• Peloton inks partnership with Google Fitbit.
• Peloton sets their next earnings call.
• Peloton employee Nick Mead was Olympic closing ceremony flag bearer.
• How to make challenges work for you.
• Peloton has a special offer for NYC Marathon runners.
• Next Lulu Members weekend at PSNY is in September.
• Jenn – Coping with schedule changes.
• Jermain Johnson is a new father!
• Rebecca Kennedy & Hannah Corbin in Sofi Tukker music video.
• Cody Rigsby celebrates 10-years with Peloton.
• The latest artist series features Imagine Dragons.
• TCO Top 5.
• This Week at Peloton.
• Check out all the new collections.
• Jess King adds Sweat Steady to Walks on Tread.
• Dreamblend is back in stock.
• Birthdays – Nicole Meline (8/17), Kirsten Ferguson (8/19), Jill Foley (8/20), Crystal O’Keefe (8/20)

 

All this plus our interview with Amanda McKinney!

—

Watch the episode here

 

Listen to the podcast here

 

Peloton Inks Partnership With Google Fitbit Plus Our Interview With Author Amanda McKinney

We are back from Oklahoma where the wind comes sweeping down the plane. That was a lot of driving. It was like a seven and a half hour drive. We drove there, dropped him off, and then the next day, turned around and drove right back. We broke that up and stopped at the halfway point and crashed. I don’t know. I’m on the fence.

I am too because the whole week has been difficult trying to work and do stuff in between. We were driving and trying to do work, and then trying to podcast. I’m exhausted. My body feels like this is Monday or maybe Tuesday but in reality, it’s Wednesday.

He is off at college, take two. This one was a real college unlike the last one. We already feel better about it. I think he does too.

I would agree with that and there are some special shout-outs to some people who talked to us off the ledge back last year when all this went down.

I won’t even say talk off the ledges. They were there to be like, “You’re not crazy.”

That was talking me off the ledge.

It is how professionals confront themselves.

I needed to hear that. For me, that was talking me off the ledge. We’ll talk more about it in the bonus episode.

We will also talk about Cody potentially throwing some shade at Robin.

Also, Denis’s new haircut.

What that might portend. What pray tell will we be discussing here?

First of all, we have our interview with author Amanda McKinney. I’m super excited about this. This was a fun conversation. What a nice woman and her books are fabulous too. We are also going to be talking about the new partnership that Peloton inked with Google. We are going to be talking about what’s coming up with the earnings call next week, the Peloton employee who surprised everyone by winning gold, how he wrapped up his week, and new challenges and how to make those work for you. We also have some information for the instructors, like what’s going on with the instructors. We also have an artist series to update, a bunch of content, and a bunch of birthdays because it’s August. Lots and lots going on.

Before we get to all that, shameless plugs. Don’t forget, we’re available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, and TuneIn. Wherever you find a podcast, you can find us. While you’re there, be sure and follow us so you never miss an episode. Maybe leave us a review. That is super helpful.

Is it too late to say that we’re also having a visit from Dr. Jenn?

Don’t say that. Whatever you do, don’t tell people that Dr. Jenn will be on the show with advice on how to cope with the scheduling changes at Peloton. Do not tell people that.

You can also hear Dr. Jenn call me a rigid b*tch.

That is all so true. You’ll get to find out why Crystal is a rigid b*tch unless you’re a Crystal hater. If you hate listening, you already know.

You don’t think it’s funny like me and Dr. Jenn.

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. It’s a super helpful way to support the show. For only $5 a month, you get ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and early access to episodes. If we get it early, you get it early, and you get our undying love and appreciation. You can watch these on YouTube if you are so inclined. You can also sign up for our newsletter where you’ll get all the links and things that we’re talking about sent directly to your inbox once a week mostly. You can do that over at our website TheClipOut.com. There’s all that. Let’s dig in. Shall we we?

We shall.

‐‐‐

Peloton inked a partnership with Google Fitbit. That seems like a big deal.

I always find it interesting what resonates with people. First of all, we have the problem that no one reads articles. They read headlines.

“Do I get a free Fitbit with my Peloton now? Will it show up in the mail?”

The thing is some people interpret this to mean that now it will start syncing with Fitbit, which is incredibly old news since it has been for years. It’s not that. They are giving content to Google Fitbit premium members. If you have a premium account with Fitbit, then you can access Peloton classes and it’s going to be similar to what they’re doing with Lululemon. They’re going to be providing this content on a rotation. They’ll keep getting new classes. The other thing is that even if you’re not a premium Fitbit user, you can still access a limited selection of Peloton classes.

This is all going to start at the beginning of September. We’re not there yet. If you’re not seeing it, that’s why. It’s cool because you can open it right on your Fitbit device. You can also get those classes if you’re in the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia. The little disclaimer at the end of it was fascinating. It said, “Fitbit premium requires a Google account, a Fitbit mobile account, a compatible Android or iOS device, and an internet connection. Content and features are subject to change. Not available in all countries. It may vary by device and maybe in English only. It’s interesting.

I may be misunderstanding this as I am prone to do, but this sounds like if you’re already a Fitbit user who has a Peloton membership, there’s nothing there for you. It’s more of if you have a Fitbit and you don’t have a Peloton membership, you have some access to things. They’re hoping you like it so much that you’ll become a Peloton member.

This is the second one. In addition to that, if you have a Fitbit and a Peloton, it also means you can now access classes on your device, which you couldn’t before.

You only need to select one. If you have a full membership, does it open everything up to you or just the select?

It says that content will roll out incrementally. You do not get everything, but you do get a whole bunch of different modalities, like strength, Pilates, running, boxing, cycling, and barre. There are ten modalities but you’re not getting every single class that Peloton has created, so yes and no. There are also going to be special offers in the store for Google Pixel Watch and Fitbit Charge 6 devices.

