• Peloton is making changes to the library.
• The next earnings call is set for May 4.
• Scam victim gets duped looking for a Tread.
• Peloton launches rental program in Canada.
• Financing available for refurbished bikes.
• Peloton Australia is hosting a 30-minute yoga flow open to the public.
• We review Focus & Flow for Riders & Runners.
• PCMag loves the Row.
• Former Peloton legal counsel Hisao Kushi (and his wife Karen) were featured on MeetCutesNYC.
• Dr. Jenn – F**k the shoulds.
• Adrian Williams is out with an injury.
• Selena Samuela is back.
• Jess Sims is now a contributor to Good Morning America.
• Ash Pryor featured in People magazine.
• Ash was inducted into her high school’s hall-of-fame.
• People also spoke with Emma Lovewell.
• Select Members were invited via email to a private Meet & Greet with Emma at the Studio on May 7.
• Tickets still available for an Evening with Emma Lovewell at the Town Hall venue in NYC on May 1, moderated by Cody Rigsby.
• Joslyn Thompson Rule’s book just hit paperback.
• Tunde featured in Nike’s Boundless Expression campaign.
• Tunde had a Tread announcement…kinda but not really.
• Sam Yo went to Star Wars Celebration 2023.
• Matty Maggiacomo was on the Gent’s Talk podcast.
• Olivia Amato was on the Hurdle podcast.
• Olivia’s Puma collection is launching on May 20.
• Ben & Leanne were hanging out with Cody Rigsby.
• Angelo – Dealing with tight hamstrings when you don’t want to rest.
• The latest artist series features 2Pac.
• Tonal settles their lawsuit with Hon Hai Precision.
• Sad news about Kristin Fleschner (Ep. 101)
• C.J. Albertson had his first post-Boston Marathon run with Becs Gentry.
• Ashton Kutcher welcomed Becs Gentry back to work.
• Total Body 20 is here.
• Earth Day Celebration classes are on the app.
• The Milestone Collection has been restocked.
• Same is true for Saturday 60.
• New Lanebreak levels.
• DJ John Michael has a remix/mash-up of Flowers and I Will Survive.
• Birthdays – John Foley (4/28), Chelsea Jackson Roberts (4/30)

All this plus our interview with Kristen Minutoli!

—

Watch the episode here

 

Listen to the podcast here

 

Don’t Call It A Purge! Peloton Thins Its Library Plus Our Interview With Kristen Minutoli

We’re both fighting to stay awake.

It’s not the kind of tiredness where you’re happy. We’re crabby. We’re going to try to put that aside.

Episode 306 was almost our last episode because we almost got divorced while we were show-prepping for this episode.

When you start pulling everything up and it’s not going the way it’s supposed to, and you guys live and do everything together, it can get a little crazy.

We were out late because we went to the Lizzo concert.

I got my Lizzo hoodie.

That’s special. It says Lizzo on the back. On the front, it says special.

I love Lizzo.

That was a great show.

Not only was it a great show but what a great crowd. It’s always interesting to go to different concerts and see the different kinds of people that go to concerts. I felt like the oldest person in the room.

No. I was next to you.

Okay, the oldest woman. There was a lot of twerking going on that I would not do especially during the Latto set. I would never twerk in public. I don’t feel comfortable doing it. I don’t have any problem with anybody else doing it. It just made me feel like a million years old. That’s all. What lovely non-judgmental people in the audience. Everybody was doing their thing. Nobody cared what anybody else was doing. Normally, that could have turned into a fight with that girl.

That’s the lady in front of us. We were in seats where there was like handicapped seating that was above us. Our row ended against a wall, and so people were accessing the row in front of us by walking through the little tiny ledge that it created. This lady tries to get over the seat, and between her lack of athleticism and appearance, she fell over the seats and kicked the lady in front of her in the head. She was stuck there because of the way she was wedged in the seats. The lady in front of her turned around and she kicked her in the head. The girl that did the kicking was apologetic and the lady graciously accepted the apology. I’m like, “I don’t know that I would have been that magnanimous.”

I know if I got hit in the head I wouldn’t have been.

If you got hit in the head, we would not have seen Lizzo last night. We would be well rested today but have a very different story.

Part of that is because I’m super sensitive about being hit right now. If that had happened, I would have lost my sh*t. I wouldn’t have been yelling at the person but if my anger set off their anger, which is typically how that goes, then it wouldn’t have ended well. That’s beside the point. It wasn’t like that. It was lovely. Everybody was so Kumbaya.

I was surprised at how that played out.

The whole concert was like that. It was enjoyable. It truly was a love fest and it was amazing. I’m a big fan of Lizzo. If you ever get a chance to go, you should because it is fun. It’s fun for all ages. I love the way she incorporated the crowd. That was great.

That might not have been entirely for all ages, depending on what your comfort level is.

There were a lot of zoom butt shots. It just isn’t my thing.

She used the P word a few times.

A few? That song, I’m pretty sure it’s the name. I don’t know the name. I was telling Sydney about it today. It’s so funny, but I love the song and what it stood for at the same time.

There are some people that when the kids are 12 or 13, they’re like, “They’ve heard it. It’s fine.” There are some that are like, “No. I’m going to pretend that my children haven’t heard these words.”

I enjoyed seeing a lot of moms and daughters there. It was a very empowering thing. It was cool. That were all kinds of different people there. It was neat.

That’s what we did. The timeline for this episode is the year 2020. If you want to hear us do a deep dive on the year 2020, you can go over to Patreon.com/TheClipOut and sign up for that and get access. You’ll get access to all the other ones too. You can start all the way back to 2012. Don’t forget, if you live in the San Jose area, we will be in your neck of the woods. We’d love to see you. Crystal knows where it’s at. I just know that it’s a place that has chicken fingers.

It’s downtown San Jose. It’s called the Brit. All the details are on The Clip Out event page on Facebook. It’s also from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM Pacific time. I know a lot of people are coming. I’m super excited to meet all of you guys. I can’t wait. It’s going to be so much fun.

I’m super excited about chicken fingers. That’s very on-brand for both of us. What pray tell do you have in store for people?

We’re going to talk about Peloton’s newest changes that they are making to the content library. They have a bunch of new things to chat about with the rental program, refurbished bikes, and all that stuff. We got lots of news. We talked to Dr. Jenn. Get your kids some headphones for the Dr. Jenn episode and for what I’m about to say. Hit pause now if you don’t want to. For those of you who stuck around, F**k the shoulds. I love this topic so much so please join us.

Lots of instructor news, tons and tons of things. They’re back. Lots of things are happening. Angelo visits us. We’re going to talk about tight hamstrings and how to deal with those when you don’t want to rest. We have a very sad past guest update to pass along. We also have a celebrity one, and then lots of in case you missed it.

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, maybe leave us a review. Be sure and follow us so you never miss an episode. You can also find us on Patreon, Patreon.com/TheClipOut where you can get bonus content like the timeline deep dives. You can also get ad-free episodes. When we get them early, you get them early. A lot of times, you’re getting these episodes on Thursday afternoon.

You never know when you’re getting a free gift like all the Patreon members that got a printed copy of the timeline, and it’s beautiful. Diana Nichols did all the design and it’s amazing.

You can also find us on Facebook, Facebook.com/TheClipOut. While you’re there, like the page, join the group. Also, don’t forget if you want to help the show with the easiest thing you can do, we greatly appreciate it. Share it in your Facebook feed, Instagram, or whatever. If Crystal posted a new episode, just give it a share so people know that we’re out there. If you love Peloton, chances are the people you engage with on the interwebs also love Peloton, and they might enjoy the show.

