So my wife and I need to start working out. My wife has a bad knee and I have an impinged nerve in my back that is okay for a while when I get a spinal injection.

I used to have a bedroom as a dedicated workout room decked out with a lot of equipment but we sold it all when we were about to move, and then COVID hit and moving is significantly delayed.

We need to get something that will be good for both of us and will be good for cardio and losing weight. I have not looked into the Peloton yet but for some reason that is what my wife wants. I am curious if anyone owns a Peloton, their opinion of it, or any suggestion on anything that might be better.

The Peloton bike itself is a waste of money.
Get yourself any studio bike and then get the Peloton App. The stand alone app is $12.99 compared to the $39 a month if you have their equipment.
The only difference is the stand alone app does not send your metrics to the scoreboard thingy.

Wife uses the stand alone app with her studio bike, treadmill, boxing, and weights.
We also have a Water Rower and hopefully Peloton will add rowing classes soon as they have been rumoring.

We access the app on an AmazonFire TV in the workout room.
Wife loves the Peloton App but agrees it would not be worth $39 an month and the over inflated cost of the Peloton bike.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
The Peloton bike itself is a waste of money.
Get yourself any studio bike and then get the Peloton App. The stand alone app is $12.99 compared to the $39 a month if you have their equipment.
The only difference is the stand alone app does not send your metrics to the scoreboard thingy.

Wife uses the stand alone app with her studio bike, treadmill, boxing, and weights.
We also have a Water Rower and hopefully Peloton will add rowing classes soon as they have been rumoring.

We access the app on an AmazonFire TV in the workout room.
Wife loves the Peloton App but agrees it would not be worth $39 an month and the over inflated cost of the Peloton bike.

Thanks for feedback. This is stuff I need to know.

I will disagree. I have a Peloton and am very happy with it.

I also have a Peloton and love it. There is something to be said about saving money but, being somewhat competitive, I like to compare my stats to other riders.

Used to do a lot of spin classes (like 4x per week for 5 yrs) and grew to really like the Keiser M3 that my gym had.

https://www.keiser.com/fitness...ining/m3-indoor-bike

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
The Peloton bike itself is a waste of money.<SNIP>

That’s a pretty bold statement. I’ve had mine for years and literally quit the gym because it easily outperformed the spin type bikes that Life Time was providing.

Another Peloton owner/user here.

Enjoying it much more than I expected to.

60 weeks straight, of at least once a week & over 1k miles on it.

Between May 2021 and January 2022 I rode over 4250 miles/600+ rides on my Peloton as part of my routine to successfully lose 150 pounds over the past year. The current price for the base Peloton bike is $1345 (delivered) in addition to that the Peloton subscription is a little over $40/month after taxes.

In September last year I added a ProForm Rowing Machine from Costco ($399) which included a 1 year family iFit Membership/subscription.

In December of last year I added a ProForm Carbon E7 Elliptical that was “free” with purchase of a 3-year iFit subscription ($1400)

In January, I sold my Peloton bike and purchased a NordicTrack Studio 10i bike from Costco.com (currently $999) which included a 1 year family iFit Membership/subscription. the reason I did this was it made no sense to me to be paying $40/mo for the Peloton subscription when I had iFit prepaid for 4 years. iFit includes cycling as well so by swapping my Peloton for a NordicTrack bike I save $40/month.

As of today I have 336 iFit workouts this year (averaging over 5 a day) most of them (probably 70% or so) are on the bike. I have worked out at least once, every day, continuously since June 18th 2021 and am on a 55 week streak of working out at least once a week.


Spoiler - Having done both Peloton and NT for cycling, I would recommend NT over Peloton. I find it more interactive, more personalized, and more motivating. IF you want to know why, continue reading.


Having experience with BOTH Peloton and NordicTrack here is my feed back:

HARDWARE - Bike to bike comparison

Peloton definitely has the “nicer” screen. 22” on the base model compared to the 10” on my NordicTrack, although you can get NT with larger screen if you want to pay more. The bike is the same, just a larger display. Peloton is more responsive to touch as well. Sometimes the NT has to be tapped twice before it will respond. Fonts, filters, etc. are a bit more “refined” looking on the Peloton but the NT (iFit) is perfectly usable.