I don’t think teaming up with Google is a bad thing. It seems like that extends your brand even further.

I agree with that. Yet again, if the goal is to try to have as many people using Peloton as possible, partnerships are how you do it.

You got to be in all the places.

For the guy who said a partnership is if you get it for free, that’s not a partnership. That’s you getting something for free.

That’s giving things away. For the people who want Peloton to be profitable, giving things away is not the way to do that. “I demand Peloton be profitable and to give me things.”

Some things never change.

It’s an interesting business model. If you figure out a way to make a work, let us know. Email us at Idon’tGiveASh*t@gmail.com. Peloton has set their next earnings call.

They are still earning money. It will be on Thursday, the 22nd, at 8:30 AM Eastern time.

We’ll be at the Podcast Movement. We’re not sure how we will absorb the information. By we, I mean you.

I always have to listen to these. I know that one of our Helper Bees, Tina, is planning on covering it and writing an article. Will we have time to record a special thing? We shall see. TBD.

We talked about Nick Mead, the Peloton employee who won a gold medal. He was then named to be one of the closing ceremony flag bearers. He was dressed up in a little furry costume with cute little ears.

It’s funny you say that because he did say, “I got to get a haircut before the ceremony. I got to look my best.” He did get a haircut. He was less furry. Not more furry.

I was fascinated by the idea that going to the Olympics was not important enough to necessitate a haircut.

Maybe it’s his lucky haircut.

He’s like, “I guess if I’m going to be in the closing ceremony, how do I say great clips in French?”

He said it jokingly. A little bit of backstory on Nick is that he was a member of the Men’s 4 rowing team. He played a pivotal role in securing the US’s first gold medal in this event since the 1960s game in Rome. I did not know that. He was also with teammates Justin Best, Michael Gracie, and Liam Corrigan His journey began after a near miss at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics where they finished just shy of the podium in the Men’s 8. Hopefully, you got to see that because the Olympics is over. If not, I would be shocked if this were not on his Insta. It should be.

I don’t know how it couldn’t be. If getting a haircut in Paris doesn’t make your Instagram, I don’t know what does.

I meant the flag bearer.

That would probably make the cut too.

I think it well. For those of you asking, we would love to have Nick Mead on the show. Will Peloton allow it? That’s a whole different question.

Over at TheClipOut.com, we had an article about how to fully maximize the challenges. As someone too lazy to use Peloton and I’ve been talking about Peloton weekly for seven and a half years, when you guys talk about challenges, I have zero clue how any of that works. None whatsoever. I go to a different place in my head while you’re talking.

Honestly, Tom, we both know that’s most of the time when I’m talking.

Who’s that?

Yeah, exactly. Helper Bee Elizabeth wrote this article. It was all her idea because she was talking about the fact that there are so many people that start doing Peloton and they’re not immediately sucked into the whole consumable thing. Why is that and what can we do to help those people? There are a lot of people who don’t know that these groups exist. A lot of people don’t know that there are challenges.

There are a lot of people who don’t know they have so much support available. She wanted to write a little bit of a guide to help people know how to get started, where to get started, what pitfalls to look for, or more importantly, what to look for in a good group that’s going to support you. Whether that group is on Facebook and it’s a Facebook group or it’s an Instagram page that you’re following an Instagram account, there are a lot of different ways to follow challenges. This article lays it all out and if there’s somebody new to Peloton, or maybe you have been doing Peloton but you don’t know all these things, this would be a great article for you to read.

Peloton has a special offer for New York City Marathon runners.

I saw this in New York Road Runners since I’m a member. Peloton is offering a special deal and it’s during Members’ Week on August 12th through 20th. You need to act fast if you’re tuning in to this on Friday or after. It might be already over. You get $250 off of a Peloton tread and $350 off of a Tread+ by using NYRR250 or NYRR350.

If you like the Lulu Members’ Weekends at PSNY, another one is in your future coming up in September.

It looks like it’s going to be the 19th based on everything that’s coming out because they’re also saying that new classes are going to land on the 19th. It’ll be September. Registration is going to open in August and they still are not telling you how you can be invited and how you can be involved. You need to be on this list. That’s the first thing. By this list, I mean that makes you get this email. You can sign up for free for that. You need to start there.

You can also get to their classes on the Lulu app. You can also get it on the Peloton app anytime. Hopefully, we will hear more about that. I know there are a lot of mixed reviews. Most people loved it, but there was some side-eye at the last one. For those of you looking at the schedule and you see there’s a weekend in September that you can’t get classes for, that’s why.

Coming up after this, we’re going to talk to Dr. Jenn. She is going to call Crystal a b*tch. You’ll find out why. Stick around.

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Joining us once again is Dr. Jenn Mann, licensed marriage, family, and child therapist, and sports psychology consultant. You may know her from VH1’s Couples Therapy with Dr. Jenn, her VH1’s Family Therapy with Dr. Jenn, or her long-running radio show The Dr. Jenn Show. She has written four bestselling books, including The Relationship Fix: Dr. Jenn’s 6-Step Guide to Improving Communication, Connection, and Intimacy. It’s Dr. Jenn.

Hello.

Another question for the week. This one comes from Jessica Sanford. She is struggling with all of the schedule changes that Peloton has recently instituted. Specifically, she is not sure how to handle this full day of on-demand classes that will be happening every Wednesday. She’s struggling with that. She would like your thoughts on how to recalibrate that.

I’ve read a little bit about this on The Clip Out, and just so that I understand and that other people who haven’t seen this, they’re now doing one day a week that there are no live classes.

