Comment: My first year of Peloton is just the beginning of my connected health journey

May 4 was Star Wars Day for many people, but it’s my first anniversary of having my Peloton bike delivered. Although I’ve since moved on to a Bike+, I am firmly in the Peloton ecosystem, and it’s been a fantastic year.

Software enhancements

Peloton has been slowly improving the features and functionality of its software in my time as a customer, and I am excited about what they released last week at Homecoming 2021. The Pause button is going to be great when you’re doing an on-demand ride and you need to tend to something very quickly. The Strive Score has been a fun metric to follow in the first few rides since it was released. I am looking forward to seeing how the new programs and scenic rides evolve.

I don’t expect Peloton to release new hardware every year. Still, I expect the company to continually improve in reliability and release new features, and they’ve done that over the past 12 months. Even outside of what was announced at Homecoming, Peloton released several enhancements in my time as a customer.

Completing the fitness ecosystem

Peloton is a leader in connected cardio workouts, but they’ve not released a connected strength product outside of offering classes. I am not sure what I expect them to release here, but I don’t expect it to look like Tonal.

With its acquisition of Atlas, I believe Peloton will release a wearable device in the next year or two that will be focused on outdoor workouts along with all-day fitness tracking.

Long term, I also see Peloton expanding heavily into augmented reality and virtual reality. A future Peloton bike may simulate the feeling of being in the studio next to other riders.

Why Peloton is worth it

In a world where everything is vying for our attention, Peloton is a distraction-free zone for me. There are no emails, no apps, no Slack alerts, and no calendar alerts. It’s my time to focus on working out, but because Peloton can be done in my own home, there are no excuses to skip workouts. Over the past year, I’ve done 400 rides, 80+ strength workouts, and countless others. I’ve never felt better from an exercise standpoint, but I don’t feel beat down. After running for 10 years, it was beginning to take a toll on my body, so switching to cycling has allowed me to continue with cardio, but not in a way that breaks my body down.

The community behind Peloton is incredible, and I’ve enjoyed meeting other members on the leaderboard on Twitter and Reddit. Multiple people on the 9to5Mac team are on Peloton, and we frequently do group rides on the weekends. We all have our favorite instructors, favorite types of rides, or preferred class lengths. With Peloton, there’s something for everyone.

If you’re struggling to make exercise a routine, joining the Peloton community is the best way to get started. All it takes is 30 minutes, and it doesn’t matter if it’s cold, hot, raining, or snowing. If you have kids and struggle to get to the gym, Peloton will be perfect for you. You can get an incredible cardio workout on the Bike and then enjoy all of their other class types as well.

I love Peloton, and I think they’re building the next big tech company, the next big fitness apparel company, and they’re the future of fitness in general. The intersection of fitness, health, and technology is going to change everything we know about our bodies in the future.

It’s been a great year, and here’s to many more. See you on the leaderboard!