If the Peloton bike is 5-star quality build wise, I would say the NT is 4.5. The NT has more plastic parts/panels and there are some occasion creaks and such noises while riding that Peloton did not have. Nothing overwhelming, just something I noticed going from one to the other. I find they can usually be silenced by adjusting how I am sitting.

Where the NT bike excels over the Peloton is that the bike automatically adjusts resistance with the workout. No manual turning of a knob to try and set the resistance you are looking for. Additionally on the NT you have a +/- push button control on the right handlebar to adjust resistance and also “quick” set buttons on the right side of the display for quickly selecting 4,6,8,10,12,16, etc resistance settings.

While the Peloton resistance varies from 1-100 (%) the NT goes from 0-22 (levels). NT bike adds an ADDITIONAL component to the resistance equation - INCLINE. Along with resistance, the NT bike has a range of -10 to +20 degree of incline. This is also automatically controlled by the chosen workout and can also be overridden/manually adjusted just like the resistance with +/- on the left handlebar and quick set buttons on the left side of the display.

I was initially concerned that tilting the riding position up or down would have little impact without having an actual hill but the bike manipulates pedal pressure based on the incline to simulate the perceived impact of going up or downhill. Resistance of 15 at 0 incline is considerably different than 15 resistance with 10 degree incline. With some effort I can sustain a cadence of 55-60 at the max 22 resistance on “level” ground for a considerable time. Add in 15 degrees of incline and best I can force out is about 40-45 cadence at a resistance of 14. incline is not the gimmick I thought it would be, it definitely adds a dimension to training that Peloton can’t match.

As far as the actual ride “feel”, the two are equal as far as pedal smoothness and sturdiness are concerned. both are “Silent Magnetic resistance” with a heavy flywheel that spins smoothly and predictably.



SOFTWARE - Peloton App vs. iFit App

The Peloton app is a bit more polished experience as well, I notice the difference between it and iFit, but to be honest if I had no Peloton experience, I wouldn’t consider the iFit app to be “inferior” or lacking. In some ways it does things better than Peloton such as how you can filters when searching for workouts and such.

Peloton is geared mostly towards providing an indoor “spin class” experience. The instructor chooses the playlist and coaches you through the workout telling you to adjust cadence and resistance accordingly. The only thing you see is the instructor at the front of the room.
Peloton has a lot of “live rides” with a leaderboard to show how you rank with others. You can also do the classes “on demand” by replaying a previously recorded class. I did over 600 Peloton rides, but NEVER did a single live class. There is a benefit to the on-demand replays - it shows you the cadence/resistance goals on screen - during a live class that info isn’t available and you have to listen for when the instructor calls it out.

Peloton does offer a limited number of “outdoor” rides which is essentially a GoPro helmet view recording of someone riding an outdoor route, again with a predefined sound track. You are free to decide and set the cadence/resistance on your own. Don’t like the music? Turn the volume down and use a second audio source. I prefer the outdoor rides, and half or more of my Peloton rides were the outdoor ones. With a limited number to choose from (75 or so maybe?) I did a lot of them over, and over, and over. Deja Vu anyone?



iFit separates the music from the workout. You can select from 8-10 different music genres to play and adjust the music/trainer level to your preference. As I noted above, the workout controls resistance and incline no need to worry about missing what the instructor calls out.

Of course iFit also has studio “spin class” type rides that can be done on demand and a fewer number of live options. I can’t offer much about them as I have yet to do a single one of the Studio or live rides since my preference is outdoor rides. The outdoor stuff is where iFit really shines, iFit has HUNDREDS, maybe THOUSANDS of outdoor rides and they are truly “interactive”.

