TCO 255 | Sweat It Out

255: What Do Price Hikes Mean For Peloton’s Future? Plus Our Interview With Clint Harp

TCO 255 | Sweat It Out

 

  • John Mills joins us to discuss Peloton’s price hikes.
  • iFit is turning the Boston Marathon into content.
  • Dr. Jenn – Keeping your cool when kids interrupt.
  • Jess Sims ran her first marathon…and it was Boston.
  • Tunde was interviewed by Brooke Shields.
  • Alex Toussaint spoke at Joint Base Andrews.
  • Ross Rayburn’s dog has a cool adoption story.
  • Emma Lovewell shows what happens between classes.
  • Multiple instructors were spotted at Coachella.
  • Angelo talks about the best times to rev up your metabolism.
  • There are some interesting new job postings from Peloton.
  • The New York Times writes about people “breaking up” with Peloton.
  • The U.S. government spent $220 on Peloton equipment.
  • Apple TV now supports the Apple Watch for Peloton classes.
  • Peloton debuts its Rock 22 challenge.
  • Sam Yo does an IG Live with Def Leppard.
  • We have some past guest updates revolving around the Boston Marathon.
  • There is a new Mother’s Day Merch…but is it new?
  • New classes for The Guide.
  • Christine D’Ercole has a new reflection ride.
  • Selena Samuela has a Tread Boot Camp.
  • Birthdays – John Foley (4/28)

All this plus our interview with Clint Harp!

Watch the episode here

 

Listen to the podcast here

 

What Do Price Hikes Mean For Peloton’s Future? Plus Our Interview With Clint Harp

Welcome back from New York.

It’s different here in Missouri.

We had fun though. It was a good time.

It was so good to see so many Peloton people and it was so good to celebrate Howie’s birthday. How sweet was that? Good people.

You got to see Ross Rayburn and his puppy, and then I almost got arrested at TSA.

At the airport, you’re out of control.

My pre-check number stopped attaching to my name. I have so much trouble when I travel because of the apostrophe and I’m a junior. Between those two things, I can never get my name to match exactly.

For whatever reason, it was fine on the way there and then it wasn’t on the way back. The airport security’s theory was that you had been randomly selected. I don’t know. It sounds like BS.

American Airlines was like, “This is your fault.” I’m like, “You got me here and it worked then.”

Tom ended up showing his junk to TSA agents.

I told you the thing where it wasn’t like an x-ray. It’s like you had to stick your hands. It wasn’t the metal detector. I guess it does that too but it’s where you stand in front of a silhouette of a person and you put your hands out. I go through and I do that. I’m bad at this because I’ve been doing pre-check for so long. I don’t mean that like I shouldn’t have to. I just don’t remember what the things are. All I have is a backpack. We were in there for a day so I had no carry-on, nothing. I set my backpack up there and then I go through. They’re like, “Take your belt off,” then I go through. They’re like, “There’s something in your backpack.” They made me go all the way back to the front of the line because I forgot to take my laptop out.

Tom, that’s such a newbie.

I know but I didn’t know because it had been so long, and then I’m coming back through and they’re like, “Stop, you got to do this thing.” I was like, “You literally saw me four seconds ago. Two people have walked through. It’s not like it has been forever.” “You got to do it again,” so I do it again. I take my belt back off and he’s like, “Do you have anything in your pants?” I’m like, “No, I’m pulling out my pockets. I don’t have anything in my pants.” “You’re alerting in the groin area.” I’m like, “What do you want from me? What do you want me to do about it?” “You’re alerting in the groin area.” “I’m sorry about my horse cock. What do you want me to do? It’s the cross I bear.”

Meanwhile, I see and hear all the yelling. I go over and get his backpack which is now through. I put his laptop back in and I back away slowly.

I grab my pants. Luckily I’ve lost weight so there’s give. I’m like, “Here you go.” I meant to grab the pants, but I grabbed the pants and the underwear. I’m pretty sure this guy saw my junk. I apologize if I ruined your self-esteem, but the risk you take when you’re working for TSA. The guy was like, “Just go.”

He’s like, “I’ve seen enough. Get out of here.” It was a good day. It was just that annoying twenty minutes.

I get that you’re doing your thing but some common sense. I was never out of your line of sight. What could I have possibly done?

I was ready to film in case you got in a fight.

He’s going to go viral. Let’s capture that.

I knew if both of us started yelling, we were both going to jail. I figured one of us needed to come home to the kids.

I was already agitated because we had already been at customer service for 40 minutes. I know that it’s quicker to go through the security. I’m trying to make sure it doesn’t happen on any of the future trips so our pre-check would work. Other than that, we had a great time. We should also mention that we have a new advertiser on the show, Olive & June.

It’s nail polish but it’s like salon nails that you get to do at home.

They’re not my jam but it looks cool.

They’re not stickers or anything. You can get press on. They have the press on nails but this is teaching you how to do your nails. They give you all the tools so they let you do it right.

You’ve been excited about this for years.

For a long time. I am so thrilled they’re one of our sponsors. The reason we’re telling you this is that on Saturday, May 21st, we are having a private master MANI class. You can join and we can all do our nails together. I’m so ridiculously excited.

Keep an eye out for that. We’ll have information in the newsletter and the group. Head on over there and join if you haven’t so you can get your invitation to take part in that if that sort of thing interests you.

We’ll be glad to have you.

What pray tell do you have in store for people?

We are going to have John Mills and we are going to be talking about the subscription price increase. We are also going to be talking about some changes that iFIT is making. We have a visit from Dr. Jenn, keeping your cool when kids interrupt. We are going to be talking about Jess Sims running her first marathon. There’s a lot to discuss about that, surprisingly. Also tons of news, in general, about the instructors and new job openings. Angelo drops by and we’re going to talk about when are the optimum times to rev your metabolism. We’re going to talk about breaking up with Peloton. Not that we are, but an article that was written. We’re also going to talk about the Rock 22 Challenge and what’s going on with Def Leppard. We’ve got past guest updates.

Our guest for this episode is Clint Harp who you might recognize from Fixer Upper.

He has his own show now too, so you’ve got to check that out as well.

Before we get to all that, shameless plugs, don’t forget we’re available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts. Wherever you find a podcast, you can find us. While you’re there be sure and follow us you never miss an episode. Also, maybe leave a review for us. That’s always welcome. You can also keep up to date with us and the going on in the world of Peloton throughout the week in between episodes by liking our Facebook page, Facebook.com/TheClipOut. While you’re there, like the page and join the group.

You can also sign up for our newsletter where you’ll get all sorts of things sent to you not annoyingly. Once a week, you get an email with all the links and stuff from the show. You can do that at theclipout.com. If you would like to watch these episodes, you can do so at YouTube.com/TheClipOut. There’s all that’s, let’s dig in. Shall we?

Yes, let’s.

Joining us once again is John Mills. How’s it going, John?

How’s it going?

We’ll jump right in. We should cover the price hikes from Peloton. This broke after we had recorded the previous episode. There wasn’t much we could do about it.

We were in New York when this broke. I am so weary. I knew the second I saw this, this is going to not go over well.

It never does. Nobody ever gets a price hike and says, “That seems fair.”

It was divided. Many people were like, “I never have had a price hike with Peloton. It has been 6 years, 8 years, however long.” It’s different people because they’ve joined at different times and they’re like, “This is great. It’s no big deal. It was $5. Suck it up.” You then have a whole other contingent of people. They were like, “You decreased the hardware but increased the subscriptions. You should have only done that to the new people. Now you’re dinging me twice. I’m so pissed.” It was all of that. “How dare they. Why are they trying to make us pay? They’re trying to make us make up for all the money they’ve lost.” There was a lot of yelling.

I had a third faction of people in my group that were saying, “I’m cool with the $5,” but couldn’t they have quieted the noise from the folks complaining had they done the price increase along with a feature increase or at homecoming when we were getting something. I had that third faction of people with that theory.

That faction was there too. They just weren’t as loud because I feel like that’s more rational than some of the other ones. The irrationality stuck out.

You couldn’t do that at homecoming because homecoming is supposed to be fun, “Look how great we are.” You can’t kick off homecoming and go, “We’re charging you more.”

Not to mention earnings report comes out before homecoming. On top of all of that, let’s not forget that the day before, that guy Blackwell was like, “Get Barry out of here. He’s completely ineffective.” I feel like the subscription thing, they were holding onto it. It was already planned they were like, “Go ahead and let it go. Let’s rip the Band-Aid off and get it done.” That was their response to Blackwell to get them to shut up. Not that it will work.

I don’t feel like they should respond to that dude. I don’t have a big deal with them raising the price. It’s been a long time. If someone just bought a bike and they dropped the price, they’re in a weird spot. I don’t like the idea that this guy rings a bell and they’re going to react.

I could be wrong. That’s just how it felt to me.

I don’t think it’s a bad theory. We’ll never know for sure but I certainly don’t like letting that guy think that he’s got any sort of control over what they do or when they do it.

What was fascinating to me about it was back in August 2021, they dropped the price from $1,895 down to $1,495. At the time, I think that was a reaction to the prices of other bikes in the space. John Foley was trying to say, “We’re democratized. We got the cheapest bike or the least expensive bike.” They then admitted in the earnings call three months later that maybe that was a mistake because instead of 50/50 they buy it for 75% of the bikes.

That was the first time we heard that things were starting to go off the rails.

They were like, “That might have been a mistake.” All of a sudden, in January we hear they’re bringing back the $250 delivery fee. They were putting that on top of only the bike price, not the Bike+. They brought it back up to $1,745. To me, it felt like it was to make up for that potential issue with lost revenue. This one makes more sense to me for two reasons. They dropped the Bike+ price by $500 and the bike price by $200. In the last first quarter, they had gained 150,000 subscribers.

If you assume that they’re going to gain another 150,000 subscribers with this upcoming first quarter that starts in July, I think this whole price increase starts in June, ultimately, they’re losing somewhere around $50 million with those price drops in the hardware. Their margins are around 30%. That means they’re netting $15 million. If you take $5 a subscriber times 3 million subs, that’s $15 million. If you can manage the math I’m mapping out here, by raising the subscription price by $5 and dropping the hardware the way they did, they zeroed out.

That adds fuel to the fire and pisses the people off. Why are we, seasoned people, subsidizing the new people getting bikes?