For the US studio, it’s one day a week. It’s on Wednesdays, and in the UK studio, it’s on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Do we know why this is happening?

They are saying that it is to develop new content. That is one reason I suspect. Part of it is because they are starting to show things like barbells and benches. I think we’re going to be seeing more heavy-lifting types of training, which I’m personally excited about.

That would be awesome.

Fitness became a mental health remedy as opposed to a physical remedy to be skinny. Share on X

There is also a camp of people who feel that this is a cost-cutting measure. Tom and I feel that is probably not very much of the case because how much money are you saving by doing that? We don’t think that’s as much. I don’t know where Jessica lands. She could be thinking that too, to be fair. I think those are the two major thought processes behind that.

It sounds like Jessica is someone who takes a lot of live classes.

Yes. I wouldn’t say she’s an OG. She might be. I don’t remember that for a fact, but I know she’s been in the community for a very long time. Probably back when I joined. She’s probably 2016 or 2017. It’s been a while for sure.

When my kids were little, I had this book and I don’t remember what it was called. I wish I could remember the title because it’s such a good book. I’d like to plug it, but it was about this little girl. She is supposed to have a class party and she gets sick and isn’t able to go to the class party. They say to her like, “That’s terrible that you can’t go to the class party.” She said, “We’ll see, maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.” It’s like an old Buddhist fable. What happened is the kids at the party ended up getting food poisoning. They get sick and they say, “That’s great that you didn’t go to that party. That’s a terrific thing. How awesome.” She’s like, “Maybe. We’ll see, maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.” It goes on like that. A kid breaks his leg and then it’s like, “Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.”

The long and the short of it is that sometimes something that seems bad ends up being a blessing and vice versa. This is an opportunity for her to say, “I’ve been led by these live classes. I have made my schedule around these live classes. I have taken these live classes.” Yes, there’s excitement about live classes and the high fives and the energy, but there’s also a little bit shackled to the schedule that’s created by other people. This is an opportunity to say, “There are a ton of classes that I didn’t take. because I’ve been so focused on live classes for all of these years.”

This is a terrific opportunity to start to go through what classes have I not taken from my favorite instructors. What instructors have I not taken? What instructors maybe don’t do a lot of live classes that I haven’t been exposed to? This is one of those opportunities to shake things up. As you know, I’m a big believer when it comes to your workout. It is always good to shake things up, to get out of a rut, to take different instructors, to take different classes, and to try different things.

Right now, on week one, I’ll be doing a super dramatically different exercise plan. I owe partly this to you guys because you had that great interview with Stacy Sims about how as you get older, you need to be lifting heavier and you need to be doing more intense HIIT workouts and train harder on the endurance, and then go slower on the lower endurance part.

I’m going to be shaking things up. I’m trying to practice what I preach, but I want to encourage her to not be so tied to those live classes. There are too many amazing classes that are not live. To limit yourself when there is a catalog of classes, you would know better than me. How many thousands of classes are there?

Thousands and thousands. I think they’re around 8,000 to 10,000 classes because they are always deleting stuff too. They like to keep it around a static number, but it’s a lot.

The answer to this is to embrace this change and to say, “I’m going to look at this as an opportunity to not be tied to this schedule, to try new things to shake things up, and to try some classes that I haven’t tried before. Try to enjoy it and not look at this as a negative.

What a great point. I haven’t followed live classes in years because the schedule has changed dramatically. When I used to, I loved it and I enjoyed doing all the live classes, but felt like there comes a time when if you want to have an optimal workout, you can’t do what’s on the schedule. You have to do what works for you. I started making those changes and I didn’t even think about it from the vantage point of what you’re saying, but that’s exactly what I did. I stop thinking about it. I have to take it at this time and think about what class is best for me in my training.

It allows you to get more well-rounded.

That was not an easy transition.

Looking back, it is not.

She struggled. I had to say a lot. I’m like, “What do you care? Take the class you want to take. What do you care if it’s happening in that moment?”

I come from a long line of rigid b*tches, at least three or four generations that I know of.

Did you just call me a rigid b*tch?

I am a rigid b*tch. You may not claim the title. I claim the title. I worked very hard to be less of a rigid b*tch.

It seems to be working for the whole clan though.

If rigid b*tch equals massive success, I will take it.

There can be some overlap for sure, but sometimes we are rigid b*tches. I’m speaking for me and my long history of rigid b*tches.

That gets things done.

Sometimes we can be like, this is the way we do things and we don’t vary from this, but that part of it is not good. It’s important to be like, “I’m going to be a flexible b*tch.

That can be fun too.

I’ll be a b*tch but I’m going to be a flexible b*tch. I encourage that.

That can be enjoyable.

That went differently than I expected.

I respect that you were able to make that change even if it wasn’t as smooth as Tom would’ve liked it to be. You still made the change. You learned and you grew from it. I’m not a live class person. The only time I take a live class is if I have a milestone. In my last milestone, I made a mistake. I took an outdoor walk class thinking it wouldn’t count as a walk class. I was coming up on my 500th or 600th walk. I erased my class so that I could get a shout-out in Jon Hosking’s class. I did not get the shout-out. I think it was 400. He only went down to 500. No one under 500 got a shout-out. I was like, “I erased that class for nothing.”

You still did the walk.

I still did the walk. As a rigid b*tch, I had to flow with it and accept it and let go of it.

You became a flexible b*tch that day.

I was like, “I’m feeling rigid b*tch vibes, but I’m going to go. I’m going to grieve my loss. I’m going to move on and then I’m going to be a flexible b*tch.”

I love it.

Thank you so much for all of that. Until next time, where can people find you?

You can find this rigid b*tch on social media @DrJennMann.

Thank you.