You are riding with a trainer/coach and most of the time you are in a chase-plane position with the coach ahead of you. Occasionally the coach will wave you ahead to take the lead for a bit before returning to the follow position. While it is still mostly helmet-view GoPro perspective, they add in overviews of route progress and drone shots as you go through the terrain as well as panning shots of the landscape. During the entire ride the trainer is coaching you along, encouraging you letting you know what is coming up next and usually doing a pretty good job giving info about the area, etc.

Another neat thing about iFit is that while any ride can standalone, they also have a number of ride “series” that build on each other to train to a specific goal. Interval workout on one ride, followed by and endurance ride, then a recovery ride, etc. I did a “Couch to 40K” series that was three 12 ride sets. The idea was to take someone just starting out and provide a training program that would prepare them to do a “real” 24 mile bike ride in 10-12 weeks (assuming 3-4 rides a week). Oh, and iFit takes yo all over the WORLD in it’s rides.

The first set of Couch to 40K was in Arizona. The second set was in Utah. The final set was Iceland. BEAUTIFUL scenery and photography. I’ve also ridden routes in japan, Hawaii, Peru, Tahiti, Norway, Turkey, BVI, and more. This isn’t just the biking workouts, iFit does the same thing with it’s rowing, elliptical, and treadmill workouts. The level of interaction on iFit workouts means I look forward to working out far more than I ever did with the Peloton. Seen the world and never leave your house!


Bottom line - I think iFit provides the better experience, more variety, and interaction. With the availability of more types of equipment (Bike, Treadmill, Elliptical, Rower, and Mirror) vs Peloton (Bike, Treadmill, Mirror) all using the same app, and ProForm/NordicTrack equipment generally costing less (and having multiple models in most disciplines) my opinion is that iFit offers the better value.

After reading the posts that were made while I was typing mine I’ll add this…


Yes there are cheaper options. What it comes down to is how “polished” of an experience you are are looking for. The iFit family subscription is good for up to 5 users.

Here is my “total cost” for 78 months (estimated - see note below) years of iFit using bike, rower, and elliptical:

Rower $400 (Costco with 1 yr subscription)
Elliptical $1400 (Free elliptical with 3 yr subscription)
Bike $1200 (Costco.com with 1 yr subscription - price has now dropped to $1000)

$3000 (+taxes) total out of pocket or less than $39/mo including the equipment VS. $40/month for Peloton PLUS the cost of Bike and any other equipment of theirs.

*Note - iFit gives you a month free with equipment purchase. After 200 workouts in a year they also give you a month free. After 400 workouts in a year they give you a $100 iFit store credit. I am not quite there yet so I don’t know if there are any restrictions on how you spend it, but I would assume you can apply it extend membership if you want. 60 months of subscription, 3 months free with equipment, 1 month free each year for 5 years, $400 credit over 4 years covers 10 months (assuming I hit 400 workouts a year - piece of cake) - so should have 78 months of subscription without any more out of pocket costs.

Peloton bike ($1345) and 78 months subscription ($3120) works out to $4465, almost 50% more and you ONLY have the bike - no rower or elliptical.


iFit has a “Leaderboard” feature as well, though not as polished as Pelotons. Not a big deal to me, I am more concerned with beating my previous goals than chasing others.

Overall, I think iFit provides more data than Peloton if you are seriously into the numbers. Peloton ride gives you Cadence, Speed, Resistance, Power (current/avg), Distance, Heart Rate.

iFit provides all that and adds Calorie/hr estimate in real time, estimated total calorie burn for the workout as you progress through it, elevation gain/loss. Also computes “Normalized Power” after the ride.

I have a WaterRower. It is unbelievable. Great workout and no pain in any of my joints that I have abused over the last 52 years.

www.waterrower.com

Can't comment on the Peloton.

There is connected fitness with the WaterRower. I don't have it but a close friend does and loves it. www.ergatta.com

I'm biased, b/c I like to ride bicycles outdoors as opposed to bicycling simulators. To me, spending $1345 on a stationary spin bike is like spending $1345 on an airsoft gun.