I get that argument but it made me go back to that original change in August. This one was much more well thought out though when you do the math.

What about the fact that on March 2nd, Barry was like, “I’m going to be playing around with the prices, but that $39 price point is not going anywhere.” What about that? I feel like that’s going to lead to some class action lawsuit or some big petition. Somebody is going to be drumming up. I feel like it’s going to be a big to do. We’re not done hearing about this.

I keep hearing that too. That keeps coming up. He said that a couple of months ago, I don’t know whether in New York Times. I don’t remember where it was.

He was making the rounds so it’s hard to keep track. I’ve had people tell me that Foley said that at one time or another. I don’t recall that. I’m not saying it didn’t happen. I don’t recall him ever taking a hard stance and saying, “We’re never raising the $39.”

I don’t think he said never, but didn’t he use the word sacrosanct?

That was in a Yahoo Finance video. When I listened to it, it doesn’t sound as hard and fast like never. It felt like that was not something they were looking to do.

I think that was true at the time. People need to buckle up because I don’t think we have seen even a fraction of the changes we’re going to see with the good old Bear Bear. It’s getting crazy up there.

He got all kinds of stuff started to come out from under his sleeves.

That’s a CFO for you. They started cranking through stuff. They started trying things with money. It gets crazy. We were just scratching the surface of the money. I’m telling you.

I don’t think anybody or at least not a significant number of people are going to leave over the $5. They will be pissed and moan but at the end of the day, people are going to suck it up.

That’s what I think too. Someone said in my group, “What about the people that are leaving over this?” That’s not even coming to my mind. I’m thinking people are upset about it initially but I’m struggling to believe somebody is going to be like, “I’m out.”

I have seen people do that but it’s been a special case. There have been people that say they use their Peloton bike very rarely compared to their outdoor bike. They’ve got other things that they’re paying for. I don’t even remember what the example was that they said they had, so other subscriptions. They were like, “I’ll use my trainer then.” On the bike, you could play just ride. You could get your metrics that way, and then you could have it playing on an iPad. You’re basically getting all of the same things that you would be getting from your bikes. Why bother? People are doing that.

I don’t want to do that because I don’t like all the workarounds. I don’t like the janky. I got to do links. I got to email thing. I like it all to work together very simply and easily. Times are changing. There’s a lot of money that’s going out the door that wasn’t a year ago. Prices are going up everywhere. People are going to have to make choices and this is not the choice that I would make, but everybody has different things that are important to them.

I’ve read that there are different thresholds. It could be a situation where that $5 isn’t that big of a deal, but they might be making a series of choices to offset inflation saying, “Let’s drop Netflix and I’ll take Hulu down to the ad-based one. Here’s the thing where I can save $45 by getting rid of this.” It might be part of a larger plan for some people but I think most people are just going to suck it up.

 I do too.

What become interesting to me is an article that I saw come out about Lululemon is now including in their $39 subscription fee access to all these boutique fitness classes. Your $39 subscription for Mirror isn’t just for classes on Mirror.

It wasn’t in Barry’s bootcamp but it was stuff like that. It was other vendors that offer that stuff.

You can now walk into these bootcamps for $39. What struck me was Peloton went up to $44 and the Mirror stayed $39, but you’ve got access to more. It’s the optics of that. I was like, “What does that mean? What was that reaction to?”

That’s interesting too. I don’t think it’s a reaction. It’s related to the problems they’re having financially. I don’t know, obviously. When I read what you had posted, my first thought was that it was coming from a place of they’re already hurting. There are people questioning, should they have even bought Mirror or Lululemon? I realized it’s a very small percentage of what Lululemon does. If that particular unit is losing money, they’re probably still going to try to find ways to make money. It made me think that’s what that was about. It is interesting because a couple of weeks ago, you had said, John, or Tom, it might have been you.

If it was brilliant, it was me.

It’s one of you guys or you were talking about it together. You were saying that everyone says Peloton is the gold standard of all at-home fitness from a content standpoint, and yet it’s the lowest. All these other ones are at the same price point or lower than Peloton. It makes sense that Peloton raised theirs up. It also makes sense that there would continue to be a gap because none of the other content providers can keep up with Peloton from a standards standpoint.

I’m still in that camp. I think that is right but it still makes me think about the optics of this thing.

It doesn’t look good.

The market goes, “I got all this for $39.” We’re reopening and people are supposedly starting to go back out, and now their package includes going into a facility outside the home.

It might be a way to capture those people that feel like they still want that gym experience where it doesn’t have to be either-or. I would think that if they want to sell Mirrors, one of the easiest ways they could do it is if you have an active Mirror subscription. You get 10% off of Lululemon stuff.

That’s a part of this $39 subscription. They didn’t go into all the details of what it was. I didn’t know if it was a percentage off or exclusive access but they did say it includes apparel.

People love Lululemon stuff. I would think if you offer people a discount and they had an active subscription, a lot of people might bite the bullet.

That’s what they’re talking about. Does that mean we’re going to start getting discounts on Peloton apparel and going to the studio is going to be free?

No. I’m pretty sure we’re going to see the opposite direction. We’re going to be paying a premium to go into the studio from now on. That is a whole new world that Peloton is going to start capitalizing off of.

Do you mean Uncle Barry is going to look at Lululemon and then change it all up tomorrow? He might change his mind tonight. This is Uncle Barry we’re talking about.

You can never say no with Barry. I’m not saying it will not happen. I just don’t think it’s going to happen. That’s what I think. He’s like a loose cannon up there. I don’t know what he’s going to do. Nobody knows.

Moving along, John found an article about iFIT filming content at the Boston Marathon.

I thought this was interesting, John. I thought this was very unique of iFIT and I have heard a lot of good things about their outdoor content.

I’ve been hearing stuff about their content for a long time. When Peloton did their outdoor content, you couldn’t help but go wow. That looks very similar to the concepts that I’ve been hearing and seeing with iFIT. They filmed the content from a trek up Mount Everest. Subscribers could take these classes that were filmed in these locations. That series of classes now is nominated for an Emmy. It was wild. I don’t know that connected fitness content can be up for Emmy.

Anything can get an Emmy now?

Could this YouTube video get an Emmy? Is that what it’s saying?

We’ll submit it. It’s in a category with NBA on TNT Tuesdays. I don’t know if they’re going to win. I don’t know how they match these things up and how they get in with NBA TNT Tuesday. Anyway, they’re up for Emmy. This is interesting because now they’re filming content from the Boston Marathon and it’s not just the Boston Marathon. It’s a series of 4 or 5 major marathons around the world. I wasn’t familiar with this individual but I think his name is Tommy Rivers Puzey.

He’s a big deal.

That’s what I’ve been hearing. He had cancer and almost died and had to relearn to walk. Now he ran into this marathon. The content was filmed and it’s going to be presented as classes that people can take. You’re experiencing the marathon. You hear the sounds of the people around running and it’s like you’re at the Boston Marathon. It seemed a very interesting spin on connected fitness content. You align that with the iFIT equipment which allows it to automatically incline and decline. The folks that have these iFIT devices are all raving about the fact that they will be in these events while the device is doing all these things for them.

That’s pretty cool. One of my favorite all-time classes that Peloton has ever done was when Robin and Becs Gentry have each done the New York City Marathon and they called it a simulation. They go through and they talk about the experience. They are inspiring and wonderful classes. They make you want to jump up and run a marathon right that second. To be able to take a class where you’re experiencing it, you’re in it. You’re that immersed. That is a cool idea. It’s a very cool concept and I would love to see Peloton do things like that. I would love for it to be their idea. That would be even cooler.

When I started seeing this, two things came to mind. Should Peloton be submitting content for broader awards in this Emmy space? I don’t know what you get from that. Maybe you get nothing from that. That was the first question. The second was, do we have members and instructors who are running in these major events? I know that it’s an exclusive with iFIT now, but should there be a broader tie in some way to outdoor events, in general, with Peloton considering the size of the community and the fact that they are already doing the events?

It seems like a missed opportunity to not. No matter what, they could be doing more. It’s yet another example of how Peloton overlooks the tread content and the running community. I say that as somebody who has gotten more into running than biking. Not that I’m against biking or anything like that but we have all these cool things that Peloton does. It’s so immersed in many different worlds and you don’t see any of that. All the instructors are out there with all these different races. They’re all there so the people are all there. Why are we not doing more? It’s already organic. It’s happening. You guys could do more to capitalize on that.

Erica and I used to do a lot of 5K and 10K. We never did half marathons but we did a lot of these 5K and 10K. A lot of times, I would go to these events and my company would be there with a booth. All of us would go to the booth and hang out there. All these people we knew, a big flag and a big tent. Our company is there even if it’s not some big crazy major sponsorship.

A couple of years ago when they first introduced the tread, they did do some outdoor racing stuff. I don’t know if that got put to the side with the pandemic and then they didn’t get a chance to do anything with it. I have no idea, but I would love to see more things like this. It’s moments like this that bring the community together. They’re already there so bring them together.

They’re all there. They find each other and they take pictures. Peloton can use them as a part of their marketing. They can use that in their imagery. It seems like an easy one.

You’ll feel like your life is killing you if you wake up doing something you hate. Click To Tweet

You could have Peloton racing shirts. There’s a whole thing that could be done there.

I started back running because I’m all lighter now.

Congrats on that.

It feels like I plateaued and I’m right at 190.

Let me tell you something, John. This is something I say all the time to people. You don’t lose weight in a straight line. You go back and forth.

That makes sense. I’m sticking with it and everything is working. I can tell that I’m losing inches. I’m trying not to pay attention to the scale as much but it’s hard.

It is hard to get out of that mindset. It’s an easy metric but at some point, you need to focus more on how you’re looking.

Those pictures you’re taking are smart to keep reviewing and keep measuring. Those are better indicators. Working with people as a MetPro coach, I have seen people in the last several months lose pounds, which doesn’t sound like much, but they’ve lost 10 inches. It’s insane. Everybody is different. Some people are going to drop the pounds, depending on how much weight they have to lose. Some people are going to lose inches and both are wins.

It’s funny because Erica is much more savvy with all this stuff. She has lost a good amount of weight as well. She was telling me when we started to take pictures. She was all cool with it. I was so depressed about how I looked. I was like, “I’m not taking no damn picture.” I didn’t take any pictures. Now to do comparisons, I got to find stuff that wasn’t for that intent because I was so upset when I started.

