Peloton Instructor Emma Lovewell on At-Home Fitness and Stadium-Sized Rides

With the pandemic forcing people to stay home for nearly 10 months now, many have turned to interactive fitness companies, such as Peloton, to stay active and perhaps fill a social void. Peloton has more than 3 million users, members are averaging 24 workouts per month, and this past September, the company announced its first profitable quarter. This week, it became more valuable than Ford Motor Company. Emma Lovewell, a full-time fitness instructor for Peloton, joins the Big Technology Podcast to discuss her experience working with the company, its explosive rise, and, yes, that Peloton ad. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Alex Kantrowitz?

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• 0:43Alex Kantrowitz?

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• 1:04Alex Kantrowitz?

  Hello and welcome to the Big Technology Podcast, a show for cool-headed nuanced conversation of the tech world and beyond. Today, we go inside the at-home fitness craze taking over the nation with Peloton instructor Emma Lovell.

• 1:34Alex Kantrowitz?

  Emma, welcome to the show.

• 1:36Speaker 01

  Thanks, Alex. Excited to be here.

• 1:38Alex Kantrowitz?

  Yeah, great to have you on. It must have been a very busy couple of months, so I appreciate you making some time in your schedule.

• 1:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, of course.

• 1:46Alex Kantrowitz?

  Okay, so it's been an interesting few months for Peloton. Obviously, in the pandemic, Peloton now has more than a million people using it through the connected bikes, up 113% over last year. Members are averaging an amazing 24 workouts a month, which is wild. And the company is finally profitable, making more than $89 million last quarter. So, Emma, this must be amazing for you, given the amount of increased visibility and people taking your classes are... Can you describe what it's like for us? Are people starting to see you and recognize you on the street?

• 2:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's been incredible. Yeah, we have 3.6 million members. And what is so exciting is just... Seeing the leaderboard when I'm teaching, you know, the difference from a year ago to now and just seeing how many more people are experiencing these rides live. And, you know, it's interesting because, because of the pandemic, I'm not going out a lot. So it's not like I'm out at restaurants getting recognized. But there are some occasions that are pretty fun where people do a double take and they're like, "Oh, my God, I just took your class this morning." So that is definitely happening more and more for sure.

• 2:59Alex Kantrowitz?

  More frequently. Is that something that would happen before the pandemic? Or are you starting to just now see it more often?

• 3:06Speaker 01

  It would happen before the pandemic, but it was mostly in airports. And now it's kind of anywhere.

• 3:16Alex Kantrowitz?

  Wow, that's, that's wild. So.

• 3:18Speaker 01

  Yeah, even in the, even in the city, in, in New York City. I think, you know, maybe our, our audience is just growing in general, but even more so in cities, I think, just walking down the street in Manhattan. I think I get that a little bit more now.

• 3:37Alex Kantrowitz?

  And so you mentioned the leaderboard, that, that is all the people that are taking the class as you teach it on the bike. What did it look like before the pandemic and what has it started to look like recently?

• 3:49Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, I don't know the percentage for sure, but I just know,

• 3:56Speaker 01

  you know, it's incredible to see the members kind of rally behind things where, you know, for example, when we started teaching live from home classes during the pandemic, we had to pivot really quickly and we managed to do it in a great way where some of the instructors were teaching from home. And Robin, our head instructor, she taught a Together We Ride class. And we had like 25,000 people on the leaderboard that day. It was incredible. That was like the most members that we've had on the leaderboard live. And then this past Thanksgiving, she taught a Turkey Burn Ride. Which is a signature ride that she teaches every year on Thanksgiving.

• 4:40Speaker 01

  Um, and uh, I believe we have fifty thousand people riding live on that ride, which just set another record. So we just keep, you know, setting these new standards and setting these new records. And it's kind of just incredible to see how the whole community can come together and, and, and connect on just one specific class together.

• 5:01Alex Kantrowitz?

  Wow. So fifty thousand people taking the class at once?

• 5:04Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. Just, and that's just live. So then a week later, you know, there's another hundred thousand people taking it. Um, so it's, it's insane. It's, it's really cool.

• 5:13Alex Kantrowitz?

  Crazy. And like in a traditional SoulCycle room, like what can you fit? Like forty, fifty people, maybe a hundred?

• 5:18Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think, you know, a traditional fitness class could be anywhere from forty to seventy people in a room for sure.

• 5:27Alex Kantrowitz?

  So just a few more.

• 5:29Speaker 01

  Just a little bit. I like to think about it as like a Madison Square Garden or think of some big arena and I'm teaching. And there's, you know, thirty thousand people, you know, in the audience. Um, I was a professional dancer in my previous life and, and one of the biggest stadiums I performed in, I got to dance with the Rolling Stones. And we had twenty thousand people in the audience and that was huge. And now the fact that I am teaching classes to people, um, to an audience that's bigger than that, kind of blows my mind.

• 6:02Alex Kantrowitz?

  Yeah, now you beat that probably on a weekly basis or something like that.

• 6:05Speaker 01

  Yep, yep.

• 6:07Alex Kantrowitz?