 ‐‐‐

Jermaine Johnson is now a father.

Jermaine’s new son is named Raymond Ray David Johnson. He’s an adorable baby. Jermaine did say that there were some complications. It was not the easiest birth. I’m sure when he’s ready, he’ll talk more about that or his partner will talk more about that when it’s appropriate. It sounds like they had a rough couple of days. The baby was in the NICU. Mom had to stay at the hospital. Mom and Dad had to go home without the baby. That’s so scary. It’s so hard, but he also talked about how amazing and inspirational it was for all the other parents in the NICU and how strong they were, which gave them strength. It’s cool to point that out to people because that’s not easy. Some sad things happened in the NICU. I’ll leave it at that.

If they call the kid by his initials, everyone will think it’s Robert Downey Jr.

I did not know that.

That’s because it’s nerd stuff. Sofi Tukker has a new music video and it features Rebecca Kennedy and Hannah Corbin.

They are both in it for a split second. Don’t blink. You will miss it, but they’re in it.

Longer than they earn it.

Longer than a lot of people earn it. It was fun. They looked like they were having a great time. How exciting it is to be part of a music video. They are Peloton advocates for Sofi Tukker. They have played her songs. It has been part of the music that they’ve done for a long time. I think it’s cool that they were invited to be part of that.

Do we know anything about how that came to fruition?

No.

It’s just a video that came out and people were like, “I recognize those two.”

I didn’t have time to comb through Rebecca Kennedy and Hannah Corbin. I’m sorry.

Cody Rigsby is celebrating ten years with Peloton. That’s almost a decade.

It’s a decade. He is here, and the article that we wrote goes back through some of his highlights with Peloton, starting all the way back when Cody brought the very first Pride Ride to Peloton. It also featured DJ John Michael back in 2015. It’s fun to think about how long he’s been doing things that are so part of our memories and our vocabularies. We didn’t even think twice about it.

It’s hard to imagine that there was a time when it wasn’t there.

You can’t forget when Cody was on Dancing With the Stars. That was a huge deal. He’s done a lot of different things. We highlighted some of those within the article, but I can’t believe it’s been ten years. This whole year, we’ve been celebrating the earliest instructors who were part of Peloton. It still gets me. I can’t believe it’s been a decade. It’s crazy.

Coming up after this, we’re going to talk about the latest artist series, who’s in the spotlight this week, and the TCO Top Five. Stick around.

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The latest artist series features Imagine Dragons, which is nice because I’ve heard of them, which means I can pronounce them.

Chappell Roan.

It is spelled like Dave Chapelle.

I don’t think it’s crazy that we thought it was Chappelle. I appreciate it when people say things so nicely and this one was very nice.

They all understood why we would think it was Chappelle. She’s probably been getting that her whole life.

That could be, but Imagine Dragons, I have heard of them as well. I enjoyed the music of Imagine Dragon and nine different classes. There are going to be rides. There’s going to be upper-body strength. There’s going to be flows. There are going to be runs. There are going to be rows, so all the different things that you can do, which is great. It’s very exciting.

You don’t sound it.

I don’t know. Should we even be covering these anymore? I’m just doing some due diligence here on the show. Let’s give us a vote. It used to be a big deal because they had all these artists and now this has been weekly.

It’s great that they’re constantly adding.

I agree with that.

It is also like clockwork now. I guess not everybody has a chance to check out everything. That’s why we’re here. Because we know it doesn’t mean they know it.

That’s true.

It is time for the TCO Top Five where you tell us your favorite classes, and then we share it with everyone else so they can broaden their horizons.

Your favorite new program is number one this week. It is the Set The Barre program with Ally and Hannah Corbin. This dropped on August 4th. Anne Michelle 83 said she loved this program after finishing week one. She said that it consists of three classes a week that focus on the upper body, lower body, and core. The classes vary with some even using weights and some giving the option of resistance bands. One of the classes includes both instructors together during this first week. It’s four weeks long, with twelve unique classes, and you have to take the classes to unlock the subsequent classes.

It’s like a little Nintendo game.

You're young as long as you believe you're young. Share on X

They do that with all the little programs. You have to unlock a class before you can go to the next class, which people have very mixed feelings about.

I get that. If you already adapted barre and you’re like, “I want to do this one,” I get that could be irritating.

They put some of them over in the collections so you can take them, but then the collections are so long. You have to scroll and scroll. There’s no order to it. There are pros and cons to both.

Number two is your favorite strength class. I know this is going to sound dumb. You always said raising the bar. In my head, it was a barbell. I thought it was one of those strength classes. I thought Barre is probably technically classified under strength, but I was hearing it is a weightlifting thing. When I saw it spelled out, I was like, “That probably makes more sense.”

It is classified under strength though. You are correct.

It’s the new HIIT and Hills. Your favorite strength class is where we were at.

This class was launched on 7/31. It was a 10-minute standing core class taught by Rebecca Kennedy. Tiffany Cortez loved it. She said it was unique because Rebecca used a heavy weight instead of a medium or lightweight as usual. It was all slow and heavy so you could feel your core working. This could be a great way for you to work your core differently.

I want to also add that I’m hearing this from a lot of people. I wanted to point out that Rebecca’s classes in the past sometimes have had complex dancing moves. They have started to evolve into this heavier weight straightforward and people are loving it because it’s very basic and it’s pure strength. I’m just saying I hope she keeps going in that direction because it’s getting a lot of amazing feedback.

Number three, your favorite ride.

This was on August 10th, and it was a 30-minute ‘80s ride that was taught by Denis Morton. There’s a lot of discussion about Denis. We’re going to talk more about that over in the Patreon episode. Jenny K nominated this class, praising the music and the workout itself. She said it begins and ends with George Michael songs. That is amazing. It’s a great playlist if you love ‘80s music. It’s a sneaky workout too. It doesn’t seem that hard, but the next thing you know, you’re sweating.

