To run a marathon successfully you need a plan, a few good months of training behind you, and a whole lot of kit for the day itself. You need good shoes, comfortable clothes, and nutrition and hydration products, all of which you’ve hopefully tested out during your marathon training.

Peloton instructor Ben Alldis is running the London Marathon for the second time this year, and when we spoke to him about his kit for the race it was clear a lot of careful thought and testing had gone into picking it out. That means there’s a lot to be learned from his selections if you’re not sure about your own marathon kit just yet.

Are you excited for the London Marathon?

“I’m so excited because I’ve done it before and I know what I’m letting myself in for,” says Alldis. “I was overwhelmed with the support last time, the fact that at London there are people cheering at every single spot. When you’re in it, it’s so amazing.

“Things have also come on a long way since I ran it in 2018. All the hydration and nutrition, the trainers and the kit has all evolved so much. It’s been fun trying different things out and testing things along the way.”

What running shoes are you using for the marathon?

“I was going to go for a racing shoe, but I’m actually going to stick with the Hoka Arahi 7,” says Alldis. “I’ve been training in them and they feel great. I’ve got slightly wide feet and a lot of the race shoes are quite thin. I have tried the race shoes and they do feel good, but I just don’t want to get injured because of the job I do. I’ve got to teach a class on Wednesday!” 

What nutrition products are you using for the marathon?

“I’ve tried quite a few things,” says Alldis. “I don’t eat a lot of sugar, so when I started with some of the gels, they were so hard on my stomach. They do work, but I get a bit of a stomach ache.

“The ones that I’ve actually loved using are from Veloforte. I’m using a mixture of the gels, the energy chews and also the energy bars, just because too much of one thing is a bit much for my stomach. Mixing up also keeps it interesting across however long it’s going to take.”

I rate Veloforte’s products too and they feature on my selection of the best running gels. Just remember, you should never try a new gel for a marathon—stick with what you’ve been using during training. 

“I also like to suck on the SaltStick electrolyte fast chews,” says Alldis. “I take a lot of electrolytes for my general life and my job, but obviously you can’t really get the tablets out and put them into bottles [during the race]. These are little tablets that you can just suck on. You have maybe two every half hour or something and it just keeps salt levels up. This has helped me massively, because the last marathon I did, I started to cramp up. I think that was because I tried to just survive on one jelly baby a mile! When I look back, that’s probably why I was cramping up because the salt levels in my body were probably low.”

If this is the first you’ve heard about electrolytes, find out what you need to know with our guide to electrolyte drinks.

How are you carrying all this?

“I’ve been using a Peloton running belt in training,” says Alldis, “but I’m actually going to use a CamelBak one because you can put water in it. Obviously, there are water stations along the way, but it’s helpful just to have a little bit on you.”

What other running gear will you be wearing?

“I’m going to be wearing the Lululemon X Peloton collaboration gear—it’s super soft and super light,” says Alldis. “It doesn’t get too much sweat in it. I also like to wear under shorts just to keep the compression on the quads and the hammies. Lululemon also do amazing socks with compression.”

Are those knee-high or ankle-high compression socks?

“I’ve tried both,” says Alldis. “I think it depends how hot it is on the day, because it can get a bit claustrophobic sometimes when you’ve got too much compression. If it’s a bit warmer, I’ll just go for ankle-high, but if it’s a bit cooler, I might wear knee-high, or I might wear compression sleeves.

“I used to be a sprinter and so my typical running style when I get lazy is on my toes, so my calves get a battering. To have a bit of pressure on them helps a little bit.”

I’ve looked ahead to the London Marathon weather forecast and Alldis might be better off going for ankle-high socks.

What running watch and headphones do you use?

“I’m going to be wearing an Apple Watch,” says Alldis. “I’ve been training with it, and I use the Apple Watch Ultra 2. I’ve always liked the Apple Watch. I wouldn’t say it’s the best of the best watches out there, but it’s the watch that I wear and it’s really helpful for me. It just helps you pace yourself, which is good.” It’s a good choice in my book, I’ve reviewed the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and rate it as the best smartwatch for running.

“I’ve been training with Apple Airpods,” says Alldis, “but I’ve just been recommended this brand of headphones called Shokz which sit on the back of your head and it means you can still hear the crowd.” Shokz makes bone conduction headphones that transmit sound through your cheekbones to your inner ear, keeping your ear free to hear other sounds.

“It’s about getting a balance between trying to take in the crowd versus having a bit of motivation,” says Alldis. “I like to listen to a mixture of podcasts and music. Four hours of dance music can get a bit repetitive! So a good podcast and some music for the end.”

In April 2022, before artificial intelligence (AI) was frequently grabbing the headlines, Peloton launched Peloton Guide, its first connected strength-training product. Drawing on the power of machine learning (a type of AI), it used a TV-mounted camera to track every rep you performed and the weight you lifted, along with detailing heart rate and calories burned. There was also a “strive score” to gauge how hard you were working. 

The Guide met with mixed reviews, struggling to match the meteoric success enjoyed by Peloton’s sector-spearheading Bike. As gyms fully reopened after COVID-19 lockdowns the demand for home workout content had, it seemed, waned. 

However, with hybrid fitness habits crystallizing and people looking for ways to train as hard at home or on their travels as they would in the gym—and considering AI looks destined to play an increasingly prominent role in how we exercise—I felt Peloton’s strength-training device warranted another look. I was pleasantly surprised with the results. 

Peloton Guide: Price And Availability

The Peloton Guide is available now. Unlike Mvmnt, which is only compatible with Sky’s kit, Peloton Guide can be used with any HDMI-enabled TV (which is most TVs), but it’ll cost you a pretty penny. The camera costs $195/£225 (Sky Live’s version, available in the UK, is £242) and you’ll also need a Peloton Guide Membership, costing $24/£24 a month.

If you own a Peloton Bike, Bike+ or Tread, and are therefore already paying $44/£39 a month for an All-Access Membership, there’s no additional membership required. Accessories, including the choice of a pair of dumbbells (from 2.3kg-13.6kg), a water bottle and workout mat range, cost extra—from $55/£45 to $590/£515. For my review, Peloton loaned me a set of 20lb/9.1kg dumbbells but the device works with any weights, so I was also able to use my trusty set of 15s for the heavier exercises. 

How I Tested This Fitness Device

I used Peloton Guide at home for two months, comparing it with the breadth of workouts and technical smarts offered by rival brands FIIT and Mvmnt. I mainly used it to maintain my general fitness and overall strength, while seeing how well it integrated with Peloton Gym for workouts away from home.

The Set-Up

The Peloton Guide consists of a 12-megapixel front-facing camera and a digital microphone in a unit designed to be mounted on top of your TV or on the table in front of it, along with a remote control. For privacy, you can slide a cover across the camera and switch the microphone off when not in use.

The set-up process was relatively painless once the device was mounted in position and synced with my Peloton account. After I entered my height, weight and workout preferences, the Guide’s dashboard presented me with a broad range of live and on-demand classes, as well as strength programs, including three- and five-day splits, and a weekly “strength roll-call” plan. Evidently the idea is to take the guesswork out of your training. 

For the roll-call plan you can select how many days a week you’d like to train and Peloton’s algorithm will suggest classes to fit your schedule, each ready to go when you open the app. You can scroll through half a dozen alternatives, each of varying duration, targeting different muscle groups, with different instructors. It’s a simple but effective way to give your training structure, while affording it flexibility and a level of customization that is commonly overlooked by Peloton’s chief rivals. 

The Experience

For my first workout I opted for a 10-minute bodyweight core class with British trainer Jermaine “JJ” Johnson. Before loading up the session, the camera started up, using a virtual rectangle to trace my feet and arms and confirm that I was in shot. In dumbbell classes, you can enter your weight selection at this stage so you have a reference point of what to beat next time. 

In the class, body-tracking tech allowed the camera to automatically record the reps I completed. If I hit my required rep target per set, I earned a “streak”. Keep hitting them throughout the workout and that streak goes up, but if you lose form the streak collapses. 

Peloton didn’t provide cues or feedback for when my technique broke down—this is offered by Mvmnt’s virtual personal trainers throughout the class—but the streak format, I discovered, was a clever mechanic that kept pushing me from first rep to last. Peloton says that more than 1,500 in-home beta testers completed more than 15,000 hours of workouts and 35,000 classes in order for the camera to recognize good form from bad.

