of content on her Instagram and she pushes a lot of products and also when she’s not pushing products, she also genuinely loves to share things with people like Trader Joe’s. She is a huge Trader Joe’s fan. As far as I know, she’s not employed by them.

She has this whole line on her website now of mocktails and things like that. I have a feeling there’s more to come. There are a lot of people who are already anticipating there will be a mocktail cookbook coming up in the future or a recipe book. I could see that. One of the things that always gives me a raw feeling about some of the instructors that leave is not that they should be all happy and go-lucky about every single decision that Peloton makes, or be happy if they had to sign a contract and take a pay cut.

What bothers me is what people like Kendall seem to think, and it’s the impression I get, it’s not like I had a conversation with her, she gives off the impression that she would have accomplished everything she has accomplished without Peloton. That is a symbiotic relationship. I feel like sometimes the instructors don’t get that. Yes, Peloton needs them, but they also need Peloton. They wouldn’t have gotten to a million followers without Peloton.

They’ve all had success before Peloton. We don’t mean to take away from that, but Peloton is also jet fuel for the instructors.

It’s like that saying about the rising tide brings up all boats. I think that’s a good example or a good way to describe how this works. I don’t think any one instructor would have gotten where they are today without Peloton. Not that they wouldn’t have been successful on their own, but not in the same way.

Conversely, Robin Arzon.

Maybe. There is a lot of determination there.

She came in at a I think a higher level than the other instructors have been brought in at.

Some of the later instructors were probably closer to where Robin was when she first came in, or the newer ones.

I also think it was also a lot ballsy choice for her to make at that point in time.

She knows how to bet on herself. The stuff that she says, I know some people think is very cliche, but she lives by the things she says. You cannot fault her or say that she doesn’t because she does bet on herself. She does put herself first and she knows what she wants. She knows her worth. I think that some of the instructors that are still there might be still struggling through that.

I think there’s been a lot. I’ve seen a lot of things that people have posted. I don’t want to call any instructor out and get them in trouble. There have been people that have posted about tough times recently. When I see that and I see all this going on, I can’t help but think some of that is related. There is some stuff going on in the background.

They’ve also got to be careful because it can also come across as like, “Poor me. I’m a sad little Peloton instructor at the pinnacle of my industry.”

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That is true. I will say the people that I’ve seen post, I have never gotten that impression of them. I do not see it that way, but you’re right. On social media, you can take things in a million different ways, and somebody will always find the negative one.

Especially when you have hundreds of thousands, there’s going to be at least one asshole in there. Jess King is bringing back Sweat Steady to the tread.

This time she’s bringing it to the tread. That’s the thing.

She’s not bringing it back. She’s bringing it to the tread.

It has been a long-standing signature series on the bike, but now it is coming over to the tread.

People are pretty excited about that, I would think.

I don’t know. Honestly, I completely missed that it even happened. It is a lot and her reel doesn’t give off the impression that’s what it is. I saw it and thought it was something else. I didn’t know what it was. I hardly ever watch Instagram with the sound on. If you don’t have captions that are very clear from moment one, I’ve already moved on. I know I’m not the only one like that. I don’t know what people are going to put on there. They can’t have that sound on. It’s willy-nilly. You never know.

Our kids have heard it all, and our kids are almost 18 and 20.

Also, you can’t be sitting in a doctor’s office perusing Instagram on full blast. I would never do that.

Really? Because the guy next to me on the plane didn’t mind doing that, then he was shocked and appalled when the stewardess was like, “Hey, buddy. How about not sharing that with everybody?” “I don’t see why that’s a problem.”

Because headphones exist.

Because there are 200 people on the plane all with phones.

I had my headphones on full blast, and I could still hear his stupid bad comedy coming through my headphones. It was annoying. Anyway back to Sweat Steady, I’m sure there are people excited about it. I think this is yet another example of what you’ve been talking about lately that they’re trying to bring in bike users to other modalities, and this is a good example of that.

If you’re a Patreon subscriber, this show will continue immediately, but for everybody else, coming up after this, we’re going to talk about how boutique gyms are having a moment and give you the TCO Top Five, so stick around.

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This is interesting. Boutique gyms seem to be having a moment.