Number four, your favorite outdoor walk.

Taught by Matty Maggiacomo, this also dropped on 8/1. It was a 30-minute summer celebration walk. I took this class. I can tell you right now it was good. Matty was in pure form. It was amazing. This is the perfect class to get the last little bit of summer before things start to cool off. That’s just me projecting fall. Rudy took this class and he said it had perfect music and Matty’s commentary is always fun. It was perfect for a walk with his dog.

Finally, your unstackable.

I think this might be Ben Alldis’s first time in the unstackable column. He taught a 45 Classic Rock ride on July 28th. Dave suggested this class. He said, “Holy cow, please welcome London’s second Big Ben. What the hell just happened? Multiple intervals at 80 resistance. Is Ben working through something? Great ride, great music, but unstackable. Please tell my wife it’s been Alldis’s fault. I won’t be able to cut the lawn or do any house chores.” I love that.

Let’s pivot and take a look at This Week at Peloton. We’ll start with you got a 60-minute advanced bike bootcamp.

You never know. This might end up being over on the unstackable next week. Jess Sims is teaching this class on August 13th. It is going to be on the bike because it’s a bike bootcamp. People love the bike bootcamps. It’s been a little bit since we’ve had a 60-minute over there. That’s awesome.

We also have a 60-minute endurance row.

That is brutal. August 15th, 10:30 AM Eastern. Alex K. is teaching this and it’s going to be a great way to work on your endurance. You’ll want to check that out. I bet it’s an amazing class. He is so great at telling stories. He is the perfect person for a 60-minute endurance row.

While it’s all about 60 minutes, you can get the 60-minute intervals run.

Becs will do that one on August 17th. I will probably be taking that this weekend. There’s also going to be a walk and run. That is going to be with Mariana on Saturday. Knowing me, I’ll probably stack them both up together and do both.

You got lots of running.

I do. We have reached that time. There’s also a 60-minute intermediate total strength. This one is with Andy. It’s going to hit all the major muscle groups. This goes back to you people asking for longer form classes and they dropped a bunch of them this week, which is great.

They also dropped some new collections.

This was fun. They pulled up a bunch of classes from Cody and made it into Ten Years of Cody. This is a thing they’re going to do now for each instructor. I love that. The only issue I have with it and it’s minor, but they have one that’s The Greatest Of All Time, but the oldest class is only in 2019. That bugs me because they’ve deleted all those classes.

It would be cool to bring out some old ones.

This is the time to do that. If you’re going to have ten years as an instructor, that’s the perfect time to do that.

Go back longer than five years.

I wanted to see little baby Cody when he first got on the bike. I want to see the whole Evolution. That would be perfect.

For sure. People will get a kick out of that.

It also scares me. Do they not exist anywhere? Did you guys not keep them? That scares me. Anyway, cool new collection. I hope people check that out.

John Foley took them all when he left.

They were his masters. There’s also a new summer break collection for German-speaking. They have all those summer break classes and they put those in the collection as well.

Jess King has also added Sweat Steady to walks.

People love Sweat Steady. That’ll be good.

That is out there for you as well.

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If you like your DreamBlend, we have good news for you. It’s back in stock.

I have a special place in my heart for the DreamBlend because this is what they sent me after I got hit by a car. The hoodie that I wear everywhere when we go on any trip is my Peloton DreamBlend. The DreamBlend is cozy. I love it. I highly recommend it. Don’t get hit by a car though.

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As you said at the top of the show, it’s August which means tons of birthdays. The first one up on your list is Nicole Meline on August 17th.

People who are newer to Peloton may not recognize that name.

Even the not-so-new people might not recognize that name. She left right after you got your bike.

It’s probably been six years. If you have not had your Peloton for a long time, you may not recognize that name, but she was a much-beloved instructor who left back in 2017 or maybe 2016. We wish her a happy birthday.

Kirsten Ferguson on August 19th.

Happy birthday to Kirsten.

Jill Foley on August 20th.

Happy birthday to Jill.

Clip Out Crystal’s is also on August 20th.

My birthday is so bloody this year. We’re going to be at a conference.

Podcast Movement. We had fun the last time.

We did but I don’t want to have that much fun.

I have three-quarters of that much fun.

Three-quarters I can do, but four, I was next to a toilet. I don’t want to go to four quarters.

We do not. Coming up after this, we have our interview of the week. We’re going to talk to author Amanda McKinney. We had a great time talking to her. We hope you join us. Stick around.

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Joining us is Amanda McKinney. Amanda, how is it going?

Great. How are you?

We’re good. We’re so happy to have you here. I don’t know if you’ve ever tuned in to the show. You may not know this but I always start with trying to understand how people originally came to the Peloton community. What brought you here? When was that in your journey?

Amanda’s Peloton Journey

I’m relatively new to Peloton. I got my first Peloton or the bike two years ago. I have been familiar with Peloton since it came out. I remember during the lockdown COVID, Peloton exploded. I don’t know the sales and stuff, but that’s when I felt like everybody knew what Peloton was. Something interesting about me and a little fun fact is that I have something that the cool kids call hype aversion. Anything that has this crazy cult following or is instantly popular, I run the other way. I don’t know what it is. I’m that way with technology. I was that way with getting my first eBook. I did paper books.

She’s still using a BlackBerry.

I still have my Blackberry. That’s crazy you said that because I have a funny story. In college, I was the only person in my friend group or anywhere I knew that still carried a beeper on my thing.

In your defense, you were a drug dealer. You were selling that rock.

