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The camera zooms in on two shapely cheeks wearing white shorts. in Buns of Steel Belong to Hudson Williams, Star of Steamy Hockey Romance heated rivalry. As the camera pans upward, a drop of sweat begins to drip down her chin toward her collarbone. Sweaty abs are shown. The music becomes cheerful. Currently, the Hollywood mega-hunk is rotating his chiseled figure back and forth, semi-rotating, on the Peloton treadmill. Trade Plus of $6,695 to be precise.
Take the example of a funky dance sequence set to David Bowie’s “Fame,” where Williams starts off doing dumbbell squats with popular Peloton instructor Tunde Onyenyin. The camera pans as Williams planks, shadow boxes, pumps iron, runs on a treadmill, and captures the effortless charm of the man he told you not to worry about.
Aha yes. Experienced Peloton observers know what this means. New celebrity ambassador ad? A renaming Getting going, baby.
It may seem strange to read Peloton’s tea leaves in an erotic ad. But I would argue that viral Peloton ads transcend specific eras in the company’s history. Four years ago, previous CEO Barry McCarthy tried to shift the company’s focus away from expensive hardware and toward subscriptions. For that era, the company put out an ad in which a surprisingly buff Christopher Meloni extolled the virtues of the app while working out….
Similarly, take that infamous holiday ad. it Was It was pretty disappointing to see a husband gift his wife an exercise bike in 2019, but the ad itself says a lot about how Peloton sees itself — a company for internet-savvy, young, affluent people who see a premium exercise bike in their ideal West Elm homes as a status symbol. Peloton’s pandemic-induced fever dream was followed by a wild, bumpy ride of skyrocketing demand, business mistakes, recalls, and questionable product placement, culminating in the premiere when Mr. Big died on his Peloton. And just like that…. Then, that was followed by a cheeky Peloton ad starring Chris Noth, the actor who plays Mr. Big. That 2021 campaign backfired, as Noth was later canceled due to sexual harassment claims. A few weeks later, Peloton’s hawkish CEO John Foley stepped down.
Given that history, it’s worth noting that in the latest Williams ad, the Peloton bike is nowhere to be seen. Williams has been doing a variety of workouts instead, and importantly, she is not in a well-equipped home. He is in a huge gym.
Beat for beat, it all matches the business machinations of Peloton’s third CEO, Peter Stern, a former Ford executive and one of the co-founders of Apple Fitness Plus. Stern’s arrival coincides with a sweeping hardware refresh that increased fees and introduced AI — or Peloton IQ, as they call it — to the Peloton platform. (Plus two layoffs, although at this point, I’ve lost count of how many layoffs Peloton has made.) In the earnings call, Stern also said he no longer sees Peloton as a fitness company. this is one welfare The company now, and in their words, means expanding into “strength, stress management, sleep and nutrition.” a fresh bloomberg The report says Peloton IQ could play a bigger role in the platform beyond strength training, using wearable data to suggest personalized plans. It also notes that Stern plans to appeal to GLP-1 users “looking for additional fitness options” by partnering with gym and lifestyle brands to take Peloton out of the home and make treadmills – not bikes – a priority going forward.
coincidence? I don’t think so.
I used to joke that Peloton was the only company that could send me to an early grave. From 2020 to 2023, it felt like there was a new Peloton debacle every few weeks. Whenever news broke, my blood pressure would rise because I was amazed at how the company kept shooting itself in the foot when it had such a solid product and a ridiculously loyal fan base. Things have calmed down considerably since then, but the struggle to propel Peloton continues.
The Peloton paradox is one I’ve been pondering for the past three months while testing the new cross training series ‘Bike Plus’. On one hand, not much has changed about the product. The “Efficient” bike seat still hurts my butt during long rides. The trainers are still inhumanly excited. I like the new phone stand, and the built-in fan is even more useful. Now I have a camera with me when I do strength training workouts; Sometimes it counts my reps properly, and sometimes not. I’ve tried some AI-generated strength programs, and it can be useful sometimes. But for all the commotion surrounding the Peloton IQ, the thing I like most of There’s a little indicator above the new workout that tells me if it’s harder, the same, or easier than what I usually do.