That’s what this article says. I’m not saying it’s necessarily wrong, but I think it’s interesting. We talked about an article a month ago where they were saying nobody was going to the gym. Could you hypothesize that a regular gym isn’t getting as many visitors but these boutique gyms are?

That’s how I skimmed the article and that was my take on it. It was that the big box gyms, the total gyms, total fitness, or whatever are starting to level off and see drops than the more niche products.

They give examples like Orange Theory, Rumble, and things like that. Barry’s Bootcamp is another example. I think that’s super interesting because they’re saying people don’t want to workout at home. They don’t want to be isolated, and they don’t want to get their direction from a screen. I’m so fascinated by that.

It almost feels like you had this generation of people who fell in love with Peloton during the pandemic. The pandemic ends. A certain percentage of them want to get out of the house. They like that ritual of leaving the house, which I don’t understand. I guess I get that it’s different. They flood the gyms now but they’re not getting the instruction that they were used to, and so then you have a subset of people that are like, “I want what Peloton gave me, but I don’t want to do it at home,” so they’re going to these boutique gyms to replicate Peloton but in the real world.

It’s interesting when you put it that way because I think about how Peloton is shutting down all the showrooms. If that’s true, think about how you could have had all these studios open across the country that also acted as showrooms. Maybe they don’t sell or buy anything, but people could go in and take classes.

They were never designed to teach 20 to 30 people at a time.

They weren’t, but I’m saying it’s too bad they weren’t. That’s my point. They could have done it differently.

I don’t know how much demand is there to go to a boutique gym to then watch somebody on a screen.

I don’t know either. In theory, if you’re doing it with other people, that’s what you’re doing it for, and you’re still getting good instruction. I’m not the person to even ask this question because I don’t want to leave my house. I would rather do it all at home.

Back to what you were saying about trying to do that at a Peloton store, I think the other problem you would have is who gets to pick the class. When you go to a boutique gym, it’s like, “So and so is your instructor at 10:00.” Are you taking that class or not?

I pictured it as being live from the studio. Therefore, there would be the 10:00 class. That’s what you’re doing.

What happens the rest of the day?

You could have several of those. That’s the whole point. That’s what I’m saying.

I meant that there aren’t nonstop live classes, so what happens when there’s not a live class?

There are only a few hours in the middle of the day that there isn’t, except for Wednesdays and Thursdays.

It’s neither here nor there, but it’s interesting, the boutique gyms.

I don’t know what that means. Does that impact Peloton? Does that have a long-term effect?

I can’t help but think that maybe in the long term, it’s good for Peloton because those places are expensive, and can be difficult to get to. It means when people get tired of that, the logical evolution is to go back to Peloton. We shall see.

We shall.

‐‐‐

Before we dig into the TCO Top Five, let’s do our bingo call out.

Denis Morton is bingo number two.

It is time for the TCO Top Five. You’ve told us what your favorite classes of the week are, and now we will tell everyone. The first item up for bid is your favorite row.

It is a bootcamp row, and it takes place with Katie Wang on June 17th. Sonia said that this class was not only a great workout but she didn’t realize how hard she was working because Katie made it so fun and the playlist was perfect. The songs included in this class are It’s Raining Men by the Weathergirls, Macho Man by YMCA, and I Feel Love by Donna Summer. That does sound like a lot of fun.

 

Paul Schaefer wrote It’s Raining Men. The lead female vocalist on that is the same female vocalist on all the CNC Music Factory hits.

I remember you telling me that. That’s an interesting story.

It’s a very fascinating story.

You have to listen to the bonus. We’re not going there today.

Number two, your favorite artist series ride.

Lil Jon with Alex Toussaint this week. People loved it. People raved about it. I did see some crabby people about it saying that they talked too much, the two of them. They felt like they were arguing over the microphone, but most people raved about it.

If you’re having the artist in the studio, you have to expect the talking. Do you just want to watch them ride the bike? I get why you don’t like it, but then don’t ever take that class.

If it’s not your jam, that’s okay.

I like Motorhead. I just wish they weren’t so loud.

To be fair, I saw that on the OPP, which doesn’t that sound right? Felicia Ann, Pat Darling, Jill, and Stacey loved this ride. They all nominated it. Felicia said that it was the best ride she’d ever taken. Pat said that it was pure fun and energy. I was particularly charmed by the fact that every single person who mentioned Lil Jon in their stories, he re-mentioned them in his story. I thought that was cool. He seemed genuinely hyped about it. Sometimes these artists are all above it. They’re like, “Whatever.” I thought it was cute.