Do you remember the ‘90s when you would spell out messages to people who had a beeper and you would see the numbers and you had to write it all down?

For me, it wasn’t the ‘90s. That was the early 2000s. I was spelling out messages on my beeper. In fairness, cell phones were new-ish. The rich kids had them but anyway, I had my beeper. It’s so funny you said that about the BlackBerry.

All I ever spelled on the beeper was boobs. It never worked. They never showed up.

He didn’t have boobs on speed dial.

Maybe one day.

Manifesting boobs on the beeper.

These are the changes you want to see in the world. That’s why I put boobs.

Have you always been a person who has worked out in some way? I’m not a person who is fit my entire life. I’ve had spurts of it here and there, but it wasn’t until I found Peloton that it stuck. I’m also curious about that for you.

'When motivation is lacking, routine takes over.' Share on X

The short answer is yes. I’ve always been into fitness and working out ever since high school. I remember in my free time even going to the gym in high school. It’s something that I was always into. Back then, it was for my ego. It was for nothing other than to look good. I wanted to be skinny and fit. It wasn’t until the beeper age, probably early 20s in college that I started realizing these crazy feelings I was having inside or all this weird stuff. It was an exciting anxiety disorder. That is when I completely reframed how I looked at working out. It became more of a mental health remedy as opposed to a physical remedy to be skinny. That’s when my exercising and all that took a completely different level.

You found Peloton during the pandemic. I assume that you got the bike. Was that your foray into Peloton?

That’s the only thing I have. I can’t wait. I’ve got my eye on the row. That’s not cheap. The row is not cheap.

None of the Peloton equipment is cheap.

Except for the Guide.

You can get the Guide for $95.

Yes, I have the bike.

Therapy Session

You mentioned when we were chatting before we started recording that you felt like Peloton had changed your life. Tell us more about that.

It completely has and this is where I’m probably going to get a little bit creepy fan girl on Robin Arzon because she is my go-to instructor. First of all, with Peloton, one thing that I love the most is that it’s guided workouts. That’s cool anyway, but then you throw in the motivational speech from the instructors. That is a complete game-changer. I can’t remember how many rides I was on when I first hit a real motivational ride.

You’ve got the endorphins flowing and there was a moment and probably the first few weeks where I had a total cry, an ugly cry but a good release. You’ve got the endorphins flowing then the instructions are telling you and hitting you in the heart with all these such motivational speak. That’s when I realized, “This is something that is not only for mental health but physical health.”

That’s when I ride my Peloton every single day. It has changed my life and the motivational speech that they give uplifts me and keeps me going throughout the day. It’s a whole therapy session right there in the corner of your bedroom in a little footprint in 20 minutes or 45 minutes or whatever. It’s incredible. I can see why they’ve got this cult following. I’m officially in the cult. I can say that.

We all are. It’s a healthy cult though.

It’s the best cult to be in.

They even have their own shoes.

When I got my first bike, I didn’t do my research and I didn’t get the shoes. That should just come with them. I did my first few bikes like scraping the skin off my shin every time the shoe would come off the pedal. The shoes are a necessity.

That sounds painful, but you said your first bike. Did you start with a regular bike and get a Bike+?

I still have the good old first bike or whatever. Is the Bike+ the one where the screen turns and stuff? I’ve got the first model.

You say Peloton is like therapy for you. Do you take different classes or different instructors based on what your mood is?

The classes I take on Peloton are cycling classes. That’s what hooked me in, and then a year ago, I started doing the strength classes. I know they have meditation. I’ve got my eyes on that and whatever else, but I stick with the cycling and the strength classes. I’ve been doing the strength a lot more lately and that’s been wonderful.

In terms of what flows with my mental health, the thing with me is I have to have that hard cardio. Meditation is good for me to relax in the evening, but when I wake up in the morning, my hormones are waking up. You’ve got the cortisol and for somebody prone to anxiety like I am, having that burst of cardio, the burst of adrenaline, and getting the sweat out sets you up to have a calmer first part of the day, then that always leads into an easier second part of the day.

That makes total sense. It sounds like you struggle with anxiety and I do too. It feels like when you do a big burst of cardio at least for me. I don’t mean to speak for everyone in this situation, but it feels like it takes the edge off. You feel tense then it lets you put your shoulders down.

For me, it is so much so that if I don’t workout or if I don’t have that hard cardio first thing in the morning by about 10:00 or 10:30 in the morning like clockwork, I start having the jitters like a cold. Sometimes, you feel like your bones and my thoughts are a mess of jumbled half thoughts that are racing ten million miles an hour through my head.

I can tell by 10:00 in the morning that I either didn’t workout hard enough or if I had missed a workout. That’s how much of an impact the Peloton bike has on me. It’s unbelievable. I’ve gone through multiple rounds of different drugs, antidepressants, and anti-anxiety medication. I know I sound like a commercial here. I’m not kidding, but since Peloton I’m off those drugs. You couple that with hell. We could talk for a long time on this but you cut that with diet then re-framing your thinking, how you look at things, your outlook. It’s not just the Peloton but the Peloton is huge. If I didn’t have Peloton, I would still be on my anti-anxiety daily medication. There’s no question.

I should put a disclaimer out there that this does not mean that would work for everyone. Talk to your doctor. You did what was right for you, but I don’t want other people to think that you’re saying, “Everybody can do this.”

If there is something wrong with them, if they love Peloton and they still need it.

That is what works for me.

I know that was not your intent, but I don’t want anyone to read into things more than we intend for them to read into them.

This is my little interview and this is my little story. That’s it.