After eight minutes of JJ’s class, I was straining every sinew to maintain my debut streak through three non-stop rounds of bicycle crunches, crunches and bear crawls. JJ rounded the class off with a straight-arm plank and hollow hold. Despite its brevity this was a tough, effective session. Throughout, and between form pointers, JJ offered shout-outs to members joining the workout live, as well as to those “showing up” in the room with him—it was filmed in front of an audience at Peloton Studios London. For me this added an extra buzz to the class.

Yet the best thing about my first dabble with the Guide wasn’t the instructor, the workout selection or the music. It was the camera’s extra wide-angle lens, which meant I didn’t have to rearrange my living room to fit within shot—a personal bugbear. All you need is a fairly modest 1.4 x 1.8m of space in front of your TV. 

At the end of the class I got a detailed breakdown of the session. I hit 100% of the target reps, burned 43 calories and earned a gold Movement Tracker badge. A body activity feature indicated which muscles I’d worked: 27% core, 24% obliques, 14% hips, 10% quads, 7% shoulders and 18% other. In subsequent classes, which I completed with an Apple Watch linked via the Peloton App so I could track my heart rate, I was also provided with a “strive score”, to reflect effort and exertion mid-class, and a summary of which heart rate zones I was working in.

Delving deeper into the Guide’s extensive workout library over subsequent weeks it became evident that Peloton has leaned into the language and programming of the weights room. Plans are built around day and body part “splits”, such as chest and back on Monday, legs and abs on Wednesday and arms and shoulders on Friday. Several intermediate and advanced upper-body sessions include hypertrophy elements—with slow tempos, high volumes and long rest periods—that will deliver decent muscle-building returns for beginners and experienced weightlifters. 

The Guide workouts also fitted around sessions I did away from home, using the company’s latest feature, Peloton Gym. For example, a 30-minute Full-Body Strength routine, devised by instructor Assal Arian, includes detailed form guides and demonstrations for each exercise, plus a timer so you can track rest periods. 

Altogether, this meant that when I opened the app on my TV after a month of home and gym workouts, I could quickly see the muscle groups I’d hammered and which I’d neglected, so I could then fill in any gaps in my training via the recommended classes. As a result, with the Guide it feels like Peloton is trying to corner a market it’s long missed by recreating the structure and discipline of the gym floor in the comfort and privacy of a living room. 

Is The Peloton Guide Worth It?

After eight weeks of mostly bite-size strength workouts at home and longer sessions in the gym, I was pleasantly surprised by how easily Peloton Guide slipped into my routine. Typically, the excitement of using a new home workout device keeps me engaged just long enough to write up a review, as it did for the VAHA fitness mirror and the Mvmnt body-tracking app; with the Guide, however, the novelty hasn’t worn off yet. 

This is largely because it’s so convenient. The app started quickly without glitches—something that continues to dog some of Peloton’s rivals—and the app reduced the conundrum of choosing a workout as it recommended sessions customized to my goals. Plus, the camera’s wide field of view and automatic body-tracking tech meant I could quickly jump into a workout without needing to clear space or strap on any additional kit. 

Thanks to Peloton’s comprehensive library and the app’s seamless navigation, I still find myself flicking through workouts when at home or on the go to draw inspiration for my next session. I’ll also often turn to the body activity feature to see how evenly I’ve been training—or how often I’ve been skipping leg days. 

Given that I can use Peloton Gym when training at the gym and the Guide when working out at home, and track every rep completed and weight lifted in the app, it perfectly suits the hybrid way I like to exercise. All in all—and it should be no surprise given the company’s deep pockets and popular trainers—Peloton Guide strikes the right balance between prescriptive follow-along strength workouts and flexible programming to suit any schedule. It might not have been met with the same fanfare as the Peloton Bike, but I’d say it will prove to be a greater tool for all-round strength and fitness for the everyday home exerciser.

The Peloton Tread is reduced from $2,995 to $2,695 in the Black Friday sales, and while no-one is going to tell you with a straight face that a $300 discount makes this machine cheap, after extensive testing for this Peloton Tread review I can confirm that it’s a superb treadmill.

It’s the best treadmill I’ve tried outside of a gym, and that’s entirely thanks to the hardware. The 59in by 20in running belt is huge, and the open front of the machine means that it feels even more spacious. As a 6ft runner I had no concerns about room and could run comfortably at speeds over 10mph for long periods without feeling cramped.

The speed and incline can easily be adjusted using the dials on the sides of the treadmill, with the speed going up to 12.5mph and the incline to 12.5%. The 3HP motor means the treadmill runs smoothly even at high speeds with incline, and the speed and incline both change very quickly when you twist the dials.

Obviously the vast 23.8in screen is a big part of the appeal of the Peloton Tread, and with a Peloton membership ($44 a month) you get access to a library of guided workouts you can do live or on demand, as well as scenic runs. Peloton is yet to open up the screen to third-party apps like Netflix or Zwift though, which is a shame, and without a membership all you can do on the treadmill is use the ‘just run’ mode.

If you can afford the initial cost and membership—and have room for it—the Peloton Tread is an exceptionally good treadmill and makes indoor workouts more enjoyable. If you’re looking for a cheaper machine though, the Bowflex Treadmill 10 is another one I highly recommend after testing, and it’s $1,699  in the Boxflex Black Friday sale.

Black Friday itself might not be until November 24th, but the deals are already coming thick and fast. The Peloton Black Friday sale is now live, with savings of up to $700 in the US and £500 in the UK available. The machines themselves are discounted, but the biggest reductions are on packages which include accessories such as floor mats, dumbbells and cycling shoes.

We’ve highlighted the standout deals in the Peloton sale below, and we’ll also be rounding up the biggest and best discounts available elsewhere on Peloton’s cardio equipment, with both the Peloton Bike, Peloton Bike+ and Peloton Tread likely to be substantially reduced during the Black Friday sales.

Quick Links

Here’s where to hunt for the top Peloton deals available today.

🇺🇸 US Links 

Peloton: Up to $700 off Peloton bundles in the Black Friday sale

Amazon: Peloton deals updated daily

🇬🇧 UK Links

Peloton: Save up to £500 on Peloton bundles

Amazon: Deals on Peloton equipment updated daily

John Lewis: Check for deals on Peloton machines and accessories

Peloton Black Friday Deals In The US

UK Deals

FAQs

Peloton’s exercise bikes have become a pleasingly familiar sight in Amazon’s Prime Day sales, and both the Peloton Bike and Peloton Bike+ are available at significant discounts as part of the Prime Big Deal Days event this October.

Whichever Peloton you go for, you’ll be getting one of the best exercise bikes, with both offering the same access to the huge library of live and on-demand spinning classes with a Peloton All-Access membership ($44/£39 a month). 

Having tested the best spinning bikes from a range of brands, I can say from experience Peloton’s classes are the most engaging available, and the bikes are excellent bits of kit too, running smoothly and quietly no matter how hard you’re pushing.

The price difference between the Peloton Bike and Peloton Bike+ is considerable even in the sale, with the Bike costing $1,095/£1,095 (reduced from $1,445/£1,345) and the Bike+ $1,995/£1,645 (down from $2,495/£1,995). With that in mind, I’d say the Bike is the better pick for most people, because the upgrades you get with the Bike+ don’t quite justify the extra outlay.

• UK Deal: was £1,345, now £1,095 on Amazon UK

The key differences between the bikes are that with the Bike+ you get a larger 23.8in screen, compared with the 21.5in screen on the Bike. That screen also rotates 360°, whereas it is fixed on the Bike, which makes it harder to follow non-cycling workouts like yoga or strength sessions on the cheaper bike.

Another big difference is that the Bike+ will automatically change the resistance for you during instructor-led workouts, which means you can focus on the ride rather than having to twist the resistance dial yourself. The Peloton Bike+ also has better speakers and a faster processor, and can link up with Apple products via the Apple GymKit feature. 

All of these upgrades are useful, but for most people none of them are essential. You save $900 by opting for the Bike in the sale, which will pay for your first 20 months of Peloton All-Access membership. So unless you can spot an upgrade above that you think will substantially increase your enjoyment of the bike, I’d get the standard Peloton Bike.

• UK Deal: was £1,995, now £1,645 on Amazon UK

Launched in 2012, Peloton pushed to the front of the pack for those hunting the best exercise bike, and it has become synonymous with luxury fitness. The bike brought together technology, hardware and enthusiastic instructors to create an immersive at-home fitness experience for its members. Peloton’s core base of fans provides a sense of community and healthy competition on the platform.

A key selling point is the app, which includes an array of exercise and mindfulness classes, from yoga and Pilates to strength training and meditation. With new projects such as an audio collaboration with Ed Sheeran, Peloton continues to push the boundaries of what a fitness platform can do.

