Lets Go Peleton!

I have been known to roll my eyes at Peleton commercials from the get go. perfectly fit models in million dollar condos overlooking the city, getting sweaty with a smile on their face while using their over-priced equipment. OK, I will give it to them, it's pretty good marketing. They make it seem like all you gotta do is buy the over-priced equipment and you will suddenly love exerting yourself,living in a huge city, really high up, and you will be rich and have perfect hair and teeth. None of those things are me. Plus, it really grinds on me (for no reason really) how they refer to their users as 'Peleton'. Isn't Peleton the product/tool? Are you saying your customers are tools? I jest. It does drive me nuts because it's part of their culture which makes it feel like if you're not a 'cheerleader' you're automatically not in the cool club no matter what. Shudder. High school flashbacks! You might imagine, then, when I received a free subscription to the Peleton app as a 'thanks for all you do' gift from my company, I had mixed emotions at best. I was outright prejudice against it before I even opened it. I work for a large regional health clinic who has always had a big focus on the health and wellness of its employees. I have used it to my advantage in the past, but I was in a bad mindset and not ready for it when I received this gift. Oh, and we also get a hefty corporate discount should I ever want to purchase said over-priced equipment and live the dream. Lol. Monday was not good. I was still letting church stuff get to me. Tuesday I finally made time to open the app and see what classes they had to offer. HIIT after HIIT class and OH. My. GOODNESS, they really do think we are all cheerleaders. I think almost all of this guys classed have a picture of him jumping like this on thumbnail:

Honestly, Dude? Something tells me this is not going to be like the old Susan Powter videos where she taught you how to modify each move for wherever your fitness level is. And it's not like Yoga with Adriene where she encourages you to "find what feels good". I spent a few minutes paging through so many classes and just picked a 10 minute HIIT class with someone other than 'Jumping Jack'(my name for him because I am mean and slightly intimidated by his jumping prowess). I will add that my knee was letting me know rain was coming and I wasn't sure it could handle whatever was in store for me. To my surprise, I was able to stick with it. Squat-jumps, ski jumps, mountain climbers and all. My quads were burning but I felt awake and had energy. And I almost smiled in pride that I could get through that with a bum knee and probably about 70 pounds overweight, but then the instructor said, "Great work, Peleton!" Ugh. I did OK yesterday but MAN was I sore today so I knew there was no way I was going to do another Peleton class today. Yoga with Adriene had my back with a really nice class called Yoga for a Rainy Day. It was gentle and stretchy and all the sore spots got some love. I have tried to figure out which way to move forward with exercise in the past, and I thought I needed to stick solely to yoga for a while to build strength and flexibility. I do need yoga, it makes me aware of the resilience of the body if you show it love. But after that HIIT class I was really surprised that my body didn't fail me even with all the abuse I've put it through. My knee even felt better after doing that class and I was fully expecting it to feel terrible after all the jumping. I know I need to strengthen and I do think that HIIT was a *fun* way to get cardio and strengthening in one shot. So I guess I am going to make use of this app as long as my company so generously gifted it to me. All of the things I have constantly told myself I need (strength, balance, cardiovascular fitness, flexibility) are in this app. I will try their yoga and meditation classes but Adriene will be tough to beat for the yoga. But I'm realizing that I am not growing because I keep doing the same few things, inconsistently, and like they say, change takes place just outside your comfort zone. I will give something new a try and see how it suits me. This could be a fun experiment.