Number three, your favorite strength class.

This one was taught by Rebecca Kennedy on 4/1/24. We’re going back a little bit. They are a 30-minute strength roll call, body weight. Courtney Marissa picked this saying that Rebecca did a 100 rep pyramid challenge. That sounded scary to her at first, but she was glad she stuck with it. It had a great playlist. It was a very challenging class, but she made it achievable and spoiler, even the 50 push-ups. I’m going to say you’re lying, Courtney Marissa. There is no way.

You’re a damn dirty liar. Number four, your favorite Peloton farewell ride. There’s a lot to choose from.

It’s only one ride and that was Kendall. Lots of people loved it. There were like 19,000 people on this ride. People loved it. Mariana, Camilla, and Ash all were there riding to say goodbye. That was nice of them to show up and show support.

Finally, your favorite unstackable.

This one was taught by Sam Yo back in 2003. David Stimber says the 60-minute rock ride was the unstackable. He had great commentary. He said, “Sam is a Peloton instructor, stage actor, Buddhist monk, and the cardio god of rock. The music for this ride included a lot of top metal songs, and where is the freaking break between climbs? There isn’t one.” That’s what David says.

Now let’s take a quick look at this week at Peloton. We’ve got a country happy hour.

Not only do we have a country happy hour, but it’s the last one in this particular run. They do their little seasons. This particular week is the last one in the season. I can’t remember who it was, but one of the famous country singers is in the class. I want to say it was Kacey Musgraves or something, but I don’t know if that’s true. I remember seeing Hannah post about it on her Instagram. It’s already fallen out of my brain. It was there and then it was gone. Also, we have new full-body stretches that Adrian Williams released, 30 minutes. That’s luxurious, a full-body stretch.

I feel like a lot of people will be watching the class, but maybe not taking the class.

You can do both. Nothing wrong with that. Lots of people like to look at Adrian.

There are also new walking meditations.

There are and I love them. Audio walking only. There are new classes. They dropped on Wednesday, July 3rd.

Finally, Peloton’s Defected Records Lanebreak ride.

We’re seeing this collaboration continue and this is a 20-minute Lanebreak ride, not run. That’s fun.

Peloton is celebrating July 4th.

Yes, they are. There will be no live classes, but there’s going to be new content dropping. We have the Fourth of July arms and shoulder strength class. There is also going to be a Fourth of July row and Fourth of July ride at 8:00 AM, and a Fourth of July run. We’re going to have, across all of the different spectrums, new classes dropping. Enjoy that.

In the interest of equal time, they also celebrated Canada Day.

They had two new classes that dropped and they both included music entirely by Canadian artists like Justin Bieber, Alanis Morissette, Avril Lavigne, Drake, Nelly Furtado, Sum 31, and Nickelback.

I forget Nickelback is Canadian.

I didn’t know that. That’s fascinating.

There were lots of discussions about the rumored Tortured Poets Department class.

On the day we said it was going to happen, it did happen. That was on Thursday, June 27 at 3:00 PM Eastern. There was a Tortured Poets Department ride. I thought this was interesting because Nikki pointed out something that I did not get. That is Peloton still has not announced any Taylor Swift classes. They’re not saying. “We’re going to have this whole new artist series.”

That’s weird because typically, when you have one class, you have it across all the different disciplines. What’s also interesting is that Robin said during the class that it was going to drop within the next ten days. We know that that’s going to drop sometime soon, but then Nikki brought up the point that I feel silly for missing. That is one of the artist series that has been announced and also happens to be a huge part of this album with Taylor Swift. What’s that guy’s name?

Jack Antonoff?

That’s the guy. They did announce a Jack Antonoff series, and that is taking place next week. That’s fascinating, isn’t it?

Maybe that’s how they’re sneaking it in.

That’s what I told you when I sent you all those messages. I’m not sure it got through. You look like you have no idea what I’m talking about.

He also has done a lot of other work.

It makes me wonder if they’ll do some of these different artists in chunks or if it’ll be this one was broken out and the rest won’t be. It’ll be interesting to see how they do that. I could see them being like contemporary artists or doing it by decade. It’ll be interesting to see what they do with that.