Strength Training

I find it fascinating when you say how you’ve gotten in the strength more lately because that is a story I feel like we’ve been hearing a lot over the last six months to a year with more people, which I also find fascinating because most people’s entry point, not everybody, is through the bike. Strength for Peloton is completely off-machine. To see how many how many people in the ecosystem are embracing strength is fascinating.

It’s their fastest-growing modality. There’s so much evidence out there that women, as we age, especially need to be doing strength training. Everybody, man or woman. They do decrease their muscle as they age. It’s good for everyone but women in particular are starting to become a fad. I know the whole fitness world goes through circles and patterns. I feel like we’re back in that pattern right now, but I’m so glad to see it because everyone that I’ve talked to you and everything I’ve ever read is like if you could only do one thing or if you could only do one kind of exercise to improve your health and your longevity, it is in fact strength. That’s fascinating.

I just had my yearly physical with my doctor and he’s in the fitness. When I went in there, we had a great talk about fitness and it was exactly that. To your point, we’re above 40 now. We’re still young. As long as you believe you’re young, you’re young. Above 40, it’s very important to focus on strength exactly as you said. It’s scientifically proven we begin losing different parts of the muscle. He explained too many. I could not, but the specific muscle that leads to flexibility and all that.

You see older people who are very stiff. If you start working on this in the 40s-ish, the hope is that it helps you live longer and be healthier. You have longevity of life and strength training is a big part of that. Something that I love about it too is it’s like the bike. What sold me on the bike was the footprint. It’s like you can do it in the corner of your room. I had two little kids. Going to the gym was no longer an option. With strength training, I’ve got my mats and my free weights, and then I have a little selfie stand that I hook up my cell phone to right there in my bedroom. My kids might be sleeping or they’re watching Disney and you get in a hell of a workout right there in your living room. It’s perfect.

That’s true. How do you balance those cardio workouts with the strength workouts?

I don’t have a tight schedule. I have thought about doing that before like, “On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I do this.” With kids, I find that I can’t stick with that. You have a bad night with nightmares with a kid. I couldn’t wake up and do a 45-minute of HIIT and Hills. I try to do or I do two hard strength training a week. Sometimes three, then the rest is Peloton. I do movement daily.

Writing And Reading

That’s a good mix. That’s pretty intense. What is your leaderboard name?

It’s so boring. I didn’t realize that everybody had all these cool awesome names and I’m a writer. I should be super creative and have the most badass name out there. Mine is McKinneyAmanda. I’m a writer. I’m supposed to be creative.

You’re a writer. It’s branding.

That’s how we would file your books.

What kind of writing do you do?

I write romance. Romantic suspense is where I started out. I switched genres officially. It feels a lot like starting over and I’m learning a lot again. I write thrillers now and I love it. It’s great.

That’s cool. I just have to ask my inappropriate follow-up. You started with romance and now you’re in thrillers. Is everything okay?

We’re good. I’m so good.

I’m just wondering. It’s a fair question.

I feel like that’s a progression of how I started reading books. When I was younger, I read a lot of romantic books. As I keep getting older, I like thrilling suspense novels and who-done-it because life is so complex and hard. I want something that takes my mind off of all that stuff.

She gets enough romance from me, but she still needs a thrill. Whereas, I’m reading a book about the Beatles.

This book is ridiculously long.

I’ve talked about this in the show. I’m a famously slow reader. Very slow. I have great reading retention and comprehension but I am very slow. I keep picking these insanely long books. Normally, when you pick a book and when you used to read real books, you could look at it and go, “That’s a big book.” You know when you pick it up. Now, Kindle will tell you exactly how slow you are. You’re reading now and you hit the little thing at the bottom. It’s like, “It will take you 54 hours to finish this book.” I was like, “It’s by Dr. Seuss.”

Honestly, whenever I see the times on the books that he’s reading, I would not read it. I would be like, “Forget it.”

We’ve done this. When I was reading From Here to Eternity, it was like 47 hours. She’s like, “That’s crazy.” I’m like, “You open it up in your Kindle,” because it’s all shared. For hers, it’s like 18 hours.

It’s not that different but it is significantly fast.

It’s like half.

I’m a slow reader too. I do something weird that I don’t know anybody else has. I’ve got my Kindle app then I download the book and I always get the audiobook with it. I don’t know if you guys are familiar with the whisper sinks.

You go back and forth.

I’m reading but I’m listening and following along. It’s so weird.

You do both at the same time.

Yes. Is that the weirdest? I’m sure there’s some psychological weird thing with that, but I’m reading, listening, and following along. Is that weird?

I don’t think it’s weird.

What’s funny is I was just in a play. I won’t bore our audience with that story again, but we recorded my lines, Crystal and I did, using these microphones. That’s how I started with the learning. I would play it and listen to it at the same.

It helps you take it in. I bet that by you doing, you have better retention because I read faster than Tom but if you were to say, “Do you remember that book you read two weeks ago?” I do not. I remember I read it and I can remember characters and broad strokes but if you were like this one part, it’s gone. I have nothing. It’s out of my brain. It’s not the best. My retention is not the best. There’s something to be said for that for sure.

I saw a thing years ago that Kindle was helping people read faster. I tried it and it worked but I could never see myself doing this. It would flash each word at you.

I don’t like that.

It would trick your brain into reading faster but what would happen for me is that would work for a little bit. I felt like if I lost focus for a split second, this train was going to keep going and I was going to miss it, then I started thinking, “What if I do lose focus in a split second?” I’ve lost focus for a split second and now I don’t know how to back up. It’s like when you going downhill on a bike and you’re like, “I’m going fast,” and you’re like, “Maybe I’m going too fast.”

I didn’t know that. I had not heard of that.

Favorite Instructors

I read an article about it and they had a sample and I did it. It never seemed like it ever rolled out. Too many people were flipping over the handlebars of their Kindle. Do you have a preferred instructor?

