Fitness at Home: Peloton, The Tonal and Crossfit

This post is long overdue! It has been swirling around in my head for quite a while, and finally, I am sitting down to share a big part of my life; fitness.   I am going to write this in three separate blog posts, so that is easy for people to cherry-pick to read about the fitness trend that might interest them the most, though my hope is that people will be curious enough to read all three. Part 1: Peloton  Part 2: Tonal and Part 3: Crossfit. The reason I am going to tackle these in this order is mainly for accessibility and general appeal, from a broad appeal to more narrow.   

Part 1 is all about my love affair with Peloton, why I think everyone should have one. I am pretty convinced that Peloton is going to “win” the fitness game, and eventually, a Peloton will be as common an appliance as a microwave in people’s homes.

Part 2 is about me dipping my feet into the Tonal, a strength machine that just signed some famous investors and athletes ( Steph Curry!). The blog post will be an introduction to Tonal and how I am incorporating it into my workout routine, and who I think should consider investing in one. This is my newest fitness toy, so I am just getting acquainted with it.  You can read about it here!

Part 3 is all about Crossfit: what it is, why I love it and became a Level 2 Coach, and how I have stuck with it since starting it almost ten years ago, even though I tend to get bored of trends and move on to the next. I will shoot down some Crossfit myths and also ponder the age-old question: is Crossfit for everyone?

The Peloton-Yes, you SHOULD get one

This is a very long blog post, but here is the summary: Yes, get it!  It will more likely than not be a life-saving, game-changing piece of fitness equipment for you. I can pretty much promise you that even if it doesn’t transform you, you will get some benefit from it, sweat a little, workout to some good music and join a community that is a few million and growing.  You have nothing to lose. If your biggest fear is that it will gather dust and become a clothes hanger, then let me assure you that this rarely happens.  Almost every single friend I know who has bought the Peloton has not regretted it.  OK, sure, there are a few outliers who don’t love it or had injuries that prevented them from riding. If this happens to you, I promise you’ll be able to easily re-sell it. So, if you trust me at all, you can stop reading and go order the damn thing (please ask me for my referral code!), as there is currently a very long wait (8 weeks or more if you want the new Peloton +. which you definitely do!)  If you need more research….I present you the longest blog post I have ever written - all about Peloton, and this is the trimmed down version.

It is NOT at all like SoulCycle

When my friend Robin started posting frequently about Peloton on Facebook, I figured she must be a part-owner or investor in a new business, but I wasn’t sure. This was 2015, and nobody I knew on the West Coast had a Peloton or had even heard of it.  My friend Robin was apparently obsessed with something called “Peloton”. At some point, her timeline announced, “Hey guys, I am going in for my 100!  Big celebration!”  I commented, “Congrats, but 100 what?” We spoke by phone and she explained that it was her 100th ride on the Peloton, an at-home spin bike and that it’s “kind of a big deal” in that Peloton world, to celebrate your 100th ride. No, she wasn’t an investor, but she was really committed to it, riding every day, sometimes twice a day.  I probably made listening noises and said, “Ah ok, well glad you’re loving it!” while to myself I was thinking, “ugh, no thanks (no f-ing way)”!  To be honest, even though I love a good workout, I never really got into the cycling/spin craze.  I would do it occasionally to be social, but I never loved it.  If I did take a spin class, I would find myself constantly looking at the countdown clock, hoping the hour of torture would soon be over.  Once, a friend in Miami invited me to try a Flywheel class and after it was over, high on an adrenalin rush, she gave me a high five, “That’s why they call it ‘Flywheel’ - the time just flies by!” Nope. Definitely did not fly by for me.  I didn’t like the music that was so loud that it drowned out the high-pitched amplified voice of the instructor, I didn’t like the dark lighting, and I didn’t like the idea of all the sweaty bodies in one room, or having to line up for the showers after class (and this was pre-COVID!)  So, when Robin told me about Peloton, I wasn’t interested in the slightest. “Spinning isn’t my thing.”  