  So, um, I, I'm actually kind of curious. So you were pretty early on this, uh, Peloton thing. Uh, you had been a SoulCycle instructor and you had done some fitness stuff, um, but you get in early. And I, and I'm just kind of curious, like from your perspective, like what joining was like because uh, the, the pitch must have been uh, kind of strange to hear. And this is obviously the way that I imagine it. So I'd love to hear what it was like for you. But like, someone come up to you and say, yeah, it's like, you know, cycling classes, but on the internet. And how did you eventually say, yeah, this is something I want to do?

• 6:39Speaker 01

  Great question. I have a pretty interesting and unique introduction to Peloton, I think. In 2012, I was a fitness instructor and a fitness model. So that means I was on ads for Under Armour, Nike, Adidas, magazines, all these things. And I got a job as a model for Peloton for their Kickstarter campaign. And I had never heard of the brand. My agent called me. My agent called me and he said, "There's a cycling brand, Peloton. They want you to do this commercial. Will you do it?" I said, "Sure." I was teaching cycling at the time, so I knew how to ride a bike.

• 7:21Speaker 01

  And so I went in for the commercial. It was a one-day shoot, super fun. I got to meet John Foley, Jill Foley, the whole team, which was probably like 15 people at the time. And I remember John was like, "You're gonna love this bike. It's like riding on a cloud. It is so smooth. You've never ridden a bike like this before." And I remember getting on it and being like, "You know, you're right. This is a really smooth bike. It's quiet. This is very cool." And the day, I remember just being like, "Wow, these are really awesome people." I had just good vibes from everybody on set. And I left and we exchanged Facebooks and emails and whatever. And it's just kind of like, "Awesome working with you guys. Best of luck.

• 8:05Speaker 01

  Good luck on your new company." And went off and started teaching cycling at another studio for years. But meanwhile, I was kind of just keeping in touch with them through Facebook and seeing the Wall Street Journal press they were getting and the Forbes press and all of these exciting articles coming out. And I was like, "Wow." Because at the time, in-studio boutique experience was like all the rage. That is what everybody wanted in major cities. And so, um, I ended up leaving the studio that I had been teaching in for three years. And I just continued to watch Peloton grow and grow. And I was like, you know what?

• 8:46Speaker 01

  I'm just gonna reach out to John Foley. I had his email from three years prior. And I was like, hey, John, you know, hope you're doing well. I've been watching your progress. It's incredible. I'd love to see if there are any opportunities there for me. And, you know, he wrote back in 20 minutes and he was like, yes, let's get you in for an audition. You know, we'd love to have you audition with us. And he introduced me to Robin and, and then it kind of just snowballed from there. I came, you know, came to the studio to audition, had a second audition and interview. And then it all just, um, happened from there. And, and since then, it's been like being strapped to a rocket ship. And so we've just grown exponentially. It's been so exciting.

• 9:28Speaker 01

  And I do feel like I got in at this, you know, very, um, interesting and perfect time. And everything is about timing. I mean, for me and my life, this is like something that I really needed. And for Peloton, this was like kind of just a launching pad, um, right? You know, I started with another instructor, Dennis Morton. The two of us started at the same time. And, you know, right after we joined, soon after we launched the Tread and started hiring more and more instructors. And so everything just kind of expanded and exploded. And it's been quite a ride not to be, um, cheesy, but it's.

• 10:06Alex Kantrowitz?

  No, it's a good pun. I'll take it.

• 10:10Alex Kantrowitz?

  So you mentioned it was, so what in your life, uh, did you, you mentioned you needed in your life? Um, what was going on?

• 10:18Speaker 01

  Yeah. Um, okay. So I was teaching at another cycling studio in the city and, um, it was springtime and, you know, my mom had just been diagnosed with cancer. And she lives on Martha's Vineyard and she, um, owns a gardening business. And so this was like a big, you know, so many people are affected by cancer. So I know a lot of people can identify with hearing this kind of news. It's just very. Traumatic for the whole family and so what we decided was my mom needed to go to Boston for treatment for the summer to get radiation and then chemotherapy and so I decided to quit

• 10:59Speaker 01

  my job and I moved home to the vineyard to take over her gardening business. So my boyfriend at the time, he got a job in Texas, so he had, he moved to Texas for the summer. I moved to the vineyard and I was running my mom's gardening business. You know, I had always been into gardening and I, she taught me everything I knew. So I was kind of just, you know, doing the best that I could. We told all of our clients, like, you know, I'm gonna do my best. I'm not Teresa, I'm not my mom, so, but I'll do my best. And my mom went to Boston. She did treatment and, you know, I'm so happy to say that she's healthy and she's doing well now. But after that summer, I decided to go meet up with my boyfriend in Texas.

• 11:44Speaker 01

  We ended up driving up to California. We lived in California for about eight months. I actually, I know you do a lot of reporting on Facebook, but I was a personal trainer at Facebook for like a few months. And I was doing personal training. I was teaching Pilates. I was teaching group fitness, but I was sort of like, you know what, I, I miss the energy of the city. I had been in New York for 10 years. I was sort of lost. I was kind of like, you know, my brother lived in California. He's in Santa Cruz. I was just sort of trying to like find my footing. And so that is when I reached out to Palatons. So the fact that that worked out, my boyfriend ended up getting a job back in the city as well. So we were like, well, I guess this is a sign. Let's drive back to New York. And everything just sort of fell

• 12:28Speaker 01

  into place and it was so, so needed. You know, my mom has been healthy ever since and she's so happy for me, obviously. And it really was just like a blessing that this all happened in the way that it did.