‐‐‐

We have an apparel sale going on.

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Just in time for the 4th of July. Some of the items that dropped a week ago are included in the sale. Most of them were excluded, but there are a few that made it through. Make your own opinions about that.

That’s a quick jump to a discount, I would think. Also, is it within the return window? If they haven’t taken the tags off, they can send the other stuff back. That’s so quick. It came out last week. Most people probably haven’t gotten their stuff yet, so if you want to, you do that. I’m not saying you should, but you should.

You should at least consider it.

Coming up after this, we’re going to talk to Jennifer Armendariz from the Hardcore Early Risers Group, so stick around.

 ‐‐‐

Joining us is Jen Armendariz. Jen, how is it going?

Great. How are you guys doing?

Good. We are so glad to have you here. We’ve changed the time on you twice or once, and then today, we had all kinds of difficulties. You’ve been very patient and we appreciate it.

No worries. We have to love technology.

She’s like, “These guys have done 350 of these things. Why do they not have it down yet?”

“What is the problem?”

It happened.

Looking Back

I always like to start these conversations by understanding the background of how you came across Peloton. How did you get here?

I am a group fitness instructor. I started hearing about Peloton in 2020 when everything shut down and our gym shut down that I was working at. I use our spin bikes rather. I was going to use them at home then I found Peloton. They have their free trial, so I tried it and fell in love with it. That’s what I have been doing since then.

When you say you’re a group fitness instructor, I know that can mean a lot of things. That can mean you teach spin classes and other types of classes. Do you still teach any classes at this point? I know that can be an in-and-out thing.

I was teaching a large number of classes and still working full-time. Life got a little crazy. I’m still certified as a group fitness instructor. I just don’t teach regularly now because of life.

We understand.

Were you conflicted about the existence of Peloton since you are teaching people in real life and here’s this other thing?

No, I loved it so much. I love the vibe of the instructors and get to see new music and do all those types of things. A lot of the songs that I would hear in class, I could incorporate into my own classes.

It sounds like it was almost a little bit of inspiration in your class. It gave you some ideas and some different ways to go that you might have not gone without hearing those. That’s fun.

I have my favorite instructors. I would get ideas from them without them even knowing. It was cool.

That’s great. We’ve talked to a lot of fitness instructors and I’m curious what your thoughts are. Do you like somebody else to teach you because you taught other classes? Is it nice to just let go and not have to think about what the class should be?

Are you constantly evaluating?

I am not evaluating at all. I love following the classes right along. I love it because sometimes or a lot of times, they introduced me to new moves that I didn’t realize, new exercises, or new ways of doing things, especially with the new split programs. I follow along.

Have you always been into fitness and working out or is that something you did more as an adult?

I’ve always been into working out ever since middle school and high school. In college, I did the gym thing. I’ve always loved exercise as a stress reliever for me.

That’s great. Tom hasn’t embraced that side of things.

I just do it. I muddle through.

Just to check a box.

It’s baby steps.

Hardcore Early Risers

I know that you’re part of the founding group of the HardCORE early risers. Tell us about that. How did this happen? I need to know more.

I was on the HardCORE on the Floor Facebook page and someone posted, “If you need an early morning accountability group, we wake up at 4:00 AM. Come join us.” I messaged one of the girls and we have a WhatsApp group. This was probably back starting in ‘22 when I joined them. We probably have over a hundred messages throughout the day all day. It starts in the morning. Everybody is waking up and they’re going to do their workouts. It goes through that the whole day.

It’s so great because it is truly how Peloton helps communities form. I kid you not when I say we have been through everything in this group together, with this group of women. We talk about marriage stuff and kids stuff. We’ve gone through cancer diagnosis together. We’ve gone through family illness. It’s all of these things. It’s such a comfortable place to be with each other. It’s funny because most of the girls are on the East Coast. I’m over here in Texas. We’re two hours apart or three hours apart. In ‘23, we had our first meetup. We all met up in Peloton, New York. We took classes together. That was our first meeting and we had the best time.

I have to clarify, 4:00 AM Central Time or Eastern Time because that is 3:00 AM if it’s Central Time.

Those girls are up at 4:00 AM Eastern Time, which is 2:00 AM my time. I’m not up at that time. I’m up at 4:00 AM my time.

