Peloton Made a Camera That’ll Guide You While You Lift Weights

Peloton has lengthy been rumored to be engaged on a strength-training product, and after the corporate teased an upcoming launch throughout its earnings name final week, it appeared like the brand new machine’s arrival was imminent. Now the $495 Peloton Guide is right here, but it surely’s in all probability not what you thought it might be.

Peloton thrived all through the pandemic as of us who would’ve labored out in a gymnasium had been confined to their houses. Sales of its related Bike skyrocketed, and the corporate racked up tens of millions of app subscribers. But after being compelled to recall its expensive Tread+ and its then-unreleased cheaper Tread (which has since gone on sale) earlier this yr, Peloton’s income took a success. Now it looks as if the company’s growth has leveled out—i.e. the situations that led to its wildly profitable 2020 can’t probably be replicated. The firm plans to launch new merchandise to attraction to those that don’t need a stationary bike or treadmill (or who don’t wish to pay hundreds of {dollars} to work out at house), and Guide is the primary of these gadgets.

Peloton’s first foray into (comparatively) reasonably priced health isn’t the Tonal or Tempo competitor some had anticipated. Instead, Guide is an AI-powered digicam that tracks your actions as you train and offers you credit score for following together with the category instructors. How it really works: The Guide connects to your TV with an HDMI cable. Once you energy it up and log into your Peloton account, you’ll see an interface just like those on the Peloton Bike and Tread, the place you’re greeted with reside energy exercises and on-demand content material from Peloton’s library. From there, you may dive into Peloton’s strength-training lessons, similar to you may utilizing the Peloton app on a TV. The Guide’s digicam allows two belongings you gained’t get utilizing the Peloton app: Movement Tracker, which Peloton says “encourages members to complete the demonstrated exercises and follow the instructors for the entire class,” and one thing referred to as Self Mode, which successfully exhibits you an on-screen feed of your self figuring out subsequent to the trainer so you may evaluate your type to the knowledgeable’s presumably higher type.

Peloton declined to provide extra element on how Movement Tracker works, so it’s unclear precisely how the machine learning-powered characteristic is analyzing your motion or the way it’s providing you with credit score. In the Peloton-provided picture above, the Guide doesn’t seem to calculate any form of output for a leaderboard—as a substitute you see a listing of different customers taking the category to the best of the display, as you usually do with the energy periods within the app. You may see the particular train being carried out on display, in addition to your coronary heart charge and one thing Peloton calls a Strive Score.

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You’ll need to pair a heart rate monitor to view your heart rate and Strive Score, and Peloton is including a new one with the Guide. This isn’t a Fitbit or Apple Watch type of wearable; it’s more of a Scosche-like heart rate-monitoring armband designed solely to track your heart rate. (Peloton already has a heart rate monitor, but it’s a chest strap. Peloton Redditors regularly complain that it sucks, so it’s unclear if the armband will be any better.) The Strive Score is calculated based on the time you spend in each heart rate zone while working out, and it works with any Bluetooth heart rate monitor you pair with a Peloton device. I use an Apple Watch with a Peloton Bike+ and see my Strive Score during cycling classes, and while it’s useful for seeing how much effort I exert during a workout, it’s also personal and varies from class to class (i.e. it’s not a score you can use to compare or compete with other users).

The Peloton Guide will also offer up recommendations for classes based on previous workouts to help you plan an efficient way to work each muscle group. This feature, called Body Activity, sounds incredibly useful and I hope it rolls out to all Peloton products.

The Guide comes with a remote for stopping, starting, and skipping classes, and the device can also be controlled via voice. The Guide has a microphone that can be physically disabled with a switch, and its camera lens can be covered with a shutter. Peloton’s other devices also have built-in camera lenses with physical shutters, though those cameras don’t have any AI features.

Peloton’s strength-training expansion isn’t out of the blue—the company has 12 strength instructors (many of whom do double duty teaching running or cycling classes) and the company has an existing library of hundreds of on-demand strength classes. If you subscribe to the Peloton app or already have a $39/month all-access subscription for using with a Bike or Tread, you already have access to Peloton’s whole strength-training library. And that’s what makes the Guide a little weird. The casual weight-lifter doesn’t want to spend close to $500 just for form analysis, and folks who really care about form probably work out with a trainer in person at a gym. Unlike Tonal or Tempo, Peloton’s new home workout device doesn’t come with any equipment, so you’ll have to bring your own weights. You’re essentially paying for the Guide’s Movement Tracker and Self Mode—and whether those features are worth hundreds of dollars remains to be seen.

The Peloton Guide can be out there early subsequent yr within the U.S. and Canada and can roll out the UK, Germany, and Australia later within the yr. If you don’t already subscribe to Peloton’s app, a Guide subscription with entry to strength-training lessons, Movement Tracker, and Self Mode will price you $13/month for as much as 5 individuals on high of the value of the gadget.