You can also find us on YouTube, YouTube.com/TheClipOut where you can watch these shows. Finally, we have a newsletter. We throw out the links and stuff like that if you want to sign up for the newsletter. It’s a great way to keep on top of that stuff and not have to dig into the Facebook page to find a story from 4 or 5 days ago. There’s all that. Let’s dig in. Shall we?

We shall.

—

Let me begin by saying calm down.

I am calm. You need to settle. Here’s the deal. Today marks the first time that you will see a well-formatted deletion of content.

You’re trying to not say a purge. It’s always what we’ve called it.

I know. It was always doom and gloom.

A pruning, if you will.

How many times have we talked about the fact that people get upset when there are large chunks taken out? Peloton is constantly doing this. You just don’t notice it.

Chances are it doesn’t affect you or it’s not a class you care about, and so you don’t even realize it. That’s their goal in what they’re doing here.

Here’s the cool part. That is their goal. Now, what they’re going to do is they’re going to have a very systematic way of doing this. When I say systematic, it’s going to have some parameters or some structure around it. That’s a better way to say it. Fridays are the days that you can expect classes to be deleted. It’s going to be Friday. That does not mean that every Friday, classes will be deleted.

Every Friday, they completely delete the library. That’s what I’m hearing.

Yes, that is definitely what I said. I think that this will help instead of on a random day that this happens. Instead, we can all spread the news.

They just did some house cleaning.

It’s also cool because they’ve clearly taken into account what people have been saying like, “Don’t get rid of a ride or a class that we all love.” When we were able to talk to a Peloton representative, they said some things that made a lot of sense to me. This is not an algorithm. There are things that they take into consideration. Maybe they do look at a date range and they’re like, “Let’s get rid of things in this date range.”

That’s the first focus. It’s like, “Let’s look at these older classes in this timeframe. Now that we have this group within this subset, are there classes people are still engaging with at a high degree of frequency? If so, we will set those off to the side and leave them untouched.”

One thing I want to let you all know is that the Greatest Showman ride is okay. It’s safe.

It’s safe as a kitten for now. We don’t mean that as a threat. We mean that if you fall out of love with that ride, and people stopped taking it, then a little later on, they might change their minds like the parachute pants.

There are no hard rules with this but there’s a human element to it. The point is they’re going to be looking at it and taking multiple things into consideration, not just wiping things out across the board. If there’s a reason to wipe things out across the board like Kanye, then they’re going to do that. That doesn’t preclude that from happening. We were talking about maintenance the other day. They are never going to be able to keep every single class in the library. Why? It’s because of storage space.

It creates so much content. I hope somewhere someone is backing this up and keeping it somewhere offline for historical purposes. It’s very easy when you create that content to not see its value, or maybe its historical importance. There are so many TV shows, radio shows, and movies that no longer exist because people didn’t see the value in them. Ninety percent of all films made before 1929 don’t exist. Sixty percent of movies made between 1929 and 1940 don’t exist. I hope that somewhere someone is keeping this stuff for the future.

I hope so too. I don’t know the answer to that. We did ask Peloton but I don’t have a response yet. I don’t know when we’ll get a response. If we do, I will pass it along. In the meantime, I want to reiterate that this is a team of people making these decisions. Since they’re human, they might make a mistake. They might pull out a class that’s in a program. If that happens and if they are able to put it back, they will. I want to make sure people know that as well.

The intention is not to do mass deletions. The intention is to thoughtfully and carefully keep the content library at a nice steady pace and to slowly pull back out the things that no one is currently interacting with. Don’t forget, they want to keep the best of the content that is currently happening. New standards are always being introduced. The classes that were filmed in 2017 are no longer there, but if they were, they would probably not fit the criteria and standards today.

Peloton is always in the present tense. There are going to be looks and things that won’t feel right as we progress through time. Hopefully, they keep it because it’s also fun sometimes to see old things.

It is to me. I love going back and seeing how the studio, camera angles, and lighting have changed. It’s fascinating. I do get why you wouldn’t always want to be able to compare those to those older classes. Though I love them, they do not look as slick as the ones today.

That also makes it charming. It’s like a sitcom that has been on the air for ten seasons. You go back and watch season 1, and the set looks so different. It’s like that. Anyway, that’s what you can expect moving forward.

No panicking. Let everybody know that this is a regular occurrence. It’s going to keep happening.

Nothing lasts forever.

That’s right.

The next earnings call will be on May 4th.

I would like to know what Star Wars jokes you have coming at us, Tom. I feel like there should be a pun or two.

I don’t know. I’m too tired to make Star Wars jokes. Sorry. It’s not on my game but I’ll do my best.

I hope on the earnings call day you come at it better than this because I will be disappointed, and it’ll be soon so pull it together.

I’m old. I might not be rested up by then, especially because I have to go watch someone run a marathon.

It’s not a marathon. It’s just 21 miles.

I don’t know if you take into account how tiring that is for someone to watch someone run 21 miles. It’s exhausting.

I’m worried about you.

You should be. I hate to keep playing this card but my wife was hit by a car. Not only am I getting over that but I have to watch someone or sit in a hotel room while someone I know is out there doing that.

I will be on a closed course. There are emergency vehicles. I assure you that when they say stay close to the ocean side, I’m not getting anywhere near that yellow line. You’ve walked across how many streets with me at this point. If there is a vehicle buzzing by, I’m not going to be anywhere near it. I will be as far away from it as humanly possible.

It’s more for Dr. Jenn because you will push her right into traffic. It happened to me four times.

It is not. You are a liar. What she has to worry about is that I will grab her and pull her to the ground to save her.

 

You’ll use her as a human shield.

In my head, I will be saving her from the ongoing car even though it’s nowhere near us because that’s a trauma response and I’m working through it.

Anyway, it’s earnings call on May 4th. We will discuss that info in the next episode.

For sure.

This is a fun story unless you’re the subject of it. Someone was scammed while trying to purchase a Peloton treadmill off of the website Offer Up, which we never even heard of.

Here’s the thing. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. That’s with anything that you’re buying on the internet or anyone that you’re buying on the internet. Even in the Facebook groups, if it’s like, “Send me the money,” don’t do that. That’s not a good idea. That’s not legit. In this case, that’s what happened. We thought it would be good to let people know that this stuff is still happening. You need to be careful. This individual paid more than $1,200.

It’s $1,239, which is way too little for a Peloton treadmill, even for a used one.

This probably should have been a red flag. For people who’ve been part of the Peloton community, you know this is a red flag. For people who aren’t that are going to be buying equipment sometimes, they don’t necessarily know. This is another one to spread the message. This person was required to send the money, and then the seller was going to ship it via UPS. That’s a treadmill via UPS.

That’s $1,200 right there in shipping.

It should have been a red flag and it wasn’t. You’re not familiar with how much it weighs. This stuff seems so obvious to us because it’s a massive behemoth of a machine.

Even if you don’t know how much a Peloton treadmill weighs, you know a treadmill is a big item.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say there are a lot of people that read what’s in front of them and they believe that it is true. I am not one of those people. I am naturally skeptical. I will skeptic you up and down even if I don’t say it to your face.

I remember when we started dating.

We’re going to leave that alone.

I remember a couple of dates in, you were like, “I did look you up on Casenet,” which is the local thing to see if someone has any court cases that happened against them.

So did you.