Is initiation into the Peloton clan worth the investment? Let’s find out.

Peloton Bike+: Price And Availability

The price tag is hefty. The Bike+ Basics package costs $2,495 in the US and £1,995 in the UK, including the bike, home delivery and assembly. The Bike+ Starter package is $2,695/£2,180 (currently $2,295), including cycling shoes, light weights, a bike mat, home delivery and assembly. View the different package options on the Peloton UK and Peloton US websites.

To get the most out of the bike, you also require a monthly subscription of $44/£39 for Peloton’s All-Access Membership. This provides access to Peloton’s library of live and on-demand classes from your Bike+, phone, smartwatch, tablet or TV, plus individual user profiles for each member of your household.

The Peloton Bike+ comes with a 12-month limited warranty covering parts and labor (including the HD touchscreen) and five years of coverage on the frame in the US and the UK.

If you change your mind after purchase, Peloton offers a 30-day trial period, after which you can arrange free pick-up and a full refund if you’re not satisfied.

Peloton often reduces the price of the Peloton Bike+. Browse our Peloton coverage for the latest deals and check these Peloton Black Friday deals to see how much you could save in the biggest sale of the year.

How I Tested This Bike

I tested the Peloton Bike+ for six weeks, cycling on it several times a week. I used the Bike+ screen to display workouts from the Peloton One app, and also connected Bluetooth headphones for audio. 

The Set-Up

An immediate benefit of picking Peloton over a competitor is the company’s set-up crew. Two employees carried the Bike+ up the stairs to my apartment, making sure it was installed correctly, explaining how to use the bike and cycling cleats, and checking that my Peloton app login was working.

If you’d rather complete the process yourself (or need a refresher on set-up details at a later date), the Bike+ includes video tutorials on the best set-up for saddle height and distance, how to clip your cleats in and out, and instructions for how to use the bike. There’s also a printed user manual included for reference.

The bike is compact, with a 47in x 23in (120cm x 60cm) footprint; that’s smaller than the average yoga mat. The screen is designed to be turned and used for workouts off the bike, so it’s worth setting up in an area with extra space if you’re planning to use the cardio and strength classes.

The Bike+ is designed to accommodate most riders, and is suitable for those up to 6ft 4in (195cm) tall and 297lb (135kg) in weight. The seat position and handlebar height are adjustable, and the Peloton 101 tutorials walk you through how to change these and what will be an optimal position for you.

Wide Perspex bottle holders are beneath the handlebars, so it’s easy to keep hydrated. Weight holders are at the back of the bike, near the saddle, keeping them conveniently off the floor. The resistance knob allows manual control and auto-resistance, which automatically adjusts your resistance according to the instructor’s cues.

Accessories in the Starter package include indoor cycling shoes with cleats, dumbbells and a double-sided exercise mat. The shoes are comfortable and adjustable, with a quick ratchet clip and hook and loop straps so you can tighten or loosen as required. I found the shoes comfortable, though on the smaller side—it would be worth sizing up if you tend to fit a wider shoe. The dumbbells are cast-iron weights with a sweat and slip-proof rubberized coating.

The Experience

It’s hard to fault the experience of using the Bike+. It’s smooth, almost silent, and stable, even during intense cycling sprints standing out of the seat. The handlebars are wide and maintain a good amount of grip even when sweaty. The pedal clips feel secure, which makes clipping out challenging, but are reassuringly solid during fast sprints. The resistance knob is sensitive and responsive, allowing for quick manual increases or decreases with just a twist.

One of the best features of the bike is the 360° HD rotating screen. It’s large (23.8in) and has an anti-reflective display to reduce glare, which was helpful for me because I tested it with the screen facing a window. The screen has full rotation, so you can swivel it and set up your yoga mat or weights area nearby. The touchscreen is responsive and the screen quality is crisp.

The sound is an immersive experience, with front-facing speakers and rear-facing woofers. If you prefer, you can connect Bluetooth headphones or plug in wired headphones.

During rides, the screen displays all the stats you would expect, from cadence range (RPM) and resistance to total power output score. A feature I particularly liked is the leaderboard, allowing you to compete in real time against other participants. If you’re not keen on checking your metrics during the ride, you can hide them and focus on the instructor instead.

The Home screen shows a selection of recommended classes based on your previous picks, along with a collection of workouts and upcoming live sessions. You can filter on-demand classes by instructor, so it’s easy to find your favorites. The Programs tab includes sets of workouts planned between one and eight weeks long, such as Peak Your Power Zones, which is designed to improve your Functional Threshold Power (FTP) in eight weeks.

You can browse the available sessions under the Classes tab, with filtering options including length, instructor, class type, music, subtitles, and class language. Peloton has a large following in Germany, and classes that are in German are labeled. Unlabelled classes are in English. The Schedule tab shows upcoming live sessions, which you can opt into and add to your personal schedule.

Peloton members are often motivated by challenges and competition, and this shows in the Challenges tab. You can view the current and upcoming challenges to join, as well as see how many people are participating. In the popular Annual, each minute you spend taking a class on the Bike, Tread or Peloton App counts towards a yearly total.

You can opt for non-workout rides under More Rides. The Just Ride mode means pedaling at your own pace while recording your metrics, while the Scenic Ride mode displays locations from around the world. Peloton Lanebreak is a gamified ride, where you have to match your metrics to the cues on the screen. While this was fun to play for half an hour, and reminded me nostalgically of Guitar Hero, I would stick to instructor-led workouts going forward. 

The slick production of the Peloton app and the sheer energy of the instructors make the content on it enjoyable and motivating. The non-cycling options are extensive, too, covering strength, yoga, cardio and more. See our review of the Peloton App.

Peloton Bike Vs Bike+: What’s The Difference?

The Bike+ is Peloton’s top-of-the-range product, and so there are differences between the two bikes. The screen on the Bike tilts but it doesn’t rotate, so you can’t use it for workouts off the bike. It’s also smaller (21.5in) and doesn’t have an anti-reflective finish. Peloton says the audio quality is better on the Bike+. While both have the resistance knob for manual control, the auto-resistance feature is exclusive to the Bike+. Both models take up the same amount of floor space.

The biggest difference is the initial price. The Peloton Bike is $1,445/£1,345 without any extras, compared with the Bike+ at $2,495/£1,995. The membership fees are the same, regardless of the model you choose.

Is The Peloton Bike+ Worth It?

The Peloton Bike+ is a joy to use. It’s exceptionally well designed and almost silent, and it takes up minimal space when compared with other indoor exercise bikes. The set-up process is effortless. The app has a wealth of workout classes, all with engaging instructors who are easy to follow, and who lead well-planned classes to suit a variety of music tastes. 

However, you pay a premium for the experience. Becoming part of the Peloton pack requires around $2,500/£2,000 as an initial outlay, and around $530/£470 a year in membership fees. For the most committed indoor cycling devotees looking to recreate a spin studio class at home, the experience may be well worth the price.

Many people who might be interested in Peloton are put off by the price. But the connected fitness company has now announced Peloton App Free, which allows you to sample classes, track your workouts and enjoy all-new gym plans without sharing your card details. 

It’s one of three new additions to the Peloton app’s tiered membership options. The new membership options are:

1. Peloton App Free: This gives access to more than 50 classes across 12 of Peloton’s styles of training (called modalities), including some from its new gym-based workout series. Peloton also says this membership includes featured classes that will be continually refreshed.
   
2. Peloton App One: This option replaces the existing Peloton App membership and features thousands of classes across nine of Peloton’s 16 modalities, including strength sessions, meditation and walking, with new classes promised every day. Peloton is offering a 30-day free trial and when this runs out, it will cost you $12.99/£12.99 a month. Coach reviewer Sarah Lienard felt that this offered great value after testing it for a Peloton App review and included it in our list of the best workout apps.
   
3. Peloton App+: Here, you will have free rein of all content except for Lanebreak (game-based) and Scenic (virtual rides and runs) classes. You will also be able to use any of Peloton’s exercise machines—the rowing machine, bikes and treadmill—with your workouts. There is a 30-day free trial available, and after this it will cost $24/£24 a month.

As well as these new memberships, there are the Peloton Guide Membership ($24/£24 a month) and the Peloton All-Access Membership ($39/£39 a month). Along with the Lanebreak and Scenic offerings, the All-Access membership lets subscribers create up to 20 profiles to cater for a whole household.