If you knew you were going to get there, you would have taken the picture. At the time, you’re like, “I don’t need a picture of that.”

I get it. That’s another thing about MetPro coach. I hear all this, “I don’t want to take pictures. I hate my pictures.” I always think about what Tom says. Think about how good you’re going to feel three months from now when you look at those pictures. I don’t have one client that has not seen a difference over three months. Even if the scale has barely moved, there are other improvements. I do think that taking pictures is an excellent way to keep yourself accountable.

I would tell my group and this is true. I was so depressed. It was a point around September. You guys know my mom had passed and a lot had gone on. I was so depressed and I gained so much weight that I was avoiding cameras, mirrors, and reflections at the time. I had never done that in my life before. This is a godsend. I feel a billion percent better now. That’s a good deal. That’s why I’m running now. I can run. I can float. I was doing pull-ups and I was like, “This is easier. I’m getting stronger.” I’m pulling up 32 less pounds.

Are you going to do a marathon?

I’m thinking about it now. Jasmine is bugging me about running. She wants to run. She lost all that weight. She was 120 pounds. She wants to run. I might have to now. I saw Jess Sims out there looking like a superstar. I might have to run a marathon.

It’s a big commitment.

Maybe I shouldn’t have said that on air.

We’ll edit it out. Don’t worry. We won’t. We want to know. John, thank you so much for joining us. Until next time, where can people find you and your wares?

They can find me on my Facebook page or group, Run, Lift and Live. They can find me on Instagram @RunLiftAndLive. They can find me on TikTok, Run, Lift and Live, or they can find me at RunLiftAndLive.com.

Thank you very much.

Joining us once again is Dr. Jenn Mann, licensed marriage, family and child therapist, and Sports Psychology consultant. She was a five-year national team member in Rhythmic Gymnastics and Sports Psychologist for USA gymnastics. It’s Dr. Jenn.

Hello.

We’re so glad to have you back. We have a member of The Clip Out community that needs your help. Kelly says that in the last 60-plus weeks of being a Peloton member and loving her bike, she has discovered the main value for her is the improved mental health outcomes. The physical is great too. She has spent two-plus years working on the frontline essential work during a pandemic, raising three kids, helping her husband through two surgeries and recoveries for a broken femur. Peloton, specifically cycling, is a huge mood booster and distractor overall.

Sometimes while she’s riding, her wonderful kids decide it’s the perfect time to have a fight, argument, ask for snacks, etc. Although she preps everyone with, “I’m getting on the bike now. What do you need before I get on?” Kids will be kids. How does she manage her own emotions about the interruptions at the moment without lashing out at her kids? It’s a little hard to go from amping herself up to it for a Tabata, HIIT, Hills, Power Zone and the next step or two, “Stop yelling at your brother,” and then get my head back in the workout game. I feel this mom so much.

I think I know the answer. Adoption.

Do we know how old her kids are?

It does not say.

It sounds like they’re not toddlers. It sounds like they are elementary school age. I’m guessing based on the little piece of the fight that she shared. Many people have seen on my Instagram that I posted the sign that I have outside of my Peloton workout room. It’s something I’ve talked about with my family. It basically says, “I’m in here on my Peloton.” This is something not just for my physical health but also for my mental health. Peloton is not therapy but it is very therapeutic and it’s important for my well-being. It’s important that I have this time to myself.

Unless the house is on fire or someone is bleeding and needs stitches or an adult is on their deathbed or extremely ill do not disturb my workout. I’m sure a lot of people, especially during the pandemic, can relate to this. You may hear me cry on my bike. You may hear me laughing off my bike. Please don’t come in and stare at me. You don’t need to ask if I’m okay. I love you. I appreciate your support. I need to have my experience.

I have carved out with my kids that this is my sacred time. Since I’ve had that conversation and posted that sign, it’s highly unusual for me to be interrupted. My first thing is I recommended that she made a strong boundary. It sounds like she has said something but there are no consequences to breaking the boundary aside from her getting frustrated. It sounds like she’s saying don’t do this, then everyone is doing it and they’re still getting what they want. Share the guidelines, depending on the age of her kids, “Here are the guidelines. Unless one of these things happens, you need to let me have my time to myself. If you don’t, here’s what will happen.”

There may need to be a consequence like, “That means that I’m going to end up having to pause my workout. My workout is going to take longer. We’re probably going to run out of time tonight to do some of the fun stuff we do before bed. We may not have time to read three stories. We may only be able to do one.” It’s not punitive and it’s also reasonable. If there is an emergency, obviously her kids should be able to get her.

The other thing is to make sure that if there’s another adult in the house, that adult is aware that this is your time. You want to set the kids up to succeed. Let the adult know, “I will be unavailable for the next 45 minutes,” and the kids know if they need something, go to this adult instead of coming to me. Let the adult be the judge of, “This is serious enough. We need to get mom off her bike.” I think that is important.

I’m not a big fan of behavioral reward charts, but desperate times call for desperate measures. She may need to make her award chart, “For every workout that you let me have without interrupting, you get X number of stars, and then you get this treat. You get to pick a movie, a toy or something like that.” She needs to set her kids up to succeed in this area and stop making the boundary and then breaking the boundary with no consequence other than her own mental health.

You say focus more on that than worrying so much about her own emotions. If she can set the boundary appropriately, then the emotions will resolve themselves.

She deserves to have an uninterrupted ride unless she’s working out ten hours straight. It doesn’t sound like she’s saying, “I’m working out for three hours. I’m training for a marathon.” If she’s working out for 30 to 60 minutes and there’s someone else in the house, there’s no reason for them to be interrupting her this consistently. The other thing is she may want to look at is if she’s working out at the ideal time to work out. Can she work out during a lunch break if she’s working from home when her kids are at school or on her day off? She’s a frontline worker. God bless her by the way. Thank you so much for all that you’ve done in the last two years and some.

Maybe what she does is she looks at what are her days off. Those may be hard and longer workout days. Maybe on her other days, she has a 20-minute when her kids are asleep. Looking at when is the best time for her to workout can also help. I would put the focus on solving the problem as opposed to dealing with the emotions of when the boundary keeps getting crossed. I would rather see the boundary not get crossed.

If there’s another adult in the house, maybe the boundary isn’t with the kids.

I agree with you. Here is someone who has multiple kids. She’s giving us a mom. She is a frontline worker. She’s giving as a professional. Give this woman some time to herself for God’s sake. Let her have that. Her kids need to learn. Ultimately, we train our families about what the boundaries are. We teach people how to treat us and our kids are included in that. On a side note, you also want to look at, are you respecting your kids’ boundaries? We model the respect of boundaries. If your kid says, “Please knock before coming in my room,” I don’t care how old they are, you knock before you come into their room. If you’re not respecting some of their boundaries, they’re not going to respect yours. It’s also worth doing a little inventory of like, “Am I modeling this behavior well? Am I respecting my kids’ boundaries as well?”

Very good points. All good points.

Thank you so much for joining us and for the wonderful advice. Until next time, where can people find you?

They can find me on social media @DrJennMann. I post my Peloton workouts for anyone who is obsessive like me and wants to know what I was thinking. I also have a column called Hump Day With Dr. Jenn in InStyle magazine every week where I give sex and relationship advice.

Thank you.

Jess Sims ran her first marathon.

Just so you guys know, there’s a whole story here. There’s a story behind this. Michelle Blackburn reached out to Jess Sims on December 13th and shared with her that she had been only a few feet away from the first bomb at the finish line back in 2013. It almost took her legs and it changed her life forever. She took Jess Sims classes and thinks that she is an amazing instructor. She feels like Jess has helped her with her recovery. She asked if Jess Sims wanted to take her bibs so that she could run in her place.

Despite the fact that Jess Sims has never run more than 8 miles consecutively, she started training and she did it. She finished it and there were people arguing about the pace. I don’t know. I just put on there what was the tracker. It took around 4.5 hours to finish. Who freaking cares? This is why I don’t want to run a marathon by the way because people do that. At any rate, if you’re looking at our YouTube video, there’s a picture of Jess Sims with Michelle. Michelle was there waiting for her at the finish line. How cool is that?

I had no idea how difficult it is to get into the Boston Marathon specifically. Some marathons you are able to get into by doing different things. Of course, there’s always qualifying for any of these marathons, but then some of them have strict cutoff points. Boston is one of them. Because of that, you have to hit a certain number. Even going through a charity sponsor, even if you raise the money, you’re not necessarily guaranteed to get it because they like to give those spots to local folks. It is not a guarantee. It is a very difficult marathon.

She went straight out there. It was very interesting because not one word was said on social media until the day of the Boston Marathon. I have to say, Kirsten Ferguson is the best friend. She took Jess there. She spent all day at the marathon. She accompanied her on the trip to get to Boston, got her to the starting line, took all of her stuff, made sure that she was documented properly, and posted everywhere for her. What a wonderful friendship these two ladies have. It’s a very special and a very special part of what the Peloton community is. It’s very cool to see and congrats to Jess. That’s an amazing accomplishment.

I wonder if Peloton instructors get to keep competing in stuff like that? Will they be able to because there were lots of people during the race wanting pictures with her?

That is a good point. When people realized it was Jess Sims, they were next to you. They literally stop. They would try to take pictures with her while she was running. Many people were yelling at her. I don’t know, Tom, because Robin has been doing that for years. Part of the issue was that nobody expected Jess to be out there. They were shocked that she was there. The studios haven’t been opened so people don’t have access.

This is another opportunity to do that.

Who knows? I don’t know what will happen in the future, but luckily she got to run this one and she survived it. She did take an extra day off from one of her classes. One of her classes got canceled because she needed a little more time to rest.

That would have to be frustrating. She’s smiling in the pictures. It seems like she’s being very polite, but you’re there to focus on your thing and somebody’s coming up to you. I would think that would be frustrating.

It’s tough because people are excited to see her and it’s not like other people don’t talk during the marathon or other people don’t take pictures during the marathon. On the flip side of that, when you’re doing something you’ve never done, there’s a concentration involved because you’re like, “I must finish.” Maybe that’s just me. I don’t know.

That’s probably pretty common.

Your head is not necessarily in the right place to be like, “Let’s chat it up while I’m running.”

Alex Toussaint has spoken at Joint Base Andrews.

