It’s the end of January! How’d you do on your fitness resolutions? Were you able to stick to your plan? Did you stumble a bit? Either way, you’re probably looking for something new to help you expand your fitness horizons. Luckily Peloton (yes, that Peloton) has a new Fire TV app that can do just that.
If you have a Peloton bike or treadmill, you’ll find plenty of workouts available for your machine. However, you don’t need any of Peloton’s equipment to enjoy the app. You don’t even need a bike or treadmill!
If you have a Fire TV device, it takes just a couple of seconds to download and install the app. Once you do, you can activate your free 30 day trial (no credit card needed, thankfully), giving you access to a vast library of fitness routines.
Peloton app on Fire TV
PELOTON
In addition to the expected bike and treadmill workouts, there are also cardio, HIIT, bootcamp, and yoga workouts. Clicking around the app, I was able to easily find a workout that fit my fitness level and was sweating my way through it about two minutes after downloading the app to my Fire TV.
What’s nice is that the app is organized, not just by workout type, but by muscle group as well (something that competitors like Beachbody would be smart to mirror). It makes it incredibly simple to focus in on a specific part. There’s a lot more than full 30-minute workout routines as well. With some workouts as short as 10 minutes, it’s easy to drop in and do something quick when you have a couple of minutes.
In addition to the pre-recorded content, you can also drop in on live sessions. When I got back in from my run the other day, I clicked on the app to find a core strength routine to finish up my workout. I was thrilled to see that there was a live, 10-minute session starting right then. Judging by the folks in the studio, it was the cooldown from their in-studio Peloton treadmill workout. Perfect!
I’m a fan of working out on my TV as well. Before this (and before I discovered the native Beachbody app on Fire TV), I was streaming Beachbody workouts from my phone to a Chromecast to my Fire TV. It was a woefully inconsistent solution. Using a native Fire TV app makes working out a simple matter of clicking a button and finding a class.
Peloton’s other advantage over Beachbody is its ever-increasing catalog of workouts. Since they’re constantly recording new sessions (rather than developing polished training series), they have new content almost every day. There’s so much, you may find yourself scrolling endlessly if there isn’t a live session to drop into. My advice? Open the app with something in mind (like an intermediate arm strength workout) and just pick the first class that meets those parameters. The instructors are all great, and other than Peloton’s patented shoutouts to participating virtual members (which is a little distracting during something like yoga), there’s little to no pressure to get more equipment. That’s a refreshing change from other on-demand fitness companies like Beachbody that always seem to be selling something.
There are a few end-to-end training plans, but by and late the Peloton app is for people who know what they’re looking for from their workout or have some workout experience under their belt. If you’re new to the fitness game, you might want to check out Beachbody – for all my grumbling about them, they still offer some of the best complete training programs for at-home workouts.
For me, though, I’ve burned through what Beachbody has to offer and will stick with Peloton for a while. The live sessions, in particular, will keep me coming back to the app. Anyone who’s used a fitness app knows that familiarity is the enemy. Once you’ve done a pre-recorded session a few times, boredom sets in and you just don’t get as much out of the workout. The live sessions eliminate that problem by providing new, instructor-led workouts.
Guided runs with the mobile app are a killer feature
PELOTON
There are also several additional features you get when you download the app to your mobile device. Besides being able to fire up a bike or treadmill workout (even if it’s not Peloton-branded) when you go to the gym, there are also guided outdoor runs (like with Nike Run Club).
The subscription is a little pricey at $12.99 per month after your free 30-day trial, but it’s on par with similar on-demand fitness solutions like Beachbody.
If you’re feeling a dip in your fitness goals for 2020, or you’re just looking to add something new to your regimen, download the Peloton app for your Fire TV and spin up a new trial. You’re guaranteed to find something that challenges you.
