Category: Fitness

My Peloton: 2 Year Check-In

This week marks 2 years since I downloaded the Peloton app with my non-Peloton bike and decided to give this cycling thing a try. I didn’t realize at the time that Peloton offered so much more than riding a bike and not going anywhere, which is why I went ahead and upgraded to an official Peloton bike about 6 months later!

If you want to catch up with any of my previous My Peloton posts, you can find them all here:

So, now is the perfect time for a 2-year update.

I think the most obvious question is: do I still use my Peloton or has it become a rack for clothing? I mean, that’s what we all imagine when we purchase a piece of exercise equipment. Sure, it’s kind of fun at first but eventually it just sits around taking up space and holding up dust.

YES, I am still using my Peloton bike. In fact, here are my latest stats:

I’ve done over 300 cycling classes over the last 2 years. But it’s not JUST cycling. I’ve also done a ton of meditation, stretching, strength, yoga and even walking outside with my husband. I’ve also completed a couple different programs, including: Arms with Tunde (a 4-week strength training arm workout program) and Crush Your Core with Emma (a 4-week core strength program).

I’ve kept up with my daily Peloton streak since when I first started using the app in December 2020. Every single day, I do something on the Peloton and currently have a 105-week streak going with 949 total workouts.

Things that have helped my workouts:

  • Switching out my Peloton bike shoes to these shoes: Shimano Indoor Cycling shoes. You can read my blog post review of them here: Upgrading my Peloton Bike Shoes to Shimano
  • Having a full set of neoprene dumbbells (these are great). I have dumbbells in 2lbs, 3lbs, 5lbs, 8lbs and 10lbs and use them all doing various exercises. You would think a 2lb dumbbell is silly… until you are working that thing on one of Tunde’s strength classes!
  • The Pivot. I bought The Pivot for my Peloton screen when I moved my exercise set-up into my office. It allows my entire screen to flip around so that I can do my weights and yoga sessions in the open space in the middle of the room, which greatly improved my workout experience. You can read the blog post where I talked about it here: My Office/Exercise Room Hybrid.
  • Just doing SOMETHING. I don’t want to mess up my streak, so even if I’m not feeling up for much, I give myself the gift of doing even a 5-minute meditation and taking some time to myself.

With all that being said, I do have a goal to increase my cycling days. Ideally, I’d like to cycle 3 days each week. Maybe even more. However, it just hasn’t fit into life lately. So there is always room for improvement!

If you’re a Peloton rider, you can find me on the leaderboard at JoulesGetsFit.

If you are looking to purchase a Peloton, shoot me an email at pocketfulofjoules@gmail.com and I can send you a special referral code to get you money off your purchase!

Disclaimer: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. This means that clicking on a link may help me earn a small commission at no cost to you.

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Upgrading my Peloton Bike Shoes to Shimano

You know how sometimes you don’t know how uncomfortable something is until you take it off? Well, I had no idea how uncomfortable my Peloton biking shoes were… until I replaced them with a pair from Shimano.

One of my toes had been bothering me and I didn’t really think too much of it, until it kept bothering me for more than just a couple days. I started paying attention to my various shoes when I’d put them on to try to figure out the culprit and found that it was my Peloton bike shoes. When I would stand up out of the saddle, my foot would slip forward and one toe would bump and rub on the end of the shoe. On top of that, the shoes have never really been what you would call comfortable anyways. They were pretty narrow (and I have normal width feet) and just felt very stiff.

I had never used any other bike shoes though, so I figured that was just how bike shoes fit. Kind of how ski boots have a specific feeling to them.

Anyways, I decided to order a new pair and read good things about Shimano brand bike shoes. I did a ton of research on Amazon and decided to go with these: Shimano SH-1C100 High Performance Cycling Shoes.

I’m normally either an 8.5 or 9 in shoes, so I picked the 8.5/9 size. The cost at the time I ordered them was $100 and they are still at that same price as of when I published this post.

NOTE: The shoes do NOT come with the Delta Compatible cleats (the part that attaches them to the bike pedals). However, since I already had Peloton shoes with the cleats on them, I just used the provided Allen wrench to take them off my old pair and put them on my new pair. If you were buying these new – and not replacing a previous pair with them – you would also need to purchase these for $15: Delta Compatible Cleats.

I made the switch to the new shoes about a month ago and OHMYGOSH it is a world of difference! The toe-box and mid-area has so much more room in width so they are not squeezing your feet into them. They easily clip in and out of the bike pedals and are super comfortable when I’m pedaling in and out of the saddle. My only regret is that I wish I would have purchased these 260 rides ago!

Disclaimer: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. This means that clicking on a link may help me earn a small commission at no cost to you.

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My Office/Exercise Room Hybrid

With the demolition of my spare bedroom to become a master bathroom and walk-in closet, my ‘exercise room’ needed to find a new home. With everything being displaced for the renovation project, space is at a premium… which means my office needed to work double-duty and it became an office/exercise room hybrid.

My office is a room that already has a lot going on. On one side of the room is my sewing table and organizer that contains everything crafty.

On the other side, is my desk where I telework 2 days each week.

I started by cleaning out the closet (it’s not in the photo, but it exists on the wall to the right of the desk) and dragging my gigantic filing cabinet over to live in there. It’s not SUPER convenient, because I have to remove a bunch of bins in order to access the lower filing cabinet drawers, but eventually when the walk-in closet is done there will be a little more breathing room. Also, it’s nice to have the filing cabinet out of the main room.

I also moved the black storage table that holds my printer to the right side of the desk and moved the white drawer set over next to the sewing table.

This freed up just the perfect amount of space so that I could add my Peloton and mat to the corner of the room.

Other tricks to make the most of my space:

Trick 1: I bought The Pivot for my Peloton screen, so that I could flip it around and do my weights and yoga sessions in the open space in the middle of the room.

Trick 2: I hung my bike shoes on the back of the bike, instead of having them take up space on the floor or in an organizer.

Trick 3 and 4: I rearranged my craft storage to open up one cube, which is where I now store my hand weights and bleach wipes. I also used the spare bit of space next to my cube bookshelf for my yoga mat, yoga blocks and foam roller.

This is the long-term situation for this room, so I’m happy with how it all turned out. Here’s the before & after again:

Organizer side of the room:

Desk + bike side of the room:

I have space to comfortably use the bike and now that I can flip my screen around, I have room for yoga, stretching or weights sessions. The best part is, everything is out of sight when I have to log into a Zoom meeting from home!

Disclaimer: This post contains an Amazon affiliate link. This means that clicking on a link may help me earn a small commission at no cost to you.

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