That’s what I’m going to say next. You felt bad and I was like, “I did the same thing.” You got to do it for everybody.

That is why you got a green flag. A lot of guys I dated got a red flag because I would say something and they were like, “Why do you look me up? Why are you in my privacy?” If you have something to hide like you’ve been to jail or you’ve had a restraining order, I want to know. If you get weird about that, I’m not dating you. That is a red flag.

I only found one person when I was dating and she had been married five times. I was like, “That sounds like a you-problem.” One, no problem. Two, maybe, but five?

I’m scared. Are all of them like there was a divorce? Are some of them dead?

Those are in Casenet unless you kill them, in which case, I would think you wouldn’t be out yet, but you never know.

You got to look into that stuff.

Don’t get a treadmill shipped to you via UPS. That’s not a real thing or at least that’s not an affordable thing. Do you know what is affordable?

What’s that?

The rental program in Canada. It now exists.

I love this. You can now rent Peloton Bike for $129 or Bike+ for $169, Canadian dollars, per month. I want to point out that I didn’t check to see if it’s the same in Canada. I assumed it was the same in Canada. This is for new people only. You can only rent the bike if you don’t currently have a subscription.

You can’t rent one for your summer home in Ottawa. I don’t know if they have summer homes in Ottawa. I don’t know if they have summer in Ottawa. Do they have summer in Canada?

I suck at geography even in the US and you’re going to put me in a whole other country? I know they have provinces and time zones. It’s all I got. Anyway, enjoy the rental program. If anybody take advantage of it in Canada, I would love to hear how it’s going for you.

For our American audience, you can also now finance a refurbished bike.

That’s fascinating.

Why is that fascinating?

It’s fascinating because my brain immediately goes to, are the terms the same? Is it different? I have questions.

Spoiler alert. I don’t have answers. If you’re looking for a refurbished bike, there are so many entry points now to Peloton. For people that don’t know anything about Peloton and like to pretend that it’s for rich snooty people, that’s so not true anymore.

They still are working on the democratization of fitness, which is fascinating given that their whole thing is trying to focus on getting profitable right now. It’s nice that they’re able to hit both, even if that’s not their main goal. By doing this, their main goal is probably revenue, but it’s still cool because it is accomplishing the same thing.

Ultimately, if they want to get profitable, they need to cast that net wide. There are only so many affluent people that you can procure in the real dollars that are going to be made by making it as affordable as possible for as many people as possible. It’s great that they have all these different ways to access it.

Agreed.

If you live in Australia, they are inviting people to Yoga Flow on May 6th.

It’s actually nice when people can’t control their expression because it lets you know where you stand with them. Click To Tweet

What is the location?

It is in Westfield Doncaster Styling Suite.

You get to go in for a 30-minute yoga flow. That’s going to be followed by a chance to connect over coffee and refreshments. I love when stores do stuff like this. I like seeing that it’s happening in some of the other countries too.

Over at our website, theclipout.com, we have a review from Tina Fryling talking about Focus & Flow for Runners & Riders.

She really enjoyed it. It’s stretching of the muscles that you use either in a ride or run. She had a great time doing them. She talked about how there are lots of different lengths. It’s 10, 20, and 30. You get static and active stretching, which is what you want. That’s fantastic. Also, if you are looking for these classes, you can use the search function that is in Peloton, but you can also go to the collection that listed “Yoga for cross training.” It says “For riders” at the top and “This is for runners.” I like that these are short and sweet. I have been using these as we ramp up to Big Sur. I figured it was a good time to make sure I’m all limber and ready to go.

You want to keep working out but you don’t want to exhaust yourself and save all your energy for Sunday. PC Magazine has a review of the row, and they love it.

They got 4 out of 5 stars. Excellent. What does that bottom line say?

“The bottom line is that the Peloton Row is the smartest and most luxurious rowing machine on the market with class-leading interactivity and unique form feedback features to keep you safe.” No one has drowned in a Row. Not one person so that’s good. I guess the overall article does lay out not only the pros and cons but it compares it to some of the other machines on the market. If you’re trying to figure out which is best for you because your mileage may vary or it might be different for you, go look at the PC Mag article. Are you happy now? I told you we were crabby.

There’s an Instagram channel called MeetCuteNYC. This is the first time I’ve heard of it. It appears that they stop married couples on the street and ask them how they met and how long they’ve been together. You can tell by the video that this is not a set-up. They grabbed them while walking down the street. They grabbed Hisao Kushi, who was Peloton’s former chief legal counsel and one of the founders, and his wife Karen.

I know for a fact they didn’t know what this was because Karen was messaging me about this. We were going back and forth because the comments were hilarious. She was saying that they had no idea what was happening. Hisao was like, “What is that? Why are you asking us all these questions?” Karen was like, “I will tell you everything.” It’s super adorable. I love things like this but also if you go to the comments from a Peloton user perspective, it’s fun to read because people realize who he is, and they react to that in the comments. That is also funny because the guy interviewing has no idea.

It’s funny that people on the internet realize that. It’s the whole crowdsourcing like if you throw someone in front of enough people, because it’s not like he was super front-facing. If it’s John Foley, a lot of people are going to recognize John Foley on site, but not necessarily Hisao. It’s fascinating that people figured that out.

I do too. Also, I love the Kushis so I wanted to feature them. They’re amazing.

They are very nice. Coming up after this, we’re going to talk to Dr. Jenn. She has good advice for everyone and it starts with “F**k the shoulds.”

—

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 psychology for USA Gymnastics. It’s Dr. Jenn.

Hello.

We’re so happy to have you here. Marla has a question. She is wanting to bike outside but enjoys biking inside, which is leaving her feeling very torn and not sure what to do there. Do you have any thoughts on that?

Does she say why she feels like she should bike outside when it’s not what she loves?

The original question started with, “Spring is here,” so what are you struggling with? She’s like, “I feel like I should.” I think this is a should, “I should be outside, but I’m not.”

I’m going to say f**k the shoulds. It’s one thing if you think it will be satisfying or if it will make you feel great, but it’s hard for you to get past your patterns and habits. If you love biking inside and biking outside doesn’t bring you so much joy that you’re like, “Yay, spring is here. I can’t wait to get on my bike and cycle outside,” don’t do it. There are other things you can torture yourself with. There’s a lot. If you’re exercising and you like to bike inside, do it inside. If you feel like you want a scenic route, do one of the scenic rides.

I feel like I built my life around this philosophy. It’s like, “Why should I?”

It’s so funny because I have such a different take on it. I like biking outside. I think it’s so dangerous to bike outside since my accident. I know I was running not biking, but people get hurt on bikes all the time. It’s so much safer at home. It’s not worth it.

I was going to bring that up. I can’t imagine you jumping on a bike outside after having been hit by a car. I would be too nervous to ride outside.

It’ll be a while and it’ll probably be at a park or some closed location.

Some enclosed cyclists’ special route or maybe the next time you come to LA, on the Venice boardwalk.

There you go. That’s exactly right.

She just wants to see all the shirtless guys on roller skates.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

It sure isn’t. That’s healthy, Tom.

Is that how it works?

It doesn’t matter where you get your appetite, as long as you eat at home.

In that case, I guess I can stop clearing my browser. I guess that’s it. F**k the shoulds. They do put a lot of these false paradigms on themselves of this is what the world expects. I always used to joke, and this was my annual post on the first day of spring. I was like, “It’s so nice outside. I think I’m going to watch TV with the window open.” Watch TV with the window open. That’s Dr. Jenn’s advice.

