I did 300 Peloton strength workouts in 4 months, and here’s what I found out
Last year, I discovered the Power Zone Pack on Peloton. It was the start of my journey, one that would transition me from spin cycling to strength. It was an interesting introduction: while trying to distract me as she completed a procedure, my dermatologist, upon finding out I had a Peloton, excitedly told me about the Pack and the various fitness benefits and sense of community their challenges provided. After successfully completing two PZP challenges, improving my fitness each time, I was ready to find something fitness-related to keep me busy between then and the next challenge. Along came HardCORE on the Floor, a strength-focused fitness group with a carefully curated monthly calendar designed to increase your strength and improve overall fitness.
Even though I’d had my Peloton for a while, I’d never really considered their strength classes to be legit — sure, I’d done an Olivia Amato core class here and there (they can be TOUGH, but are super effective!), but I’d never really understood on-demand fitness apps, and after all I figured Peloton was really known for their bikes. So this felt like a bit of an extra, a way to get people to by the app. It turns out I was very wrong!!
It turns out that Peloton places just as much emphasis on its strength programs as its cycling and running. In fact, you’ll even frequently see crossover instructors from the cycling and running side of things (Robin Arzon is TOUGH, y’all! Jess Sims’ full body workouts, Ally Love’s barre(!), Kendall Toole’s arms and light weights, are just examples of some of your favorite instructors from the cycling app.
Workouts are focused on specific areas of the body — whether it be chest and shoulders, glutes and legs, core etc — and even a 10–20 minute session is jam-packed in a way that makes the most efficient use of your time (be warned: there aren’t many breaks in the 10 minute classes!). The app makes it easy to switch over to a stretch before or afterwards, or maybe (my favorite) a focus flow yoga to target the area you just worked.
Joining a group like HardCORE helps to save time and increase effectiveness by picking classes for you (and no, I’m not being paid to say this — and at the time of publishing this, the HardCORE calendar is free to all members. I just really like it and have benefited so much from it personally). All you need to do is add the preprogrammed classes as a stack on your Peloton app for the following day, and you’re ready to go. No hunting and pecking to find classes from a list, or straight up choosing a class at the time — ain’t nobody got time for that.
I personally prefer to work out first thing, and it’s so convenient being able to just click ‘next’ on the stack feature to move to the next workout. The calendar typically features a 10-minute core workout, followed by a 10-minute and 20-minute (sometimes 15 and 15) focused on a specific body area. These are not randomly chosen, and as you work through the exercises you start to see why specific classes have been strung together. You even get to revisit certain classes during the month to measure your progress — how cool is that?! There’s no pressure to take all of the classes in a stack — just work whatever you can around your particular schedule and circumstances. I typically get up early, do the whole stack, and add a 20-minute HIIT, intervals or climb ride with a 5-minute cooldown to the start of my workout.
The sense of community itself cannot be underrated. Every day, I see people of all ages and genders cheering each other on, providing healthy advice and showing amazing progress (which can mean so many things for so many individuals). This is a more effective community than I’ve ever encountered at an in-person exercise facility and I feel so grateful to have found this squad. We’re notorious for giving each other high fives during our workouts, recognizing each other through the group’s hashtag on the leaderboard.
The results, you might be wondering? I’ve lost a bit of weight, sure, but that wasn’t my goal. After all, abs are made in the kitchen, so I’m sure making healthier choices has had a lot to do with that. More importantly, I’m feeling SO much stronger, I can see muscle definition I’ve never had before, and I’m really enjoying my fitness and wellness journey. People ask me if I work out, my measurements are down inches from where I started (I DEFINITELY recommend taking weekly progress pics and measurements to see how far you’ve come when embarking on an adventure like this!), I look forward to working out more than ever, and I love the encouraging, supportive community that Peloton Strength and the HardCORE squad provides. I can’t recommend both of these enough!!
