Finally, after a few months of having this bad boy set up in my living room, here are my thoughts!
First, some back story. Go back and read THIS POST HERE. This is my very inexpensive “Peloton-hack” that I used for OVER a year before buying the actual Peloton.
If you’re on the fence about buying a Peloton, do what I did - follow my hack, spend a few hundred bucks on a Spin bike, some nice cycling shoes and pedals, get a few add-ins like a cadence sensor, and with a Peloton Digital subscription (which I think is free right now) you can get a similar experience, for a fraction of the price.
I learned through using the Peloton Digital app how much I loved all the classes and instructors, this is why I didn’t go with a cheaper alternative or a company like Nordic Track.
I use the Peloton Digital app all the time. When I’m traveling, for stretching workouts in the airport. For yoga classes on rest days. For guided running workouts outside or for treadmill workouts at home or at the gym.
Because I used so many more classes than just the cycling classes, I knew Peloton was the bike I’d want to invest in.
I did waffle around about getting the tread versus the bike, but the bike was cheaper, and I was paying cash, so the smaller price tag looked nice. I still use the Peloton Digital app for treadmill classes, I just stream them from my phone when I’m out in the garage.
When you use a Peloton machine - the tread or the bike, you get the ADDED bonus of all of the stats, metrics, and leaderboard showing up right there on your screen. This is REALLY REALLY nice, and makes it totally worth upgrading to an actual Peloton bike (or tread).
I went with the regular Bike, not the Bike+. I also didn’t get any of the accessories that came with it, except the cycling shoes. You can use this code (AXPCCU) at checkout to get the cycling shoes practically free with your Peloton purchase!
The major difference between the regular Bike and the Bike+ is a swiveling monitor if you take boot camp classes. Since I do most of my strength training in my garage with Ferux Athlete, I didn’t see this added cost as a benefit. I pretty much use my bike to take cycling classes, so I don’t need a monitor that moves. If you take lots of Bootcamp classes, this might be worth it for you!
I also chose the regular Bike because Bike+ was back ordered for MONTHS; and I’d waited long enough. 😂
I take Peloton classes 3-5x a week; I take them a lot more now that it’s winter and my bike is set up in my house where it’s WARM. Come summer, I’m sure I’ll be out on the Tread more often, streaming classes from my phone or iPad.
A few reasons I love Peloton and think it was ABSOLUTELY worth the investment:
I don’t go to a CrossFit gym anymore, and I also work from home. The community environment that I get from Ferux Athlete is awesome, but it’s really nice to be coached! The instructors are always talking you through the class. My favorite instructor is Olivia Amato, she frequently looks right at the camera in the middle of a tough segment and says, “Damn, you look good today!” and it always makes me laugh! So for the sense of community, since I’m self employed AND work from home, it’s absolutely been amazing.
The Leaderboard is really motivating for me, as a former competitive CrossFitter. You can compete against people taking the class with you right now, or against everyone that’s ever taken the class. I always try to fall right in the middle :)
FTP classes. Wow, the athlete and coach in me absolutely love these classes. These are completely based off of your aerobic threshold levels. You take a 20 minute FTP test, pretty much an all-out effort, and then based on those metrics, every FTP class you take, you have specific output guidelines to stay within or push towards. These are the hardest classes for me, as I’m pure muscle and love to sprint; these classes focus a lot on aerobic and endurance training; so hard but SO good for me. I love this “personal training” style of class, it’s completely tailored to my fitness levels, and if you stick with them, your engine WILL get better!
The Peloton is really well made and super ergonomic. I noticed I used to get a lot of knee pain from my “hacked” bike, because it just didn’t quite have the range of resistance I needed; it went from easy to CRAZY HARD in 1/4 of a turn, so it seemed like I was always cycling on super hard 😂 The Peloton is SUPER smooth; and it’s so great to see your output, speed, resistance, etc right there on the screen, and adjust as the instructor asks you to.
Because I bought just the Bike and none of the extras, I bought this mat from Amazon. I also brought in some weights from the garage gym that I keep here all the time; for the occasional time I do take a Bootcamp class or a Spin class with arm exercises. I have a set of 10lb kettlebells and a single 35lb, they usually suggest a set of 5lbs, 15lbs, and 25lbs in their classes.