My first Peloton Ride-#NoBadDays is born

Well not long after her 100th ride, Robin let me know she was coming to California for college tours with her 17-year-old son and we agreed to meet up with our boys, who hadn’t seen each other since baby group days when we were living in NYC. It was like no time had passed at all, and we had a great time catching up - and of course she HAD to find a Peloton bike to ride. I didn’t think it was crazy, I get it! Whenever I travel, I look up the local Crossfit gym and drop in for a workout almost every day I am away.  I even told her I would ride with her.  Since Peloton is an “at home” experience, not a studio experience, we had to drive to the mall at Corte Madera, and ride in the showroom. That is dedication! Good thing neither of us is shy.  She was riding on a bike in the showroom window, on display for the world, and I was on another Peloton bike in the store.  We did a 45 min Alex Toussaint Live DJ Ride.  It was hard, but I didn’t hate it and I got a great workout! Robin’s Leaderboard name at the time was “Titanium” and we both got a call out from Alex Toussaint.  Even though I was riding in the shop, I could see the advantage of having a bike like this at home.  My first love is Crossfit, but I need something on the days I can’t get to the gym and figured it would be great to improve my cardio.  Luckily the timing was good...it was April and Mother’s Day was around the corner, so I began my lobbying campaign and was successful.  My bike arrived mid-May of 2016 and I have been riding ever since. The more I ride, the more I love this “bike that goes nowhere”.  Meanwhile, Peloton continues to up its game and is no longer just a bike.

Isn’t it “just a spin bike”?

Yes and no. By now, you probably have seen a Peloton ad or seen one at someone’s house.  If not, here is a short description. The Peloton Bike is in fact, a high-end spin bike but the difference is the large touch screen attached to it.  The bike itself is worth the high price tag, as it works smoothly and is very stable.  The real magic, however, is the high-resolution screen and the thousands of hours of excellent streaming content. Peloton instructors are rock stars with cult followings and the Peloton virtual community experience of several million keeps you motivated, connected and engaged. When I was just starting out, I would make an effort to join “live rides” as I was always hoping for a call out of my Leaderboard name; #NoBadDays. That was the early days when you were riding with just a few hundred other riders or fewer. Now are thousands on a live ride, so call-outs are now only for riders who are celebrating milestones (100th ride, 500th ride, 3000th ride, or birthdays, babies, or weddings, etc.), and even then you may not get a call out.  Some of the massive holiday rides, like the Turkey Burn Ride, can get more than 100,000 live riders or more. Why is that fun? There is tangible energy on a live ride! You can see yourself on the Leaderboard, and you can try to move up a few spots (based on your output),  and give and receive some virtual “high fives” as you ride by.

You can follow your friends and when they show up on a ride with you, it’s even more fun.  I have friends in LA, Boston, Salt Lake City, London, and of course all over the Bay Area.  It’s fun to be on the same ride as your friends, and you can even video chat with them (though it’s hard to speak when you are gasping for oxygen. Fun to wave though.) Just yesterday there was a 30 minute live Hamilton themed ride that was one of the best rides I have ever been on. I could see via my screen that my best friend was also on the ride, and we opened up a chat screen and sang at the top of our lungs. It was uplifting and I got off the bike dripping in sweat and in the best spirits I had been in weeks.

Live rides are offered all day long, but if one of these doesn’t work for your schedule you can choose one of the thousands of recorded rides, going back all the way to the beginning of Peloton digital. You can filter by time, ride type, music, and instructor. So there is really almost no excuse not to ride.  On these recorded rides there is almost always a group of riders on there who you can ride with (virtually of course), or you can pull up the “all-time” leaderboard to see where you stack up against anyone who has ever taken that ride.  On occasion I repeat a ride to see if I can beat my old output, or if I just want to hear a really good playlist - some of my favorite rides when I need a pick-me-up are Robin’s Greatest Showman Ride, and Cody or Denis’ Queen rides. 

What REALLY makes the Peloton a Game Changer?

All of this is great, but the real attraction of the Peloton, and the reason it is a game-changer, is that you get the thrill of the studio and an amazing workout, but you have none of the hassles. You can be sitting at your computer  3 minutes before the scheduled ride at 9:30 a.m., and at exactly 9:28 am you can clip theoretically still wearing your pajamas if you want, and nobody can see you! You are riding with people in New York, Chicago, Missouri, small towns in the mid-west riders as far away as London and Berlin. After the ride, you can stay sweaty and take the dog out to pee. No lines for the shower, no traffic, and no unnecessary small talk. Do you only have time for a 20-minute workout? You can filter by time and by the instructor, and even by music type, and find a high-intensity 20-minute workout that will have you dripping with sweat. All this means you don’t even need a babysitter! This has been a savior to new parents and to everyone who works from home. In the pandemic era with its restricted gym openings and danger of being in enclosed spaces, it quite literally has been a lifesaver.