If you ride in the real world and want to compare yourself against others, there are apps such as Strava to do so.

quote:

Originally posted by iron chef:
I'm biased, b/c I like to ride bicycles outdoors as opposed to bicycling simulators. To me, spending $1345 on a stationary spin bike is like spending $1345 on an airsoft gun.

If you ride in the real world and want to compare yourself against others, there are apps such as Strava to do so.

I LOVE to ride “real” bikes too. In fact riding the Peloton convinced me to buy not one, but two of them.

Problem is in western WA outdoor riding opportunities are severely limited by weather. You can really only count on 4-5 months of weather that would allow unlimited (almost) opportunities to ride.

Heck, a real bike ride is damn near a day off for me. Fewer calories burned per hour and even get to coast occasionally. I can get fresh air and a breeze by opening the window and turning on a fan.

Let me toss out something to consider:

When was the last time you actively and regularly rode a bicycle? How strong is your core? How far beyond average build are you?

Here's why I ask. Sure, "it's like riding a bike," you'll know how but if the last time you were regularly pedalling was years or decades ago your backside is in for a rude awakening on the bicycle seat. Add in some or many extra pounds and a weak core and you'll likely be miserable.

So, in September, I broke my leg requiring a tibial nail and screws in my calcaneus. Recovery wise, I am just now getting back to "normal." I actually have a bit more flexibility and mobility than prior to break due to the physical therapy routine. One of the therapy tools was a stationary recumbent bike. So, benefits of cardio are there. A bit less wear and tear on the knees is there and by golly that big ole seat was just what my pampered ass needed.

Be realistic in your goals, where you are now and the time it will take to reach your desires. You didn't wake up a week or a month ago out of shape. It took time. Reversal should be similar in the process. Yo-yo diets won't help. The habits have to change.

What I have learned since September is, I am not as ready as I wanted to be. Loss of muscle doesn't take long. Putting it back without causing undue pain or other issues takes a bit of time.

I stumbled across a young man from Arkansas that has a calisthenics routine anyone can do because he builds it up based upon ability. Can't do a push up, try a knee up. That's too much try inclined push ups. Still to much, use the wall. Over time with consistence, the push ups will return. Check out Hamilton at Hybrid Calisthenics. His site is a bit painful due to trying to keep the content free, but the message is good.

After about two weeks the dread of movement turns into a desire. Be consistent. The days of no pain no gain have been shown to be incorrect. Plan your path then work your plan. There is a wealth of information available.

I also think the AGT (knees over toes guy) message is a good one. Strengthen those knees and other things are less of an issue.

Best of success on your journey.

^^^^^^^^^^^^
Thanks that site is great.

He wants his content to remain free so his site has too many adds buuuutttt.... His message is good, and he is encouraging. Watch some of his content on YouTube and you'll be hooked. Good vibes.

Also realize I am coming at this as a 50 year old dude that has been in a sedentary work role for 10 or more years. So, my answer isn't for the 20 or 30 something's, it's for those with a few more laps around the sun learning it's time to focus on the long haul and future obstacles.

Here's a better start on that site as it is his routine.

Look at the Total Gym.....the one that Chuck Norris advertises. I've had one for 15 years and try and use it every other day. You can work every muscle group in your body and adjustable for you and your wife. Best health investment I've ever made.

I don't have/use a Peloton but I do use the Concept2 brand Rower and their Skierg. Rower for the workout with both knees replaced, no pain or issues, and the Skierg is great for upper body and cardio workout.

I appreciate all the feedback so far. I have I lot to think about and look into.

Peloton also just announced recently a new entry method.

I don't know the fee/cost, but for a bundled monthly fee you get the app subscription & the bike.
If you decide you're done, cancel & they'll come pick up the bike.

I own mine & enjoy it, to the extent I haven't been on my outdoor bikes in a long time. I really enjoy road cycling, but the ease of just jumping on the Peloton during my lunch break makes it get most of my time, especially with an 18 mo old asleep upstairs.