Do your Peloton ride with the windows open. There you go.

I like the metaphor.

Thank you so much for all that. Until next time, where can people find you?

On all social media, @DrJennMann. I post my Peloton workouts on my Insta Stories.

Thank you.

—

 

Adrian Williams is taking a little break from Peloton for a bit.

He goes into this in great detail on his Instagram video, which is nice of him to do. In general, he’s fine. It’s an old injury that occurred and how he fixed it is the problem. It turned into a bone spur. His words of wisdom were to go see a PT and get it fixed correctly. Don’t do what he did. He’s going to be fine. He just got that corrected and removed. He just needs to finish healing up and he is totally okay. Send lots of well wishes his way and lots of love. I know he’ll appreciate it, and he’ll be back soon. I don’t know if he’ll be back in time for the 2Pac class. We will see.

Selena Samuela is back. We got one taking a break and one coming back.

Something to note is that Selena is the last mom who was pregnant in 2022. She took maternity leave after her child was born and she is coming back. Sunday is the first live run. Monday is the first live strength class. She was back earlier in the week to film something fun and special. I’m not sure what that means but she is back in the office and giving all the other instructors lots of hugs.

This is pretty cool. Jess Sims is now a contributor to Good Morning America.

She posted this on Instagram and everyone went nuts over this. One of our listeners submitted to TCO In The Know and our tip line through the website. They had a picture of Good Morning America. She is now a contributor to the actual news. That is part of her job. She called it a new job. I love the whole slash generation. You have all these different jobs. She’s a busy lady between her hosting and new shows that she is on, and now she’s a contributor to Good Morning America. She’s everywhere.

It’s also nice that Peloton recognizes the value of that, and allows the instructors to go out and do things like that.

Yes, it is.

Ash Pryor was featured in People Magazine.

I love her whole message. “Stop obsessing over the size of your beachwear this summer. I will never succeed in this but I am happy to hear it and I need to hear it on a regular basis.” It’s smart and more people need to get over it.

It’s also easier said than done.

It’s all of those things, for sure but I love Ash.

While we’re talking about Ash, she was inducted into her high school hall of fame.

This just happened with Robin. I know it’s the end of the school year, so they are probably doing a lot of this stuff. I think it’s interesting. We have all these instructors all these years, and then boom, boom. Congrats to Ash. It’s cool and I love seeing it. She deserves it. She’s amazing.

While we’re speaking of People Magazine, Emma Lovewell was also featured in People Magazine.

We are watching too much How I Met Your Mother because I pictured Barney Stinson going, “Challenge accepted.” Emma Lovewell tells the whole story of how she ended up with a Peloton job. The headline is fun because it says “How a $50 Craigslist job ad changed her life.” That’s fun. I love hearing how instructors made it to Peloton.

Speaking of Emma, there are still tickets left for her event at Town Hall New York. Live, Learn, Love Well with Emma Lovewell.

That’s the one that’s happening on May 1st. It’s going to be moderated by Cody Rigsby. Also, one last note about Emma. Select Peloton members were invited via email. If you don’t have it, you didn’t get it. They were invited to a private meet and greet with Emma at the studio on May 7th. I’m sure we will be seeing that class happen live so we’ll get to watch all the people who were invited.

Joslyn Thompson Rule has a new book. It actually came out in 2021 and it’s just now hitting paperback.

We’ve talked before that you have to hit certain milestones to be able to have your book turned into a paperback.

If it doesn’t move in hardback, they don’t need to put it in paperback. They just put the hardbacks on clearance.

Congratulations to Joslyn Thompson Rule.

Nike is celebrating Boundless Expression, and Tunde will be a part of that.

It basically means they’re doing a brand new campaign and she’s going to be in it. I always find these kinds of things fascinating. This has nothing to do with Tunde. They just go on and on with all these words that mean nothing. It’s just a buzzword salad. It’s cool that she’s doing the campaign and she’s part of it. That’s great for her. It’s nothing against Nike. They all do this.

“The collective embodies togetherness, strength, and attitude. They represent competitive sport, fitness, movement, and stuff.” I can’t even get my mind to work like that to write something like this.

It’s basically like, “We brought together a bunch of powerful women and we’re going to take pictures of them.” They are all powerful women. I will give them that.

Speaking of Tunde, she had a big tread announcement, sort of but not at all.

Over on Instagram, she posted her snippet from a class where she was like, “I’m going to tell you about my newest announcement for the tread. No, I’m not doing that. Why would you want to see me more? Why do you want me to workout more? No.” I thought it was hilarious.

People can’t get enough of her.

I know but her approach was top-notch.

I talk about my job sometimes and I talk about how I feel like I’m gaming the system by getting paid to do what I do. I book rock concerts. I work in jeans and a hoodie. I come and go as I please. It’s pretty sweet. Tip of the hat to Sam Yo for gaming the system. He massively one-ups me here. He went to Star Wars Celebration and he gets to be like, “This is my job,” because he’s doing the Star Wars class that’s going to be coming out.

Did you see that he actually pitched the Star Wars class?

No, I did not see that.

He posted his pitch on Instagram. If you go to Sam Yo’s account, he wrote them an email and pitch the whole thing to them.

Did he pitch Peloton or Star Wars?

He pitched Star Wars.

That’s nice. Well done.

When you have all these things working against you as the child who has a disability of any kind, that's that much more pressure on the parent to get them all the way where they need to be. Click To Tweet

Well done indeed. I love it.

Did he do a Back to the Future ride?

Yes, he did. Sam Yo is a total nerd and I love it. I’m here for it. This is a good kind of nerd. There are nerds that we used to say negative things about back in the day. Now, nerd is a good thing because it means that they like to have fun and play with toys even as adults. I love that. It keeps you young.

Matty Maggiacomo was on the Gents Talk podcast if you want to check that out.

He has a whole thing. He has snippets of it up on his Instagram if you want to get a gist of it and you don’t want to listen to the whole thing, or you’re not sure you want to commit to the whole thing. He’s talking about stuff like what it’s like to become a man who influenced him, and things like that. It was interesting. Part of what I found interesting is Matty is such a dynamic person and how he can present himself. When he was a newscaster or a journalist, he was super buttoned up and he can be very professional. If he’s doing this fun thing, he can be charismatic, but then on this particular podcast, I swear to God his voice got deeper and more soulful.

He’s very subdued. I watched a couple of seconds of it. I let it play while I was doing other things, and he’s very subdued. I don’t mean that to he’s bored or disinterested. He was having a serious conversation and he is being serious about it. He can do both.

That’s my whole point. If you want to get to know Matty in a different way than you see him on the tread, this is a great opportunity to do so.

If you need more Peloton-based podcasts in your life and if we’re not enough for you, you can find Olivia Amato on the latest episode of Hurdle.

That’s episode 248.

While we’re talking about Olivia, her Puma collection comes out on May 20th. Ben and Leanne were hanging out with Cody.

Cody went over to the UK studio. While he was there, he stopped in to talk to Ben and Leanne. Ben posted about it because he was going back in time and talking about when they were first hired, Cody is the person that brought in both of them and train them. They have a special relationship with Cody.

This post though makes it sound like Cody was the advanced man that Peloton sent to be like, “Let me talk to you about Peloton.”

He absolutely is. That’s one of Cody’s things that he does. I don’t know if he’s doing that today because I don’t know that they’re actively looking for people today, but back in 2021 when they hired 21 instructors, Cody went and found a ton of them.

I didn’t realize that.