• 12:44Alex Kantrowitz?

  Wow, that's an amazing story and I'm glad your mother is doing well. I wasn't gonna go this direction, but since you brought it up, I can't help ask a Facebook question. What was it like working for that company? Did they strike you as a normal company when you were there?

• 13:01Speaker 01

  So when was this? This was in 2016, I think.

• 13:06Alex Kantrowitz?

  Interesting, you were on Facebook.

• 13:08Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, you know what? I worked there for such a short amount of time, I probably don't have anything interesting to tell you. But, you know, what? It was very cool just to be on that campus, to be honest. You know, just there's bikes everywhere, like commuter bikes everybody can use. And all the employees were able to train at our gym. And so I was basically training employees. And so a lot, I was training a lot of people who were sitting in front of a desk and a computer all day long. So there was a lot of like the same kinds of injuries. And, you know, we call it tech neck, where like your head just like falls forward and your shoulders fall forward.

• 13:51Speaker 01

  And like, you know, everyone needed to work on their posture. And so it was, it was fun though. The trainers there were awesome. I made some good friends there. But I was there for like two months. It was a very, very short stint, but it was very, very fun and very cool to just have that experience.

• 14:10Alex Kantrowitz?

  Yeah, it's an interesting company to look on the inside of. Where you were at the campus that kind of feels like a Disney World exhibit out in Menlo Park?

• 14:20Speaker 01

  Yes. Yeah, there was like a rock climbing wall. There's a soccer field. There was lots of like fun activities.

• 14:28Alex Kantrowitz?

  Yeah, it's a very interesting place. I spent a couple of days there doing a training, actually not physical training. This was a feedback training for my book. I got to sit in on it. So it was interesting to see the place and actually about two months there.

• 14:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:41Alex Kantrowitz?

  Quite a window into the place. Okay, enough Facebook. So you're, you're used to teaching, you know, I think it was SoulCycle. You haven't brought their name up, but I'm gonna say it. I think SoulCycle classes and in person. And then you, what was your, was it like teaching your first Peloton class, seeing the fact that like you were basically teaching, I mean, it must've been some people in studio, but far more, you know, online. What did that feel like for you?

• 15:10Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's very surreal because you see these names on the leaderboard and so and then you see, you know, the fifty people or so that are in front of you in the room. And it's sort of hard to translate that all those names are actually humans in their own homes, you know, working out with you. So I think the first few weeks that I was teaching, it didn't totally sink in. I, you know, I talked a lot about these milestones and setting the bar higher and higher. When I first taught my first class at Peloton, I think it 23,000 people joined in live, which was a record at the time. And so I like blacked out. I don't even remember the leaderboard. Like, it was so crazy. I was like, didn't get it.

• 15:54Alex Kantrowitz?

  Wait, that was your first class?

• 15:56Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 15:56Alex Kantrowitz?

  Wow.

• 15:57Speaker 01

  Sorry, sorry, sorry. No, no, no, hold on. I misspoke. And maybe the work on this call can, okay. Let me think about that, actually, because now that I say that, that is wild. I think when I, no, no, no, this is what happened. Sorry. Take out a zero. There was 2,300 people, and maybe we can double check on this. When I taught, it was a record, though. Whatever the number was, I think it was 2,300 people. It was the record of the time, and I just remember like blacking out because I couldn't keep track of all the names on the leaderboard. This was four years ago, so it would have had to have been like way less than that.

• 16:36Alex Kantrowitz?

  Yeah. And so I imagine as doing this in person, you are, you know, feeding off of the room, getting feedback from folks in real time. Now they're, they're just kind of names scrolling by on the screen. So how do you, how do you basically tell, hey, is this going well or is this not going well? And, you know, see how people, see how your class is resonating with folks at home?

• 16:59Speaker 01

  Yeah, so thankfully, social media really keeps us all connected and

• 17:08Speaker 01

  You know, I think we have an incredible Facebook community, the Peloton community on Facebook. They, we have all these subgroups too, you know, we have Peloton Mom group, Peloton Dad group, Physicians group, and everybody talks, everybody chats with each other. And so I get tagged in a lot of things, I get direct messages from people, I get the feedback from people, even on the platform itself, the Peloton platform itself, there's, you know, a rating of difficulty and a rating of the class, so you get a lot of feedback. We have lots of data, we have producers, a whole team, you know, tuning in and watching

• 17:51Speaker 01

  all this stuff, so it's great, you know, you kind of get some instant feedback, you kind of get some feedback over time too, and you start kind of developing your audience, your brand, you start, you know, the people who vibe with you end up taking your classes maybe more than others, and you kind of find your lane and you find your people.

• 18:12Alex Kantrowitz?

  Yeah, and so you start to learn while you're teaching this thing, okay, I have a feeling for these thousands of people, even though they're not in front of you, you can, there are ways in which you can sense their presence.

• 18:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, and, and I always, I always kind of thought, you know, even when I filmed that first Kickstarter campaign and I was teaching live cycle classes and Pilates classes, you know, in my head I had some hesitation, I had some doubt, I was thinking like, how are, how are they really going to connect with these people, how are they going to feel that sense of community and that connection, and clearly, like, it's possible, because look at our community and look at the closeness and the connection and the progress that people are making, and so, you know, when I joined...