He was there the other day. He was excited and he took some Instagram videos of himself coming off the plane. It looked like a private jet taking him there. He seemed to have a very good time.

We mentioned in the opening about Ross Rayburn and his puppy.

What we didn’t tell you was a special story that Ross shared with us. He shared it on social media so I felt like it was okay to share. He told us about his dog, Hattie. She was turning three the day we saw her. That’s 21 in dog years. What’s interesting about this is she has seven brothers and sisters.

There are 8, and 7 of them live in the New York area.

That’s what it was. The interesting thing is every year, the owners all get together in New York City and they have a birthday party for all the brothers and sisters. How cool is that? That is the best ever. I love it. Ross wasn’t able to go to Hattie’s birthday party this year, but he did share pictures on Instagram of last year’s party. I thought it was amazing. What a great special story. Hattie was very skeptical of you, Tom. That side-eye she was giving you was epic.

TCO 255 | Sweat It Out

 

She’s looking at me like I tried to take her wallet.

Hattie is a funny dog, very sweet.

Brooke Shields interviewed Tunde.

Yes, on the 21st on the Beginning Is Now page. It’s pretty cool because it all has to do with Tunde’s new book, Speak. It’s coming out very soon. Tunde is starting to tour and she’s going to be doing a stop in New York and LA. Supposedly, there are more cities to come but I haven’t seen a full list yet. How cool it is that she gets to be interviewed by Brooke Shields for that. Congrats, Tunde.

Emma Lovewell shared an interesting video about what they do in between classes.

This cracked me up. If you’re not watching our YouTube video, Emma Lovewell posted a video. It starts when she has some major sweat on her bra between classes. She pulls out a hairdryer and starts drying her bra for the next class. She’s like, “You got to do what you got to do.” I love whenever the instructors share real moments like that.

Those Dysons work wonders.

Yes, they do. I love them.

E! Online had some pictures of celebrities at Coachella.

I thought it was interesting because there were several instructors out there. Cody, Matty, Robin, and DJ John Michael were there. I think Jess Sims was there, but I honestly don’t remember. At any rate, Robin was spotted and snapped. They included her picture from the Liquid Ivy event and put her up on their page on E! online. I thought it was pretty funny. I guess it never gets old to me that they’re officially celebrities now.

Joining us once again is Angelo from MetPro here to answer all of your nutrition questions.

Thanks for having me back.

I’m so glad you’re here. Jessica sent me an email. She is in need of urgent help. She’s got a question for Angelo. She says, “When you plateau weight loss after being in a calorie deficit, and now you want to rev your metabolism and reset. how long should people generally increase their calories in order to do so, a week, two weeks, etc?” She’s been listening. Jessica is paying attention.

That is a great question, Jessica. The answer is until you get your calories back to a normal level. I have clients that were there in 10 to 14 days. I have some clients that it could take a month or two. That’s extreme but it can happen. A lot of that has to do with how proactive you are. Most people think that the hard part is the dieting part or the cutting part.

Believe it or not, the hard part for some people is the revving part because that’s where your goal is to gradually increase your calorie intake, increase your carbohydrates to some degree, and increase your overall intake without gaining or without gaining significantly. Generally speaking, what you’re going to want to do is give yourself a small buffer. If you weigh let’s say 200 pounds, this is an exact science here, about 1 pound or 1.5 pounds buffer is just fine.

If you’re a bigger person, you might give yourself a 2 or 3-pound buffer top end. You don’t want to let it stray very far from that. Allow yourself to eat a little bit more. You can gain a little bit, but if you start popping over whatever threshold you set in place, you have to stop. Don’t decrease, just stop increasing and go and hit the extra exercise. Specifically, this is where you want to put in calorie expending, heart-pumping, intense exercise. You’re getting the extra fuel for it so you can push during those workouts.

You might have to do a few extra cardio sessions. Maybe even a couple of days back to back when you get that pound or so to drop back down and you drop under that threshold that we set, that’s when you can increase again. It’s tempting to make big increases, but everyone’s body is a little different. What most people find is you’re going to be able to make more increases over a given amount of time if you do them real gradual because your metabolism gets teased along the way.

If you add a little bit, especially if it’s carbohydrates, and you spread them evenly throughout the day, that process impacts your metabolism or tends to rev it up. A few days later, you can always add again, a few days later, add again, but go slow. What most people do is they diet well past the threshold of sanity. They diet to the point where there is no adding back slow. There’s only cheesecake. Don’t do that.

How long do we have to build until we can add in the cheesecake?

That’s a legit question. Let’s talk about that for a quick moment. People say, “At what point can I eat some of the indulgences that I want?” It’s at the point where it’s no longer causing you to gain body fat. I have clients that reach that. I have a client that was on a phase 11 diet. What you have is the starvation diet versus the Olympian diet. This is the Olympian plus one. He’s real consistent. He said, “Angelo, what would happen if I’m going out and meeting some friends and I want to indulge in some spaghetti and garlic bread?”

I said, “Nothing would happen,” because you’re already used to it. Now, what you’re doing is you’re maybe replacing an optimized carbohydrate for a slightly less optimal carbohydrate, but you’re not increasing the totals at that point. When you get to a point where you’re eating a reasonable amount of calories and a reasonable amount of carbs, you can work in an indulgence or a cheat meal once in a while with minimal impact.

The problem is you have to recognize the harder you diet, the more sensitive your body is going to be to those deviations. You’re going to pay a higher price. That’s why we tend to be working with our clients a little bit stricter. We talk about it in advance. We’re looking at the calendar. We know you have a couple of weeks coming up that are fairly clear. We’re going to do a diet down phase.

During those couple of weeks, we need to prepare in advance because what you ate last night is an indulgence. That’s not going to fly in the middle of your cut because your body’s going to be more sensitive until we bring you back up. That’s also why when we know someone is going on vacation, we’ll usually re-introduce gradually carbs for a couple of weeks before a big vacation. That way, if they go and have an indulgence, it’s not a shock to their system. That all goes into how you can control your metabolism.

Getting back to Jessica’s question on you hit a plateau and it’s time to increase. What I would do is try and gradually increase. Pick something simple, 25, 30 grams of carbohydrates at a time. See if you can maintain your weight. if you hold for 3 or 4 days, increase again. Once you start inching up, pause and hit the extra cardio to feel enough carbs.

You’re giving yourself both physical recovery and a psychological break from feeling like you’re being restrictive or dieting. Sit there for a couple of weeks, then you can always go back into another cutting cycle. If you want to go through that whole experience with a coach, that’s what we can help you with. The principles are very simple and they’re laid out exactly what you said, Jessica, and what we talked about. Hopefully, that will help a little bit.

If people want to try that and they want someone to connect the dots for them, put them real close together, where can they find you?

We’re happy to connect dots at MetPro.co/tco. Thanks, guys.

Thank you.

Peloton had an interesting job posting.

A couple of them. People get rough on the internet.

I have never heard of such a thing.

Here’s the deal. They had a couple of different roles listed, both mentioning a concierge role. It’s important to note that this role is separate from guest services. Guest services are what you would see at the front desk in the studio.

It’s what the regular folk would see.

I am told that this concierge role has existed for years and that they did things to help with groups. There are words in this particular posting that makes me think things are going to change again. I think I was a little misleading with my wording. I said that I felt like there was going to be a new membership change. I don’t believe that our base membership price is going to change. However, I do think we are going to see things change when it comes to the studio. There has been a lot of pent up demand. There are literally a million more people than when there were before the studio is closed that are Peloton members now. The days of stopping by to jump in a studio are over.

When I see words in here listing like concierge amenities, and that there’s going to be a group booking process and protocols to keep our members excited, including enhancing our package offerings, I hear that’s going to change. It’s going to be some kind of package offer that you get whenever you want to have a group go to the studio. Lots and lots of people told me how dumb I am and that I was completely wrong and that it was just a person at the front desk. I don’t know. We will see, but I firmly believe you’re going to see big changes at the studio. When we were in New York this week, I wanted to get a picture taken at the studio door. I wanted to have the Peloton thing behind me. I was surprised because we walked up there and there were these two huge security guards at the door standing there. That’s their job they do all day.

There was an instructor coming out who was recently hired by the company. The interesting thing was two security guards were also walking this instructor out to their transportation, not just out the door, down the street, down the sidewalk to their transportation, which I thought was fascinating because there are so many people that are waiting outside all the time to take pictures. What is it going to be like when the studios are actually open? I feel very strongly that costs are going to go up. It is not going to be that you’re just going to get to go in anytime you want and take a class. I believe very firmly, that’s going to change.

Originally, it was very much like they just wanted people in the classes and they needed an audience. It was like, “Please come on in.” The demand has flipped in that regard and I think they’re going to monetize it. You’re going to pay to do that. Maybe even you pay X amount to take a class and X amount extra to get your picture with the instructor after the class. It’s going to become more of an immersive experience than it is just to come in and take a class and go. You’re not going to see those people previously that didn’t even own a Peloton. They just went to the studio all the time because it was the one by their house. I don’t think that will be a thing at all anymore.

It used to be that there were a couple of mid-day classes that were twenty minutes long. Back then, that was unusual and you could take those for free. I think those days are over. Maybe not every class will be like that, but those instructors can’t stand out there and say hello to everyone now. Peloton knows that there are too many. I think everything you said is what’s going to happen.

Going back to the previous conversation about how the Peloton people are celebrities now. They’re celebrities now. If you go and watch a taping of SNL, you don’t get to meet Kate McKinnon afterwards. It doesn’t work like that.

What’s so hard for people who have been part of the Peloton community since the beginning or since the early days is that we feel like we don’t matter. It’s like, “I know you were there for us when we needed you, but now we don’t care.” I saw somebody saying, “Shouldn’t we all be VIPs?” Those days are so over.

It’s not practical.

I understand that logically but it’s still like ouch. We had a lot to do with Peloton growing the way it did.

There is a way to track that. Pearl Jam, with their fan club, you have a serial number. The people that joined the fan club in 1993 get better perks than the people that joined the fan club in 2003, and they get better perks than the people that joined in 2013. They make sure that the people that have been there from the beginning get hooked up. I also know that is a difficult process to do. They spend a lot of money to make sure that happens.

I don’t see Peloton doing that. I see it being a tier thing. You’re going to have to spend money to get that access. You’re going to pay to get in line, not have it automatic because you’ve been around. I hope I’m wrong. I would love to see a Pearl Jam experience because the people who have been around the longest deserve that. We’ll see, but it’s pretty different up there. I was surprised. The studio is not even open and I was shocked at how different it was. It was jarring.