Peloton Free App includes a sampling of Peloton’s new workouts designed for the gym—somewhat predictably dubbed “Peloton Gym”. These sessions are designed to cater for Peloton users’ growing interest in strength training, with Peloton revealing that half of streams are now not cycling-related.

The workouts require you to have easy access to a range of free weights and weights machines, and rather than Peloton’s usual follow-along format, Peloton Gym’s sessions lay the prescribed exercises out as a list, including descriptions and short video demonstrations for each of the moves. There is a timer on your screen and, as you work your way through the routine, you can mark a move as completed with a swipe.

Peloton’s first attempt at 2022’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale was a let down. The only deals available were on packages of a cardio machine plus accessories, and the discount meant you weren’t saving anything compared with simply buying the cardio machine alone.

Fortunately, Peloton has increased the discounts on packages so you can now get a Bike, Bike+, Guide  or Tread, plus some useful extras, for less than the price of the equipment itself.

Since then, it has come to our attention that the Peloton deal at Amazon is being recommended by other websites. The prices are the same – $1,145 in the US and £1,095 in the UK – but the Amazon deal is for the Bike only, not the Bike and the package. To be clear: Buy the Peloton Bike from Peloton and you get cycling shoes, hand weights, a bike mat, an exercise mat and a water bottle thrown in for free.

Even with these discounts Peloton’s machines are still more expensive than connected bikes and treadmills with built-in screens from other brands in the Cyber Monday sales. NordicTrack has several smart bikes and treadmills available in its sale, and Echelon has reduced its treadmill and range of connected spinning bikes. We’ve collected the best discounts in our Cyber Monday exercise bike deals and Cyber Monday treadmill deals round-ups.

• Shop all Cyber Monday deals at Peloton UK
• Shop all Cyber Monday deals at Peloton US

Peloton Bike Cyber Monday Deals

The Bike Premier and Bike Ultimate packages have been reduced by $600 in the US and £500 in the UK (before the discount was just $300/£250). This brings the Bike Premier package down to $1,145/£1,095 and the Ultimate package to $1,225/£1,180, while just buying the Bike itself costs $1,445/£1,345. 

The Premier package includes cycling shoes, light dumbbells, a bike mat, an exercise mat and a water bottle, while with the Ultimate package you also get heavier dumbbells and a heart rate monitor (but lose the water bottle, which is devastating).

Those same packages are available on the Bike+ at a $600/£500 discount, with the Premier package now costing $2,195/£1,745 and the Ultimate $2,275/£1,830. The Bike+ has a bigger screen than the Bike, and the screen rotates 360°, which makes it easier to follow non-cycling classes.

Peloton Treadmill Cyber Monday Deals

The reduced packages available with the Peloton Tread are even more impressive with regards to the accessories you get. Both the Tread Premier and Ultimate packages are reduced by $600/£500 and now cost $3,195/£3,095 and $3,220/£3,120 respectively, compared with $3,495/£3,345 for the Tread alone.

In the Premier package you get two sets of dumbbells, a heart rate monitor, an exercise mat, yoga blocks and a glass water bottle. In the Ultimate you get all that, plus another set of dumbbells and a yoga strap, but in an unexpected move the water bottle is downgraded from water to plastic.

Peloton Guide Cyber Monday Deals

 The Peloton Guide workout camera is also included in the sale, and once again you can get a package of the Guide plus accessories for less than the Guide itself. The Guide Strength Starter package is $245/£245 down from £495/$545, and the Guide Power package is $495/£445 down from $795/£695, while the Guide by itself is $295/£275.

In the Strength Starter package you get three sets of dumbbells that you choose from a range of six (options from 5lbs/2.3kg to 30lbs/13.6kg) plus a workout mat, while in the Power package you get all six sets of dumbbells and a workout mat. We reckon the Starter package offers the best value available right now, since you can always pick up more dumbbells later if you find you need them.

London’s multitude of parks, canal towpaths and other green spaces makes the capital great for cycling, running and walking. Peloton has clearly cottoned on to that fact, because it has just released a series of guided activities set in London, so people can cycle, run and walk in the city on their Peloton Bike or Peloton Tread. 

The variety of scenic content in the app is one reason we rate the Peloton machines as among the best exercise bikes and best treadmills, because sometimes you need a break from the sweaty confines of the Peloton studio sessions.

Four guided on-demand sessions in London have been added. There is a 30-minute run along Regents Canal and through Victoria Park, and two 30-minute rides – one set in East London and finishes in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, and the other in Battersea Park. The last guided session is a 20-minute walk from Hyde Park to Notting Hill.

Along with the guided sessions there are time- and distance-based videos set in London that you can do when you want to work at your own pace, rather than with an instructor. 

We’ve cycled and run in all the locations that have been added to the Peloton app and can confirm they’re all enjoyable spots to exercise. While exercising outdoors brings with it some unique benefits, we would certainly say hitting virtual London on a Peloton and so not having to avoid loads of other people on your runs and rides is an attractive prospect, especially since you’ll also be able to avoid any inclement weather. That said, for an authentic London experience we’d recommend setting up a sprinkler by your bike or treadmill.

All the Peloton London guided sessions are available on demand in the Peloton app, along with the time- and distance-based videos. You’ll need an All-Access Membership ($44/£39 a month) to use the sessions on a Peloton Tread or Peloton Bike.

The Peloton Bike is one of the best exercise bikes you can get, especially if you want a home spinning bike, and it’s been reduced by $220 in the US in Amazon’s Prime Early Access sale. This new event gives early access on deals to Amazon Prime members ahead of the Black Friday sales period, and while we’d usually suggest waiting for Black Friday to get the best deals, it’s hard to see this one being topped.

Discounts are rare on Peloton’s products, certainly discounts of this magnitude. The 15% off brings the price of the Peloton Bike down to $1,225. The price also includes delivery and installation, which is always welcome when buying heavy cardio equipment.

The Peloton Bike is the cheaper bike within Peloton’s range, but it’s still one of the best spinning bikes you can get and we rate it as the better value option from Peloton. The Bike+ has some upgrades like a larger screen and resistance that automatically changes in line with the instructor’s directions, but they’re not essential features, and the standard Peloton Bike’s 22in HD screen was more than large enough for us when we put it to the test in our Peloton Bike review.

Central to the appeal of the Peloton Bike is access to the classes in the partner app, which costs another $44 a month. We’ve tested most of the best home spinning setups on the market and Peloton’s still stands out for the quality and range of classes in the app, and these extend beyond spinning, with yoga, strength and a variety of other sessions available.

If you’re looking to get fully kitted out, the Prime Early Access Sale also includes a variety of other Peloton products, including a bike mat and light dumbbells to use during your spinning sessions.

Peloton has established itself as a leader in the connected bike sector and, not surprisingly, it’s attempting to expand on that success by widening its appeal. It has launched a Peloton-branded heart rate band and a range of exercise apparel, and earlier this year it announced a Peloton rowing machine. Now it’s taken one of the best aspects of its connected products, the app, and made it available as a standalone product so users can get the benefits even without one of its (expensive) bits of home training hardware. 

So how does it stack up against the best workout apps? And can its specialist classes compete with the likes of the best yoga apps? We put it to the test to find out.  

Peloton App: Price And Availability

The Peloton app costs $12.99 a month in the US and £12.99 a month in the UK on a rolling contract, with a 30-day free trial so you can try before you buy. This will give you a good feel for the type, style and variation of the classes and whether it will fit into your routine.

Design And Set-Up

There are 11 types of classes to choose from, including strength, yoga and cycling. Many workouts, including yoga and cardio, don’t require any equipment, other than space to move and an exercise mat for cushioning or to prevent slipping. Some yoga workouts suggest yoga blocks or a yoga blanket, to make poses either more accessible or more challenging, but alternative options are provided if you don’t have these.

For some strength workouts you’ll need dumbbells – described as light, medium or heavy – so you can choose a weight that will suit you. Other strength options are bodyweight or core focused, so you won’t need additional equipment.

Cycling workouts require an exercise bike, but it doesn’t have to be a Peloton. The running and walking video categories are designed for treadmills, but if you don’t have these, the audio format of the outdoor category is designed to be followed on headphones while you exercise.

How I Tested It

I tested the app for a month, averaging four exercise sessions a week and taking part in a variety of classes including strength, yoga, meditation, cardio, stretching, cycling and outdoor.

As someone who struggles with consistency and can easily get bored if I don’t switch up my routine, I was particularly looking forward to trying Peloton’s range of workouts. Previously, I’ve reviewed Les Mills On Demand, Centr, P.Volve, Own Your Goals Davina, Fitness Blender and Echelon. I also have access to the David Lloyd @Home app as part of my gym membership, and regularly follow Yoga with Adriene on YouTube, so I was excited to see how the Peloton app would measure up in comparison.

