Staying fit during quarantine is not an easy task, especially when gyms have been shut down for so long. Although many are opening back up now, people have had to find ways to keep exercising regularly throughout the past year. One of the most popular options (for those who have extra cash lying around) has been the Peloton Bike.
Peloton is a fitness company with their most well-known product being their stationary bike, equipped with a large touch screen and access to thousands of fitness classes to bring the studio into your home. However, there’s a catch. Depending on what package you get, the price for their basic bike ranges from $1,900 to $2,400 upfront, not including the monthly membership for access to the classes which is an extra $39 a month. While some people with careers or access to extra cash may be able to take on this cost, I sure as hell could not.
I instead opted for a much cheaper option which many have been calling the “Peloton Hack”. Rather than the $39/month fee with their bike, Peloton offers an app version of all of their classes for only $12.99/month, which is about the price of a basic gym membership. Then you can purchase your own (cheaper) stationary bike and experience basically all the benefits of a Peloton bike without paying an extraordinary amount of money.
And this is exactly what I did.
After looking around for bikes, I ended up purchasing the PYHIGH Indoor Cycling Bike for $315.00 on Amazon. Almost any stationary bike will do and there are both cheaper and more expensive versions depending on what features you want, I just chose this one because it had good reviews and was compact enough to fit in my bedroom. Along with this, I also purchased the Sunny Health and Fitness Small Exercise Equipment Mat for $17.99 on Amazon since I read that bike workouts can get sweaty, and also reduce the noise for my neighbors. Finally, I purchased the Wahoo RPM Cycling Cadence Sensor for $39.99 on Amazon which is important for tracking cadence, one of the metrics Peloton uses most (I will go into details on this later). Overall, I spent around $400 total, which still isn’t cheap, but it’s a lot better than $2,000.
Next, I signed up for the app for $12.99/month. You can download it from the app store, so many people use either a phone or a tablet to stream the classes while they ride. I have a Roku TV which has a Peloton app available, so I watch the classes on my TV, which I believe makes it feel more like you are actually in a class.
One of my favorite things about the app is that there are not only cycling workouts available to you, but other types of workouts including Strength, Yoga, Cardio, Meditation, Stretching, Running, Outdoor guided workouts, Bootcamps, and Walking. This is the main reason why I felt like the price matched what you were getting and was comparable to a normal gym membership, with the benefit being you can do it all at home. Each class type has hundreds of on-demand and live classes to choose from, so you can match it to your schedule. Peloton also has a variety of trainers that run each class so you can find someone who you enjoy and who motivates you to keep coming back. So far, I have stuck with the Cycling, Strength, and Stretching classes but I am excited to try out so many more types with Peloton.
For the cycling classes, there are different types of rides you can do such as HIIT, climbs, low impact rides, and more, but all of them use the same two metrics to create your ride: cadence and resistance. Cadence is how fast your feet are pedaling and resistance is how hard it is to pedal. As I mentioned before, my bike did not come with a cadence monitor, so I bought a Bluetooth sensor that connects to my phone and displays my cadence. The main downfall with the “Peloton Hack” is the fact that exact resistance is not measured on most cheaper bikes, so you have to feel it out to determine how much resistance you should have at any given time in your ride. During a class, the Peloton instructor will call out what cadence and resistance you should be at, so these two things outline what your ride will look like.
When I got my bike and rode for the first time 5 weeks ago, I had never cycled a day in my life. Since then, I can say that I have really begun to look forward to my workout each day and have already found multiple instructors I thoroughly enjoy. In the past, I have struggled with motivating myself to work out multiple times a week, as I know many people do. Feeling like I can get into a routine and have professional programs and classes to follow has helped me stick with my plans and I already see improvements to not only my physical health but my mental health as well. If you are able to set aside the money (skip out on the Starbucks for a couple of weeks!) I can say the “Peloton Hack” does work and may just change your fitness life for the better.