• 19:02Speaker 01

  I got to experience that firsthand. I got to experience all these people like coming in together, showing up for each other, not just virtually, but then, you know, would people would come to the studio all together to meet up for the first time. Like they've been messaging each other back and forth on Facebook for months and they decided to all come to the studio, the mothership as they call it. And then they'd come and meet up and have like a great weekend of taking Peloton classes and meeting like-minded people. So it's just, just a testament that even though we're not seeing each other face-to-face right now, we can really still create closeness and connection through technology.

• 19:42Alex Kantrowitz?

  Yeah, so that's interesting. So people are on social media and then they turn that into real-life things, even though it's, yeah, virtual fitness, which is fascinating. Just shows you what online community can end up leading to, no matter what the subject. So you mentioned, you mentioned social media, let's talk about that for a minute. Did you, when you joined Peloton, did you realize that you were like on your way to not only being like a fitness instructor, but there was going to be like a social media influencer aspect of this as well, you know, for lack of a better term?

• 20:14Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think, I think I knew that a little bit. I think that sort of was happening already in the fitness world with a lot of fitness trainers were promoting themselves through Instagram and Facebook. And so that was something I was already sort of doing. I guess I didn't really know to what extent, how big it would grow and we're still, we're still growing. So there's, I'm not saying that there's this, you know, end that's happening right now, but it's, it's like just crazy to see how much it has grown and I know that we're not, we haven't stopped, we haven't slowed down.

• 20:55Alex Kantrowitz?

  And when you say "we," is it Peloton or is it your personal social media community?

• 21:04Speaker 01

  I think it's both. I think what's great is that Peloton really fosters the growth of the instructors as well individually and within the brand. I think sometimes that's very difficult for big companies to do. You know, I want Peloton to grow and I want my own personal brand to grow along with it. And I believe that Peloton wants the same for me as well. And so I think-

• 21:32Alex Kantrowitz?

  So no conflict there?

• 21:33Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's, you know, rising tide lifts all boats. That's the idea. And I think, you know, whereas at other studios, maybe you have, you know, 300 instructors company wide, or 500 instructors company wide. You know, at Peloton right now, we have 33 instructors. So it's quite different. It's a quite different experience. We're not all competing against each other. You know, we all kind of have a place, whether that's our music style, our teaching style, or our social media presence. We all are very unique.

• 22:10Alex Kantrowitz?

  Yeah, and that's wild. Thirty-three people for, thirty-three instructors for more than a million people, which is just not something would ever be possible before our current digital age. So on that topic, I want to ask a little bit about, you know, a topic that I've enjoyed discussing with people on the show, which is sort of like, who gets the benefits from the tech economy? So, we recently had Emil Michael, who was the Chief Business Officer at Uber for a long time on the show. And, you know, I spoke with him about like, who's going to actually get the proceeds from our tech economy? So for instance, Uber built this platforms that lets people get around, you know, more efficiently. All

• 22:52Alex Kantrowitz?

  the money ended up going to Uber and the drivers are struggling to get by. And, you know, I guess one of the things we see with tech is it tends to scale human labor and, you know, a lot of the proceeds end up going to the companies themselves. So I'm curious, I mean, we talk about like, the fact that there's, you know, thirty-something instructors and a million members, you know, where that usually would have been distributed across many more. Instructors and do you think that the instructors who teach for Peloton are seeing, you know, the real value of their labor, even though like I'm sure, you know, it's probably better than a, you know, typical studio job, but like just given the, the value you're delivering to so many people, I'm curious how you think about that.

• 23:34Speaker 01

  Yeah, I, I also think, um, I, I can say I do, I feel very valued. I think that, um, as opposed to, you know, a brick and mortar where you're opening lots of different,

• 23:49Speaker 01

  stores and, and gyms, um, but maybe you're not also creating hardware and software and logistics and, you know, all of the things that, that we do. We are completely vertically integrated and, so it's not just thirty-three instructors and then, you know, fifty other employees. It's like thousands of people that all work, um, at Peloton internationally. We have, um, offices in Taiwan. We have offices in Texas, um, and, and we have a studio in London, right? We just keep growing and keep expanding.

• 24:29Speaker 01

  So even though the instructor pool is very small, um, the company is, is quite large.

• 24:38Alex Kantrowitz?

  Do you, do you have, ever have like, or do, do, um, do other instructors have beefs with Peloton instructors? Because I mean, we're right now in the pandemic and we're going to talk about them in the second half, but like, do you know, but do you think that there's some tension there because, you know, this could potentially hurt like in-person studio business, or maybe it, it makes, uh, you know, spinning, uh, cycling, SoulCycle, all that stuff more popular and leads to demand in person. I'm curious what you think about that.