The Experience

There’s a dizzying array of workouts to choose from. Helpfully, Peloton has split them into categories (strength, yoga, meditation, cardio, stretching, cycling, outdoor, running, walking, tread bootcamp, bike bootcamp) and programs, such as Beginner Strength (42 classes over six weeks) or Path to Inversion (12 classes over two weeks), which takes all the guesswork out of putting together your own plan.

You can see live and upcoming classes on the homepage, as well as recently added and featured on-demand options. Within each category, you can filter by length, instructor, class type, body activity, music, difficulty and language, so it’s easy to find a workout that fits your requirements and preferences.

Workout durations fall anywhere between five minutes and an hour, so you’ll find something no matter how busy you are. Features such as Schedule and Stack make it easy to plan ahead. The Stack tool allows you to create a queue for workouts, so you can tailor your session to include different components. For example, you could cue up a warm-up class, a main workout, and a stretch or meditation session, or choose several shorter workouts targeting different body parts (eg upper-body strength and legs) to customise to your goals.

If you’re like me and never want to do the same workout twice, the variety is a bonus. The app keeps track of which workouts you’ve completed, so you can avoid repetition if you get bored easily or quickly find your favourites if you’d prefer to master a particular workout.

The content is well-produced and the trainers are clear, engaging and motivating. There’s often little to no preamble before the workouts and there is also a button to skip even the briefest of intros if you’re short of time. I appreciated this when using the Stack feature to mix and match sessions, when lengthy interruptions would have been annoying.

The outdoor classes are audio-only and designed to be listened to on headphones while you exercise. Personally, I didn’t enjoy these as much because I like to blast the same music every time I run so I found the chatter distracting. However, I can see the motivational appeal of having a trainer put you through your paces if you struggle to structure your runs.

One thing to bear in mind: while you can preload classes to minimise buffering time, you can’t download classes for offline use, so you’ll still require an internet connection to use the app.

There’s a community feel to Peloton, with regular challenges that you can join. The main challenge is called The Annual and tracks the total minutes you spend on the app, rewarding you with a badge at the end of the year. Monthly challenges encourage you to work towards shorter goals, such as exercising 10 days in a calendar month, while Achievement badges are earned on your profile for milestones such as 10 strength workouts or three-week streaks.

Is The Peloton App Worth It?

Overall, I was impressed with the Peloton app. Compared with in-person classes or gym memberships, it’s great value at $12.99/£12.99 a month, and the 30-day free trial period means you can give it a go without parting with a penny.

The trainers are consistently clear and engaging, the workouts are varied and of a high quality, and features such as Stack and Schedule make it easy to plan ahead and get the most out of the app. Of course, you’ll still need to set aside the time for your sessions and drum up the motivation to get on the mat, on the bike or out of the door, but the app does make exercising as straightforward and appealing as possible. 

As we reported in June, the new Peloton Studios in London and New York are a way to work out with your favourite Peloton instructor in person. 

Peloton has announced that bookings for the London location in Covent Garden are open on studio.onepeloton.co.uk. You don’t have to be a Peloton member to reserve a space and places for opening weekend on 19th August are, according to a message seen on the website yesterday, complimentary.

We are unable to confirm that, however, because the booking system has been struggling due to high demand. As of the morning of Tuesday 19th July, places still appear to be available, but we got stuck trying to buy class credits.

The website for Peloton Studios New York, studio.onepeloton.com, is experiencing similar problems.

A release from Peloton says a Bike or Tread class costs £25, well within the range of London boutique classes, although we had suspected it would be more affordable, as it’s as much a brand experience as a fitness class.

The spaces are spacious, with just 24 bikes in the Cycle studio and 14 treadmills the Tread studio. In part, that’s to give each participant a front row seat (or belt, as the case may be), but also because it’s a working production studio, filming all new workouts with UK and German instructors.

In between reloading the booking page, find out what’s in store with our experience of Peloton Studios London.  

There are fitness influencers and then there are Peloton instructors. The faces of the connected fitness brand get the chance to guide, cajole and cheer on Peloton’s millions of members, turning many exercisers into fans in the process.

Peloton is set to give its members the chance to take a live in-person class with their favourite instructors by opening up its two new studios in London and New York, and I got to try the experience in the UK.

As you walk into the London studio in Covent Garden, the first thing you notice is the glass-fronted control booths where you can spy the editors and producers putting together the live broadcasts.

It’s a nod to the most surprising part of the experience – that these are working studios which have to produce something in the region of 1,000 workouts a month. The good news is that it means you’re not crammed in as you would be in a traditional fitness studio – everyone gets a front-row seat, or treadmill as the case may be, with 26 bikes and 14 treadmills in the first two studios. There’s a third  studio that is currently reserved for filming strength sessions, although with the Peloton rowing machine imminent, I could envisage a row of rowers in front of the stage.

The bad news is that while Peloton does pull out all the stops to make it a special “brand experience”, you are still a studio audience and will be policed as such. That means phones off (you’ll get a chance for a selfie with your Peloton instructor of choice later) and hazards like an extra towel draped over a treadmill’s arm are swiftly removed.

I took a 30-minute pop run class with Jon Hosking (that’s me below, second from the right on the treadmills). 

As you can imagine, it’s a different experience from working out at home and there’s an intimate, collegiate atmosphere. It was an enjoyable workout and I can see why my colleague raved about the hardware in Coach’s Peloton Tread review. My only regret was getting too pulled into the leaderboard and committing to holding on to my position, rather than easing off and enjoying the experience.

Then it was the selfie line in the reception (I was given a firm direction of “no touching” which Hosking immediately ignored), downstairs to use the well-appointed facilities (MALIN+GOETZ products in the shower cubicles, of course), then up to the mezzanine level to recline and recover.

The studio is still in its soft-launch phase, but there are plans to open booking to members later in the summer. The idea is not that it will become the local gym for Londoners and New Yorkers, but to be a destination for members in each region. Expect pricing and availability to reflect that, and along the same lines the studio is expected to be open to members only from Friday to Sunday. That also means the studio can produce workouts with just the trainers, so you can pretend you don’t have to share your favourite Peloton instructor with anyone else.

Join the Peloton app

Hot on the heels of its last new piece of fitness kit – the Peloton Guide workout camera – Peloton has announced it will be launching a rowing machine in the near future. 

While there’s no official details on when the Peloton rower is expected to be available or its price, at least rowers can finally look forward to a time where they, like runners and cyclists, can use a top-class cardio machine with an outsized HD screen on it to screen guided workouts.

If that appeals, start saving now, because it’s likely the Peloton rower will follow the lead of the Peloton Bike and Tread by being very expensive – the cheapest Peloton Bike is currently £1,345 (reduced from £1,550) and the Tread is £2,445 (reduced from £2,545), and that’s before you consider the £39.99 monthly subscription you need to access the classes.

Peloton’s machines are expensive for sure, but undeniably impressive. We rate the Peloton Tread as one of the best treadmills available, and the Bike delivers the best home spinning experience you’ll find on any exercise bike.

If you’re unable to wait for the Peloton rower, there is already an excellent Peloton-style rower on the market in the Hydrow, which costs £1,995, has a monthly sub of £38 for its classes and tops our best rowing machines list. There is also the Echelon Smart Rower which connects to a partner app full of guided workouts that you can watch via a tablet or phone mounted on the machine. The Hydrow is closer to a Peloton-style experience, while the Echelon is more affordable at £949.

The Peloton rower was announced as part of the company’s keynote speech, with the major software announcement being that Peloton users will soon be able to schedule workouts with friends so you can all sweat together. Another new feature is the ability to track outdoor workouts including running and cycling in the Peloton app, so they will be counted towards Peloton challenges and streaks.

New accessibility features for the Peloton Tread were also announced at the keynote. Blind and low vision users will be able to use Google’s TalkBack feature to navigate the machine, and get feedback on their speed and incline during workouts. 

Peloton has built a loyal fanbase of customers who use its Tread and Bike cardio machines, but the company knows that not everyone wants to run or cycle, which is why its app includes other types of workout, like strength, yoga and Pilates sessions.

If you prefer weights workouts, then the new Peloton Guide workout camera might be of interest. The Guide tracks your movements during workouts to ensure you’re doing exercises correctly and shows you on screen side by side with the Peloton instructor so you can check your form.