Is there anybody that has joined the group and then you find out that they’re in a different time zone and they’re joining your 4:00 AM ride at 8:00 AM their time? They’re scamming. Has that ever happened?

There’s no judgment because we tend to get our workouts in at night or our lunch hour. Some of the girls just had babies, so when the babies are asleep. You’ve got to get that workout in when you can.

That’s a much healthier attitude, Tom.

What’s the latest you can start a ride and still be considered a HardCORE early riser?

We’ve never set restrictions that way, I promise.

 

I’m just trying to sprinkle the seeds of dissent.

We have a whole checklist. 4:00 AM, for sure, are you up or not, because if you’re not, you can’t beat it.

I’m the guy who watched Gremlins that was like, “What if they eat, but something gets stuck in their teeth?” At 12:01, they worked it out.

He has legit asked that question as a serious thought process.

Now your Gremlin has eaten after midnight and what are you going to do? What if you’re on a plane and you cross a time zone? They started their sandwich at 11:50 and now it’s 12:50. Now what happened?

All kinds of questions.

These are things people need to know.

Those are interesting thoughts and questions to have.

Studio Experience

She’s so sweet. Back to you. You guys went to the studio. Was that your first time in the studio?

That was the first time I had been there. It was amazing.

You were at the new studio because it was in the middle of COVID or towards the end of all that. What was it like? What was it like seeing everybody and meeting people in person?

I felt like I had all these celebrity crushes or something. I was super starstruck when I saw everybody. I enjoyed it because everyone there at the studio was so welcoming, then the members that you meet that go there. You’re all excited because you’re taking the class. The instructors are so welcoming too. It was the best time. Our group wants to go every year. I miss this year because of some family stuff but I’m hoping to catch them in ‘25 when we go to New York again.

It’s less than six months away.

We’re halfway through the year. May as well put your Christmas tree up now.

It’s too much, both of you.

You’re implying that we ever took it down.

We didn’t, but I did.

I took it to the dump.

That Christmas tree. We have two.

Early Riser And Healthcare

Are you naturally an early riser? Is this something that’s career driven or is that a choice that you made so you can get more done in a day?

I honestly think it’s because I’ve been an early riser since I was a kid. When I was smaller, my dad always left to work super early at 4:00 in the morning. He would wake me to say good morning or whatever, and by that time, I was up. That’s just the way I am. I work in health care. When I worked in the hospital, we had a 6:00 AM shift, so I had to get up early anyway.

That was my first thought. You’re either in health care or you host an FM morning show. That’s the only two reasons, or a cop.

Maybe one day I will host a radio show.

How do you balance being in healthcare, which can be stressful and overwhelming with your exercise? How do you do all that?

The one thing for sure is that I do work out before work. I get up at 3:45 AM, get my workout in, and then get ready for the day and get the kids ready for school and whatnot. I also found that I enjoy walking at lunchtime. I would normally walk outside but now in El Paso, it’s already like 107. I can’t do that at lunchtime. The other thing I decided to do was get one of those walking paths treadmill things. I keep it in my office. I do that when I’m dictating my notes and charting. Not when the patient’s in the room. I’m alone.

I do have a question about that. When the patients are in the room, can they see the walking pad? Is it tucked under?

It’s under my desk. Sometimes, they look down and they’re like, “You have a treadmill,” but the majority of the time they can’t see it.

That’s great. You’re being healthy. Either way, they shouldn’t be upset about it but I was just curious.

It would be super weird if I was on the treadmill while they were in the office.

Maybe they’re getting nervous.

“Is this a stress test that nobody told me about?”

“I thought you were in to talk about your weight. Get on the treadmill right now.”

They haven’t thought that I was putting them through a stress test. Thank goodness.

What healthcare do you do?

I’m a nurse practitioner. I work in hematology and oncology.

Heavy conversations sometimes, I would think.

Yes, but I love it. The majority of my career has been in oncology and it’s one of my passions.

Thank you for doing that. We need good people who care, kind, and compassionate whenever people are going through that.

Thank you. It prepared me for the things that I’ve had to deal with my mom’s own health too. I’ve been taking care of my patients. I’ve been on that side as a healthcare provider, but now I’m on the patient side helping my mom with her health.

That has to be quite a switch to flip.

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It is a switch.