• 25:05Speaker 01

  Yeah. I mean, what I've been seeing personally is a lot of fitness trainers, and I have a ton of friends who are in the fitness industry that, that don't work at Peloton. And what a lot of them have been able to do is pivot to teaching at home. And first, some people were teaching, um, free classes on Instagram and then they pivoted to creating their own app or joining another app where they could teach their own type of fitness on somebody else's app. And a lot of people are pivoting. Which has been incredible to see. And I think that Peloton being one of the, you know, first innovators to show that at-home workouts is valuable and important has kind of led the way for other instructors to create their own at-home content as well. So, um, I think

• 25:49Speaker 01

  it's kind of opened a lot of people's eyes and then opened doors for other instructors to learn how to teach from home. And, you know, I've gotten some, some of my friends ask me, they're like, oh, I'm gonna start teaching, you know, my classes on this app or, or, you know, through Instagram, through social media, like, how do you stay, you know, like, they're, they're wondering, they're like, how do you do it? How do you stay engaged? How do you, how do you train, um, you know, an Olympic athlete and also, you know, a woman in her seventies in the middle of Montana who's never taken a fitness class ever before? Like, how do you give one class that can speak to so many different people? And, um,

• 26:31Speaker 01

  it's amazing because at Peloton, we all have that, um, knowledge, we all have that experience that we've kind of just fostered and created over, uh, this time that we've been, you know, I've been at Peloton for four years, so it was, started in 2012. So, um, I think it's just an exciting time for fitness in general. If you're able to pivot, um, everybody is doing at-home workouts now, like, you're good. Um, I think that when you're not able to pivot and be as quickly, that's, that's where you'll, you'll find some issues.

• 27:05Alex Kantrowitz?

  Uh-huh. So, so no beef, and it really does set this category where you have to start with a place where people are gonna be paying for something like paying for news online used to be a thing that no one would do. And now people are, you know, getting accustomed to it after a few big, big companies went in and said, you know, this is valuable, why don't you do it? And maybe that's something that extends to the whole fitness industry.

• 27:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's how, that's how I feel, for sure.

• 27:29Alex Kantrowitz?

  Uh, that's fascinating. Um, okay. So, last question of this first segment, uh, you, you join, uh, Peloton, you're teaching classes virtually to folks all across the world, thousands of people are joining. Um, you must have gone in with a feeling like, okay, this is still kind of experimental. I'm number one, like, my primary way that I do this is teaching, you know, in a physical studio. How quickly did it take you to realize that this was going to be a thing?

• 27:57Speaker 01

  I, I kinda, when I joined, I was all in. I was like, this is through my two months of training, through watching the process of meeting all of the instructors and meeting the whole team. I was, I mean, if you've ever spoken to John Foley, our CEO, like, he, he's like the, he's the best motivator. Like, he gets everybody in the room to rally behind him. And like, after an all hands meeting, we're all just like, let's do this. Like, we're gonna, you know, I'm gonna, we're gonna crush this. Like, we're gonna, you know, make as many bikes, we're gonna teach as many classes, we're gonna inspire as many people as we possibly can. And it's really exciting to be in that kind of environment

• 28:40Speaker 01

  where we're all on the same page and we're all excited about the same thing. So I'd say, like, pretty early on, joining in and after teaching that first live class of 2,200 people, I was, I was like-

• 28:59Alex Kantrowitz?

  That can convince you quick.

• 29:01Speaker 01

  Yes, totally. I was like, this is so different than any other thing I've ever experienced. And, you know, and also getting the member feedback, like chatting with members after classes and hearing their real life stories. And people send me, people send me emails that are so personal and heartfelt and honest and raw. And I am incredibly moved every time I talk to a member who tells me how Peloton has helped them through a difficult situation. I'm just like, this is incredible. If, if more people can have this experience, I truly believe the world would be a better place. More people can get their energy out and be told that they are strong and capable and have the ability to change the world.

• 29:43Speaker 01

  Like, if everybody had that messaging in their lives every day, like, why, why wouldn't the world be a better place? So, you know, I, I drank the Kool-Aid early on.

• 29:53Alex Kantrowitz?

  Right from the start. Okay, great. Well, this has been a great first half. I want to talk to you a little bit about what happened when the pandemic hit. So, let's take a short break and then we'll come right back after this with Emma Lovewell here on the Big Technology Podcast.

• 30:09Alex Kantrowitz?

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• 30:54Alex Kantrowitz?

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• 32:11Alex Kantrowitz?

  And we're back for the second half of the Big Technology Podcast here with Emma Lovell, Peloton instructor, who has graciously agreed to talk to us a little bit about what it's like being on the other side of the bike. Emma, welcome back for the second half. I'm curious what it was like for you personally when the coronavirus pandemic hit. What sort of, you know, we all went through our own cycle of emotions. What was it like for you?

• 32:37Speaker 01

  Sure. I was living in Brooklyn at the time with my boyfriend and in February, we got a notice from our landlord that we had to move out in three months because they wanted to renovate the building. And this is when I first had started hearing about coronavirus, but it hadn't really hit the US yet. And my boyfriend and I were like, okay, what are we going to do? Once, once March came around and we started realizing, you know, this is for real, we decided to cut our lease a little bit early and just get out of the city. So we ended up moving out of the city and finding a little cottage rental next to a lake. And

• 33:20Speaker 01

  we had always talked about, no, not bad at all. I thought, I, you know, I went, I was kicking and screaming a little bit because I was like, this, this is nothing. Like, I love the city. I want to be in Brooklyn. I love my neighborhood. And my boyfriend and I are both like very outdoorsy people. He a little bit more than I, I guess I could say. So he's always like, let's get out of the city. Let's go to the city from like, the first day we started dating. So, you know, I was like, okay, sure. Like, let's, let's get this temporary place just for a month or two. It was a little Airbnb and, you know, we could pay month to month. And let's just say it's been eight months and we've still been living in this little cottage outside of the city. So for me personally, that was a huge shift.