“One Peloton”- not just cycling anymore…

Peloton launched the Bike first, then came the Tread.  My husband prefers the Tread, I prefer the bike but I like to use the Tread to change it up.  We have both and we share one subscription.   I know couples that have bikes side by side so they can ride together and not have to fight over the seat height!  That’s perhaps a little over-enthusiastic, as its easily shared by the entire family. In fact, it is possible to add unlimited family members to your account, and it’s only one monthly fee of $49 for the entire family.  This also gives all family members access to the entire catalogue of digital content, even when they are not physically near the machine. You can take the Peloton app to any hotel gym, on an outside run, or use it with a yoga mat and some dumbbells in your bedroom. The digital app alone is well worth the $49 per month, and some people rely solely on the app until they are ready to pay for the bike. If you break it down, that’s only $2-$5 per workout.  Which should you get if you’re going to make the investment and you can only afford one? The bike or the tread?  In my opinion, you should get the bike first. Currently, the bike has more instructors, more classes and the bike itself is machinery worth the investment.  The Tread is a great machine, but it’s huge and takes up a lot of space, you can do the tread workouts on any treadmill, and there are some other, cheaper treads out there that will do the trick.  Also, personally, my body gets too beat up from just running - I get plantar fasciatus easily and it feels rough on the joints.  If you cannot afford the bike or the tread, the app itself provides so much content: besides the bike and tread workouts there are yoga, meditation, outdoor running, strength training and stretching, and now boot camp (similar to Barry’s Bootcamp or Orange Theory circuit-style workouts) and most recently they have added Barre.  Rumor has it that a rower is in development. I take full advantage of almost all the digital content. Besides cycling, tread and strength workouts, my husband and I fall asleep to Peloton Meditation every night. I have also added at least two days of yoga each week to my fitness routine, and for the first time in my life long indifference to yoga, I am finally loving it.

A Social Experiment-The Peloton Community

The Peloton Community is its own social experiment.  In the early days, Peloton riders joined the Official Peloton Member Page on Facebook to connect with each other.  When I joined in 2015 it was already over 10,000 members, perhaps more.  Now it has nearly 350,000 members.  You can imagine that with that many people, from every state and corner of the country, there will be some controversy, some trolls, and some nastiness.  The old members get annoyed at newbies asking the same questions over and over again, while the newbies get offended by the snarkiness.  Politics sneaks in but gets quickly shot down. The majority do not want politics or NPP (non-Peloton Posts). 

Despite all the crankiness that can appear on the page, there are plenty of valuable moments that keep me coming back to that FB page. One beloved and non-controversial moment is the “Virtual Cocktail Thread” that one enthusiastic rider, John Bernstein, started five years ago.  Every Friday he posts a photo of himself holding a cocktail, and asks everyone to post their milestone or just say “cheers”.  Thousands of members post under that thread from all over the world. I love seeing his smiling face every Friday with a beverage in hand, and the only thing that changes is the t-shirt he is wearing and the seasons changing outside his window. He has become Pelofamous through these regular posts!

My favorite kind of post is the “Before & After” photos that people share.  Combined with regular Peloton rides and changes to eating habits (diets of all kinds are shared), its amazing to see slightly overweight to very overweight, men, and women, share their Peloton journeys. It’s very brave of them to share their photos, but it gives inspiration to so many. There are hundreds of these before after photos on the Official Peloton Member page.

I also love all of the survivor and inspirational stories that members share.  Some of these humbling stories will have you in tears at how strong the human spirit is, and it is heartening to see how much goodwill is out there when you read thousands of comments of support, help, and love to someone who is truly suffering, or has lost someone close.