During each section of a workout the camera counts your reps and fills up an icon shaped like a bead of sweat accordingly. If you complete enough reps during the time given you’ll fill the icon and get a point. At the end of a workout the points are tallied and you’re awarded a badge based on how well you did.

We tried a Guide workout at a Peloton press event in London and found that watching ourselves  on screen made it a lot easier to check and correct our form during trickier exercises like single-leg deadlifts. Naturally this will be more useful for those who aren’t already gym regulars and confident in their technique, though it’s always worth perfecting your form.

The instructors remain as motivational as ever, dropping gems like “squeeze your glutes or no-one else is going to squeeze them”, while having the sweat icon to fill with each exercise encourages you to work right to the end of the time allowed, rather than dropping your weights and resting as soon as the instructor tells you there are three seconds left of the set.

The Peloton Guide will also track the workouts you’ve done and which muscles you’ve worked, and start recommending sessions that hit neglected areas of your body. If you’re someone who always skips leg day in order to focus on glamour muscles like the abs and biceps, this will be a useful prompt to work on your full-body strength.

You don’t need much space to use the camera – you just need to be one metre away from it – though the set-up works best if you can place it beneath or above a TV screen to show the workout and movement tracking.

The Guide also has a mic so you can control the Peloton app with your voice. For those nervous about bringing another camera and mic into their home, you can slide the front cover of the Guide across to block the camera and there’s a switch on the back that makes it easy to turn the mic off.

The Peloton Guide is available now and costs £275. You will also need a subscription that costs £24 a month, a price that will rise to £39.99 in 2023 to come into line with the Tread and Bike subscriptions. 

That’s a hefty chunk of change given that you can get a subscription for the Peloton app alone for £12.99 a month, which gives access to the video workout library, even if you don’t get the movement tracking and other features of the Guide. The workout experience is a little better when using the Guide and you get five user accounts with the subscription rather than just one with the app subscription alone, but it’s an expensive upgrade.

You can also pay £495 to get a full Peloton Guide kit including weights – dumbbells in sets of three that you can pick in line with your fitness level – and a mat plus the camera. It’s not bad value given the weights we tested were of high quality, but you’ll find great options for less in our best dumbbells round-up.

The new Peloton Guide offers similar benefits to smart fitness mirrors like VAHA, which also let you follow workouts and see yourself on the same screen, but at a much lower price. Workout mirrors cost at least £1,000 and some are nearer £2,000, and while the Guide doesn’t have a screen it makes use of the TV screen you probably already have in your front room. 

Even for the most committed Peloton fan, the new Heart Rate Band is a tough sell. Whether you prefer an armband or a chest strap, there are many better products available that cost less than this.

The band is easy to use with Peloton’s machines and has a well-thought-out display to show your heart rate zone, but it doesn’t offer ANT+ connectivity and is less accurate than the best heart rate monitors. And we know from our experience of reviewing the Peloton Tread and Peloton Bike, and trialling the new Peloton Guide, that pairing any heart rate monitor to a Peloton machine is easy anyway.

Peloton Heart Rate Band Review: Price And Availability

You can buy the Heart Rate Band from Peloton for £80, which is £50 more than the company’s chest strap heart rate monitor. An alternative of note is the Polar Verity Sense armband, which costs £76.50, offers Bluetooth and ANT+ connectivity, and has a longer battery life than the Peloton band.

Design

The Peloton Heart Rate Band comes with either a small or large armband, with the small band designed for forearms that measure 19cm-27cm and the large for 27cm-34cm. The band is wide and quite thick so it stays in place well, but it’s also hotter and sweatier than the thin band on a product such as Polar’s Verity Sense. 

There is stretch in the band’s strap and I found I could wear the small band on either my forearm or biceps, aided by the small size of the latter. I would advise aiming for a band that also fits on your upper arm because wearing a heart rate band there, rather than on the forearm, results in more accurate readings in my experience.

The sensor is a pod that you slip into the band. Press the top to wake it up and the five-light display will indicate the battery life in bars and flash blue when the band is in pairing mode. Once linked to a Peloton machine or an app it will display the heart rate zone you are in using colour-coded bars.

I found that the Peloton Tread linked up with the band easily, and I could also pair it to third-party apps like Strava. Note it can pair only via Bluetooth, whereas most monitors will connect to devices via Bluetooth and ANT+.

Sports Use

Monitoring your heart rate accurately is a great way to judge effort levels during any kind of exercise, and with Peloton the info is used in the Strive Score that comes up during your workouts. This score works across different workouts well, so you can judge if you’re pushing harder in runs or cycles than you are in HIIT sessions.

I always use a chest strap heart rate monitor for my running to get more accurate tracking that you do from an optical heart rate sensor worn on the wrist. Moving an optical sensor to the forearm or biceps also improves the accuracy. 

The Peloton band was good for accuracy on my forearm or biceps when compared with the readings from a Garmin HRM-Pro chest strap, and the lights on the top make it easy to see what heart rate zone you’re in – though this info is even easier to see on screen if using it with the Tread or Peloton Bike.

However, it did have the odd spike, and sometimes at the start of workouts my heart rate reading from the Peloton band would be too high for the first 10 to 15 minutes, which obviously threw the Strive Score out of whack.

Overall, a chest strap is more accurate and it’s easy to pair one to the Peloton app and machines. However, if you don’t like the feeling of wearing a chest strap, a band worn on the arm is a good option and the Peloton band is comfortable if slightly bulky. Given the Peloton band’s limited connectivity and high price, though, I’d recommend the Polar Verity Sense if you do prefer that style of monitor.

Battery Life

You pop the pod out of the band to charge it in a dedicated cradle, and it lasts 10 hours on a charge. Again this compares unfavourably to other options: the Polar Verity Sense lasts 30 hours on a charge, and heart rate monitors that use watch-style batteries last months before needing their battery replaced.

It is at least easy to monitor the battery level on the Peloton Heart Rate Band thanks to the lights on the top.

Is The Peloton Heart Rate Band Worth It?

No. It offers less connectivity and battery life than chest straps that cost half its price and are more accurate, including Peloton’s own chest strap. Even if you would prefer an armband, the Polar Verity Sense is a better all-round product that costs less. The only feature of note here is the LED display, which is well done but largely unnecessary most of the time.

The first version of the Peloton Tread was recalled owing to safety concerns, but the machine is back on sale with reassuring updates such as a Pin to unlock it before a workout and a safety key to stop the belt instantly.

With those worries put to bed, you can focus on the many impressive features of the Peloton Tread, which include a spacious running area and a vast 23.8in (60.5cm) HD touchscreen to display guided workouts in the app. It certainly deserves its place on our recommendations of the best treadmills.

Peloton Tread Review: Price And Availability

The Peloton Tread is available on the Peloton website and costs £2,545, plus a monthly subscription of £39 to unlock the classes and other content in the app, though you can use the treadmill in Just Run mode without a subscription. As of March 2022, delivery is available only to mainland UK.

The price of the Peloton Tread includes delivery and assembly, which is always welcome news with something as large as a treadmill. 

There are package options available, which bundle in things like dumbbells and a workout mat with the machine. 

Peloton often reduces the price of the Peloton Tread. Browse our Peloton coverage for the latest deals and check these Peloton Black Friday deals to see how much you could save in the biggest sale of the year.

The Treadmill

The machine is undeniably impressive, with a spacious 150cm x 50cm running belt that feels even larger because of the lack of plastic cover at the front of the belt. This open design means you don’t have to worry about clipping this cover when running near the console, a fear that means I often find treadmill running a little stressful. The downside of this spacious design is that the Peloton Tread takes up a lot of room, and it doesn’t fold up to save space, but I’d live with those things because the Peloton Tread is the most enjoyably roomy running experience of any home treadmill I’ve tested.

On each side of the treadmill you have knobs that adjust the speed (right) and incline (left). These make it easy to change these settings rapidly and the treadmill responds faster than most I’ve tested. Even when jacking the speed all the way up to the 20km/h max from walking pace during interval sessions it would only take 10 seconds or so to hit top speed. 

You can choose between using kilometers and miles for your pace on the machine, but the speed is always shown in miles, which is a little strange. You are always scrolling from 1-12.5mph when adjusting speed, but on screen you can then see your pace in mins/km. The 3HP motor ensures that the belt runs smoothly even for long periods near or at the max pace.

The incline range runs up to 12.5% in 0.5% increments, and also changes quickly – though the machine will be a little wobbly during the transition if you’re running fast while it changes. It settles down fine once it reaches the desired setting, though.

