PART 11

STRENGTH TRAINING AND YOGA

PELO TIP 76: NAVIGATING STRENGTH CLASSES

As you progress as a rider, you will almost certainly want to build up your core strength and your endurance. The strength skills classes on the Peloton app are an excellent way to do this.

Let’s explore accessing resources that can help you do this. On your home page, start by tapping on “Strength.” Then tap on the filter tab, followed by class type. There you will see six choices: lower body, upper body, bodyweight, core, full-body, and strength skills.

The duration of these classes can be as short as five minutes, or as long as thirty minutes. As always, I recommend that you start with an easy five-minute class with one of your favorite instructors. Many of the exercises you’ll encounter will already be familiar to you. They will include planks, crunches, obliques, cat cows, bird dogs, forward lunges, squats, and bridges. Some exercises will require dumbbells. (They are recommended at no more than five pounds, but the choice of what to use is ultimately yours.)

I expect you’ll have a positive experience with an instructor like Rebecca Kennedy, who believes in an “I do/you do” philosophy. You watch her do an exercise first, and then you follow along. It’s easy and fun. Learning the basics and fundamentals will help you derive the optimal effects and avoid hurting yourself.

Even if you already think you know what you are doing, I highly recommend the “Intro to Pushups” class; it will have you doubting what you learned in childhood gym classes and open up a whole new world of getting stronger!

As studies have shown—and as I hope I’ve already made clear—there are varying opinions with regard to using dumbbells while cycling. My own preference is not to use them. However, this does not mean I can’t work on my upper torso when I’m off the bike! Peloton offers some excellent classes that you can do on a mat. Personally, I like the bicep curl exercises. It is a great way to add to your strength routine. I highly recommend that you start with light weights—two-pound dumbbells perhaps—until you build up to heavier ones. Always start on the lower end and work your way up. Your muscles will thank you. The classes will use different tempos and rotations, and, in a very short time, you will start to see an improvement in the shape of your upper arms!

PELO TIP 77: CHOOSING YOUR CLASSES

With thousands of classes to choose from, it can feel difficult to know where to start. The titles of classes are pretty self-explanatory, but there can still be multiple classes with the same name. Using the filters can really help you narrow down the selections to fit your fitness goals and can match your current mood. Do you only have a few minutes, or is it a day in which you have more time to spend on your workout? Have you worked out with the instructor before? What kind of music do you want to listen to? All of this can inform your choices.

Here’s one more thing I do before making my final selection: I click on the tab and, before I tap “Start,” I look at the rating of the class, the number of ratings it has received, and the level of difficulty. It helps to have these parameters, and they can push you to get over your indecision and have confidence that you’re making a good choice!

PELO TIP 78: A CLASS FOR YOUR LOWER BACK

With all this riding and concentration on legs, core, and arm muscles, it can be easy to forget about your lower back. But you neglect this at your own peril. Peloton offers some solid classes to help you avoid injuries to your back. As an example, you might want to take Cody Rigsby’s “5 Minute Lower Back,” located under the “Strength” tab. All you need is a mat, sneakers, and maybe a towel to protect your body against hard floors. If you feel aspects of the workout are too difficult at first, you can modify until you build up to it. It’s a great way to build your strength one step at a time.

PELO TIP 79: YOGA CLASSES

When people complain to me about the price of an annual subscription to Peloton, I generally only have to ask them what they are paying for gym memberships, personal trainers, and yoga classes—and those conversations usually come to an end! I’m well aware that one loses the immediacy of a live instructor when using the Peloton app, but I’m also very appreciative of the fact that I can replay a difficult position or movement in the comfort of my own home. I can also take the class as often as I wish without any additional charges.

Personally, I’ll confess that I approached the yoga classes with some trepidation, and in a way that I hadn’t for simple classes in stretching or cycling. For starters, there are those foundational poses that take a lot of practice in order to align, strengthen, and promote flexibility in the body. Add to that the breathing techniques and the meditation aspects that are integrated into the exercise, and I was dubious that the Peloton folks could get me to a place where my body and mind could be trained to become aware of my surroundings and nature and reach a higher consciousness. But I need not have worried!