From this umbrella page, smaller, private FB groups splinter off, based on a shared interest and that is where some real connections are made.  My favorites are the “Pelowinos” and the “Pelofun, Craft Cocktails, and More” groups and  I am also a less active member of the “Peloton Women’s Group”, “Peloton Sweaxy Swarm” and the “PeloFoodies”.  Among the many other groups (there are probably hundreds), you can join Black Girl Magic, Peloton Mom Group, Peloton LGBTQ & Ally, and of course groups fo every diet trend from Keto to Vegan, a Peloton book club, and Peloton Military & Veterans. Additionally, there are squads formed for the pure adoration and love of an instructor, groups based on geographic location, and it wouldn’t surprise me if there is even a Flat Earth group.  You name it, there’s a Peloton group for it. Before the pandemic, our Napa Valley group was just starting to get off the ground, meeting in person around Napa for cocktails, and I made some new friends there. 

What to Do if You’re Just Getting Started

First things first… getting ready for your bike!

1. Start brainstorming a fun Leaderboard name.  Something that will last a long time and that you will not get sick of!  Of course, you can change your Leaderboard name at any point. I started with CrossfitGirl but that was very short-lived.  I didn’t want that to define me.  Now I have #NoBadDays and it has become my life motto as well. I was lucky to snag that one early on because now there are 15 other versions of that leaderboard name with various numbers added on. I was there first, so now I am going to have to keep it or risk losing it! You might run into the problem of your leader board name already being taken. With a few million riders, that is inevitable. I implore you to choose something that isn’t boring. Also make sure it’s not something difficult for the instructors to read, or you risk not getting a call out! I enjoy the funny ones. Here are some that make me laugh out loud: #DimmygetnSlimmy #likeaturtleinpb, #milfstatus #survivoroffiveboys, and  #legs_are_liars. You can choose an inspirational name like these: #immyownstory #cancercantstopme #BELIEVEinHOPE or just something that motivates you to pedal for, such as #pedalforbeer #pedalforpinot or #spinfor1chin. In addition to your Leaderboard name appearing on screen, other information can be shared or hidden, such as your location, M or F, and your age! Needless to say I hide my age. Although I do get satisfaction when I overtake someone in their 30’s on the Leaderboard. Once you have your LB name picked out, please follow me and I will follow you back!

2. Choose a few hashtags to follow. This is a new feature they introduced a few months ago. You can add and follow hashtags so you can find your people. Here are a few of mine: #voteblue #napavalley #pelocrossfitters

3. Get yourself a powerful fan.  I didn’t discover this until a year ago, and now I cannot imagine riding without one.  You will sweat!  Have a pile of towels nearby. I like the kind with a loop to hang on the bike handle.

4. Decide where you want to place the bike.  Ours has been moved around a bit. First, it was in the basement but the wifi wasn’t great down there.  The garage didn’t last because of the changing air quality from the fires (ugh).  Now we have it in an unused bedroom which is a perfect home until we have house guests!  You can go fancy and make an entire room devoted to the bike, or you can put it in a corner somewhere…just make sure you have air flow!

5. Decide if you want to ride with headphones or not, and invest in some good wireless ones. I really like headphones because I feel more immersed in the music. I use Jaybird.

6. Get an apple watch or another type of HR monitor. The Peloton HR monitor is the old kind around the chest and is really awful. (I like the Whoop but I also had the Skosche). Apple Watch works fine too. The Apple Watch still does not connect to the screen automatically but you can use it for Health tracking. My Whoop and the Skosche both automatically connect and display my HR on the screen.

7. Get yourself a little side table or shelf to store things within reach. Once you’re clipped in, you won’t want to clip out until you are done: your phone, your water (ideally in a squeeze bottle), a towel, and maybe reading glasses.

8. When the bike arrives, get your settings dialed in!  In addition to the setup video that is in the touch screen menu, go ahead and watch the video on FB by Christine D’Ercole.  Proper fitting is so important!   You can even make an appointment with your local bike shop to come help you get properly set up.  Take note of the settings in case you share a bike with other family members.

9. Decide your first ride!  If you haven’t been active at all, do an easy 10-minute beginner ride.  Even if you’re pretty fit, I suggest a 20 to 30-minute ride to start.  You might have a sore behind the first few rides - this is normal and it does go away for 99% of the people.  If not, you might want to invest in bike shorts or a special foam seat cover.  It hasn’t been an issue for me, but I know others who it’s very painful at first.