I would think it’s also difficult to not be 100 % in control of that healthcare. That would be hard. I’m having a feeling of panic just thinking about it.

It’s hard because of the things that I do know, but it’s also the lessons that I’ve learned as far as helping my mom navigate the healthcare system, then also the importance of patients having their advocates because sometimes patients aren’t able or feel comfortable to speak up for themselves. I’m happy to be the one to advocate for my mom when there’s stuff that are things that she needs.

That’s a fortunate aspect of an unfortunate situation. I haven’t gone through anything like that but I don’t always even know what to ask coming home from the doctor. Crystal will be like, “Did you ask this, this, and this?” I’m like, “No. I didn’t even think to.”

Even when your grandma was in the hospital or before your dad passed and everything that happened with him. I was always the nosy one in the room being like, “What about this? How do we do this? How is this going to happen?” He and his sister are both quiet. I’m like, “This isn’t my place to be Miss Nosey.” At the same time, I can’t help it. I worry that people don’t understand it all the way. I’m like, “We got to ask all the questions.”

I agree. I’ve noticed here in El Paso, particularly with the Hispanic culture too, a lot of things are like if the doctor says this is the way, then this is the way it is. The patient doesn’t want to ask questions or they don’t feel comfortable. Patients and family members need to speak up for themselves so that they’re well informed.

There is a mentality and I’m guilty of it. I’m like, “I don’t know doctoring. That’s why I went and got myself a doctor.” I’m like, “If they say do X, Y, and Z, that’s what I’ll do.”

I don’t always agree with my dad, but I do agree whenever he says to a doctor, “Tell me in plain English. I need you to tell me like I am an idiot. Explain it to me as very simply as possible.” Everybody should be comfortable saying that because doctors use the words that are obvious, and it makes sense that they would use those words but not everybody gets it. Even if they understand the broad meaning. They don’t always understand what it implies, or some of the terms that are used.

I agree with you. As patients, they shouldn’t be ashamed to say, “I don’t understand what you’re saying. Break it down for me.” That’s 100% acceptable.

Sleep Patterns

A lot of people need to hear that. I’m glad you as a nurse practitioner are telling people. That might help other people out there tuning in. I’m also curious. I want to go back to the sleep thing. If you get up at 3:45 in the morning, what time are you going to bed? I need to understand this.

I’m working on my sleep. It’s not that I have trouble sleeping. There are so many things to do during the day. My goal is to be in bed at 9:00, but the majority of the time, I’m in bed at 10:00 or 10:30.

Even 9:00 doesn’t seem like late enough.

I need my sleep. I am a monster if I don’t sleep.

Sometimes she’s a monster if she does sleep.

It’s true, but I need to go to bed at 9:00 PM. I don’t fall asleep that fast. At the same time, I get up at 5:00 and that is too short of a time. I can’t imagine at 4:00 AM. I couldn’t do it.

I am trying to work on that because I need my sleep. This isn’t a plug. My friends told me about this WHOOP band. You have it.

I love it.

Mine is not as cool as yours. That has also been helping me with my recovery. It’s like putting it in my face like, “You didn’t sleep last night. You need to like take it easy.” I was so excited when I saw that I got 100% of my sleep for the first time.

Good job. That’s a big deal. I’m very proud of you for doing that.

Thank you. I go to bed earlier than my kids do sometimes and they’re like, “Really, Mom, you’re going to bed already?” Yes.

Yes, I am.

Keep it down. That’s what headphones are for.

I put on a meditation from Ross and I’m good to go.

Peloton Classes

He’s the best sleep meditation guy ever. I was going to ask what other classes you take. I know you take strength classes and meditation. Are you mixing it up with some yoga and some Pilates?

I started adding more yoga and stretching into my life because I wish I would have appreciated stretching when I was in my twenties and the foam rolling. I do that. I also enjoy the barre classes like the ten-minute barre classes before a leg workout. That’s one of my favorite ways to workout or to warm up. I’m starting to incorporate running now. I’m a very beginner when it comes to running. I do that as well. I love yoga. That’s the focus flow for the hips and lower body. Those are great.

Those are fantastic. I’m excited about all the new running content they are coming up with lately. I am so thrilled about the pace-target classes. They are great. I love them excited.

You’re a runner.