The New York Times had an article titled Breaking Up With Peloton. We get an article like this every nine months.

It has been done so many times. After visiting New York, I have a different feel for it. I talked to a lot of people who have been in the Peloton world for a long time. The overwhelming sense that I got was it’s so different now. It’s changed enough that I don’t think the people who have been around since the beginning are necessarily leaving in droves. They are ready for new things and Peloton is not keeping up with them. Despite everything that was said in this article, I don’t think that the issue is going to a gym. I don’t think that people can’t work out when they see dirt underneath their couch.

There are people like that, but the majority of people love the flexibility of being able to workout at home. The biggest thing is people want variety and they want new innovations. I don’t think that Peloton is doing it quick enough. They’ve lost the heart and soul of the company as far as all the things that used to bring us together, having those events where we could all see each other once a year, and know that we were out there, and have all these contacts, that’s going away. Even if there’s a homecoming next year, I’m sure it will still be an amazing event. I’m sure it will still be an amazing time but it will be different.

It’s so big. I’m fascinated to see what they do if homecoming goes back to an in-person event, and how they accommodate as many people who would want to attend it now. I can’t even imagine how they would structure that in a way that would still feel intimate on any level.

I don’t think it can. We will see how that looks at that time. This article goes into several examples of people who don’t ride their Peloton anymore. It’s also an awful image on the front of it.

Anytime you have a community this big, you’re going to be able to find some people that have fallen out with it.

Even other connected fitness product owners like company owners of other connected fitness chimed in on my Instagram posts saying this media is getting out of control. They love to bash on Peloton. I feel like that says a lot.

The US government spent $220,000 on Peloton exercise equipment.

I was so fascinated by this. TMZ somehow got ahold of Federal procurement documents. It appeared to be all bikes. The Agricultural Research Service bought some. They bought items that were labeled as Precor. The Army and immigration accounting had several of the purchases. Air Force bought some of them. The FBI bought some of them as training aids.

It makes sense. The FBI is supposed to be in shape. I have a friend who was a criminal investigator for the IRS and they had access to a gym. They’re expected to maintain a certain level of fitness. It’s not like Peloton bikes are radically more expensive than other brands of bikes at this point. While it might sound like this is a crazy expenditure, $220,000 to the Federal government is nothing.

I’m pretty sure that’s like a morning cup of coffee.

Also, If you want the law enforcement officials to be in shape, then they need to have access to things. It seems to make sense to provide them with Peloton products since it’s so popular and engaging. Why avoid it just because it’s beloved?

I totally agree. I just thought it was interesting. I wasn’t trying to make any political statement. I know somebody out there is going to be like, “That’s wasteful.” I love getting hard data like that.

Apple TV now supports Apple Watch in Peloton classes.

A while back, you started to be able to see it on all the Peloton equipment. Now, you’ve got it on your Apple TV. It’s native so you’re going to be able to pop in and it will connect as easily as it does to the rest of your equipment. A lot of people out there have Apple TV and they’re very excited about it. I want to note that if you only have the Apple TV app, that is not the same as having the actual Apple TV.

That’s good to know.

Peloton announced their Rock 22 challenge classes.

It feels safe to ride bikes and have a good time within a community. Click To Tweet

I don’t get what all this is about. I don’t know if it’s because it’s summer or maybe because Coachella is there.

I don’t think these bands were playing Coachella.

I know they’re not. Maybe because of summer rock anthems.

Do you think these are bands that wouldn’t agree or they didn’t deserve a full class?

I hope not.

Def Leppard could do a full class, Fall Out Boy, Hendrix, Chili Peppers for sure. I don’t know that the average Peloton user wants a Korn class. That seems a little hard. It’s the same with Iron Maiden. That would be difficult to do a class too because you could only play two songs. Their songs are eight minutes long, with the exception of Somewhere In Times which is 3.5 minutes. Most of their songs are 7, 8 minutes long.

It’s interesting because it’s all these classes, but then it says it’s 100-plus classes which makes it sound like there’s a whole bunch of bands. It’s the bands you see listed here which is not insignificant. I don’t mean it to sound like that, but it’s got to be one of these classes to count towards the challenge. The challenge is 22 days. You have to take a certain number of classes for these to count and it’s got to be from the collection. If it’s not in the collection, it doesn’t count. I say that because there have been all kinds of complaining because people did not get that. It was a little confusing because it sounds like all rock classes. When you see 22 days, all rock, one challenge, you can take any class.

They call it Rock 22.

Between April 16th and May 7th, if you take one of the classes in the collection every day, you can reach gold status on your challenge. Otherwise, you just get the regular badge of Rock 22.

I was hoping for that Iron Maiden yoga class.

There are definitely some interesting yoga classes that are coming out of this collection that I am very interested in taking for sure. I am enjoying it. I took one of the rock classes. I took Becs Gentry’s rock class on Saturday and it was good.

As part of this, Sam Yo did an IG Live with Def Leppard.

I love this picture because he was waiting on his IG Live date. He had flowers ready for his date. Def Leppard was on Peloton live. They had a whole big conversation. Who’s the lead singer? I figure you would know. The guy with the blonde hair. He has a name that sounds like another band. It’s not Billy Joel but it’s like, “My name is Billy Joel but it’s not.”

I’m totally blanking on his name. All I could think was Steve Clark, who was the guitar player, but he’s passed away. Joe Elliott is the lead singer.

That’s not who I was thinking of. I don’t know who was on the IG Live with Sam Yo, but it was some guy who is purportedly in Def Leppard. I thought it was the lead singer. I don’t know my Def Leppard. I could tell you what they look like in the ‘80s. I can’t tell you what they look like in the 2020s.

We have a couple of past guest updates here. CJ Albertson was in the Boston Marathon.

This is his second try at the marathon. In November 2021, he ran and he was in the lead for 21 miles. He ended up losing the lead and came in 10th. In 2022, he came in 11th. He said that he was super disappointed, but he did a good job of holding back this time. He didn’t just take the lead and stay there. He was trying to take the lead and get some distance on the downhills. His times were crazy during his last practice runs, 5-minute average, 4:32. He was killing it. He said he was very disappointed, but I also think that he got a better time in this Boston Marathon than he did the last time. It’s just other people did too, unfortunately.

That’s interesting that he improved but came in 11th instead of 10th, not to disparage that. He actually ran faster though.

He did. Not as fast as he did during this practice run but he is an incredible runner. I have no doubt. Keep your eye on that CJ Albertson. He is going to be a winner one of these days. I also had to share that Sports Insider Magazine. I don’t know if you remember this gentleman but he was one of our guests. He was our only guest from Germany thus far. He was at the Boston marathon and got one of the finisher medals. Congrats.

Also, Ali On The Run was there.

Not only was she there, but she was also the announcer. They had her at the last minute. They also asked for her to be the on-air TV announcer as well. She said in her Instagram post that it only ended up being about five minutes of time, but I saw her out there and she was doing great. She got to meet all of the winners as they came across the finish line. She’s hinting that this led to some other big life-changing news, but she hasn’t shared yet what that might be. Lots of cool news coming out of the Boston Marathon.

Mother’s Day is around the corner and Peloton has revealed a “new” collection.

It’s a Mother’s Day collection. There’s a Mother’s Day shirt and there are some cute joggers. They also have the Spring florals. I got to look into it and I thought, “That looks like what I had in 2021 for the Asian Pacific Islanders Month. I was looking and it happened to be exactly a year ago that we were having our house reorganized. When we did that, I purchased that set. The black one looks almost identical to this black one. My theory is that they had another one lined up and for whatever reason, backed off of it last minute. I don’t think there’s going to be an Asian Pacific Islander Month. I think Peloton is not going to be celebrating it in 2022 or they’re not going to have clothing specifically for it. This is another Barry change right here.

The Guide has a split program.

We knew these were coming. This is pretty cool for people who are looking to lift heavier. More of a traditional style of strength training, they’re three-day programs and five-day programs. There are intermediate and advanced. Matty Maggiacomo, Adrian, Callie Gullickson and Robin will teach. Make sure you check out those if you’re looking to lift heavier.

Christine D’Ercole has a reflection ride for you.

It’s going to be a four-part series. This is all about taking the class. No numbers, no leaderboard, no competing, just taking the class. She loves doing these classes. People have loved them since the beginning. They start on-demand, Thursday, April 21st. By the time this episode drops, it will be there waiting for you.

Selena Samuela has a tread bootcamp series.

Because of the Rock 22 challenge that came out, there is a new rock that bootcamp series. Several of the different classes are going to have “the best rock music” in the industry. This is going to be perfect for bootcamps that you are looking to take and be able to PR. That’s pretty exciting.

Finally, we have one birthday and it is from none other than John Foley.

Happy birthday, John Foley. I hope that it will be a better year next year. The next 365-day cycle is what I meant to say.

If you’re keeping track, his birthday is on April 28th. Feel free to say hello.

Joining us is Clint Harp. If you’re familiar with his work, and I know a lot of you are, you probably were first introduced to him on Fixer Upper. You got your show called Wood Work. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s Clint Harp.

Technically, that was the second one that I had on my own.

What was the first one you had on your own?

There was a flash in the pan little thing that I did call Against the Grain and that led to Wood Work. That led to Chip and Jo forming the Magnolia Network and taking over what was the DIY Network, meaning when I was doing Wood Work, that was all going on behind the scenes. My show Wood Work was on the DIY Network but little did I know that Chip and Jo were about to take over the DIY Network because with all the important meetings behind doors with suits and stuff, I’m not in those rooms.

All of a sudden, I hear they’re starting Magnolia Network. My show doesn’t get picked up for more on the DIY Network. I started thinking, “What am I going to do?” I started thinking about making my own stuff. I get a phone call from an old executive at the DIY Network and HGTV, Sarah. She calls me and says, “I’m now working at the Magnolia Network. Chip and Jo want you to do a new show on the Magnolia Network.” That is what is now Restoration Road with Clint Harp. Talk about Venn diagrams.

That was quite the journey.

In our little warmup convo, we were talking about Venn diagrams. That’s just a couple of parts of it. That’s not even the whole thing.

While you’re on that subject, I was reading about your background and that you met Chip at a gas station. Is that accurate? You never know what to believe out there whenever you read articles.

