How the Peloton changed my life… and I’m not talking about weight loss

I got emotional in the middle of my Peloton ride—and it’s not my first time that’s happened. 

(20 min country ride with Ally Love aired 10/3/21 if you want to hop on and ride this one)

Has this happened to you?

Like sweating my butt off, breathless and a tear or two falling down my cheeks. Sounds ridiculous I know… but here is the thing. These past 4 months the Peloton has provided a few life-giving components to me that have been missing. 

I’ve talked about why and how I make time to work out, and I’ve also talked about how obsessed I am with Ally Love. The other day, my husband asked me what it was about her workouts that make me love her so much.

I told him her workouts are not only a physical (ahem, butt-kicker) workout, but she also challenges my mindset and my outlook for the day. When I get off the bike, my body isn’t the only thing that was challenged. My brain and mental state was stretched and strengthened too. 

Here’s how the Peleton (and Ally Love) provides this workin’ mom of three exactly what she needs:

1. Time for me: In this season of life, doing things for myself (taking care of myself) looks like jumping on my bike for 30 minutes while Tripp is napping and Braedy (and Jax if she isn’t at school) is watching a show. The 30 minutes where I get to “check out” without loading anybody up in the car, calling over a babysitter, or spending unnecessary money in the name of self care. And yes, this completes the stress cycle I learned about in my self-care class!
2. Competition:  I’ve been an athlete all my life. Post high school sports I played intramurals in college and then started cross fitting with Jonny right after we got married. Since Jaxlee was born, I haven’t been apart of any regular physical competition until now. Sure, I have worked out and been in shape but it has consisted of running and doing workout videos on my own.  I am fueled by seeing my stats rise and fall on the leaderboard and the person right above me is always my Target Rabbit to beat. I also fight to hit that Personal Record when I’m close to one. Having the healthy dose of physical competition has brought back the feeling I didn’t realize I missed.
3. Accountability: I feel so accomplished (hello Enneagram 3) when I look at my Peloton app and see all the days highlighted that I have worked out. I have made a goal to use my Peloton at least 3x a week. I’m up to 100 workouts total and something about seeing the number increase (without me having to keep track) drives me to keep going. The badges and milestones they celebrate are motivating too. 
4. Community: I might still be a few years away from stepping back into a gym setting but with the peloton I can still workout with people and even friends. Peloton has done a great job cultivating community and making you feel like you are a part of something greater. My sister and I have even hopped on the bike at the same time, turned our cameras on and did a ride together. She was at her house, me at mine but we were doing the same hard ride together (music and all). 

So back to the tears. 

Fifteen minutes into the ride, right before a hard climb, Ally starts talking about this mom who is killing it on the Leaderboard. Her son has special needs and is a fighter. 

Ally challenges all the riders to give it our all on this next climb for this boy who lives with a rare disorder. Cue the tears. I’m on the climb and I’m feeling the feels. This fellow special needs mom who is putting in the time for herself is inspiring me to keep putting the time in for myself so we can both take care of our babies who need us. All while the collective Peloton community goes all out for this boy. 

The tears were triggered by the reminder that I’m not alone (I mean how many times do I need to be reminded of this? Ya probably everyday) doing this hard thing we call life. 

We have the choice to show up and live it. 

Aaaaand because I want everyone I know to experience Ally Love, here are some of my favorite quotes of hers: 

“There is no story without a struggle”

“If I sacrifice myself and lose too much (as a mom) who do you have to admire?”

xoxo,

Emily