A few of you may not know, but I pretty much for my start in fitness with spin classes! I was a runner for a few years, really building up my base, and then when I moved to Texas in 2010, they had a really great 9am Spin class on base at Fort Hood; I met some of my best friends attending that class - and this is actually what got me started with CrossFit! 😆
I always LOOOOVED spin. I missed it a bit actually when I got so heavily into CrossFit; so it feels really good to be cycling regularly again, and doing functional body building style classes with Ferux Athlete. This new workout routine is the best. It’s the perfect blend of ALL the things I love!
I usually take a Peloton class first thing in the morning, after some coffee and a banana, then I shower and get ready for the day, get to work, then head out to the garage in the afternoon/evening for a 30-60 minute Ferux Athlete session, Monday-Fri. I take the weekends off completely.
FAQ
Q. What was delivery like?
Super easy. As soon as I bought the bike, they gave me a number to call to schedule my delivery. It was a few weeks out. They gave me a window of time to be here, the guys arrived right in the front end of the window, brought the bike in, got it set up, answered any questions I had, the whole thing took about 10 minutes.
Q. What does it cost?
With the Peloton bike, if you want to have access to the Leaderboard, etc, you go have to pay a slightly larger monthly fee than just the Peloton Digital subscription. It costs me $49 a month to have the bike connected to the whole Peloton experience. I don’t pay for a CrossFit membership, and I own Ferux Athlete, so this is the only gym expense I have a month, which makes it quite the steal. On average, with as much as I use the bike, if I take 16 classes a month, each class costs me about $3. For what I get out of the classes, this is again, a steal. The bike itself I paid cash for, but you can also pay for it monthly if that works better for you. The regular Bike with no accessories cost me $,1895.
Q. Why Peloton and not Nordic Track?
For me personally, Peloton was the original at home live cycling experience. Everyone else is just trying to copy what they’re doing. Why get a copy when you can get the real deal? Plus I started with just their Digital app ($12/month) and used my own treadmill and my own (much cheaper, knock-off spin bike) for over a year, as I explored all the classes and got to know the instructors.
Guys, I cannot compare this bike to a cheaper, knock-off version. Peloton is the only one I’ve tried.
Q. Anything you don’t like about it?
The pedals/shoes. As someone that’s had a road bike, and is very experienced in clipping in and out of pedals both on spin bikes and road bikes, these pedals and shoes are the worst. The torque and tension are WAY TOO HIGH. I think they do this for safety, because they don’t want I experienced people accidentally clipping out in the middle of class, BUT one of the first things I intend to do is change out the pedals and use my old cycling shoes that I used to use in Triathalon (I had a discount code and got these Peloton ones for free). That being said, you can adjust the tension to make it much easier to clip in and out if you’re experienced. Otherwise you’re literally breaking your ankle every time you get on and off the bike, it’s ridiculous. Clipping in can also be a little cumbersome, at least compared to how easy it was with my old Shimano cleats. If you’ve ever ridden a road bike or taken spin class, YOU WILL KNOW WHAT I MEAN HERE. 😂 If you don’t have anything to compare it to, this probably isn’t even on your radar.
Though I do know a lot of people that don’t even unclimbed their shoes from the pedals it’s so bad. They just take their feet out of the shoes and leave them attached. 😂
Again - I understand got safety Peloton had to cover their bases here. As soon as you feel comfortable, ADJUST THE TENSION on the cleats to make it easier to get in and out.
Q. Who are your favorite instructors? Olivia Amato & Jess King. I like Olivia because she doesn't EVER talk about ANYTHING political. Plus she loves EDM! Her music is SO GOD. She's maybe the only instructor I've found that doesn't say things that toally rub me the wrong way. I will warn you, if you're a conservative woman like me, you might not like some of the instructors. Just the other day I took a Cody Rigsby class, and he was going on about crushing the patriarchy. Another instructor was giving us a breakdown of the importance of the Trans Flag, what the colors mean, etc, while ignoring the importance of the AMERICAN flag (You know, the one flag that actually unites us all. Ugh). I know they mean well, but also - major eye roll. You'll see a TON of #BLM hashtags, too, if you're on the Leaderboard. They're fun to compete against, hah :) Also, it's really fun when you use the #Trump2020 hashtag - you'll actually get a TON of high-fives from people!
What other questions do you have for me?!
All in all - I can’t believe I waited so long to get a Peloton, and yes it’s my dream to also get the Tread - maybe next year! :)
xo,
Courtney
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