Dear Peloton Buyer...

Dear Potential Peloton Buyer,

It’s getting close to that time of year that we all drink a bit too much and indulge in too much dessert. It’s a time for reflection and planning ahead. Maybe you’re thinking you’ve let you physical fitness slip a bit. Maybe 2020 threw you a curve ball and in 2021 you’re getting back in action and taking charge. All you, or your loved one, needs to be the best you can be, a Peloton.

I hear you. The appeal is there. Hundreds of instructors and thousands workouts to choose from. Cool bike. Big screen. Train in your own space. What’s not to love?

While the performers provide engaging, fun sessions on the bike, it’s a hard tool to stick with for a long time. To be frank, It’s not the answer.

In order to get more fit, you need to adapt to a stress. The specific stress creates some change and you improve. That’s fitness in a nutshell. But the fitness practices that have a knack for creating long-term converts, like yoga, running, (real) cycling, of course, strength and conditioning, all have another critical component of fitness. Skill.

During the activities mentioned above, and even all types of sports like tennis and golf you can improve through adaptation in response to the stress, but you also get better at just doing the thing. The movements become more fluid, more natural, more refined. The environment provides different kinds of feedback so you can adjust and tinker all while gaining a better understanding.

The only feedback you get from the bike are metrics. Create stress, adapt to the stress, improve and move on. Totally. But with a Peloton, the skill component and the different types of feedback aren’t there. The only thing to chase are those metrics. Beating previous records get exponentially more challenging. Ask anyone who’s been lifting for more than a few years. It gets harder and harder to add weight on the bar, but the refinement of skill, and practice in complimentary movements keeps you engaged and coming back.

Every time you squat a kettlebell in the gym, you can do it a little bit better. You can get feedback from a coach, you’ll try harder than you would training alone, and you can focus on feeling smooth and being engaged. As your skill improves, your awareness improves and you can get better at squatting without grabbing a heavier kettlebell. As you get better at squatting it translates to other movements in the gym. You’ll notice it throughout the day and in all sorts of tasks that life will throw at you. Your form improves, along with your strength.

Can you imagine having to do more every single time you come to the gym? It would be impossible after that initial spike of gains. But in the gym, skill gets refined through repetition, through practice, through feedback and through long-term commitment.

It’s always there in the gym, but never on the Peloton. There’s no feedback to tighten up your pedal stoke week to week. The only goal on the bike is to ride faster, ride harder, burn more calories or go longer. After the initial stress adaption, you’ll burn out. You’ll get sick of not breaking your records, and you’ll need to keep riding longer and longer for that same sense of accomplishment. That’s where the cliche about at-home exercise equipment become a clothes rack comes from.

The new fitness technology only has the ability to focus on the half of the fitness equation, adaptation. Their worldview is that more is the only way to get better. The reason gyms, yoga studios and all kinds of sports aren’t going anywhere, we get the skill aspect. The second half of the equation and the secret sauce to long-term commitment. That, along with the side dishes of community, connection and commitment that are drastically missing from these new age at home options.

While I understand your desire to get a Peloton, it’s not the answer. It’s not what you need. This holiday season, instead of giving big bucks to a big corporation that actually doesn’t care about your health, I urge you to give your three thousand dollars to a real, local gym, with real coaches who know how to make a real impact in the long run.

Sincerely,

Justin