He has a lot to do at least with the bike. I don’t know about other stuff, but definitely with the bike.

It says that he dropped into their classes and said that he wanted to grab a coffee and talk to them about an opportunity that was going to change their lives. I’m sure their first thought was MLM. That would be my first thought. If someone said that to me, I’d be like, “Hard pass.”

While we’re talking about instructors, I don’t think I had this listed but I wanted to point out that Kirra Michel celebrated two years at Peloton. Congratulations to Kirra.

Coming up after this, Angelo from MetPro is going to stop by. He’s going to tell you how to deal with tight hamstrings especially if you’re an overachiever and doesn’t like to take rest days.

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

Thank you for having me back.

We’re glad that you’re here. A few weeks ago we talked about why it was important to activate your glutes. People had tons to say about that, like what classes they loved for that. That sparked a whole new conversation. I have some new questions. One of my favorites on this is how to relieve chronically tight hamstrings when you don’t like rest and recovery. That comes from Diane. I love her little caveat, “When you don’t like rest and recovery.”

Who doesn’t like to rest?

Some of us like to workout every day, Tom.

What’s happening is you have some hypertonic muscle fibers in your lower body because they’re not getting adequate rest. Diane, you have to take some rest. That doesn’t mean you have to not exercise. What it means is you have to do some rotation. That way, you’re breaking up the type of exercise you’re doing in such a way. Now, I’m going to give you some stuff that’ll help release the hamstrings, but it’s only going to help so far if a muscle group is chronically over-trained. That’s a battle long-term that you won’t win even with the right maintenance.

I feel like as she’s listening to this, she’s running in place. She’s never resting.

What we’re talking about is a community that loves Peloton. Switch back and forth. Do some running and some biking. That goes a long way. That is why almost all long-distance runners also bike for their training days. For a lot of triathletes, this is how they train. They can only train that aggressively because they’re breaking it up. In classic Ironman-type training, you have swim, bike, and run, but even if you split it up between a bike and run, it’s impacting your body in a slightly different way. You won’t get as much of the repetitive overuse syndrome. With that, I digress. Diane, you want some stretches. You want some items to help chronically tight hamstrings. Did she say hip flexors or just hamstrings?

Just hamstrings.

I’m going to tell you something. Obviously, stretch your hamstrings. There are 101 ways to do that. I’m going to try and add some value by telling you something perhaps you don’t already know. Pelvic positioning. If you notice one side gets tighter than the other, it’s likely that you have some postural deviation in your pelvis. You could be anterior. You could be posterior. The big problem is if you have rotation. In other words, one hip is hyped and the other is not. We’re bilateral creatures. We walk left, right, left, right. We don’t tolerate that. That always leads to injury if unchecked.

Do you know what having one hip higher than the other leads to? Sassiness.

We’ll call that the sass deviation.

That is quantifiable.

It was the pose that you did that sold it, Tom.

I hope everyone can picture Tom with that hip hyped and sass. Before we’re interrupted with that great commentary, we tolerate anterior-posterior deviation not well, but it’s part of the aging process. When you see a little old man walking down the street hunched forward, it’s not a good thing, but that is part of the aging process and we can tolerate it. When it’s right-left, it always results in injury. Some of the first things you’ll notice are you’ll get a hip flexor or a hamstring that’s nagging at you.

There are a few things that you can do about this. Without getting too technical, this is where a picture is worth a thousand words. I’ll give you a couple of movements that almost anyone can apply. A basic wall sit is great because if you can hold a wall sit, it crushes pelvic rotation if you do them regularly. Against a wall, your hips can’t be in that rotated position.

If you’re not in a position to tolerate a wall sit, or perhaps there would be some danger in coming up, or if you’re active and you have an acute injury, you can do essentially a wall sit lying on your back. Just invert it. Instead of doing a wall sit with your feet on the ground and your back against the wall, put your back on the ground, knees at a 90-degree angle, feet on the wall, and apply gentle pressure through your heels to flatten that low back and hold for 60 seconds or maybe a couple of minutes to get a similar effect to that wall sit.

If you add that in a few times a week, over time, it can help mitigate some of that pelvic rotation. You do that with what you’ve already likely heard, Diane, which is consistency with stretching the hamstrings and foam rolling. I’m even a bigger fan of foam rolling for hamstrings because it’s something you can do a little more frequently without overstretching those hamstrings.

 

Those would be the three things I would do. I would add wall sits and/or active back positions on the floor. I would foam roll, and then a consistent schedule of post-exercise passive hamstring stretching. Doing that a few times a week should help relieve the issue. Rotate your exercise so you don’t get an overuse injury, Diane.

Thank you so much for all of that. Until next time, where can people find you?

MetPro.co/tco.

Thank you.

—

The latest artists series will feature 2Pac. It’s the closest you’re ever going to get to a West Coast studio.

People have been asking for this one for years. I’m glad it’s finally happening. There are a lot of classes with this one so enjoy.

There should be. There are lots of content to go through with an artist like 2Pac. You don’t want to just bike, run, and be done. There’s so much with him.

True legend right there.

—

A while back, we told you about a lawsuit involving Tonal and one of their suppliers, Hon Hai Precision Industry. They were saying that they hadn’t been paid and that was problematic. That lawsuit is over. Presumably, they’ve been paid.

It’s all settled. In fact, it was completely dismissed and both sides agreed to dismiss. It’s not even a settlement. It was flat-out dismissed.

Everybody is good.

Congrats to everyone involved.

It’s nice to find a lawsuit with a happy ending.

We felt like Tonal was in a good place and headed in the right direction. This is another indicator of that.

If you have a Tonal or you’re interested in Tonal, the Superset, our Tonal podcast, is back. It’s like The Clip Out but for Tonal.

On that note, if you decide to buy a Tonal, you can get $100 off by using coupon code The Clip Out.

That’s a little something for you.

—

We have two past guest updates. One fun and one not so fun. We will start with the sad one.

You might remember Kristin Fleschner. She was a lovely guest that we had on. She ran the page called Zoe the Seeing Eye Dog. She was blind. She was so instrumental in educating people about all the things that need to happen for a blind person to be able to use Peloton or any equipment, and she was constantly advocating. She also had a lot of health issues. She had gone blind because of complications with other things like diabetes. She was a lovely lady.

She passed away way too young. Quite a fighter she was. She had multiple organ transplants that had occurred. She also has the distinction of being the only person that ever went to the Peloton studio with her seeing-eye dog and take a class. She’s a lovely guest. We will miss her greatly. I’m very sorry.

If you want to check out that episode, I believe it was episode 101 if you want to go back through the archives and listen to her and her story. On a much lighter note, CJ Albertson took his first post-Boston Marathon tread class and took it with Becs Gentry.

I don’t know if anybody at home is watching carefully. You have to look at the YouTube screen but in his little description. He says, “Treadmill shut off,” and then he is attempting to point upwards. CJ Albertson did not realize that one of the little finger emojis is a middle finger, not a pointy finger. He inadvertently lifts everybody up. I know it was inadvertent because he did another post right after this that was like, “I didn’t even know that was a thing. I’m so sorry.”

“Apparently, this is the middle finger and not the point-up emoji. I didn’t know there even was a middle finger emoji. That’s allowed?” Old age sneaks up on you, CJ, and this is how it happens with the kids, the emojis, and all the things. The next thing you know, you’re wearing pants up to your navel, except those are in style so maybe you’re wearing low-waist. I don’t even know anymore.

