The Peloton bike is TOTALLY WORTH IT. When comparing Peloton to other stationary bikes, people keep coming back to the same fact, Peloton is amazing, myself included. Peloton vs Echelon, Peloton vs. NordickTrack or Peloton vs any other bike competitor on the market, Peloton provides an immersive workout experience that stands up against any competitor. The actual physical Peloton Bike is amazing, my wife and I had ours since 2021 and we haven’t had any issues besides having to change out the seat, because Peloton recalled it. The live on demand classes are amazing as well. When you hop on the Peloton Bike and start navigating around the touchscreen to determine whether you want to take a live class with Ally Love, Tunde Oyeneyin or Alex Toussaint, it’s great to know that you are riding live with these instructors and experiencing their personality as it’s happening. Depending on how many rides you’ve taken once you step on to the bike, the instructor may even give you a shout out for your 100th, 500th or 1000th ride. I prefer to catch up on my favorite T.V. shows that I missed during the week, but whether you take a live class or stream your favorite television show is up to you. Peloton provides a unique experience that will keep users coming back for more, every single day. You may still be saying, that’s great, I can get a stationary bike that’s cheaper and still get workout content with amazing instructors that can help me reach my fitness goals, why spend the extra money on Peloton. What makes Peloton so special? I’m glad you asked.
WHY IS THE PELOTON BIKE SO SPECIAL?
The 3 features that separates the Peloton from it’s competitors are the quality of the live content that they provide, the movement tracking, and the weight recommendation feature that tells you when it might be time for you to pick up a heavier dumbbell. Keeping those features in mind when you compare the Peloton and Nordicktrack bike or when you compare the Peloton to any other bike on the market, you will see that the Peloton bike is definitely special and continues to earn its spot as the stationary bike market leader.
Does Nordicktrack have live classes? Yes, NordickTrack has live classes, but live content is not their primary focus. NordickTracks primary workout content focus is on demand and scenic workouts. Compare that to Peloton where live studio classes are the main focus of the platform, rarely have I ever jumped on my Peloton and a live cycling class wasn’t about to start and that makes a difference in your motivation to show up and jump on the bike when you know there is a community of people riding with you and not just a pre recorded workout.
There is more than just bike riding classes on the Peloton. You may have strength goals that you want to achieve as well. Simply throwing on a on demand workout, whether that’s on Peloton or any other fitness app and not tracking your form is the quickest way to plateau or simply work the wrong muscle during an exercise. The Peloton Movement tracker helps eliminate this problem by monitoring your form and providing feedback on a specific exercise that you’re doing, in order to help you perform the exercise correctly and target the appropriate muscle for a specific exercise. In addition to the form coaching provided by the movement tracker, there is also a rep tracking aspect to this feature as well that counts your reps as you progress through a workout.
Proper form and rep tracking is great, but another way that you can plateau in your workout is not pushing yourself hard enough through a workout. Don’t worry, Peloton has got you covered there as well, the Peloton App will recommend weight increases after monitoring your weight lifting over the course of a few workouts. Of course it’s up to you to take the suggestions or not, but at least you have got a digital coach pushing you to go harder after you’ve been doing a workout for a while.
Keep in mind, the movement tracking, rep tracking and weight recommendations are only available on the Cross Training Bike+, Tread+ or Row+, so if you are purchasing a Peloton Bike with the expectation of having those features, be sure to get one of those Peloton models. To find out a lot more(and I mean a lot more) about the Peloton Stationary bike, be sure to read this Peloton Bike: Full Length Review & Hidden Usability Advantages blog post after you are done here.
DO YOU PAY A MONTHLY FEE FOR PELOTON?
Everything that makes the Peloton Bike special, the live classes, the movement tracking, the form recommendations, and the weight suggestions are only available with a Peloton Monthly Subscription and of course there is a fee for that. The monthly cost of Peloton is going to vary depending on which membership you get. There are 5 options when determining what level of access you want in the Peloton Content Library.
- The Peloton All Access Membership Cost – $49.99 Per Month
- The Peloton Rental Membership Cost – $129.99 Per Month
- The Peloton App+ Cost – $28.99 Per Month
- The Peloton App One Cost – $12.99 Per Month
- The Peloton Strength+ Cost – $9.99 Per Month
The first two options above are for people that love the Peloton workout content and want the full experience by having the Peloton bike as well. The last three are available for what I like to call workout nomads, they are never consistently in one place and thus won’t have access to any specific piece of workout equipment for a set period of time and just need access to the classes, they don’t have a need or won’t always have access to a piece of Peloton equipment.
THE PELOTON ALL ACCESS MEMBERSHIP
My wife and I pay the $49.99 Peloton bike subscription fee to get access to the Peloton All Access Membership. The reason we got this level of subscription is because we bought both the Peloton Bike and the Peloton Tread+. This All Access Membership gives us the ability to access all the Peloton Content on any piece of Peloton equipment in our house, even if we decide to buy the Peloton Row at some point in the future. We are also able to create different profiles, so our workout streaks and metrics are completely separate from one another. Up to 20 profiles can be created for any single household.
