Peloton’s new Split Programs: In-depth breakdown

For the first time, Peloton has released strength focused split programs for its members. These programs are designed to be repeated for four weeks, with specific days designated to work various muscle groups. While a very traditional approach to strength training, it is new to Peloton members.

The split programs have been made available as Peloton Guide exclusives for the first seven weeks. However, with the links below, all Peloton members can take them without having to wait.

Peloton Split Program overview

There are four programs, led by four different instructors, each made up of a week’s worth of training. Split training is widely accepted as an effective approach to strength training. Each of these week long programs are intended to be repeated.

These new Peloton split program classes are led by instructors Adrian Williams, Callie Gullickson, Matty Maggiacomo, or Robin Arzón. If you take any one of the classes within these programs, you will hear the coach admit, “This is how I train.”

The four new programs are each either three or five workouts and are meant to be taken over the course of a week. And the week long programs, as a whole, are meant to be repeated. This is not really made clear anywhere outside of hearing the coach talk through the classes.

In order to make the best decision on which of these split programs might be best for you, we’ve broken each one down. Below you can see what is involved with each workout. The programs are Guide exclusives for the first seven weeks (until early June).

If you do not have access to a Peloton Guide, click the workout title links below. This way you can add a workout to your stack, to be taken on whichever platform or equipment you’d like. Keep in mind, stacking and taking the classes outside of the Guide will exempt you from earning the Program badge.

3-Day Intermediate Split with Callie Gullickson

5-Day Intermediate Split with Matty Maggiacomo

3-Day Advanced Split with Robin Arzon

5-Day Advanced Split with Adrian Williams

Connect the Watts’ Take

This style of programming is risky for Peloton. Known for supplying an endless stream of fresh content, bringing their members a week worth of strength classes and asking them to repeat the program again… and again… and again… isn’t exactly what members are used to. What this move says to us at Connect the Watts, is the Peloton Guide is meant to be taken seriously as a strength training tool.

Split training is one of the most widely used styles of strength training, and for good reason. It works. The problem we have with these classes is the intention behind this style of training isn’t made clear to the user. During the classes, the coaches discuss progressions, but in the style of giving an order, versus offering an understanding.

Labeled as Intermediate, Matty Maggiacomo’s program is appropriate for even the greenest beginner. He gives thorough instruction and always demonstrates the simplest substitution for any movement. The problem is, so much talk revolved around the movements throws off the work schedule (more on that later) and makes his program so tailor made to the ‘newbie,’ it’s boring to others for repeating. His program also has the smallest variety of movements.

Callie Gullickson’s program we view as a true intermediate fit. She has the widest variety of movements in her workouts, and expects the users to show up with some baseline knowledge.

Robin Arzon’s program is definitely advanced. She spends the least amount of time demonstrating movements and expects the user to be experienced enough to have smooth transitions and a general knowledge of their abilities (i.e. what weights for which movements). Her program seems to be most ‘repeat-friendly.’

Adrian Williams’ program is probably the most daring of the four. He set up his to be five training days in a row, then two days rest. He has a great understanding of the movements he programmed, and the schedule is very smartly laid out. But Adrian just cannot shake his need for speed, even for a straight strength program. He expects a lot and any user who chooses his program should have decent conditioning.

Taking these classes on the Peloton Guide is a solid experience, although an unnecessary one. The coaches will tell you during class to look at yourself on screen to “check your form,” – we didn’t do that once. The coaches will tell you to keep an eye on the Movement Tracker drop graphic, as it fills to give you points for moving during that whole work period. We also did not look at that.

So why was using the Peloton Guide a good experience? Simply because of the improved UI which allows you to see the upcoming movements and the intervals of time. This had me feeling a lot more in control of the workout, and able to make smarter decisions on weights and rest.

An interesting find is in the workout details that show breakdown of time by movement. They seem to be written based on how the recorded workout actually ran, and not necessarily how the coach had it written. For example, when you’re looking at the class details on Peloton of, say, any class in the Matty program, the times look chaotic. Our breakdowns are below; we tried to true them up as much as we could to how we believe the workouts were actually written by the coaches.

Overall, these programs are definitely not the pinnacle of strength training, but they’re an exciting introduction from Peloton. If the next round of split training releases has the coaches talking in a way that’s a little more timeless, giving a little more information about split training intention and suggestions for conditioning complimentary to the workouts, I think they’ll find a tribe of members who will happily hashtag this training style into the Peloton cosmos.

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