• 34:03Speaker 01

  And we actually just decided to stay out of the city and we bought a home outside of the city. So now I'm committed to staying out of the city and I've been commuting into Manhattan a few times a week to teach classes. But yeah, work wise, you know, I was, we moved out of the city. We had stopped teaching classes at the studio for a few weeks. Some of our instructors started teaching from home. I had really bad internet at this tiny cottage on the lake, so I was not able to teach from home. But then, you know, once we started, you know, safely opening up the studio so that we could teach, you know, we have a very structured

• 34:48Speaker 01

  pod system so that we are all as safe as possible. And yeah, it's been, it's been quite a change, but I'm really trying to find the silver lining in all this. And I really think that I have been able to. I would have never left the city if it wasn't for the pandemic. I would have never given it a chance. And it's actually been quite literally a breath of fresh air to just spend more time outdoors, hiking more, gardening more, just like having my hands in the dirt. It's very therapeutic and I kind of am sort of, you know, obviously the pandemic is horrible

• 35:30Speaker 01

  and it's challenging for so many people. But I've been really trying to find these little gems.

• 35:35Alex Kantrowitz?

  The positives.

• 35:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, you know, because we have to, you have to find the positives. You got to make the lemonade out of the lemons, you know, as best as you can.

• 35:44Alex Kantrowitz?

  And then just from a Peloton perspective, it must have been like an even weirder cycle of emotions because like you go from, oh, oh, man, I can't even get into the studio to teach to all of a sudden, this company is booming and I'm seeing way more people in my classes than I was beforehand. So what was that like?

• 36:04Speaker 01

  I mean, it's just very exciting that I'm able to do what I do and I'm able to inspire that many more people and to know that kind of, you know, globally, we are all going through it. We're all going through a difficult time and you know, you hear the saying, A lot during this time is you are not alone. We are not alone. And that is a sentiment that we that I say a lot too. We all need to say because whatever hardship you're going through, like your neighbor is going through that hardship too. It's not the exact same one, but it's similar. You know, we are all going through our own struggles and knowing that Peloton classes are actually helping people cope with these huge issues going on is

• 36:48Speaker 01

  is amazing. And I am very lucky that I get to do what I do. And so I do find it to be very healing to take these classes, but also to teach them. So for me, it's great that I can kind of like get out of my head and into my body and just like sweat out whatever feelings I'm feeling, you know, rock out to some of my favorite music to just create that release. So I need it as much as, you know, any of the members need it.

• 37:15Alex Kantrowitz?

  Yeah. And then what was it like to have that realization that there was just going to be so many more people joining the platform? I mean, you must have seen it. What have you seen it like? I mean, talking about 50,000 people on Thanksgiving, like it's it's wild. And, you know, I'm not suggesting that like it's something that you should be overjoyed that the pandemic has happened, but there's a human reaction, I think, to just seeing, you know, the amount of people taking these classes just boom. Like, what was that like to experience?

• 37:43Speaker 01

  I mean, our growth was is is apparent, you know, while working at this company, but the pandemic sort of, I think, expedited everything a little bit and that, you know,

• 38:00Speaker 01

  since I worked at the company, like every, every few months, I'm noticing that the leaderboard is growing, like the last three.

• 38:10Speaker 01

  Thanksgivings, you know, I, the leaderboard has increased every single year. So it's not that, it's like, whoa, I've never seen it increase. It's like, we've been increasing this whole time. I think that that sort of number, though, of 50,000, you're just like, yeah, this is incredible. This is, this is an amazing opportunity that we have. And like I said, it is sort of hard to take it all in because you're looking at these names on the leaderboard and you're watching this, this number grow, but it's like, it, it takes a little bit for it to sink in to realize that these are all people in their homes around the world, you know, sweating here with you. And, you know, for a moment, it, it doesn't really register because you're just like

• 38:54Speaker 01

  on your own bike, just, just, just doing your thing, you know, teaching a class and sweating it out to your favorite songs.

• 39:03Speaker 01

  So, I mean, it's, it's, it's an incredible experience. It's, it's an amazing thing to just, just watch it grow as much as it has.

• 39:12Alex Kantrowitz?

  Yeah. How many people are taking your class live now?

• 39:15Speaker 01

  Uh, it really depends on the type of class. It depends on the time of day. But, you know, I taught.

• 39:24Alex Kantrowitz?

  Yeah, just ballpark.

• 39:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, I taught last night. I taught my listening party ride. And there was probably 3,000 people taking live.

• 39:35Speaker 01

  But a lot of people take on demand, which is, you know, one of the best features of Peloton is you don't have to take it live. You can take the class tomorrow or in a week from now and a month from now. So, you know, 3,000 people taking it live, in a week from now, I'll look back at that class and there might be 50,000, 100,000, 200,000. You, you just don't know and it's.

• 40:00Speaker 01

  Quite exciting to see, you know, which classes people respond to the most and see how long they can live because I have some classes, you know, I taught a Coldplay ride a couple of years ago that people have really just loved and I constantly see people retaking that and it's a few years old, you know, so it's really incredible that we have that opportunity.

• 40:20Alex Kantrowitz?

  Yeah, that's growth is totally incredible. Two hundred thousand people on a single class is, it's pretty wild. It's not just one stadium, it's a couple of stadiums.

• 40:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 40:28Alex Kantrowitz?