The screen is, of course, fantastic. It’s absolutely huge and this makes for a very immersive experience, whether you’re following a guided workout or one of the scenic runs in the app. The major downside here is that the only thing you can get up on the screen is the Peloton app. You can’t put virtual training apps like Zwift on there, or other entertainment services like Netflix and YouTube (without doing some shady workarounds that might void your warranty, anyway). You are locked into the Peloton app, and while it is a great app, sometimes I want to run while watching Netflix on a huge screen right in front of my face.

One final note on the machine is that I did have a couple of hardware faults during my time using it, the first of which required Peloton to send someone out to replace a part. The second time I was able to fix it myself by resetting the machine. I was using a media loan unit and these take a beating during testing for multiple reviews, so I don’t have any real durability concerns. There’s a 12-month warranty on the touchscreen and most original components, three years on the motor and belt, and five years on the frame.

The Peloton App

There are many companies that offer guided workouts through a partner app that links up with a cardio machine, but Peloton’s classes remain the best I’ve tested. There’s an extensive library of on-demand options, plus a schedule of live classes, and the instructors in general do a great job of being motivational without going over the top. 

Most of the classes fall into the short, sharp HIIT category, but there are also longer, more relaxed options that can help you roll through 60 minutes of running with a little company from the instructor. There are also training plans in the app, including one that guides you to a first 5K and a new program to help you train for a marathon.

Along with running there are all kinds of other workouts, including yoga, strength and Pilates sessions. If you don’t want any kind of instruction there are scenic runs set in cities and national parks which look pretty spectacular on the massive screen. You can also stack several classes or scenic runs together for a long session.

You can link the app up to Strava to upload your runs there, and the Peloton Tread also integrates closely with the Apple Watch, so you can track your sessions more accurately on your wearable using stats beamed over from the treadmill.

Lanebreak Tread

Peloton added its Lanebreak feature to the Tread in July 2023. The gamified workout mode was introduced on its bike in 2022, and now sits alongside instructor-led classes and scenic runs as one of the options for training sessions on the treadmill.

During a Lanebreak Tread workout the screen shows a roller running on a track with six lanes, with users able to switch lanes using the incline dial on the treadmill. The idea is to follow on-screen instructions, collecting bars that pop up in the lanes, while also hitting certain speeds and jumping onto inclines that appear. The treadmill automatically increases and decreases the incline for you if you are on these hills (you can turn this off if you’d prefer to adjust the incline yourself).

Following the instructions earns points, and your overall score goes on a global leaderboard at the end of the workout. The available workouts range from five minutes to 30 minutes; they use different music genres and have different styles, such as intervals or endurance-focused sessions.

Before you start, you set a level for the pace targets. You can see what the average pace will be along with the top pace you’ll be expected to hit, so you know what to expect and can tailor the session to your ability. You control the pace throughout the workout—it’s not adjusted automatically.

I tested Lanebreak Tread at Peloton’s London office and found it an engaging way to train on the treadmill. The futuristic graphics are fun and there’s always another instruction coming up, so your workout ticks by quickly. I don’t think it’s as enjoyable as doing the full instructor-led sessions on the machine, but it is a good option to have on the machine when you want to do something different, while still getting a tough interval session in. If I was using the Peloton Tread several times a week, I’d use Lanebreak for at least one of those runs to keep my training fresh.

Is The Peloton Tread Worth It?

I can’t really imagine any runner being disappointed with the Peloton Tread. Even as an experienced and obsessive runner with a training plan who doesn’t really need the motivation of the classes, I loved using the machine because of the fantastic hardware. Newer runners using the classes will get a lot more out of the machine, and it delivers a very engaging experience that should keep you coming back for more.

The question of whether it’s worth it has a less clear-cut answer, because the price is so incredibly high. You simply don’t need to spend this much money to get a great home treadmill. A machine such as the DKN EnduRun offers great hardware and connectivity to apps like Zwift for £1,399. You can also use guided workouts from any number of apps, including Peloton’s own, without needing them to be integrated directly into the treadmill. 

If you do want classes via a partner app, the Echelon Stride treadmill offers a cheaper alternative to the Peloton Tread at £1,599 plus £39.99 a month. There is no screen – you use a tablet on the console instead – and the hardware isn’t as good as Peloton’s, but you can still get a great workout.

If you are planning on spending big money, the Technogym MyRun is also worth considering. At £3,450 it’s even more expensive than the Peloton Tread and has a tablet stand instead of a screen, but you can link it to apps like Zwift, and in the Technogym Live app (£8.99 a month) you can watch Netflix and YouTube while following workouts that run in the background, as well as following traditional guided workouts.

All that said, if the price isn’t a concern, the guided workouts on offer are unrivaled and I found the general running experience to be better than any other machine I’ve tested. If they would open up the screen to other apps, that would be the cherry on top, but nevertheless it’s a very impressive piece of kit.

Storms Eunice and Franklin may have left us feeling that sunnier days are a long way off, but Peloton Apparel’s new pre-spring collection features pastel-toned activewear to brighten the dullest of running wardrobes and drabbest of weathers. 

The collection is available now in the UK and includes a range of styles for both men and women. For women, there’s a choice of leggings (from £76), bike shorts (£52), long workout tops (£50) and bras (from £44), as well as loungewear (from £76) to wear when sheltering from the great British weather. For men, the range includes lined shorts (£64), loungewear (£92), and Peloton branded tops (from £46). The range is created for those in-between days where leaving the house requires multiple layers.

But what is it like on the move? We got our hands on the dusky blue Move Mission leggings, Move Mission Bra and Flow Racer Tank, and put the set through its paces in a spin class and on a run. Here’s what we thought of it.

• Peloton news flash: Peloton Row first glimpse

What Is Peloton Apparel Like On The Bike?

Like all the best women’s gym leggings, the high-waisted Move Mission leggings didn’t budge on the bike, even when moving between standing and sitting positions, helped by the drawcord waistband which allows you to pull the leggings tight against your stomach. The fabric is buttery-soft against the skin, although with no padding I’m not sure I’d want to spend hours in the saddle wearing them. 

The bra was supportive enough for the spin class, with a scoop neck that didn’t come too low, and a cross-back with thick shoulder straps to offer additional support. It has removable padding and fits well, although the straps aren’t adjustable. It’s available in an inclusive range of sizes, from XS to 3XL.

The leggings and bra have contrast lavender top-stitched seams and Peloton logos in pastel colours, which make for an attractive finish. The main downside is that sweat patches show up prominently, partly because of the lighter-coloured fabric. It may not bother you (who cares what you look like at the end of a spin class?) but if you’re worried it might cause you embarrassment, shop for darker kit elsewhere. 

The tank looks great. It has a marble print Peloton logo on the front, which matches the branding on the leggings and bra, and deep armholes for a relaxed fit. That said, it comes up very long, and it’s well worth sizing down if you’re not into the oversized fit. I’m a UK 8 and found the small size extremely long and nothing like it looks on the model.

What Is Peloton Apparel Like On The Run?

Peloton kit is said to be designed for all activities and instructors often wear the apparel during classes on the Tread, Peloton’s treadmill, so we wore them out for a casual 5K.

Again, the leggings stayed put and thanks to the drawcord they didn’t bunch or shift. However, they lack drop-in pockets on the legs for your phone, gels and running gloves, which we think should be a feature of the best running leggings. There is a small pocket on the waistband which is handy for your keys or credit card, but if you head out wearing these, you’ll need a running belt.

As the Peloton bra offers only medium support I left it at home. When measured against the best running bras, the Peloton bra isn’t especially compressive, and would probably offer only enough support for runners with an A or B cup size.

Again, the tank was comfortable, and the relaxed fit meant I could move freely as I picked up the pace. However, if you are running in the spring, you’ll probably want something you can layer underneath a long sleeve, and the baggier fit might make this difficult. 

The kit is high-quality and looks great, and it’s available in inclusive sizing. It’s nice to see an alternative to monochrome colours, too. Nevertheless, it would be nice to have some high-impact Peloton bras in the collection for larger-busted women. 

More Peloton Coverage

• The Adidas X Peloton Apparel line put to the test at a spin class.
• We tried the new Peloton Guide workout camera.
• Our reviewer found the hardware on the Peloton Tread was second to none, but there were reservations.
• Discover why Peloton shot to fame with our review of the original Peloton Bike.   

Two of the biggest names in fitness have worked together to create a 19-piece capsule collection which celebrates the digital fitness community.

The spring/summer 22 range is available to buy now on the Peloton and Adidas websites, as well as select Adidas stores in the UK, US, Canada and Germany. It’s made up of workout wear as well as unisex recovery pieces. While this is the third collection released by the fitness giants, it’s the first with gym wear staples.