Socks with sandals. It was his first day back and he took his class with Becs. He said that Becs is the one that broke his treadmill. He got it working. It’s okay.

—

Speaking of Becs Gentry, I know it’s a celebrity sweeper but Ashton Kutcher gave her a very nice mention on the interwebs.

He took a class with her right after she came back from maternity. He welcomed her back to work in a very nice way.

—

Ben Alldis has a new program for you, Total Body 20.

It’s all strength. Twenty minutes, get in, get out. I love it. He’s doing these. They’ve been released and he is super excited about it. Take the program. Let him know what you think of it.

Earth Day celebration classes are on the app for those who want to celebrate Earth Day.

They had a walk. They also had a meditation in English. They also had two Spanish classes. I can’t remember the descriptions of those, but it’s very cool that they were celebrating those. One person did complain. It was a minor thing like, “How do they decide what gets a badge?” People didn’t get badges. I don’t know if that was a mistake or a glitch or what, but some people did not get badges for those. I’m curious to see if that gets rectified.

The Milestone collection is back in stock. If you have a milestone and you want to commemorate it with merchandise, you are in luck.

Let me make a suggestion. You should buy ahead. You should get the milestone you plan on reaching now. These have been out for a little bit. As far as I know, you got 500s and 1,000s. That’s all that is in there.

Kids with disabilities deserve to have everything they need in special education. Especially being taught life skills and community instruction on how to be independent adults. Click To Tweet

Give that item to someone you trust for them to hold until you reach the milestone like an accountability buddy.

They’re supposed to have 100s but somebody that looked for it couldn’t find it. I have no idea if they’re already out of stock.

Speaking of back in stock, the Saturday 60 stuff is back in stock. There are new Lanebreak levels.

There is Hip Hop 50 Volume 1. It’s a 20-minute level that has a bunch of artists from the hip-hop 50-year celebration. It’s quite a diverse selection here. I see Digital Underground, Trick Daddy, and The Sugarhill Gang. That’s right there. It’s very diverse. Also, there is the Discovery Dash Volume 3. This is a 15-minute level, and it features a bunch of stuff that you’ve never heard of. That’s why you’re discovering it. You dash through it and you discover things. I see what they did there.

Speaking of DJ John Michael, which we were even if you don’t realize it because he does all the remixes for Lanebreak, he has a remix/mashup out. That is the latest Miley Cyrus song Flowers combined with Gloria Gaynor’s, I Will Survive.

It doesn’t sound like it should work but it does work. As the kids say, “That slaps. It was a banger.”

Please don’t.

I feel like you’ll get mad at me like the kids do when I say, “Sass.” I was trying to be hip and trendy. It doesn’t look good on me.

We’re too old to do that.

I know. I tried.

—

We got two birthdays coming up. April 28 is John Foley’s birthday. You might remember him.

I do. Send him a happy birthday. He’ll appreciate it.

Coming up on April 30th is Chelsea Jackson Roberts’s birthday. Happy birthday to both of them.

Happy birthday, Dr. Roberts.

Wrapping up Autism Awareness Month, a few weeks ago, we spoke to Trisha. She had a daughter who has autism and loves to use Peloton in various modalities. Coming up next, we’re going to talk to Kristen Minutoli and she is that girl’s teacher, so stick around.

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Joining us via the magic of Zoom Tube is Kristen Minutoli. Kristen, how’s it going?

How are you guys?

We are good. How’s everything at the Peloton world in your house? Is everything smooth?

It’s going well. My husband is upstairs on the bike. I asked him to please use headphones, so we didn’t hear him. Hopefully, we won’t. This is his time on the bike right now. He’s up there. I’m down here. Kids are upstairs on their devices, so we shouldn’t hear them either.

You have some quiet time for Mom.

Everybody is on a device.

How long ago did you originally get your Peloton? What made you decide this was a good match for you?

I got my bike on the very first day of quarantine. The day that the gyms closed, I ordered it. I was lucky. I got it in the first week of April of 2020.

You were instantly like, “This is going to be a crap show. Get me a bike.”

I was like, “I can’t go to the gym for two weeks.” I was like, “I have always wanted to try this out. Maybe I will give it a try, and worst-case scenario I can sell it.” I went in thinking I’m going to use this for two weeks to a month. I thought it was going to be a short-term thing and I had always taken spin classes before that. I have been spinning for twenty years. I knew that I was a bike person. I told my husband, “I’m thinking about ordering it,” and then five minutes later I was like, “I ordered it.”

It sounds like this house.

Only with clothes. I am curious then, when you say you took spin classes for twenty years, where were you going?

I was going to local gyms. Pretty much everybody that I run into is like, “Are you that girl from spin class?” I went to every spin class at every gym throughout the years. I always like to workout early in the morning and were changing times when I got older and had different jobs and had my kids. I used to go at 6:00 AM but then 6:00 was too late, and then I started going somewhere else at 5:00, and then that was a little too early, and then I found somewhere that had a 5:30 class. I was always bouncing around from gym to gym and from class to class. Even now, people still thought that I run around town. They are always like, “I feel like I took a spin class with you.” I’m like, “You probably did.” I have always been a little bit of a spin junkie.

She’s like, “Does anyone have a spin class at 5:17 AM?”

That’s the time that my alarm is set right now.

That’s a little creepy.

That’s a little very specific.

It might be 5:18, but 5:15 is too early and 5:20 is too late. It’s always like right in there.

You are a planner.

You’re a project manager. You too will get along just fine.

 

I love that. Was that the only exercise that you did? Was it your focus is on spin, you love it, and that’s your exercise of choice?

That’s my exercise of choice. It has always been my favorite, but I dabble in it all. I lift a little bit here and there. I have been getting into weight training more often lately. I have been doing the splits programs. I’m somewhat of a runner. I have done one half-marathon, but I don’t think I need to do that again. I will try anything once.

You said your husband is using the bike right now. He was on board with the purchase after it was purchased.

He was not on board with the purchase until after about a year. He was like, “I got to do something. We are still here.”

He doesn’t like to admit that you are right is what I’m hearing.

Now, he is fully committed. He bought the tread for me the following Christmas. Now we have the bike and the tread. It was right after the plus was put on hold. We have the newer tread or the smaller one, but it’s better than no tread.

Your face says otherwise.

She wants the plus.

I do. One of my girlfriends has it. When I saw it, I was like, “That is a thing of beauty.”

It is. I not going to lie to you.

That was the face when you get the wrong Christmas present, but she’s trying to hold it together, “It’s fine. I love it.”

You could read me.

Your face is about as subtle as my face.

Crystal has a face that’s very loud.

Same. I have a hard time controlling my expressions.

Me too. I love that about people because you always know where you stand with them. You get the side eye and you get the stank face. You know you made them mad, but we can talk that out. We are the type of people that we can be like, “What did I do?” You then tell me and then it’s over. It’s done.

Exactly. We are all good.

I like that. I prefer that.

I think she’s leaving out a step in the process, which is we talk it out and then you are dead to me.

It depends. Tell us what you do for a living.

I am a special ed teacher. I have been doing that for 15 or 16 years. I took a lot of maternity leave, so I’m always not sure what years to count and what not to count. I took a full school year off and then I took a half a school year off.

I think you can count those. You were nurturing a child.

I was teaching somebody. I’m a special ed teacher. I’m in New Jersey, so this 2023 I moved to a high school program, which was different from what I have ever done before. It was nice because even though it wasn’t a full career change, it was a completely different thing than what I have ever done. I’m re-energized and loving being in a new position because after you do the same thing for so many years, you get to that point where you are like on autopilot. This 2023, I have spiced it up a little bit. I’m with older kids with more severe disabilities, but it’s challenging but they are so much fun and so much more rewarding than anything I have ever done.