THE PELOTON RENTAL MEMBERSHIP
If you don’t care to personally own the bike, because you move around a lot and don’t want the hassle of dragging the Peloton across the country with you, just pay $124.99 for the Peloton Rental Membership, that way, whenever you have to move, you can just cancel your rental membership and get Peloton to come pick up the bike. When you get to your new location, call and activate a new Peloton Rental Membership. While this level of membership is great and serves its purpose for some people, there are two things to keep in mind. First, the Peloton rental membership does come with ALMOST everything that the Peloton All Access Membership comes with and that’s great. The biggest difference is that the only piece of equipment available with the rental membership is the Peloton Bike+, which means there is no access to the movement tracking, rep tracking and weight recommendations. It’s still a great option, but it just depends on what your needs are and what you are looking for.
THE PELOTON APP+
The first of the three Peloton Bike Subscription fee options for people who want the content, but don’t need the equipment is The Peloton App+. The Peloton App+ is the highest tier Peloton subscription option for these types of individuals. If you fall into that category, that’s fine, you just need to understand what you’re getting. With the Peloton App+, you have access to the following types of content:
- Cycling (Excludes Scenic & PelotonLanebreak)
- Treadmill (Excludes Scenic & PelotonLanebreak)
- Rowing (Excludes Scenic & PelotonLanebreak)
- Strength
- Cardio
- Pilates
- Meditation
- Outdoor Walking
- Outdoor Running
- Yoga
- Boxing
- HIIT
- Barre
- Dance Cardio
Another great feature that comes along with having access to all this great content, is the fact that you can access it on your favorite smart devices, this Peloton monthly fee option, truly is designed for people on the go.
You’ve heard everything that you do get, it’s important that you understand what you don’t get as well.
ONE PROFILE, NOT 20
There is no ability with the Peloton App+ to create multiple profiles in order to separate workout streaks and metrics for multiple individuals in a household. Might not sound like a big deal, but if you are serious about hitting your fitness goals, having someone else’s workout metrics polluting your data can cause you to lose focus on exactly where you are in your fitness Journey
NO WORKOUT GENERATOR
Custom workouts targeted to a specific muscle group that you want to define aren’t available on the Peloton App+ either. Fitness goals vary from person to person, while you may be trying to chisel and define your abs, someone else my be trying to build and develop their upper body. The custom workout generator would allow each of these individuals to develop workout plans specific to ab development or upper body refinement. Peloton Strength is actually the only version of the Nomad on the go Peloton App options that has the workout generator, so if this is important to you, just keep in mind which App option does have it and which ones do not.
NO AUDIO GUIDANCE
Another great feature that the Peloton App+ does not have is audio guidance. During your workout, it’s great to get in ear coach cues and technique tips and this is what the audio guidance feature provides, but as stated previously, it simply isn’t available in the Peloton App+
NO VIDEO CLIPS
Getting exercise demos before starting a workout is another excellent feature that isn’t available with the Peloton App+ either. When doing an exercise, it’s critical to know the correct way to actually do the exercise, in order to target the appropriate muscle. Doing an exercise the wrong way could lead to you working the wrong muscle at best, but at worst, you could injure yourself.
PELOTON STRENGTH HAS THE MISSING PELOTON APP+ FEATURES
While it may be disappointing that the Peloton App+ doesn’t have the workout generator, audio guidance and clips, the Peloton Strength App Does. The reality is, considering the Peloton App+ focuses primarily on cardio, there really isn’t much of a need for the workout generator, audio guidance and clips features. However, If you’re one of those people who focus more on muscle development and not as much on cardio, then the Peloton Strength is the streamlined version of the app that would be perfect for you, it only provides users with strength content and the previously discussed features that are missing from the Peloton App+ are available here.
Whether you’re working chest, biceps, triceps, shoulders or any other muscle group, having the workout generator, audio guidance and clips features makes a huge difference in your muscle development plan. Being able to create muscle specific workout plans, get visual confirmation on how to do the exercises in those workout plans and get coached during the workout really separates the Peloton App from a lot of competitors on the market.
WHAT’S THE BEST ALTERNATIVE TO PELOTON?
The Peloton Bike and the accompanying Peloton apps fit my workout needs, but you might not be sold on the brand and would prefer to get a stationary bike from one of the Peloton Competitors. So what’s the best alternative to Peloton? When looking at stationary bikes outside of Peloton, a lot of people look at the Nordicktrack brand, specifically the Nordicktrack X24 bike, because the incline and decline features allow users to burn 2X more calories than any other stationary bike on the market. Considering that most people buy a stationary bike to lose weight, if you’ve decided that you don’t want a Peloton bike and are set on getting a stationary bike from one of the Peloton rivals, then the Nordicktrack X24 may be the option for you, but don’t take my word for it, check it out here.