That is 100% true. Before my wife and I lived in Waco, we both went to Baylor. After Baylor, we traveled all around the world. We lived in Florida, Dallas, the Netherlands, Paris, back in Dallas and then Houston. By the time we got to Houston, I was in medical sales. I hated my life. I’m giving you the quick version. I decided to do something different with my wife and together, we decided to go on a journey that we were going to take a 180-degree turn.

I quit my job in medical sales, which was very comfortable. It was a six-figure situation. With her, we decided, “I’m going to quit that, jump into the garage and start building furniture. We’re going to make this little company. She’s going to focus on the home goods side. I’m going to focus on the furniture.” Everything didn’t necessarily work out exactly how you would plan for it but that was the original idea.

I would think that you were not like, “Woodworking is my pathway to TV.”

That’s the funny thing. I have to tell that to people. Oftentimes I have to say that. I do want you to understand there was never a thought of TV in my mind.

You were just doing what you loved.

I was doing what I loved and also trying to survive. I felt like my old life was killing me because I was waking up doing something that I hated.

I get that. It’s soul-crushing when you hate your job. I feel you so much.

All I can think of is that Crystal will know exactly where I’m going with this. There’s a scene in the original The Muppet Movie where they pick up Gonzo hitchhiking on the side of the road. He’s like, “Where are you going?” They’re like, “We’re going to Hollywood to break into movies. Where are you going?” He’s like, “I’m going to Bangladesh to break into movies.” They’re like, “We’re going to Hollywood.” He’s like, “Sure, if you want to do it the easy way.”

I’ve never heard that. I probably saw and forgot them.

You will learn about Tom through this conversation. Everything goes back to pop culture.

We decided to do that. Along the way, Kelly decided that she wanted to go back and get her Master’s. She’s the studious and hyperintelligent one in our family. She’s a student all the time. She loves to learn, listen and everything. She decides to go back and get her Master’s. She looks all over the country and finds one back at Baylor, at our alma mater. We looked all over the country. She did. I was like, “This will be perfect because wherever you apply, you will get a full ride.”

We will just go, “That’s where we’re going to move to.” It’s because we knew we didn’t want to stay in Houston anymore. Sure enough, she got accepted to Baylor. They sent her an email saying, “You’ve been accepted on a full ride to the Master’s degree program in American Studies.” We looked at each other and we were like, “We’re moving to Waco.” I have to figure out what I’m going to do now because I know we’re going to live in an apartment next to the campus. I don’t know what I’m going to do.

My grandmother used to work for Jimmy Carter back in Atlanta. I’m originally from Georgia. I had this thought. It was like she was inspiring me. She’s long gone. It was like she was telling me from the other side of the grave, “Go volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. Do that.” It makes no sense when you’ve quit your job, you have a little money in savings and you barely know how to make furniture. Your wife is getting her Master’s. We do have children we have to feed. I decided, “I’m going to go and volunteer with Habitat.” I do that. When we get to Waco, I started volunteering with Habitat.

It’s a full-time job. Every Monday through Friday, I was there. Early on, we went to some friend’s house that Kelly knew back in college. They still lived in Waco. When we were eating dinner with them, they said, “What are you going to do, Clint?” I was like, “Eventually, I want to start a shop and build furniture. I’m volunteering with Habitat.” They were like, “Do you have a shop?” I was like, “No.” They were like, “You need to call this guy we know. He’s a friend of ours. He’s a wonderful guy. I used to work for him.”

The husband was saying, “He knows a lot of people in town. He’s great. His name is Chip Gaines.” I was like, “Okay.” He gives me Chip Gaines’ number. I call him and leave him a message. I don’t hear back from him, 1 month, 2 months and 3 months later. I have long forgotten about the phone call. We have lived in Waco for about four months. My plan failed. Volunteering doesn’t pay well. I don’t know if you knew this or not. There’s not a big check attached to it. We have run out of money.

I’m like, “This was stupid. Why did I do this?” I called Kelly one day from my car. I’m sitting out in front of this abandoned house crying. She’s like, “Let’s go to the park.” I’m like, “Why? I need to go get a job somewhere. This was stupid. I don’t know why I quit a six-figure job in sales. This was dumb.” She’s like, “Let’s go to the park.” I’m like, “Is there a job fair at the park that I don’t know about? What’s going on?” We go to this park and the kids play for a while.

We get back in the car at a random amount of time. We weren’t like, “Let’s go to the park for 30 minutes. We got to be back at home for this thing.” It was just like, “Let’s go. We will leave whenever.” We leave the park after a random amount of time and get in the car. The gas light comes on as soon as I turn it on. I’m like, “We have no money and we need to go get gas.” When that light comes on, you still have 30 to 50 miles. For whatever reason that day, I was like, “We’re broke. If we’re even more broke than we think, let’s figure it out now and not when it’s worse.”

“Let’s fill it up.” At least you know you have gas to get where you need to get while you figure out the rest.

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We go to this gas station and I’m sitting there. I put the pump in and I’m waiting for it to fill up. Kelly is sitting next to me and the kids are in the back. We’re all quiet. As we’re waiting for the tank to fill up, this black truck pulls in front of me and parks right on the side of the same pump as me. As it went by in front of our car, I looked to the side and it said, “Magnolia.” I was like, “Kelly, isn’t that the name of the company of that guy I was trying to call and get ahold of? It was Chip or something.”

She was like, “Yeah.” I was like, “I’m a football guy. Let’s throw a Hail Mary and see who comes down with the ball. Who knows?” I get out and I’m like, “My name’s Clint. I was looking for some guy named Chip. I called you. He worked for you. I’m not sure. A friend gave me his number. I want to build furniture.” He stops me and he’s like, “I remember that phone call. I’m Chip.” We started talking right there at the gas station. If you paid attention at all, you can tell that Chip likes to talk.

We were jamming and he’s like, “Take your family home. Why don’t we hang out later?” We don’t know each other at all but I go over to his shop later that day. We hop in his truck and drove around for three hours. After that, he invited me over to their house a couple of nights later with my family. We all went over and had dinner. He had mentioned in that three-hour ride together that his wife wanted someone to build furniture for this product line she was offering out of their house.

I’m like, “That’s perfect.” He was like, “Do you want to come over, have dinner and talk about it?” I was like, “Let’s do it.” A couple of nights later, we went over for dinner and I met Jo. Kelly and I had a wonderful evening talking with them. Our kids played. The next thing you know, she’s asking me to build her some furniture. I’ve got no shops, so I go back to Habitat. I’ve got no money. I’m like, “I need a shop.” They’re like, “We’ve got an old shop here.”

The director was telling me this. His name is Jon. He’s like, “We’ve got this old shop in Waco. We don’t use it anymore. We will rent it to you. It’s 1,600 square feet.” Inside my head, I’m like, “There’s no way.” I’m thinking it’s $1 per square foot. That’s $1,600 if I get lucky. He says, “It’s $0.50 a square foot.” That’s $800. Half of that is $400. I can’t afford any one of those. I have zero but I don’t tell him any of that. I play along like, “What would you want for it?” He’s like, “How about $25 a month?”

That’s when you realize that this charity is for people who are down on their luck. You’re like, “Am I down on my luck?”

I’m in the right place. The rest is history. I quit my job in May of 2011. We moved to Waco in December of 2011. I met Chip at the gas station around March of 2012. I was building furniture in that little 1,600 square feet old Habitat shop for Joanna and her offer. She had been selling home goods out of her home every quarter for years but she was adding this furniture line. That was in May of 2012. In October of 2012, they were filming the pilot for Fixer Upper. I was playing along as a carpenter.

When did that start officially?

The fall of 2012 was when they were filming the pilot. I was set up in the driveway building stuff for the pilot and filming a couple of scenes with Jo for that, which was fun. In May of 2013, that’s when the pilot aired. Things started to take off because people loved the pilot. The whole season is ordered and now she’s calling me and wanting me to do a project for the season. The whole time, I’m at the Habitat shop. They would come over and film everything there for season one.

Habitat for Humanity is like, “About this $25 a month, I don’t know what kind of thing you’re trying to pull.”

I can’t even like it for that. Whenever I talk on home shows across the country, I go and tell this story. Part of what I tell them is one of the behind-the-scenes things that you will never see is while we were filming that pilot, I was checking my phone for responses to job applications that I had sent out because even in the midst of that, we had nothing. I had sold a little bit of furniture with Jo but not enough for me to justify, “This makes sense. I’ll keep doing this forever.” I had gotten a couple of jobs around town and things like that.

People didn’t realize that I was checking the phone all the time. I even had a conversation with Jo about it. I was like, “I want you to know I hope this thing takes off but I don’t know if I’m going to be able to do any more with you. I’m applying for jobs because I’ve got to figure this out.” Thankfully, I have a bad resume apparently because no one called me back. That’s pretty awesome. Forward, we’re filming the show and the first season is rolling along. The whole time, I’m at the old Habitat shop.

There’s this house next door to it that I would see every day. It was this big white, old farmhouse, but it was like a crack house. It’s not a great place at all. I would look at it every day and go, “Eventually, we’re going to turn some of the shops here that we have into a storefront, so people can come and shop here. They’re not going to want to come here if this crack house is next door. Maybe I should buy that and turn it into a rental or something so cleans it up a little bit.” One day, we’re setting up the film for Fixer. The crew is over there and Jo is coming over the whole thing.

This guy who owns that crack house comes over and says, “Clint, if you will buy my house before Christmas, which is in ten days, I’ll sell it to you for $10,000.” It’s a 2,800 square foot farmhouse. I’m like, “I don’t have $10,000 but yes.” At this point, I had become friends with a banker in town whom Chip introduced me to. His name is Joe. He’s a great guy but apparently, he’s not a great banker though because he was like, “We will loan you money.” I’m like, “I have nothing. I want you to know that.” He loans me the money. We’re going to close in this house ten days before Christmas.

A couple of days after that conversation, right before we close, Kelly sees Jo at Target in the parking lot. Jo is like, “What are you up to?” Kelly is like, “Do you know that crack house next to Clint’s shop?” She’s like, “Yeah.” She was like, “We’re buying it. We’re going to turn into a rental.” Jo was like, “We need to do it for the show.” She was like, “I’ll talk to Clint because we’re going to turn it into a rental and he’s going to do all the work.” Jo was like, “Let me talk to Clint.” The rest is history on that one. We ended up doing it for the show.

