Accessible, Beginner Peloton Workout Tips
As mentioned many times before, I am a Peloton fiend. I love my bike, I love Peloton, and exercise is often, shockingly, my favorite part of the day. Peloton can be very intimidating, especially if you have limited mobility, or inexperience with exercise, or any other number of things. It’s scary to embark on a new thing! There are many tips I have accumulated from taking classes in various disciplines (400+ rides, 900+ total workouts), researching, and just being a disabled person who frequently has to modify. Here are some of them, in case you are new to Peloton, or just want to get some advice on how to maximise your experience. ALSO: Many of these are not exclusive to Peloton! And some are even useful when you’re not exercising at all!
Find the Instructor/Workout You Love
There are instructors I loathe, and instructors I love. This is true for every person who does Peloton, and it’s different for every person. If you get the bike or the app and try out an instructor and you hate it, don’t worry, you haven’t made a grave error. Just keep trying instructors and you’ll find your person. I almost exclusively take classes from a handful of instructors, and certain rides (Hannah F and Tunde’s HIIT and Hills, for example) are automatic bookmarks for me. It takes a little time to find what you love, but it’s worth the effort. Maybe you’re into power zone training, or you prefer a groove ride that gives you that boutique spin studio vibe. Try everything, and you’ll soon discover what works for you.
The Many Reasons to Take Warm Up Rides
A great way to see if you like an instructor is a 5 minute warm up ride. If you want an in-depth sense of their motivation style or difficulty, then you might need a longer trial. But if you just want to know how their voice sounds, or how many motivational platitudes they use, or even if you want to take more classes from them and get deeper intel, then a 5 minute warm up is a great way to figure it out.
5 minute warm ups are also great for testing out your bike settings. Now there’s a pause button (FINALLY) but if you want to give that new seat height or cleat placement a decent test, without sacrificing your leaderboard position or momentum in a ride, warm ups are perfect.
I usually do a warm up ride just to get my brain and body in Workout Mode. I space out, I check my email, or I just try to clear my head and get in the zone. Once my 5 minutes are up, it’s focus time. Sometimes I need a 10 minute warm up to get me in the right headspace, and that’s also fine! I rarely do cool downs, but I cannot imagine not doing warm ups. They’re essential for me.
You Can Go Faster, Get Better Results, and Ride Longer With Correct Posture and Bike Fit
Say it’s the end of the ride, I’m sweaty and tired and Tunde says we’re ending with sprints. I’m struggling to hit 90 cadence and she’s calling out 110-120. If I take a second to push down my shoulders, lengthen my spine, engage my core, and picture my pedal strokes coming from my hips, suddenly I’m at 105 cadence like it’s nothing. Do a posture check every once in awhile, and make sure your bike is fitted properly. I watched this video Christine made about fitting your bike, and took a video of myself on the bike to see what my fit and posture looked like. Then I wrote down all my bike settings in my phone, and every few weeks I check to make sure I’m still at those settings (I always have to raise my seat a little bit). It’s also totally normal to change your bike settings after riding for awhile. Maybe you’ve taken 100 rides and you’ve gotten stronger and more confident on the bike - try some different settings! I recently changed my bike settings and ended up moving my seat up AND forward.
Stretching is Important
Listen: Looking at your phone during a 5 minute post-ride stretch is better than not stretching at all. I mean, you do actually have ot DO the stretches while you’re looking at your phone, but I think it’s perfectly fine to multi-task. I also like to use stretches as a sort of mental cool down. It’s a time for me to transition from working out to doing whatever I’m going to do next (shower, probably). I know that I need some zone-out time post workout, and why not stretch while I do it? It’s certainly more helpful than sitting on my couch watching TikToks. A few times I week I do a longer stretch, usually Matty’s Thomas Rhett stretch (I’m indifferent to Thomas Rhett, it’s just a good stretch), or this one from Adrian that ends with a great hip stretch using a heavy weight. Post ride, I almost always do this one or this one, so much so that I have all the instructors dialogue memorized.
Finally, Let’s Talk About Butts
There are two key pieces of Cycling Butt Info that I think should be made more clear. It’s frustrating that I had to take so many rides before an instructor mentioned this VITAL information. First: If you have a big butt, if you’re sitting in the saddle correctly, your butt should be hanging off the seat. I thought “sit bones” was a way of yoga teachers saying butt without saying butt, but they’re actual bones! You want you sitz bones to be on the widest part of the saddle (yeah, way back there) which means any extra butt you have is going to hang off the seat. It may feel weird, like you’ve left your ass hanging off a cliff, but you’ll get used it it, particularly when you realize how much more power and comfort you have in the correct position.
The second bit of Butt Info is that when you’re riding out of the saddle, your butt can hit the seat. You’re not doing anything wrong, and it even happens to the instructors. In third position you are meant to have your hips over the saddle, so it’s perfectly natural that you will hit each side of your butt on the downstroke. If you’re in pain or are jamming your butt into the seat, then maybe you need to make some adjustments. But if it’s just a tap, then it’s normal. Think of it as your bike giving you a little pat of encouragement.