  Full of people. Do you think we go back after the pandemic? I mean, we're gonna be able to eventually, it looks like, given the vaccine news, we'll be able to eventually go back into gyms without much worry. Do you think that something like the surge that we're seeing ends up, you know, peeling off or even reversing? Or do you think that people are sort of realizing the value of doing this stuff, the fitness stuff on demand and are just, or even at home and are just gonna stick with that?

• 40:58Speaker 01

  I think maybe a little bit of both. I think people will really appreciate the convenience and the value of being able to work out at home, no doubt. You know, you can just shower in your own shower. You don't have to pack extra clothes. You know, there's so many conveniences that we can talk about. But yeah, I don't think that people are gonna stop getting together on a Sunday afternoon to go take a fitness class together after brunch. Like, I don't think that that's gonna, you know, hopefully that is when things go, you know, quote unquote, back to normal. I think that those are things that people do really value. And I hope for that, too. But Peloton was never just to replace any other type of workout. It was to supplement it and make sure that you had no excuses,

• 41:42Speaker 01

  that you had the convenience in your home. And so if having a Peloton bike means that you are working out, you know, three more times a week than you would normally if you were only taking studio classes or only going to the gym, then like, that's great. You know, that's, that's what we want to encourage is just more movement and more activity.

• 42:02Alex Kantrowitz?

  Okay, last few questions for you here. There's often like a disconnect between like what the public conversation is and then what's actually happening in the world. And I'm sure you saw the controversy over that Peloton ad right before the pandemic hit. Was that like seeing on your end?

• 42:20Alex Kantrowitz?

  It was like, just for listeners, it was like a woman got a Peloton as like a holiday gift or something like that. And, you know, people screenshotted her facial expressions and, you know, it seemed like she was like a prisoner in her own home. But it wasn't the intent. So, but yeah.

• 42:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, it was one of those moments where when you're, when you're a part of the Peloton community, that commercial means something very different, I think, than maybe if you've never taken a Peloton class. I think, I loved, I mean, I loved the commercial. I was like, this is great. This is totally like, he's being supportive. But you know what? It really spoke to like a larger question. There was like, all these people with these like, gender norms that they're like, thinking that, oh, the husband must have thought this about his wife if he told her to work out. And people assuming that exercise is only to lose weight, which I'm like, okay, clearly there's an outdated perception that people have of what

• 43:19Speaker 01

  exercise is. And so that was just sort, it was sort of funny to me in that way where I was like, okay, I guess not everybody knows that exercise is also good for your mental health. But so clearly, we have some more educating to do. Clearly, you know, people, more people need to exercise.

• 43:35Alex Kantrowitz?

  Yeah, I could, I mean, it could have been that those critics by, you know, being so vocally anti, were sort of exposing themselves in their own way, which is what often happens on the internet, I suppose. You know, there's been an interesting thing that's happened. I think there was people, people used to be shy or even a little bit embarrassed about, you know, using Peloton or having one of the bikes, you know, maybe because of the price point, or I don't know what it was, or it could have been the marketing too. Won't rule that out. But I think especially over the course of the past few months, you know, with everybody stuck at home, I feel like, you know, among people not in the chattering class, there's been a real appreciation for it. Not just the bikes, but like, you can

• 44:18Alex Kantrowitz?

  get a cheap bike and then take the classes with the app. And I think that the reputation has definitely done a bit of a 180 during the pandemic and during these past few months. Curious if you-

• 44:31Speaker 01

  I'm so happy to hear that.

• 44:33Alex Kantrowitz?

  Yeah, well, I won't even ask you. I know what you'll say. Well, actually, no, that's stupid. What do you think about that?

• 44:40Speaker 01

  No, I'm glad to hear that from you.

• 44:43Alex Kantrowitz?

  Yeah.

• 44:44Speaker 01

  You know, sometimes when you're you work within a company, it's it's hard to, you know, of course, my friends and family are so biased. It's like they they all take my class. They all, you know, uh, tell me how how how great I am. So it's it's nice to just hear um, just that that opinion that that that's sort of shifted because the goal is accessibility. You know, I understand not everybody has the ability um, to purchase an at home fitness equipment, but um, you know, for example, one of what the one of the ways we pivoted during um, the quarantine was we offered a 90 day free trial because we're like, you know what, if this is if this is gonna help people, like, let's give it up for free.

• 45:28Speaker 01

  We want people to experience this type of content. Um, and that was super beneficial. And I think that that's a large part of like the numbers growing and people really just being like, oh, I can do this at I already have a smartphone. I can just do this at home on my phone. Like, that's great. You know, we offer all these types of uh, strength classes, yoga classes that you don't need any equipment. So um, and and we will constantly keep creating that type of content because we want it to be accessible to all people. Um, so, yeah, I mean, I'm I'm just glad that that that people are appreciating it. People are spreading it and sharing it with other people and and getting other people on board.

• 46:11Alex Kantrowitz?

  Yeah, for real. Uh, when I when the so I don't think I ever would have even known who you are until the this lockdown happened. And once I saw we were gonna be stuck at home for a while, uh, went on Amazon, got like one of the cheapest, you know, cycling bikes out there and then signed up for that 90 D 90 day free trial.

• 46:31Speaker 01

  Oh, you did?

• 46:31Alex Kantrowitz?