This structural glitch is not unique to Peloton. I wrote about it last week adapterBut these days there’s a tendency for health tech companies (if Peloton is anything like that now) to look to broader wellness trends to inform their latest features and products. There’s nothing wrong with studying trends, especially if it aligns with your core business. The danger is when you get caught in an increasing hype cycle in which the product you started with becomes increasingly unrecognizable within a few years.
Despite all its turmoil, Peloton has still, at its core, remained the same. But I admit, some of my experiences testing the Cross Training Bike Plus, combined with the information bloomberg The article made me roll my eyes.
For one, I have been prescribed GLP-1 as part of a treatment plan for my metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, which I reported on in my recent CGM feature. on paper, bloombergThe claim that Peloton is keen to target GLP-1 users makes perfect sense. That market is booming, so everyone in the wellness and fitness-related industries is doing the same — including viral gummy bears. Strength training is extremely important for GLP-1 users, as suppressing appetite for long periods of time can lead to muscle loss. Marketing yourself as an easy way to get strength training in the comfort of your own home is smart, because the gym can be incredibly intimidating. I, for one thing, don’t like to compete for weight or equipment.
But I’m highly skeptical about the reality of “personalized” plans built with wearable data and AI. In all my testing so far, I have yet to find an AI-wearable combo that is truly able to personalize a platform to my specific needs.
Let me be very clear: this is complete nonsense. AI coaching? Terrible for accountability because they are very easily bullied. AI nutrition features? Can’t tell when I’ve made a healthy swap, and they make logging off so hard I won’t eat. (Which one is counterproductive!) AI Workout Insights? Reproduced book reports of things I already know. Peloton hasn’t included all of these features yet, but they Are Stern himself has indicated these are areas the company is considering further. Peloton IQ instructor-less, fully AI-generated strength plans are quickly created for what’s currently available, but often fall short of what I need and what my current health allows. Usually I have to juggle a lot of activities, making me wonder why I didn’t just write my own schedule or take a class in the beginning.
For me, true fitness personalization would be the ability to say, “Hey, I recently started these medications and experienced XYZ side effects. I’m afraid what I’ve lost is muscle mass. My ultimate goal is to get back to running at least a 5K. In the past, I trained for a half-marathon, but now I start feeling nauseous after a one-mile walk-run. I run five a week, with a mix of endurance running and strength. Used to workout six days a week, and try to do strength training at least once a week. Here’s my wearable data, in which you can see how my cardiovascular fitness has deteriorated and my sleep has been severely disrupted. What’s a realistic, sustainable, and adaptable four-week plan for me? My new medications have left me chronically dehydrated and dizzy. And get a plan.
Spoiler: I couldn’t find a good answer to this. Most wearable and fitness AI chatbots responding to this prompt have followed the same trend. OK-ish recovery plans that I would have to write manually, full of recalcitrant data trends and some basic tips that I could google. Strength recommendations were summarized as “light strength workout.” Whoop’s AI was the closest to a real, structured plan, but it was still too ambitious for where I am now.
i would love peloton No To fall into this modern rabbit hole. Precisely because I benefited from testing Bike Plus several times over the past three months. However, this was not a new feature. It was the ability to have classes and some instructor-led motivation in the privacy of my own home. I guess Peloton is looking for gyms to attract new users. I think treadmills are a faster growing segment than bikes. But Peloton’s core product is how these classes and instructors make people feel. That’s the primary reason a dozen of Peloton’s die-hard fans shared with me when I created an in-depth report on Peloton’s business in 2024.
Ultimately, I don’t know how this latest Peloton pivot will land. I stopped trying to predict company fortunes a long time ago. But in the time I’ve been following Peloton, its biggest successes have come from paying attention to what people already love about it. The pressure to be bigger, to grow faster and to do more is constantly reflected on his face. Would it really be so bad if Peloton Were “Just” a fitness company?
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