Here’s my question. It has been years since you met Chip Gaines at the gas station. Did he ever tell you why he didn’t return your phone call?

No. I just knew. He’s too busy and he probably was like, “Who in the world is this fool calling me on my phone and giving me the long story about building stuff with his granddad when he was a kid?” It was a long message. I’m sure he was like, “What is this?”

I have another question though. Did I also read accurately that you have since then moved and put that house up for sale? Is that accurate or do you still live there?

We don’t live there anymore. We did put it up for sale because the housing market here was pretty insane. We thought we would try. This was after running it as an Airbnb for a couple of years. It didn’t work out. We were like, “Let’s keep running it.” We’re running it again as an Airbnb and it’s going great. We love it. It’s a part of our business. We use it for photoshoots and meetings when people aren’t staying there. It has turned out to be awesome.

Now you know the full story, which is it’s right there next to my shop. You can imagine, after living there for two years right when Fixer Upper got hot, it became a bad situation because we were in the driveway. I’m playing basketball with my son and then there are people coming over. They’re like, “Can we take a selfie?” I’m like, “I love doing this but not when I’m playing with my kids. I’m sorry.”

I’m sure it’s fun the first time.

You’re like, “This is my house, time and space.”

There were two times when it came in handy. Both times, it was when people had come that you were like, “I’ve got to go meet them.” The first one is Laura Bush, who lives down in Crawford. They get a phone call and they’re like, “Laura Bush, the First Lady, is here. Would you like to stop by?” It’s a Saturday. I’m on the couch, laying down and watching cartoons with my kids. I run over there. The other time was, Suze Orman, all of a sudden, flew in on a private plane. They were like, “Do you know Suze Orman?” I was like, “Of course.” I got dressed quickly and ran over.

Both of these were times when it was a Saturday. It was so random. That was when it came in handy but other than that, it was not a good situation. She was there with her wife. It was so awesome to meet them. They had a couple of people on their team. The energy field around that woman is the most intoxicating. In-person, you were like, “Who are you? Why are you able to make me and Kelly feel so inspired to go and take on the world?”

There are some people that give that aura. It’s not like, “If you’re a celebrity, then you must have that aspect.” In my day job, I end up meeting lots of famous people. I book concerts for a living. I’m the marketing guy. I run the meet-and-greet. I meet lots of famous people that don’t have that but every once in a while, you meet one that is next level for me. It’s not even somebody that I necessarily agree with, like Glenn Beck. The way he worked a room and when he looked at you, you felt like he was looking into your soul. I’ve never felt anything like it in my life. It was insane.

It was a dark vision.

I don’t even mean it as in, “He’s evil.” He was super nice. When he looked at you and talked to you, you felt like you were the only person in the world.

He’s magnetic.

That is weird. That’s not what I would expect out of him. It is weird because there are also all these personas and things that people give off when you meet them one-on-one.

“That’s not what I expected.” It can go in any direction. Sometimes it’s good. Sometimes it’s not good.

Most people walk away from meeting me and they’re like, “He’s a jerk. He was so nice on the show. What happened?”

Peloton, when did you end up getting your bike? When did you fall in love with the brand? You were like, “I need to take this bike home.”

The thing for me is that I have always been a cardio junkie. I love cardio and movement. I run all the time. My first love is running. I’ve run a few marathons in my life, half, some other races and stuff. I love running. As things took off with Fixer Upper and stuff like that, and Waco is not a huge town, it became a little bit problematic because my schedule all of a sudden was weird. I’m traveling around and speaking at a home show.

Sometimes my schedule is I need to work out at 11:00 in the morning on a Tuesday or something, which feels weird because I’ve got a shop and people working there. I’ve got stuff going on all through the night or I’m about to head out and travel for my show. Life got weird. I was also getting noticed around town, so running it in the middle of the day was not great. If I could get up super early, then that was great but in the middle of the day, that’s a little bit weird.

People were stopping you for selfies.

We live in Waco. We don’t live out. It’s like, “What do I do here? I don’t want to get a treadmill because I use a treadmill when I have to when I travel.” I go to cold places all the time with my new show. I’ll use a treadmill that way. I was like, “I need something else.” I would ride my bike. I’ve been riding a road bike for years all the way since college. I’ve loved doing that as well. When we lived in Paris, I took my road bike with me and rode it all around Paris. I love riding a bike.

I started hearing about this thing called Peloton and I was like, “This seems cool. This is different.” Every garage sale has a stationary bike. Every single one of us, I’m sure our age at least, went over to our grandparents’ house and they had one in the basement. You played on it as a kid. It was just sitting there. No one ever used it. We have that stigma in our minds of like, “Is this just another thing that I’m going to buy?” I’m like, “I don’t think so.” I hear more about it and start telling Kelly.

I was like, “Kelly, this thing could be pretty cool. I might like it. It would give me a way to work out at weird hours and not feel like I’m running around town with people seeing me and everything. It could meet my schedule and the whole thing.” Kelly and I go on a weekend trip to Dallas. We stay at a hotel. It was a pretty nice hotel. I went down to work out and it was cold.

I was like, “I’m not going to run outside. I’m just going to go run on a treadmill.” I went down and they had a Peloton. I was like, “I’m going to give this a shot.” I jumped on with good old Alex Toussaint. I’m almost positive if I recall because I don’t think I had set up my account. It was just a guest ride. I did one with Alex, and immediately, I was like, “This is happening. I’ve got to get one of these.”

I went up to our room in the hotel, and I was like, “Kelly that was so fun. It was amazing.” I don’t ride my road bike as much around town because Waco is not perfect for that thing. I don’t want to get hit by a car. I’ve had a couple of friends get hit by cars. That’s not a good thing. I was like, “I want to do this.” I didn’t get them immediately because they were not cheap. I saved up, waited and then got it. I’ve worn that thing to the ground.

That’s exciting. It was pre-pandemic though.

It says on my profile or something. I’ve had it for a while.

I might be a little obsessed with mine. I know exactly what date I got mine. I know the date I got my tread. I’m a little obsessive about these details.

Do you have the tread?

I do have the tread. It’s funny because Peloton has turned me into a runner. I met all these people through the Peloton community. Tom had never exercised regularly in his adult life. I had exercised but never into it. Peloton got me so hooked on having fun in my workouts. I started meeting all these people who were participating in IRONMANs, other kinds of triathlons, and marathons. They encouraged me to do things.

I somehow ended up participating in a relay Half IRONMAN in Atlantic City and running a half marathon for my first event ever. I go from never having done anything to then participating in a relay at a Half Ironman in Atlantic City, which was a blast. I’ve learned to love to run. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t have a treadmill because we live in St. Louis, Missouri. We have a lot of hills around our house. Also, the weather is not exactly conducive all the time. It’s either boiling hot or freezing cold. It’s icy.

I worked many summers in Missouri. That’s where I started riding a bike. It’s very humid and hot.

Sometimes you walk outside and it’s like being in a mouth but not in a good way.

I’m glad it got you into running though because running is my jam. I have a t-shirt on under here. My hashtag with everything is #LoveBuildRun. That’s my Peloton name as well.

It’s okay to share on the show. That was one of the questions I had for you.

That’s fine with me. I love the community. I feel safe within the community because it’s just a bunch of people riding bikes and having a good time. Run is in my name because that is my first love. I love running. I’m now riding the bike as much as I run easily.

Do you know how many bike rides you’ve done since you got your bike?

I’m over 700. I don’t understand the people that are 6,000. What do you do?

Way back when we started the show in 2017 or a while in 2018, we interviewed Laura Pugerude. She is the first person in the entire community to reach 1,000 rides.

At the time, it felt insurmountable.

You have to know through the history of Peloton that back then, they only produced 45-minute rides. There were no twenty-minute rides, warmups and cooldowns. They were 45-minute rides. That was it.

I thought you were going to say she racked them up because she did.

Now when you see people that have done 6,000, it’s a different kind of 6,000. It’s no less of a milestone. It’s still an amazing achievement to get on the bike that many times regardless. They do stack twenty-minute rides, a warmup and a cooldown. That looks very different from what she did. She still has one at the top counts across Peloton but it’s different now. She was one of the OGs.

Most of my rides are 45 minutes or 30 minutes. Back during the pandemic, I had to pair a couple of rides together, so I feel like I was doing more to get to 45 because usually I try and work out for at least 45 minutes. If I do a 30-minute ride, it’s because I’m going to go out and run 2 miles to do a little cross-training.

That’s the other thing too. People who get those high ride counts are not cross-training. They only ride the bike. That’s important for people to remember too.

If I were to do that, I would have the opposite Popeye situation. It would blow up.

Cross-training is important.

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I’m very proud of over 700 rides. I’m 118 or 119 weeks in a row. The pandemic helped with that.

You weren’t traveling as much then.

Nobody ever talks about the upside of pandemics. That’s a nice take.

I have some funny stories along the way of traveling, needing to find a Peloton, finding one and getting in a quick ride on the last day of the week because I became obsessed with this like, “I’m getting close to 100 weeks in a row. I want to get there.” I got to 100 and I was like, “104 would be two years.”

You’re going for 300.

I’m continuing and having a blast. I love them all. I love the instructors and the whole community. There’s all this stuff in the news about, “Is it going to get bought?” I’m like, “As long as this thing keeps turning and my instructors are still on the screen, I don’t care.” That’s what it is for me. It’s this amazing community High Fiving. It’s a blast.

We talk about that all the time because with what we do, we talk a lot about all the corporate machinations at play. We did try to make the larger point that it’s not most people’s relationship with Peloton. Most people’s relationship with Peloton is, “I get on my bike or tread, I do my class and I like my instructors. That’s all I care about.” I said on a previous episode that if you offer people Coke or Pepsi, they’re not like, “What did Coke close at yesterday on the Dow?”

It needs some more details and info.

As long as I crack that top and it tastes like Coke, I don’t care.

Do you have a favorite instructor?

That’s a tough one because I have a lot. I started with Alex. Here’s a huge prop to him for his NBA All-Star game. I was like, “That is so awesome.”

Did you watch the whole game?