10. Play around with different types of rides and different instructors. (Some of my favorites are described in the next section) Get to know their styles and start to learn which personality and ride types work for you.  The beauty is that there is so much variety, you are pretty much guaranteed to find the instructor who speaks directly to you.  On the very rare occasion that you really don’t like any of them, you can turn on the subtitles and ride to your own music, getting the cues from the subtitles.  Or you can choose the scenic routes and ride at your own pace. During the Tour de France my friend watched the race on tv and just rode a scenic ride the entire time. She said it was very motivating!

11. After you’ve had fun with different ride types and different instructors, you can start to look into Power Zone training (see below for more on that), but I only recommend this after you have ridden regularly for a month or two and had a chance to take a class with at least five different instructors, and maybe have had a chance to go back for a few more classes with instructors you really like.

Rock Star Instructors-Some of My Faves

Peloton Instructors have reached cult status and have hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram.  Everyone has their favorites and it is entirely subjective, so I am not going to attempt to recommend one over another. You have to figure it out for yourself. The instructors are bursting with personality and of course, almost all of them are model level gorgeous or cute as a button.  Most of us have a crush on at least one of them, male and female!  There are twenty-two instructors, and each has their own style, their own catchphrases, and mottos. Each rider can find the personality that works to motivate them.  I enjoy almost all the instructors but my favorites are listed here:

Robin Arzon: as the lead instructor she is probably the most popular.  A former lawyer, marathon runner, and diabetic, she is smart and sassy and says what is needed in the given moment to keep you pedaling. She deals in tough love, calls us all “hustlers and queens”. Her classes are always hard, especially her Tabata classes. She shares a lot on IG and her many fans have seen her grow professionally as Peloton gets bigger,  but we have also gotten to glimpse into her personal life: we were there when she got engaged, got married and now she just announced she is pregnant during a recent live class! Her favorite thing to say: “put your crown on” @robinnyc

Denis Morton: When he joined the Peloton family everyone was talking about his long flowing hair! It was his signature move to let down his hair and headbang during a ride, but then he chopped it off and donated his golden locks to charity! There was a lot of chatter and mourning on FB about his hair.  Apparently he does that cyclically - he grows his hair long, then cuts it short to donate. He is handsome whether he has long hair or short, but the reason I love him, is that he’s funny and smart and has great playlists.  He says the zaniest random things that keep you chuckling as you sweat. He is a modern philosopher and I have a little crush on him. His motto: “Be smart out there, if you can’t be smart, be careful!” @denis_morton

Jess King: a fabulous and sexy lesbian with a humongous beautiful smile, who loves to wear rainbows and sparkles,  and who just got engaged to her partner.  I know that her style is not for everyone, but I love her (and yes, she is my girl crush).  She did a whole music festival series that was really fun - now that we cannot go to music festivals, I suggest you hop on to one of these rides! Favorite phrase: “glitter is a strategy” @jesskingnyc. Her Jess King Experience Season 2 is starting up at the end of this month! I highly recommend!

Ally Love: She is probably the second favorite instructor after Robin Arzon.  She is also an announcer for the NY Knicks! She is soulful, sweet but fierce, and she is our spiritual voice on Sundays.  Sundays With Love is one of the most popular rides - it’s a sweaty 30 or 45 minute ride that takes you on a spiritual journey - not religious- just meaningful and uplifting. Her motto is Boss Up and she has an entire motivational series about “Bossing Up”. October is Bossoctober so a good time to check her out on IG (@allymisslove)

Cody Rigsby -  a flamboyant and proud homosexual, his rides are always fun ride, especially when Britney or the Back Street Boys come on.  His rides are not the hardest but they are perfect for some sweaty fun!  People love his  XOXO rides, where he answers actual questions posed on Social Media - and of course, the answers are hysterical.  As time goes by he just becomes more fabulous and more free, like a caterpillar transforming into a gorgeous rainbow butterfly! His fans love it all.Favorite motto: “Get your Life Together, Boo!”@codyrigsby

Matt Wilpers - If you are serious about improving your fitness, you will eventually sign on to a Power Zone challenge (see more on that below) lead by Matt.  Matt Wilpers takes a scientific approach to fitness and to cycling.  He may not have the glamour and rythem of the other instructors, but he is a results-driven, no-nonsense coach and will appeal to the road riders.  There are some riders who will ONLY take Mat Wilpers classes and even their Leaderboard names are connected to this cult:  #wilperedinAZ, #Wilpers4Prez and #WilpersKillsMe are some funny ones.Favorite thing to say: “nice” and “trust the process” @mattwilpers

