How Peloton Inspired me to Create a Healthy Workout Habit
I began the day today as I do each day, on my Peloton bike, with my Peloton instructors and Latin music jamming in the background. This month’s theme is Hispanic Heritage. Creating this healthy workout habit wasn’t easy nor was it automatic. In order to do so, I knew that I needed to create a healthy workout “habit” that was addictive. Daily walks or rather mosey’s with my petite poodle was not exactly a work out, I needed to get my blood pumping and the oxygen flowing, no matter what!
I used to go to the gym, kind of, sort of, well sometimes. I tried the exercise classes, but that was based on someone else’s schedule. I tried to engage others in conversation while on the treadmill, half the time those turned into talks about how life is one big tragedy. I even debated hiring a personal trainer to be my muse, who would whisper extrinsic motivation to keep me inspired. Then COVID happened, the gym debate with myself was finally over.
So what’s a girl to do when her only activity was taking a mosey or two a day with her poodle? Nothing. Finally I had the ultimate excuse to be out of shape, eat an entire pizza — by myself, while downing a glass, okay a bottle, of red wine, whenever I wanted. This lifestyle choice went on for about 9 kilos or 20 pounds, until I no longer had clothes to wear that didn’t involve a four way stretch. The way I saw things, I had three choices.
One — just wear stretchy clothing and hope nobody notices. Two — buy new clothes and not look in the mirror of shame. Or three — walk my talk and use the power of the made-up mind! Make up my mind to get fit and healthy once more, no matter what. Thankfully I chose option three. I began with a reset of my mindset. I needed to align my mind, body and spirt with the same intention, the goal of a healthy workout habit.
I began by reading books on how our brain works, how habits are formed, both good and bad and the power of thought. Funny thing about our thoughts, turns out we have a choice. I get to choose to do whatever I want, whether good or bad for me. I finally understood that nothing was going to change, unless I did. I needed a muse to whisper in my ear, just like that personal trainer I envisioned in the gym. I needed to master the art of working out, first as an apprentice, so I could design my regime and then build gradually, baby steps, towards mastery. Not towards perfection but progress, a journey that would help me to level-up. Most of all, I needed to work on my self talk, my mindset, my mantra. I needed to commit — no matter what.
The day that truly turned my life around was when I purchased the Peloton bike. I wasn’t going to at first, it’s expensive. But so are the new clothes I was going to have to buy. Clothes that would have encased my extra poundage versus freeing me from my present self-image. Peloton has a fascinating system. To my pleasant surprise, it turned out to be much more than just spin classes. You name it, they have a class for that. From marathons to meditation, strength to stretching, even boxing and bootcamps.
There are pleasant surprises along the way. You can follow and friend fellow Peloton aficionados and add hashtags to your profile. You can join monthly challenges and earn badges, just like in elementary school when you got a gold star for a job well done. They even sent me a free shirt when I hit my first major milestone of 100 rides. I was now officially part of the Century club. It’s fun being a kid again!
Today I began my day with a live ride. Those are the best rides! Anyone who has a milestone, whether it be their first ride, hundredth ride or even a 1000+ rides, a birthday or is on a streak, has a kismet connection. Because we all have something in common — we all showed up for ourselves today. Imagine, 4197 people rode at the exact same time, to the exact same songs with the exact same instructor today. Do you feel that? It’s an amazing feeling. You also get to ‘high-five’ everyone and anyone, which adds a little sparkle to the ride. The best part of Peloton is actually the instructors, the music and different themes each month is a bonus. Both are diverse but the instructors make it personal.
It took some time to learn what worked for me and what didn’t. Which instructors I could relate to and programming my robot mind into an obsessive habit. I’m presently on a 51 week streak which is truly mind blowing, if I do say so myself. Someday’s it’s only 5 minutes and somedays it’s an hour, but I show up along with the thousands of other people who are addicted to Peloton. You are not alone at Peloton — ever!
Nothings perfect however. There are two things I wish Peloton would do, in order to help with the habit of health. One, send me a pop-up notification if I haven’t exercised yet that day, with a little message like “Got 5 minutes to take care of yourself?” Who doesn’t have 5 minutes? The second, would be to have live classes at the same time each day of the week. One of the best ways to create a habit, is to set up a schedule, on repeat until it’s rote.
Peloton has helped change my life and my healthy workout journey. Nothing was going to change until I did. Now, 51 weeks later, its automatic and frankly, bit of an obsession. You can choose to compete on the leaderboard with other members as well. I choose to compete only with myself and compare myself to who I was yesterday, not to who someone else is today. And on the days I just don’t feel like it, I simply tell myself:
“Exercise Because you Love your Body — No Matter What!”
If you want to follow me on Peloton my user name is FlourishM0M — spelling counts and I use the same profile picture you see here (it’s public) — I will follow you back on Peloton, send you high-fives and show-up, no matter what!
Want more ideas on setting up a healthy routine, check out this vid:
PS — The Hashtags are also fun! I belong to a few different #Peloton posse’s:
#PelotonMoms #PositivePelo #PelotonCanada #WorkingMomsOfPeloton #TheEhTeam #iamicaniwillido #yestoyoucrew and #PelotonNewbies — not sure I qualify for that one anymore!
PPS — I also changed my pizza and wine habit, but that’s another story…