I didn’t even know. I have three kids running around and I didn’t even realize it was on. All of a sudden, I get on it and he won. I remembered he was doing it. I got busy with our life and everything we’re doing. He won MVP. I either took a ride or he said something on Instagram where he was like, “You all just watch.” In his way, he’s sure of himself and everything but he’s not being braggadocious or anything. He was like, “I’m going to go out there and make it. I’ll do it.”

“Alex won the MVP.” I was like, “Yes.” I was so excited. I love Alex a lot. My main instructors over the years have been Alex, Ally, Emma, Denis, Ben, Robin and Hannah Frankson. I’ve done that. I’m starting to branch out even more. I’m finally doing the Power Zone situation. It took me forever to be over 700 rides to finally realize that you could turn on the Power Zone bar. I didn’t know what it was. I was like, “That’s cool.”

Most of them are good about connecting with you on Instagram. I made a couple of comments to a few of them. One time, I wrote to Emma Lovewell. Something she said was funny. I DM’ed her on Instagram. She was like, “My partner and I took some inspiration from you. We’re building.” I was like, “Do you know who I am?” I walked down the door and I was like, “Kelly, Emma Lovewell knows who I am. A Peloton instructor knows who I am.”

Tom, he’s one of us.

She was the kindest person. We ended up getting to go out to dinner with Kelly, her and Dave when we were in New York City in the summer of 2021 because we connected a few times. They were great. Emma for sure is one of my favorites because I consider her a friend. I’m doing the Crush Your Core thing. I wrote her on Instagram and said, “I’m going to do this but I hate you when I do it because it hurts so much. I want you to know that you make me mad every class.”

Are you doing Crush Your Core 1 or 2?

I’m doing Crush Your Core 2, which is great for me when I travel because I’m traveling all the time for my show. Those are great for me to knock out in my room. There are the boxing classes or the cardio classes you can do right there in your room if there’s not a good gym situation or not one at all. There’s ice on the ground because I’m up in Connecticut. It’s snowing everywhere. It has changed my life. I can get what I need workout-wise anywhere I am, no matter what. That is incredible.

Do you have any advice for people who are entering the world of Peloton?

First of all, do it. If you’re thinking about entering the world of Peloton, do it in a heartbeat. If you can scrape together the coins and make it happen, do it. I’ve never been on the treadmill. I am sure it’s amazing. If that’s what you’re thinking, go do that. I’m most excited because I keep hearing about the rowing machine. I’m chomping at the bit.

It’s May 13th, 2022. That is the day it will officially be announced.

It won’t necessarily hit the market.

That will just be the day it’s announced. That will be Homecoming, which will be virtual.

I’m super excited about that. The thing that everybody was so afraid of was the announcers might call you out. You’ve heard that. I’m like, “They don’t do that.” There was more of that when people were in the classes with them. I always got a kick out of that because Robin is not having it. There were times when I would start laughing because somebody would be doing something different and she’s like, “Not now. I am not the one. Get back in the saddle.” There are some times when I’m riding. I’m a hill climber. I love all the climbs. That’s my jam.

It feels more comfortable for me to get out of the saddle. When there is a recovery time, I tend to get out of the saddle because that’s more comfortable for me. There were a couple of times when I’ve gotten exhausted. I’ve been in the saddle way too long. I’ll get out and I happened to match up with the instructor right when they say, “Don’t even get out of that saddle.” I’m like, “How did you know?” They’re not calling me out directly. I have never seen anybody get called. Don’t worry about that at all. It’s not intimidating.

Also, try every class. I’m a creature of habit. I started doing the same classes over and over again. In my Peloton life here and 700 rides later, I’m starting to try different things. I remember when I finally did Tabata. I was like, “This was great.” There are HIIT classes. I finally started doing HIIT. I love them and the Power Zone class. As you branch out and try new instructors, you’re going to find somebody that you will fall in love with. You’re like, “I love Alex. He’s great. Whether it’s long-haired or short-haired Denis, I don’t care. I love him.”

It’s like B.J. Hunnicutt. With a mustache or without a mustache?

You pay enough attention to the community that you know that was a thing. I love that because that was a whole thing when Denis cut his hair. His hair was long as mine.

There was an old show called Renegade. He was also in Grease 2. There was a show called Renegade. He was a bounty hunter and he rode around on his motorcycle. He’s a super attractive guy and everything.

It’s Adrian Zmed. I have a podcast episode about Grease 2. I sat through that. Do you want a weird piece of Grease trivia real quick?

Yes.

When they made Grease 2, they were going to make more. That was the plan. They already had scripts in the works for Grease 3 and 4. Grease 2 came out and it was awful. Nobody wanted to make it, so the script for Grease 3 went in a drawer. Fifteen years later, they pulled it back out and retooled it. That script became High School Musical. Adrian Zmed is the guy with the long hair from Grease.

It’s Lorenzo Lamas.

I thought that name because you said the motorcycle. He’s an attractive guy. He stuck around in my brain. I remember it.

I said Alexi Lalas. When he cut it, I was like, “That’s big time.” What I love about the instructors is there will be times when I’m in different moods or maybe I start to go like, “My form is struggling a little bit.” I’ll take a Denis ride because Denis is strong on form, and he’s like, “Do this with your shoulders back and hips.” If I get a little lazy there, then I’ll do that. If I want to get kicked in the butt, I’ll ride with Robin or Kendall. She has the hardest rides. She’s like a little dynamite. She’s crazy. She will wear you out. There are different things as you get to know the instructors.

That’s the other thing for me. There’s no other way to say it. I am a huge fan. I love all of it. I am so thankful that they even came up with the idea. It has truly changed the way that I’m able to live my life because I have this opportunity to do something. I love to sweat. I’m able to pour into it. I can compete. I love the leaderboard. I have a goal in mind like, “I want to be in the top percentage of the ride. I want to reach this output.” I started doing the sessions.

You have a small refresh leaderboard.

I did that for a while, but then I missed riding with so many people. I don’t do that anymore. Either way, it was like competing. I see a 70-year-old guy and he’s right there with me. I’m like, “No, sir,” or worse, a 20-year-old guy and we’re right there. I’m 44 and I’m like, “Dad is going to show you.”

You’re the 70-year-old in that equation to him.

Over the age of 40, we’re all ancient.

That’s how that works. I do have to point out Lorenzo Lamas was in Grease. He had a small role in Grease but not Grease 2.

I knew that name was not it when you said it. I was like, “That’s not the one.” Thank you for clearing that up.

My thing is I know the pop culture stuff. People would be like, “I looked it up on IMDb.”

Tom would be like, “Don’t at me.”

If I’m the only one that thinks Lorenzo Lamas looks like Denis, I’m going to feel stupid.

You’re not. I assure you.

Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to join us. We appreciate it. Before we let you go, remind everybody where they can find you and all your stuff. You have lots of places, I’m sure.

Thank you so much. My show is Restoration Road with Clint Harp. You can stream that anytime on the Magnolia Network through Discovery+ or Magnolia has an app. You can stream it there as well with a subscription. If you have cable and you used to have the DIY Network, then you can watch it there on Tuesday nights because the DIY Network turned into the Magnolia Network. It’s on Tuesday nights at 9:00 Eastern or 8:00 Central. You can watch it there. The first season is running. Everybody is confused because the first season streamed first.

The pandemic threw everything off. The first season streamed first and then it took forever for the actual TV changeover to happen. That has happened. The first season is happening again. We’re like, “Here’s a new episode,” but in the first season, people are like, “I’ve already seen this.” I’m like, “I know. We streamed it.” We’re filming season two. I’m about to head out to Montana to film more. My business is Harp Design Co. You can find us online at HarpDesignCo.com and order our furniture.

I’m still making tables and home goods with my wife. That’s what we’re doing. You can follow me on Instagram and Twitter. It’s @ClintHarpOfficial on Instagram and @ClintonHarp on Twitter. I’m there as well. Thank you all so much for having me. This is so fun. When you had Sarah from Pantsuit Politics on, she texted me. She was like, “Your name came up.” We’re friends and we’re doing an event together here in Waco soon with their podcast. She was like, “Can I pass on your name and info?” I was like, “Yes. A Peloton show? I’m all in.”

I’m so glad she did. I badgered her. I was like, “You can put us in touch and do that. Back to Clint, we could do that.”

I’m so glad that you badgered. They’re amazing at Pantsuit Politics.

We had a lot of fun talking to Sarah too. She was funny. We tend to have a lot of fun in general. It’s pretty easy for us.

You all are pretty stinking fun. Thank you all so much. What a blast, I’m not kidding you. I love it. You are awesome.

If we ever make it down there, I would love to see Waco. I’ve told Tom I want to go down there. I am a huge fan of the original show, Fixer Upper. Admittedly, I have not watched Restoration but I always loved the furniture you created. It was beautiful.

It’s a great couple’s trip because I’m a fan of cults.

We offer you everything down here.

It checks a lot of boxes.

You got cults, Magnolia, furniture and whiskey if you like whiskey.

The CVB for Waco had to be so excited when that show became a hit, “There’s finally something be besides David Koresh to associate with our town.”

That is a sad thing in the past but we’re moving on. It has changed the makeup and opinions of Waco. It is a cool town.

There’s the opportunity to do something if you love to sweat, and you can pour into it. Click To Tweet

This has been so fun. Thank you so much for taking so much time to talk to us seriously. I hope you have a great rest of your day. I wish you nothing but success with the show’s season two. We will be watching. We’re huge fans. Thank you.

It’s the same back to you. Thanks for having me.

Thank you.

You take care.

I guess that brings this episode to a close. Until next time, where can people find you?

People can find me on Facebook at Facebook.com/crystaldokeefe. They can find me on Instagram and Twitter or on the Peloton leaderboard @ClipOutCrystal.

You can find me on Twitter @RogerQBert or Facebook at Facebook.com/tomokeefe. You can find the show online at Facebook.com/TheClipOut. While you’re there, like the page and join the group. Don’t forget our YouTube channel, YouTube.com/TheClipOut. That’s it for this one. Thanks for tuning in. Until next time, keep pedaling and running.

 

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About Clint Harp

TCO 255 | Sweat It OutClint is a renowned craftsman and host of Restoration Road with Clint Harp on the Magnolia Network. He first popped onto the screen as the carpenter on HGTV’s Fixer Upper. Together with his wife Kelly they own Harp Design Co. and raise their amazing kids in Waco, TX. Clint is the author of Handcrafted, A Woodworkers Story, and he travels the country as a Speaker.