Kendall Toole:She joined the Peloton family a year ago, and was immediately embraced by the community. I didn’t want to like her- she’s so damn cute! But under the cute facade is a fighter and all her rides are a combination of fun and hard. I LOVE her playlists as she rides to some gritty music that had been neglected…anything from EDM to Metal to Hip Hop to House. @fitxkendall

Alex Toussaint: everyone loves Alex.  He is just all smiles, always in a good mood, and happy to be doing what he’s doing.  His popular rides are “Club Bangers” and “New Tracks”.  His rags to riches story is heartwarming and when in doubt, taking a ride from Alex always puts me in a good mood! Favorite motto: Do better @alextoussaint25

In addition to these, I love Christine D’Ercole (feel good, positive her mantra is “I can, I am, I will, I do”) and Olivia Amato (the glitter fairy - you end up in a puddle of glitter sweat and she just keeps smiling).

Theme Rides

When choosing a ride, there is everything from Recovery Rides to High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), Heart Rate Zone Training and fun music themed rides. Here is a very simple and not thorough list of some popular types of rides.

• Rides based on a training style

  • Tabata Rides; a type of high interval training ride that gets your heart rate up in fast intense intervals with a ratio of rest. Tabata is usually 20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest, but they vary that ratio. It is intense and a great ride if you are short on time but you want to work hard. Even 20 minutes of Tabata will have you dripping.

  • HIIT rides (similar to Tabata, intense short intervals of speed).

  • Intervals & Arms

  • climb rides- (one that is on my bucket list is Christine D’Ercole’s 6 hour volcano ride!)

  • Power Zone (see section all about PZ Training below)

• Rides to celebrate a Holiday, a minority group, or promoting a cause

• Some of these rides earn a special badge on your profile!

  • Black Music Month, Latin Heritage Month, Pride Rides, World Mental Health Day Ride (Kendall Toole), Halloween Rides, the annual Turkey Burn Ride

• Music genre rides:

  • Classic Rock Ride, Club Bangers, 2000s Hip Hop, 80s Pop Rides, Country, Yacht Rock, EDM rides

• Artist or Movie/Broadway Rides

  • Hamilton, Greatest Showman, Queen, Panic at the Disco, Alicia Keyes, Prince, Whitney Houston, there is even a Deadmau5 ride by Kendall Toole!

Power Zone Training and Power Zone Challenges 

(Warning: Read this if you already own a Peloton but you are new to Power Zone, otherwise get ready for information overload)

PZ is a training method that has spawned its own hard-core community of Power Zone Pack riders.  Power Zones are simply a metric by which to measure and improve.  Just as there is training based on heart rate zones (Orange Theory for example), in cycling there is training based on Power Zones. Power Zone Training gets very specific to your individual fitness, and actually has nothing to do with heart rate. The training focuses on specific output goals over a duration of time and intensity. These rides are not quite as fun as just riding to the music, but it is very effective and guarantees improvement. In addition to Matt Wilpers, who introduced Power Zone Training to Peloton a few years ago, there are three other PZ instructors: Olivia Amato, Denis Morton, and Christine D’ercole who are now qualified to teach Power Zone classes.   Here is how it works: 

First, you need to set up your zones, which requires you take a 20-minute test on the bike, called the FTP (Fitness Threshold Power).  Before you start the FTP test it is highly encouraged to take the recommended 10 minute FTP warmup, so that you are warm and ready to go straight into the 20-minute test offered by one of the PZ instructors.  Your goal is to get your highest possible output in watts for the 20 minutes...you start out strong, but not too strong because you need to last the full twenty minutes without burning out.  In the last few minutes, you rev up the cadence and intensity so that you are completely and utterly spent at the end. You should literally slide off the bike into a puddle of sweat if you’ve done it right. It should feel like the hardest 20 minutes of your life. You’ve been warned: many newbies come out the gate too strong and give up 10 minutes in. Don’t do that! 