The first thing I found upon jumping in is that the yoga instructors—like Kristin McGee, Aditi Shah, Ross Rayburn, Colleen Saidman Yee, and Anna Greenberg—were not the usual teachers I encountered in my rides or other exercises. Only Denis Morton was familiar to me. It was a whole new world, with instructors who were tailored to it. Also, I noticed that Peloton offers the usual five minutes as the basic beginner class but has options that go all the way up to seventy-five minutes.

I would recommend that you start with a five- or ten-minute Basics class for beginners. There are plenty to choose from, and they have names like Cobra, Chair Pose, Tree, Warrior, Half Moon, Locust, Triangle, Upward Facing Dog, Supine Spinal Twist, and Standing Straddle Fold.

As you become more adept, you should try the other class types like Yoga Flow, Restorative Yoga, Power Yoga, and Yoga Anywhere. For those who are pregnant, there are the Pre- and Postnatal Yoga classes.

On the Peloton Yoga app, you can filter for beginner, intermediate, and advanced, as well as the customary new, trending, popular, top-rated, easiest, and hardest tabs.

As it was for me, I think that your exploration of Peloton’s yoga offerings can offer a pleasant surprise!

PELO TIP 80: YOGA AND BREATH

It can be difficult to know where to start when looking at the depth and breadth of the yoga offerings. While there is technically no right or wrong selection, a very good tutorial for the newbie would be something called “5 Minute Basics: Yoga & The Breath.” This class, which is highly rated and given a low difficulty score by other users, is taught by Aditi Shah.

In addition to a mat, it is suggested that you have a yoga blanket for this class, and, if you don’t have that, you can bring a towel. From the very beginning of this class, you will be thinking of breathing and your movement, inhaling and exhaling.

The ultimate goal of this exercise is to help us reach a balance that allows us to, as Aditi puts it, “relax and calm down, rest and digest.”

I can’t put it any better than that!

PELO TIP 81: VINYASA-STYLE YOGA CLASSES

A highly rated, but more difficult, class that can help you develop strength and flexibility is Ross Rayburn’s “75 Minute Yoga Flow.” If you have taken active Vinyasa classes before, then you know what is in store for you. Note that while it is an intermediate class and the length is seventy-five minutes, you are urged not to overdo it and take a break if it gets too intense. In addition to a towel, you are asked to bring Styrofoam blocks. There is a warm-up period that limbers you up before you get to the more intense parts of the class. Things will move more quickly, even the music. You definitely should work your way up to this one, but I strongly recommend it as a window into this style of yoga.

PELO TIP 82: YOGA AND PREGNANCY

What is especially nice about the yoga exercises for pre- and postpregnancy is that Peloton has designed classes for the different stages of a person’s journey to child bearing: first, second, and third trimester, as well as postpregnancy. The exercises are slower-paced and demonstrate modifications more appropriate for those expecting.

It is recommended that you check out the Yoga Basics library if you think these classes might be right for you. In this library, you will find short tutorials on prenatal modification for each trimester. Throughout the catalog, you will be encouraged to do whatever feels comfortable for you: using an extra towel or block to sit on, drinking water, and stopping to rest or use the restroom. The yoga practice here encourages developing strength in your body but also encourages you to rest when you need it. Exercises you do in other classes are greatly modified so you can expand the uterus in a nice way without overstretching things and keep you and the baby safe. The postnatal yoga flow class is designed for those returning to their yoga practice after pregnancy.

It is generally recommended that you wait four to six weeks after giving birth until you get back on the mat. Please always consult your doctor before doing any exercise.

PELO TIP 83: DOUBLE YOUR YOGA FUN

Another intermediate Vinyasa-style yoga class has Ross Rayburn and Kristin McGee teaming up to teach one class. The variety of teaching styles and alternating voices and exercises is a nice touch. If you want a yoga class with more variety, my tip is for you to check this one, “Two for One,” out!