Alex Karwoski Turned Class Into a Fitness Version of the “Wear Sunscreen” Graduation Speech

The Peloton Row instructor’s commencement-style monologue is making the rounds for good reason.

On June 2, Alex Karwoski Peloton Row members got more than a workout. The instructor opened his 30-minute endurance row with what has quickly become one of the most talked-about class monologues in recent Peloton memory: a fitness-world riff on Mary Schmich’s iconic 1997 Chicago Tribune column, “Wear Sunscreen.”

A member of Alex’s fan community transcribed the speech in full and it’s spread fast… for good reason! Multiple members reported that the class stood out immediately, not just for the training but for what Alex said before and during it.

Launch the class here.

The Original “Wear Sunscreen” and Why It Still Resonates

For context: Mary Schmich’s piece was written as an imaginary commencement address and published in the Chicago Tribune on June 1, 1997. It was later set to music by Baz Luhrmann and became a genuine cultural touchstone. The column’s structure is distinctive: one piece of advice that has scientific backing (wear sunscreen), followed by a stream of personal, hard-won observations on how to live well, all delivered with warmth and a light touch of self-deprecation.

Even Peloton’s Sarah Robb O’Hagan shared it recently on her own LinkedIn page (above).

You can read the original here.

Alex’s version follows that same structure almost beat for beat, swapping life advice for training wisdom and dropping in rowing-specific detail wherever Schmich offered broader life guidance.

Alex Karwoski’s Rowing Version, Transcribed

The full text of Alex Karwoski’s endurance row monologue, as transcribed by a member of his fan community, is below.

To the graduating Peloton community of 2026:

Do your Zone 2.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, steady state cardio would be it. The long-term benefits of consistent aerobic base training has been proven by physiologists and are at this point about as close to settled science as any form of exercise is going to get. Whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience both on and off the water, I will now attempt to dispense this advice.

Enjoy the strength and capacity of your body right now. All right, never mind; you will not understand the strength and capacity of your body right now until it has changed. But trust me, in 15 years you’ll look back at what you were capable of and recall in a way you can’t quite grasp how much was still available to you and how good you actually felt on the days you didn’t think you felt that good.

Don’t worry about your split, or worry but know that worrying about your split is as effective as trying to row faster by simply tying your shoes tighter and hoping for the best. The real limiters in your fitness are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind and instead are the kind that show up quietly on some unremarkable Tuesday morning after a particularly poor night of sleep.

Do one workout every month that genuinely intimidates you.

Breathe out on the drive or don’t, but breathe somewhere.

Don’t be reckless with other people’s max efforts; don’t train with people who are willing to be reckless with yours.

Foam roll.

Don’t waste your energy on comparing your output to the person next to you. Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The real race is long, and in the end the only split that actually matters is yours.

Remember the workouts that surprised you, forget the ones where you quit early or failed to meet your goal. If you somehow manage to forget those ones completely, please tell me how you did that.

Keep a record of your personal bests, but throw away the idea that they somehow define you.

Stretch. No but really, spend the extra 5 minutes.

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what kind of athlete you are just yet. The most interesting rowers I know didn’t start taking rowing seriously until later in their lives. And some of the most interesting people I know now at 35 are still figuring out if they ever should have rowed in the first place.

Take care of your joints. Be kind to your legs, your body and your arms.

Maybe you’ll be a rower, maybe a runner, maybe even a stationary cyclist. Maybe you’ll find your thing at 32 and wonder where it was your whole life. Maybe you’ll want to rotate through all of it and never settle on just one.

Cross train.

Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much for the days you show up, or berate yourself too hard for the days you don’t. Your consistency is half circumstance, just like everyone else’s.

Enjoy what your body can do. It’s the greatest tool you’ll ever own, and only a poor craftsman blames their tools.

Move, even if you have nowhere to do it but in your basement or garage or someplace else that has less than optimal air flow.

Read the workout programming, even if you have to modify it.

Do not read comment sections about fitness. They’re only going to make you feel like you’re somehow doing everything wrong.

Be patient with the process of gaining fitness. It’s the longest relationship you’ll ever have and the one most likely to stick.

Understand that training partners come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to stay in it together. Because the older you get the more you need the people who knew you when you were just figuring all of this out.

Train indoors sometimes, but don’t forget what it feels like to be outside. Train outside sometimes, but don’t underestimate what easy structure indoor cardio machines can give you. Both matter.

Accept certain unalienable truths about fitness. Recovery will always take longer than you want it to. Your body will change whether you direct it to or not. You will get older. And when you do, you’ll be very glad you did something about it now while the investment still maybe had time to compound.

Respect the people who’ve been doing this longer than you, even if you think you’re better at it than they ever were.

Don’t expect your body to just take care of itself. Maybe you have great genetics. Maybe you have a lot of time. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don’t mess too much with your stroke rate in an attempt to look fast. By the time you’re 35, it will have cost you more watts than it was ever worth.

Be careful whose fitness advice you actually take, but always be patient with those who are willing to give it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of dragging your own hard-won lessons back up from the past, dusting them off, smoothing over all those embarrassing parts and then offering them up as wisdom in a 30 minute endurance row.

But trust me on the Zone 2.

Why This Alex Karwoski Peloton Row Speech Landed

The parallels to Schmich’s original are intentional and well-executed. Schmich’s “Wear sunscreen” becomes Alex’s “Do your Zone 2.” Her “Do one thing every day that scares you” becomes his “Do one workout every month that genuinely intimidates you.” Her “Stretch” is his “Stretch. No but really, spend the extra 5 minutes.” Her “Don’t mess too much with your hair” maps neatly to “Don’t mess too much with your stroke rate.”

What makes the piece work is the same quality that made the original memorable: Alex isn’t coaching from a position of perfection. He’s coaching from experience that includes failure, uncertainty, and the kind of insight that only comes from having been at this for a long time. The line about training partners, and the note that the older you get the more you need the people who knew you when you were figuring things out, hits the same register as the original’s observation about friendship. It’s advice that earns its place because it’s plainly true.

The class also lands well because Alex Karwoski Peloton Row content is, by its nature, a smaller corner of the platform than cycling or running. When a class breaks through and gets members talking, it usually means the instructor brought something the format doesn’t typically demand. This was one of those classes.

Clip Out readers who haven’t explored the Row yet will find the on-demand library offers a strong entry point. The Clip Out has covered Alex’s background in depth, including his competitive rowing career and his work building out the Row discipline on the platform.

The June 2 class is available on demand. If you haven’t taken it yet, Zone 2 is a fine place to start.

Did you take this class and did it move you? (Yes, pun intended!) Let us know what you thought!

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