How do you decide to go into a career field like that? It seems so challenging. As someone who has zero patience, it’s questionable if I should even be around my own children. It seems daunting to go into that field.

When I first got the job, I was 23, 24, or however old I was. I just wanted a day job. When it was a special ed position, I was like, “I will try it. I will see what it is and we will get my foot in the door,” and then I liked it. A lot of times, I was with kids who had dyslexia or a learning disability. It was nothing like what I’m doing now. It wasn’t as daunting. In 2022, my supervisor came to me and she asked me to come down to her office for a meeting and I was like, “What is going on?”

You do really good or really bad.

Was I sued or something? She had asked me if I wanted to work in this new program that they were starting next year. She explained it to me like the kids are very limited. They are cognitively impaired. They either have autism or Down syndrome and it’s more of a life skills program. I was like, “I don’t think I can do that.” She was like, “We think you have a good personality to match for it.” I also think nobody else wanted to do it.

I took some time and I thought about it. I went over to a different little building in the school because our high school and elementary school are right across the street from each other. I went over to the little building to see what it was all about because there was a program for postgraduate students because special ed students are able to be in public school until they are 21.

There was a program already for 18 to 21-year-olds, similar to the program they were going to be opening, which was for high school-age kids who were in the same category. I went over and I saw them, and I fell in love with the building, with the program, and with the kids. It’s so cool because part of it was a classroom and part of it was almost like a house with a kitchen, a laundry room, a bed, an ironing board, a vacuum, and all the things that you need. They are teaching these students to be independent adults because they are young adults now. It’s more life skills, community instruction, and work-based instruction. I was like, “It’s a change. It can be fun,” so here I am.

That seems incredibly fulfilling and also a little bit overwhelming from the standpoint of how you make a curriculum for that. It’s not cut and dry. For this person, they might need this and then over here, they might need this.

That’s what it is. On any given day, you can walk in and there’s one kid in the bathroom with a razor learning to be used to the sound of the electric razor. There’s another kid learning how to do the laundry, and then there’s someone else on the computer having a book read to them. It’s all different things and I only have five students, so it is easy to differentiate it that way. Each student has a one-on-one job coach because the students do jobs around campus and in the community as well.

Is this a public school program?

It is.

They are very lucky.

We have nothing like that in Missouri. That sounds cool. I love that there’s a place for them to learn and figure out how to be independent. As a parent, your whole job as being a parent is to get them to be self-sufficient. When you have all these things working against you as a child who has a disability of any kind, that’s much more pressure on the parent to get them all the way where they need to be.

Especially when they know mathematically that they are going to be around and you aren’t here to help anymore, and then who’s going to assist?

We teach them all sorts of things like cooking skills, cleaning up, and everything like that. I still do math and language arts with them in the morning, and then they do all of their life skills activities in the afternoon. Once they turn eighteen, then it’s all work skills and life skills.

It’s important to get into your own positive headspace before the day starts. Click To Tweet

Do they have to follow the same course study? What I mean by that is there are things that every child in every state has to complete before they graduate. Is that the same?

With this population, they don’t even take the state assessment. They do an alternate assessment. It’s already determined that these are the most challenged students, so they are not college bound. Being that they are not college bound, we don’t have to be tied to those certain courses. They don’t have to take Algebra. I do follow standards but they are different standards than the state standards, if that makes sense.

It makes total sense. I understand through our conversation offline that somehow Peloton got into your helping students. Tell us a little bit about that.

I’m Peloton obsessed. I have my Peloton stickers on my computer. I started this new job this 2023, and the first thing one of the girls in my class sees is my Peloton sticker. She was like, “You do Peloton. I love Matt Wilpers. I was like, “Cool.” Some of my students don’t even speak. It’s different. I have different levels of connection with each of them because I have a few students who are very verbal and very vocal, and they love to communicate, and then I have others who don’t.

It’s funny because the ones who do speak, I’m so thankful for them because they keep the conversation going. Also, I’m like, “You have to be quiet,” because they don’t give the other kids an opportunity. Those other kids’ vocabulary is so limited. It’s funny because it’s like a balancing act in the classroom. This one student was very interested in telling me about Peloton and about her mom, and how her mom does these races and these rides. Her mom is into Power Zone because she loves watching her mom ride to Matt Wilpers. I’m like, “Why aren’t you riding?” She’s like, “I don’t like that.” She’s like Tom.

I was going to say, “She sounds like me.” She’s starting to connect a lot of dots.

She’s sixteen so she’s big enough size-wise to be on the bike. I know her mom has been trying to get her on the bike. Every now and then, we would coax her to take rides where she would go on the tread and do a hike. Her mom would send me a picture of her doing a 10 or 15-minute hike, but that’s where she would max out because she’s not into working out so much.

I took an in-studio ride a few months ago. I told her, “Shay, I’m going to the studio tomorrow.” She was so excited. The way that it works out is you have to book your class at 12:00 on Thursdays. That is technically my lunch period, but she comes back from work because our sixteen-year-old students can go out to work. All the other students are doing their on-campus jobs. She comes back from work and her job coach goes out to lunch so she and I sit together and have lunch. It’s like, “I’m teaching but we are having lunch.” Sometimes I’m like, “Do you want to help me book a class?”

I have a new life skill to teach you.

That’s a pretty important skill. I’m not going to lie.

She has a bank of students booking classes before.

Could you imagine? That would be one way to get in. We are eating lunch and have a casual conversation. It’s not like it’s supposed to be math time or anything. Sometimes I will be online trying to book a class. I booked a class when I got in. Her mom later on that day or an hour later or whatever texted me. She was like, “Did you get into a class?” I was like, “I did. Shay was sitting right here with me and I got into a Tunde class.” Fast forward six weeks when I’m finally going to the studio, I told her the day before on a Friday, “I’m going to the studio. I’m doing a ride tomorrow. Maybe you can hop on the bike and watch me and you can give me a high-five.” Like before, she even knows what time it is. She goes, “I’m busy tomorrow.”

I was like, “You don’t even know what time it is.” She’s like, “I have swimming in the morning.” I was like, “Perfect because my ride is at 3:00. I will text all of the information to your mom and I expect to see you there.” Her mom asked her to log on and she did. It was the longest she has ever stayed on the bike. It was a 45-minute HIIT and Hills class.

My sixteen-year-old student with autism who is very headstrong and doesn’t like to do anything that she doesn’t want to do was able to stay on the bike for 30 minutes. She was so excited to see me because I got a spot right next to Tunde. She was high-fiving me the whole time and it was cool. Her mom finished up the last fifteen minutes for her because, after a half hour, she was done. It was a cool thing, and then the message I got from her mom made me cry. I got all emotional. She’s like, “It truly is more than a bike that goes nowhere. This is so great for her. She has never been on the bike this long.” It made me feel like I did something for her and it was a cool little bond that we had.

That’s wonderful. We have talked to her mom, and my understanding is you do some meditations in class with her as well.

That’s another thing that she never wants to do but knows that she needs to do. My students can always use some calm-down strategies. We encourage her to do meditation sometimes on her way to work so she doesn’t get there all wound up because she’s quite a talker, and she needs to take it down a few notches sometimes. On the cab ride to work, on a bus ride, or anytime she’s getting anxious, she will put on a five-minute meditation. That has been good for her too.

