Separation from Peloton – The New York Times

Easy access also means easy disruption.

At the start of the pandemic, Paige Van Otten, a homemaker in Seattle, loved that she could sneak into a quick peloton workout while her toddler napped.

“You’re like, ‘Oh, it’s so convenient, I can do it anytime,'” she said. “But really, I could only do it during naps. I started getting annoyed at how limiting that felt.”

Last fall, when her daughter started preschool and her gym reopened, Ms. Van Otten, 34, went back to her gym and started a weightlifting program there. “I like that a lot better,” she said. “I feel like a real adult and not just a parent.”

Exercising outside of your home can give you “a separate space, free from other commitments, where you can spend time doing something that’s just for you,” said Pirkko Markula, a sociologist at the University of Alberta who studies the fitness industry .

The more you limit the likelihood of disruption, the more productive your workout will be, said Elizabeth Leonard, who teaches at the Barre3 studio in Brookline, Massachusetts. When she’s tried exercising in her living room, “I get distracted. ‘Wow, I can see under the couch, I need to vacuum,'” she said. “When you’re half thinking about something else, it’s a lot harder to focus.”

There is no substitute for a real teacher.

Ms. Taylor said that sometimes she slacks off on her peloton because “nobody’s watching me do it.” She works harder in an OrangeTheory class because the trainer will notice her calling.

Despite the cult-like following some Peloton instructors attract, they are limited in the personal encouragement they can offer; the closest thing to a rider celebrating a milestone is a brief on-screen “shout-out”.