Once you complete the FTP test, the bike will automatically calculate your personalized seven FTP zones, with zone 1 being easy-peasy and zone 7 being hard-as-hell. In the settings, you can give permission for these zones to appear on the touch screen.  This is all much more convenient than it used to be - before they updated the bike for this, we had to manually calculate the zones using a complex mathematical formula, and then create a little cheat sheet taped to the side of the screen!  With your brand new zones calculated, you are ready to embark on a training program consisting of Power Zone classes: PZ Endurance, PZ Max, or simply a PZ ride. Each of these rides is meant to train you physically in a different way, whether it be for long endurance rides with relatively low intensity or shorter sprints at high intensity.  A good Power Zone training week would hit at least one of each of these.  After your ride, you can examine your ride graph and really geek out on the numbers.

The best way to deep dive into this is to take the Introduction to Power Zones, a 4-week program on the touch screen that gently leads you into Power Zone training, OR you can join one of the six or eight-week Power Zone Challenges. I am currently in week 7 of an 8-week challenge and I am starting to hit mental burn out, but I know its good for me, and it pushes me to take on more rides and longer rides so that I will not let my team down!  Four to six weeks into solid and consistent Power Zone training (at least 3 times a week), your zones will start to get old and the classes won’t feel quite as challenging...that’s when you take another FTP test. This time around you’ll need some serious self-talk to get yourself psyched up to take the test, since you now know exactly how brutal this test can be. If all goes well, you will have a higher FTP score than your previous attempt! Congratulations - you improved! Your reward? Harder rides!  Your zones will be re-set and your rides will now feel harder!  Not to worry, your body adjusts, you get stronger and then you start the cycle all over again. This just continues indefinitely and the classes “never get easier, you just get stronger” (this becomes a common refrain amongst the PZ instructors).

The Power Zone Challenges

If you’re intimidated by the Power Zone Challenges, don’t be!  They are a lot of fun and you are guaranteed to improve your fitness and make some new friends.  I joined my first challenge right at the beginning of the pandemic, and now I am in week 7 of my third challenge. This is the home stretch and it’s getting harder while also getting mentally grueling. Between challenges, there is a three to four-week break, which is well needed. I am really getting sick of Matt Wilpers right about now (but I do love him!) and I miss all the fun theme rides that are happening during the challenge that I just don’t have enough energy for, like the Alicia Keys ride or the live 9/11 ride where Robin inspired with her words honoring those we’ve lost but also celebrating life- it was on this ride that she brought her husband up to the bike at the end of the class and gave the uplifting announcement of her pregnancy live to an audience of thousands of her fans. Of course, I can go back and take these classes on-demand later, but I do get an extra rush on the live rides. 

The Power Zone challenges are taken by tens of thousands of riders.  You can choose between the 3 rides per week option or the 5 rides per week challenge, and additional points are earned by taking extra credit rides.  You will be assigned randomly to a team, or you can ask to join a team. For this current challenge, I was “recruited” by a group of hardcore riders that wanted to “win” the challenge…which is kind of funny because there’s not really anything to win at the end, just bragging rights, I guess!  I had to think hard about it because it was clear that joining this team wasn’t a “just do your best” kind of thing.  It was a commitment to be all-in, to understand that it would be expected to take all three of the core rides, as well as all of the extra credit rides, leaving no points on the table.  I decided to sign up and am proud to say we have achieved 1st place status and held our lead (122 teams, over 20,000 riders!). Do not be scared of these challenges though - most teams are riding for the virtual family and community aspect of it and “ do your best” is fine for most of the teams. Joining a challenge will give you the accountability you need that will help you get on the bike, even on days you aren’t feeling it.  You will learn a lot about yourself by taking on this challenge and you will definitely improve your fitness.  They wouldn’t call it a “challenge”, unless it actually changes you, right? To find out about the next challenge, or more about Powerzone training, you can go onto the Powerzone Pack Facebook page.

Final Words

I have to stop here…there is so much more to write about but I am sure I have lost many readers by now. If you are still with me, thank you. Clearly you are ready to make the move. Here is my referral code! The code gives you a fabulous $100 off of your accessories (wowza) and I get $100 credit towards merch. It actually is a bit of a challenge to use that credit as everything I want at the Peloton sells out immediately! Peloton is brilliant at using the “scarcity strategy” of merchandising, which makes for a lot of frustrated Peloton fans. If you need more information, just shoot me question or DM me on Instagram! Now go get yourself a Peloton and let’s ride together!