Do any of your other students have an interest? Have you tried using it with any of the other students?

I have used meditations in the past, not this 2023 so much because everybody is in different places all the time in the afternoon. They all go out to their jobs. The time that everybody is together is the time that is allotted for math and reading. I do have to stick to those subjects. Sometimes when I have time here and there, I can do other things with other kids. When I taught fourth grade, I would sometimes do the Fit Family thing with Jess Sims. They used to hate that. They thought it was so hard. I’m like, “This is ten minutes.”

Jess Sims is not easy.

She’s not, but it was ten minutes and it was geared toward kids. I remember it was like a listening game. They had to do jumping jacks every time they heard something and they get gas after the first three minutes.

It’s how you get a break. I see what’s going on.

Tom’s son, Brian, I have tried to get him to do things with me especially when he was younger. He wanted to be active more than he does now. When he would try to do things, we’d go for a run together. They just go all out. It’s like, “Go as fast as you can.” They don’t know how to pace themselves. When you are like, “It’s a listening game. Do this many jumping jacks,” they are probably going as fast as they can. They are going to get gas.

That is a way to get everybody in the classroom to stop talking after putting on one of those. Everybody sits.

All be like, “I need a minute. Give me a minute.” What jobs do the students tend to have?

On Mondays, there is a cafe that they run. Only two of my students are able to work at that now because they have to be sixteen and older. The older program, which is the CLI program, runs that cafe. That’s on Mondays and it’s open to the community for two hours in the morning from 9:00 to 11:00. Everybody has a different job there.

Sometimes when the weather gets nicer, we will walk down there. I don’t live there but the town that I teach in is very walkable. There’s a main street and so we will walk down to the cafe and support them and see our friends working. They do that on Mondays and then every day from 11:30 to 12:30, they do their in-school jobs.

We have therapy dogs in our school district. One student will walk the therapy dog. Another student will do the district mail run and bring the interoffice mail from building to building. Someone else will do shredding or office work. Someone works in the cafeteria and restocks the shelves of snacks. There are all different little on-campus jobs that they have.

That sounds like a very fancy public school district.

It sounds like it but trust me, it’s not.

You said that you have them do shredding. I was picturing them doing ’80s guitar.

No, but that would be cool. We do our fair share of dancing. We always put on those Just Dance videos and everything. That’s a favorite for personal fitness time.

You don’t love the Peloton dance cardio?

I don’t because it has to be through the TV. Maybe I could do it on YouTube.

It’s also hard. Those classes are hard. I am not coordinated enough to follow them well.

Neither am I. I feel like if it’s Peloton, I have to participate and then I don’t want to be the one dancing, but I should one day. They’d probably have a lot of fun with it.

You said that you have had the bike since 2020. Who do you think your favorite instructor is?

I know you are going to ask this, but I have so many. On the bike, I tend to do Robin, Alex, Kendall, and Tunde. Tunde is my girl. It’s the same thing on the tread. I do Robin, Jess Sims, and Alex. I was in the studio last time. I did Robin’s interval run. That was fun.

 

She lives close enough to be able to do that.

I do. I booked it and I thought it was a ride, and then I was like, “This is a run.” I was not planning on going. I was going to cancel it last minute, but I wanted to see what happened. My husband texted me on Thursday morning and was like, “I got on the waitlist for your run.” I was like, “All right.” I called my mom like, “If Jason gets into this run, can you watch the kids?” She said yes and then I was like, “I’m going.” We got in so we both went. That was a lot of fun.

You are so lucky to live that close and to be able to do that.

I worked a full day. I took a class trip with the kids to the mall. I taught them how to navigate a food court, and then he was outside of work. I hopped in the car and we went so it was nice. We were home in bed by 9:00.

You were probably exhausted.

I was like, “I have this interview.” It has been a very Peloton weekend.

It’s like that every weekend at our house. Hopefully, you saw the 15% off sale in the apparel boutique.

I did.

Anything catches your eye that you had to get?

I didn’t order anything yet. I put a couple of things in my cart. I do this all the time. I put the things in my cart and then I go to order it and they are like, “That’s out of stock,” and then it like magically reappears a few days later at a higher price. It always happens to me. One time, I emailed them and I was like, “The bra that I wanted was out of stock. Now I see that it’s back in stock and it’s $12 more expensive, but I already placed my order. Can you add it to my order and honor the old price?” They were like, “No.” I tried. Usually, their customer service is so good. I love that bra. Maybe this time. It was that one-shoulder one.

The purple one. I know exactly which one you are talking about. That is a cute bra.

I love the fact that you know instantly the item of clothing. She’s like, “The shoulder. The bra that touches your shoulders. That bra.”

She said one shoulder.

She’s like, “Catalog 319-A.”

I did some shopping.

I have no doubt and now I’m going to get a lecture. Thanks, Kristen. It’s about how if I wait to order it, it will be more money.

Did you hear that? I’m saving you money, Tom.

Sometimes they increase the price. It’s crazy.

This is like investments. This is like your 401(k).

It would be crazy not to buy it. Kristen gets it.

It’s funny because I was texting one of the girls that I work with. I was like, “There’s a 15% apparel sale. You have that class coming up. You might want to buy something.” I’m thinking, “We spend so much money not only on our bikes but then to purchase the credits to buy the class and to get into the classes.” I always buy 2 or 3 at a time in case I can click fast enough, and then see what happens. I click on runs when I need to click on the ride. I want to have a couple of classes to think about.

You don’t have time to think. You got to buy. Just go.

You then have to buy a new outfit. I’m like, “They are getting us here.”

They are. You are not wrong.

I’m throwing my money at them. They are doing something right.

What is your leaderboard name?

My leaderboard name is so boring. I should change it but I’m not going to. It’s just my name. It’s Kristen_Min. That was very simple. I get a lot of shoutouts.

I was thinking you probably get shout-outs because it’s easy to say. You don’t have to wonder if they are getting tricked into saying something dirty.

You don’t have eighteen numbers. You are not like a license plate. You got real letters in there.

It’s easy. It worked. It’s a little boring but I’m not the most excited person in the world. Maybe it fits my personality. I don’t know.

What would you say your why is to working out?

I have three little kids, so it’s my me time. I like to start every day with a workout to have that hour to myself to get grounded and get prepared for the day because you never know what’s coming. Whether it’s at home with my own kids or at school with my students, I like to get in my own positive head space before the day starts.

Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to join us. Before we let you go, let everybody know where they can find you if you would like to be found.

You could find me on the leaderboard. It’s Kristen_Min. I have Instagram and all that. I have 25 followers but my Instagram is also Kristen_Min, but I got a little bit more excited there and I did @Kris10_Min. That was initially my leaderboard name too but then I thought maybe it was confusing so I spelled it out.

For the teacher, for them to be able to give you the shout-out, that’s smart.

It worked.

Thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

 

We sure do.

Thank you so much for having me. This is so much fun, guys.

It has been a blast. Thank you again.

Thank you.

—

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, Twitter, and the Peloton leaderboard. You can also find me at Big Sur. Look for @ClipOutCrystal.

You can find me on Twitter @RogerQBert or on Facebook at Facebook.com/tomokeefe. You can find the show online on Facebook.com/TheClipOut. While you’re there, like the page and join the group. You can also find me at Big Sur. I will be standing there drinking a Coke Zero. That’s what I’ll be doing. That’s it for this one. Thanks for tuning in. Until next time, keep pedaling and running, and rowing.

 

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