  And uh, yeah, super cost effective, but sort of uh, you know, talk about how exercise is good for mental health. I mean, getting through the past few months and using something like this was was definitely a boon for mine. So, I appreciate it.

• 46:45Speaker 01

  That's awesome. Yeah, so how um, you still take classes online and how many classes a week do you take?

• 46:52Alex Kantrowitz?

  I'm probably well, look, I'll be honest, I go through like running and cycling.

• 46:56Speaker 01

  No pressure, no pressure.

• 46:57Alex Kantrowitz?

  So, I mean, well, let's see, actually, I can take a look at the calculations. So I think I'd done like sixty five classes so far.

• 47:04Speaker 01

  Nice.

• 47:05Alex Kantrowitz?

  And what is that over the course of like five months? So I think I'm averaging like two and a half a week, if that makes sense.

• 47:12Speaker 01

  That's amazing.

• 47:13Alex Kantrowitz?

  So yeah, it's pretty good stuff. And

• 47:16Speaker 01

  And what were you doing before you had that?

• 47:19Alex Kantrowitz?

  I was actually, I had just signed up for ClassPass. It's kind of this weird thing where I started, I never would do a cycling class. I just felt they were too intense. And then someone introduced it to me because they had a Peloton in their apartment building. And I was like, oh, this is kind of fun. But I could never afford something like that. So I signed up for ClassPass and started taking in-person cycling classes to start the year. And then, of course, you know, that all came to an end. And this was like a pretty good middle ground to be able to keep it up. But also, yeah, you know, not break the bank.

• 47:56Speaker 01

  Yeah, let's, I'm glad you're still, you know, keeping up with it. What's your favorite type of class to take? You don't have to say my class, no pressure.

• 48:04Alex Kantrowitz?

  Oh, God. This is what always happens. I give the podcast over now. I gotta be on the hot seat.

• 48:12Speaker 01

  What is the type of music you like to ride to the most? Is it rock?

• 48:15Alex Kantrowitz?

  No, no, I'm happy. We could go into it. Listen, listeners, don't judge me too much. But yeah, anything EDM I think is pretty good.

• 48:23Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 48:24Alex Kantrowitz?

  So your class and Ben Aldis, who's another instructor that I like to take, I feel like

• 48:29Speaker 01

  Yeah, he's awesome.

• 48:30Alex Kantrowitz?

  What get me

• 48:30Speaker 01

  He was, he was a DJ too. He's London based, great taste in music.

• 48:35Alex Kantrowitz?

  Yeah, I mean, both you guys are DJ. I personally don't spend much time in the club of my life, but I can kind of get an understanding of what you're talking about. But yeah, I just think that

• 48:47Alex Kantrowitz?

  One of the things that struck me was just seeing the way this thing works and looking at how many people gravitate towards it and sort of the difference between that and what a lot of the popular discussion has been was surprising to me. And I feel like it's always important to share, you know, these surprising stories with with people listening here. And also, you know, I just think it's a fascinating business story, too. I mean, we talk about these, you know, Corona stocks or pandemic stocks. But the question is like, you know, like Peloton and Zoom. But the question is, is there going to be staying power? And we haven't done a podcast on Zoom because I kind of think that software is terrible. But I think Peloton, you know, has some some real staying power. And of

• 49:32Alex Kantrowitz?

  course, like, I do think there's, you know, we'll be talking for a while about the issue of like, you know, whether instructors are getting compensated properly and sort of whether that consolidates the labor pool into a much smaller one than there was before, which I appreciate you answering the questions on. But I don't think this thing's going away. I think it's gonna just keep getting more interesting and grow as a company. And and yeah, I just appreciate your time today.

• 49:59Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, I'm glad that you are a Peloton member and that you are, you know, using it to the best of your ability and you're taking all that we have to offer. So thanks. Thanks for writing.

• 50:13Alex Kantrowitz?

  Of course, you put me on the hot seat, but I hope I hope I survive that one. And you rule out the questions pretty well. So I appreciate that. Thank you for not getting mad at me even among some of the tougher ones.

• 50:28Speaker 01

  Thanks so much.

• 50:29Alex Kantrowitz?

  All right, Emma, where could people find you? And I mean, they could obviously take your class on the Peloton app. But social media wise, where else do you want people to find your stuff?

• 50:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, on Instagram, you can find me at Emma Love Well. I'm also on Twitter. I also have a blog if you're interested in following some of my lifestyle recipe stuff. It's Live, Learn, Love Well dot com. And then, yeah, you can always find me on the Peloton. I love teaching my 90s rock rides, listening party. You can crush your core in my four week core program on the Peloton app. No equipment necessary. Had to plug that in there. So that's where you can find me.

• 51:06Alex Kantrowitz?

  Okay, terrific. Well, thanks, everybody, for listening. If you're new to the show, we do these every Wednesday. You can subscribe on your app of choice, and we'll be back with a new show next week. Even through the holidays, we're going to pre-record a couple, so we'll have stuff that will take you through Christmas and New Year's. If you're a longtime listener, a rating would be great. Feel free to rate us on your podcast app of choice. That is going to wrap us for this week here on the Big Technology Podcast. We will see you next Wednesday, and thanks again, as always, to Emma Lovewell, along with our audio editor, Nick Watney, and the folks at Red Circle for hosting and selling ads. We will see you next week.

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