I am. When you say beginner, I believe you. I’m not a beginner but I am so slow. It’s painful how slow I am. I hate it and I wish I could get faster. That’s always my goal because I’m so painfully slow. The pace classes are so fun and it’s great to have like, “I started this level. Now I have something to be very specific to work toward.” That’s nice to have that target instead of guessing every time I get on the tread, which is usually what I do.

It’s nice to have a program to help you with all of that. I had run a half marathon a few years ago and I didn’t train properly at all. It’s ridiculous that I even did that, but now I want to learn how to train and give appropriate time. The recovery though is key. I realize that I have to stretch and warm up before a run. I have to stretch after and cool down appropriately or that’s it. My hips and my knees are going to hurt.

That is so true. Whenever you’re ready, they put out that Road to the Half Marathon program. They launched that. That could be a great thing for you to look forward to when you’re ready.

I do. I have this goal to get back to doing it. I even saw this morning and I’m like, “Why don’t I live in New York?” Rad posted that he was going to do a run in Central Park. I’m like, “Dang it. Why don’t you guys ever find that stuff when I’m there? I would do that.”

I saw that and I was like, “That is lovely.” He puts it out on his channel and Instagram. He’s like, “I will be in Central Park.” I’m like, “I can see why none of the female instructors would ever do that.”

That’s true.

“I and my security team will be going for a jog this morning.”

For sure, but I was super bummed when I saw that. I’m like, “Too far.”

She’ll run up to Central Park real quick.

Leaderboard Name And Preferred Instructors

What is your leaderboard name?

My leaderboard name is BYOJenergy.

I love it. Do you get a lot of shoutouts because you should? That’s a great leaderboard name.

I got inspiration from Callie because she’s always about BYOE like Bring Your Own Energy. That’s how I got my inspiration.

 

I hope she gives you a lot of shout-outs. She should.

I changed it recently. Mariana from Yoga and Ross. It’s been my yoga piece that has been giving me those shout-outs.

Do you have a preferred instructor?

I love Robin for cycling. That was what brought me to Peloton for sure. I love Rad for strength. He was one of the ones that I took the class in New York. That was super fun. I also love Chelsea for yoga. Hannah is amazing for barre. I love them all. I could talk about every one of them for hours without being weird. Both of them are my go-to. You didn’t ask me this but I’m going to tell you. My favorite ride ever was the J.Lo ride that Robin and Jess King did together a few years ago.

What about that ride that spoke to you?

It was the energy about it. It was such a cool vibe and it’s such a great like pick me up ride. If you’re having a bad day or you need some good vibes and energy in your life. That’s why I love that ride so much. I go back to it, especially when I need it on a pick-me-up day.

Enjoy it while you can. They’ll take it away someday.

At some point.

No, I can’t.

Advice

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

The best advice I would give is to try the classes that you feel that you’re most interested in and you like. All movement is good movement. It’s okay to start at the beginner rides or the beginner walks. Getting out there and moving our bodies as much as possible is the best thing that we can do for our cardiovascular health. As we get older, for our bone health and stay flexible. We know as we get older, we’re more at risk of falling and all of those things. The more mobile we can be, the better. I know it’s hard not to, but we don’t need to compare ourselves to everybody else and what level they’re at. It’s okay to be a beginner.

Good advice.

Episode Wrap-Up

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.

I would love that. On TikTok, that’s probably where I’m most active. I’m at @JennyLanae. On Instagram, it’s @JennLanae because Jenny Leane was taken. Come and find me. I’d love to meet more of our Peloton community.

Thank you again. We appreciate your time.

Thank you, guys. This was super fun.

It was.

‐‐‐

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 all the other social and the leaderboard @ClipOutCrystal.

You can find me on Twitter @RogerQBert or 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’re going to have a whole other episode created for you at Patreon.com/TheClipOut. That’s it for this one. Thanks for tuning in. Until next time, keep pedaling, and running, and rowing.

 

Important Links

• Jennifer Armendariz – Instagram
• HardCORE on the Floor – Facebook page
• WHOOP
• @JennyLanae – TikTok
• Peloton staved off the cash crunch that threatened its business. Where does it go now?
• 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
• @DrJennMann – Instagram
• Crystal D. O’Keefe – Facebook
• @ClipOutCrystal – Instagram
• @RogerQBert – Twitter
• Tom O’Keefe – Facebook