For women, there’s a choice of cropped or long workout vest (both £28), as well as a sports bra (£38) and leggings (£60), while men can pair a workout T-shirt with shorts (both £38). The workout wear features Adidas’s HEAT.RDY tech – a combination of materials, cuts and moisture-wicking treatments which combine to keep you cooler while you work up a sweat.

We got our hands on the women’s workout apparel and put the leggings, bra and vest through their paces in a spin class. The bra was tight yet comfortable, and I felt like there was minimal breast movement – the whole point of a sports bra after all.

The leggings were spot on: they didn’t budge and there was no gathering at the crotch – a great fit overall. The high waist also kept everything smooth and tucked in. I was a fan of the vest, although the double layering made it quite thick and warm, so it didn’t stay on for long. 

I certainly couldn’t fault the overall quality. I feared the kit might feel like a bit of a knock-off, but it really isn’t. It’s the Adidas quality we know and love, with a Peloton touch.

The shorts, leggings and bra sport a geometric-pattern which may feel familiar to Peloton owners, as the connected spin bike brand’s graphics and icons served as inspiration for the designers.

The relaxed recovery wear spans a crewneck sweatshirt (£63) and pair of joggers (£60) which are ideal for warm-ups and warm-downs, as well as a stylish bomber jacket (£78).

We’re pleased to report the collection is also available in an inclusive range of sizes (Adidas is one of our favourite plus-size running wear brands).

Peloton, the company that popularised connected exercise bikes, has joined the Boxing Day sales with discounts on its top-of-the-range bike and treadmill.

The Peloton Bike+ is reduced by £270, bringing the cost of the machine down to £2,025. That’s not quite as low as the Black Friday/Cyber Monday reduction of £300, but it’s close enough for us. If you’re considering buying a Peloton, we’re assuming £30 isn’t going to cause any sleepless nights, since you’ll have to pay a £39 monthly app subscription to get the most from the bike.

While £2,025 is still a lot of money, Peloton does deliver an exceptionally slick and engaging experience which has kept it ahead of the competition. The Bike+ has several improvements over the original Peloton Bike, including a bigger HD screen which rotates so it’s easier to follow the strength and yoga sessions in the app. There’s also an automatic resistance feature so the difficulty changes in line with the demands of the class.

• Peloton news flash: Peloton Row first glimpse

The £270 reduction is available on the bike itself and all three Bike+ packages, which include various accessories, such as dumbbells, a workout mat, cycling shoes, and a bike mat to protect hard flooring.

See related

• The Best Exercise Bike Deals Including New Year’s Day Sales
• The Best Exercise Bikes Of 2022
• The Best Treadmill Deals In The New Year’s Day Sales
• The Best Treadmills For Home

Peloton is also offering a £150 discount on Peloton Tread packages, but not on just the treadmill itself. So while the entry-level £2,295 price for just the treadmill remains the same, the Tread Essentials package, which adds resistance bands, weights, a workout mat and heart rate monitor, is reduced from £2,570 to £2,420. An extra £125 for that kit isn’t bad, although committed bargain hunters could probably shop around to get similar equipment for a little less.

Specs-wise you can get the same top speed and incline range on cheaper treadmills, but it’s the live and on-demand classes that set the Peloton Tread apart.

If you’re on the hunt for a bargain, we’ll be collating exercise bike deals and treadmill discounts through to January. Happy hunting.

Buy the Peloton Bike+ | Buy the Peloton Tread

Risible adverts aside, 2019 seemed like a pretty good year for Peloton. It established the idea that you could take spin classes at home with a stationary bike, a screen and a monthly subscription, and did so successfully enough that a raft of copycat bike-plus-app home spin bike options sprang up in response to its popularity.

After spending a couple of months using Peloton, I can see why it’s taken off. The set-up is phenomenally swish, with an impressive bike and a vast range of excellent classes from popular instructors. There are even non-spin classes in the app too, which you can follow on your phone or cast to a TV.

It comes at a price, however. The bike itself costs a minimum of £1,345, and you’ll probably want to spend more like £2,129 to get a package that includes shoes to clip in to the Peloton pedals plus a set of hand weights. On top of that, a monthly class subscription is £39.

Can such a pricy bike offer good value? I’d say there is an ideal audience for whom it’s perfect, but just as with a gym membership, you’ll definitely have to think long and hard about whether you’re going to use it long term, and what alternatives there are – like a gym membership, for one.

The Set-Up

The bike and system is very easy to set up, because installation is included in the price, and you’ll also get a quick run-through of the software once it’s up and running. Jump on the bike, turn on the large HD screen and browse the classes available, a task made easier by being able to filter by length, difficulty, type, instructor and more.

Resistance is controlled by a dial that allows you to ramp it up or reduce it very quickly, and during classes there are three primary stats on display: your cadence, the resistance and an estimate of your power output. All of these are used by the instructors in classes to explain how intense your effort level should be.

There are thousands of classes to try on demand, and there’s also a schedule of at least 14 live classes a day to join. During all classes a leaderboard pops up on the side of the screen so you can see how you compare with others who have taken the class in the past, and you can filter this by age range and sex to see how you compare with others in your demographic.

It’s easy to adjust the handlebar and seat height to fit you too, and you can use the pedals without special clip-in shoes, though the experience is definitely improved by having cleats.

The Experience

Peloton is brilliant to use. The screen is huge and makes for an immersive experience, and I rarely experienced drop-outs during live classes even though the bike was in my garage and not all that close to my internet router.

The classes themselves are exactly what you’d expect if you’ve ever tried a live spin class. The music is loud, and the instructors are even louder and unfailingly upbeat. Every spinning session is built up to incredible levels of importance, with all manner of motivational clichés thrown at you every time you’re asked to increase your effort.

It’s not quite as motivational as being in a studio with others tackling a class, but it’s really not far off, especially if you take a live Peloton class and join in a couple of minutes beforehand to see the instructor chatting to those in the studio where it’s being filmed.

You can also find a class to suit pretty much every aim, whether it’s a 90-minute sweatfest to boost your endurance or a 20-minute blast to get the heart pumping. There are classes aimed at keen cyclists that get more jargony, and there are classes aimed at complete beginners just designed to make you feel good about getting moving. You can also select based on your music taste and see the playlist in advance.

Peloton aims to bring the spin studio experience home and it does that superbly. On top of that there are plenty of other classes you can do too, including guided yoga, Pilates and strength sessions, and even outdoor runs and walks. I tried a strength session in the Peloton app and while it didn’t offer quite the same premium experience as spinning, it was solid enough. I couldn’t get the app or bike to cast to my Chromecast, but following the workout on my phone was easy.

If you’re a fan of spinning and the OTT motivational ethos of it, then Peloton delivers. I think I would start to tire of the incredibly earnest behests to increase my effort level, but then I’m a grouch and an obsessive runner who generally prefers the great outdoors to spinning inside, no matter how amazing the experience is. There are instructors who tone it down a bit, however, and once you find them it’s easy to search for their other classes.

Verdict

Peloton delivers on everything it promises, but there is still a question hanging over the sizeable outlay. If you get it to share with others in your home, and avoid paying for multiple gym memberships or regular spin classes as a result, the cost becomes far more reasonable. Extra user accounts are free, though you may need a separate set of cycling shoes to use with the bike.

Even for one very keen user the Peloton bike could be worth its price. It’s so easy to jump on and do a quick class, and it will help you get fitter quicker and burn a lot of calories in an enjoyable manner. It’s a convenient and premium experience, and the motivational boost of having the live classes definitely helps.

There are other ways to get classes at home, and you can link up far cheaper bikes to TVs, tablets and phones to get an ersatz Peloton experience. However, the Peloton screen and set-up are hard to rival, and those that do make a proper attempt at it like Echelon and Technogym Live end up costing similar amounts.

One alternative worth considering, if you want to get fit cycling at home but aren’t so sure about spin classes, is Zwift. You can get a good-quality set-up for comfortably under £1,000 assuming you already have a bike to put in a turbo trainer, and then the Zwift subscription is just £12.99 a month. A subscription allows you to cycle in virtual worlds, rather than the closed shop of a spinning studio, and take on classes and training plans where you ride in those virtual worlds. Zwift is much more focused on road cycling enthusiasts, however, and allows you to ignore all the jargon and just ride up a virtual volcano or through underwater tunnels.

Peloton often reduces the price of the Peloton Bike. Follow our coverage of Peloton Black Friday deals to see how much you could save.