Yes, Robin. Crazy fan girl here. I’ve quoted her on my Instagram page. She is doing exactly what God has intended her to do. She has a light about her. I hope she knows how many people she helped and how she changed lives. I’ve never met her. I hope to one day. It’d be great, but she has a spot in my life in a very deep way. She’s just great.

I knew you guys were going to ask this so I was thinking why I feel so strongly about her. She’s got the quotes in one-liners like nobody’s business. She knocks that out of the park. There are two that had a big impact on me and one of them was when she said, “When motivation is lacking, routine takes over.” That to me was such a mic drop moment because we hear so much about Netflix and chill, and your body is sluggish and stuff like that.

In life, you’re not always going to be motivated. You’re not always going to wake up and want to do the hard thing and get on the bike and do a HIIT and Hills. That’s going to murder you at 6:00 in the morning, but we do it. I do it because I want to be the best version of myself. It’s the mental health thing and the physical health.

To reframe my thinking of “I might not feel motivated,” I don’t. That’s my ego talking. That is whatever is talking. When you build a routine around something that you know is good, that’s when big things happen. With both my boys, I have quoted that. I have explained to them. We might not feel like going to school today. I’m big on movement with them too. We might not feel like moving our bodies and walking around but it’s through the hard things that we grow and become the best version of ourselves. It was such a mind shift of when you don’t feel like doing something, how to fix it. Make it a routine and push yourself.

The other thing that she said and this one got me. It’s been one of her recent ones but it was, “What we do here on the bike when we’re doing these hard things and we feel like we’re done, we are callusing the mind.” That hit me so hard. Every time I’ve gone on the bike, I have thought of her saying that. It means we know that hardship is coming in our life. That is 100% guaranteed. It is a guarantee in life. What we do on the bike and building the best version of ourselves, going through the hard things, making it to the end of the hard things, and having that “I did it” moment. We are callusing our brains to deal with what life is going to throw at us.

For me, when I say life-changing, on social media, you’ll see that I don’t put my family out there. My husband and my children are my personal things. In reference to this, we have a very serious incurable progressive disease within our family. It’s hard, daily, and challenging. It’s been life-changing. Since the day that I heard her say that, when I get on the bike and when I am feeling so overwhelmed, in my head, I’m hearing, “You are callusing your mind. You are callusing your brain so that when the inevitable happens, when the bad days come, I can deal with it as the best version of myself, in my strongest self.”

When you build a routine around something that we know is good, that's when big things happen. Share on X

That has pushed me through so many rides in a world that I live in where you feel like you can’t do things. There’s no cure for what we’re dealing with, so your hands are tied. That is something I can do. I can get on that bike, push through, and callus my brain so that when bad days inevitably come, I can handle it. When I say life-changing and I’d give her the biggest hug, that has been huge for me from one of the rides.

I feel like in 30 years, your children will be talking to someone and they’ll be like, “My mom used to always say,” then they’re going to be like, “That was Robin Arzon. You’re mom didn’t say that.”

You’re so right. I’m going to share that quote as long as I can because I want to be the superstar mom.

You still are because you’re the one saying that to them. A lot of times, the instructors say things that they’ve heard in other places. I don’t think it even matters where it started. It matters where you hear it. I find it fascinating how impactful that is. There are a lot of people that have been with Peloton since the very beginning. I feel like those who have, like Robin has changed and she’s also become so visible that sometimes people lose sight of how much of an impact she still has on people. That’s fabulous to hear.

I hope she knows that. When I listened to all the things she says, even people going through cancer who are riding. There are so many things that are applicable to dealing with the hard things in life that always happen. I’ve only known Robin for the last two years, so I don’t know baby Robin, but she’s a light in people’s lives. She really is.

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 and where they can find your books if they’re interested. If you have a particular title that you’re pushing or you think is a good starting point, maybe throw that out there for people as well.

I can handle that sales pitch. You can find me on @AmandaMckinneyAuthor on Instagram and Facebook, that’s my handle. I am not active on Facebook. It’s a cesspool to me. I can handle one social media and I’ve chosen Instagram, so find me on Instagram. You can find my books on Amazon primarily. The latest book that I’ve written that got a good place in my heart is my thriller A Marriage of Lies and it’s an Amazon charts bestseller. It’s a domestic psychological suspense. If you like that stuff check it out.

That sounds like my divorce journal. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to join us. We appreciate it.

I will be checking that out. Thank you.

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

People can find me on Facebook at Facebook.com/crystaldokeefe. They can find me on all the other socials and the Peloton leaderboard, I’ll be out there a lot, @ClipOutCrystal.

You can find me on Twitter @RogerQBert or on Facebook, Facebook.com/tomokeefe. You can find the show online at Facebook.com/TheClipOut. While you’re there, like the page and join the group. Don’t forget our Patreon where you get all sorts of bonus content. You get early episodes and you get ad-free episodes. Hopefully, you’ll give us a shot. That’s it for this one. Thanks for tuning in. Until next time, keep pedaling and running and rowing.

Bye.

 

Important Links

• Amanda McKinney – Instagram
• A Marriage of Lies
• Apple Podcasts – The Clip Out
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• The Clip Out – Facebook
• Patreon – The Clip Out
• YouTube – The Clip Out
• The Clip Out
• Dr. Jenn Mann
• The Relationship Fix: Dr. Jenn’s 6-Step Guide to Improving Communication, Connection and Intimacy
• @DrJennMann – Instagram
• Crystal D. O’keefe – Facebook
• @ClipOutCrystal – Instagram
• @RogerQBert – Twitter
• Tom O’keefe – Facebook