Did anyone buy a Peloton during the pandemic? I didn't. I was incredibly skeptical: I've been working on my fitness for more than 15 years and I have reached the home-workouts-are-boring stage of my progress. I did buy the Bowflex SelectTech dumbbells. They are very...decorative. So when a friend of mine highly recommended Peloton, I laughed it off. As an increasing number of partners at my old job would share their bike usernames during work calls, my ears perked up. Finally, on the second work trip for my new job, I came face to face with a real live Peloton bike. "Fine. What's the big deal?" I asked the empty hotel gym.
After 10 minutes, I got it.
See, spinning may be a great workout, but it's hard to get started. I tried a few times at the gym. If you don't know what you're doing, it feels like a loose, yet uncomfortable version of a stationary bike. However, the orientation videos on the Peloton get you started quickly. Adjust the seat, the handlebars, foot straps (since I don't have spinning shoes), and it feels okay. Watching and listening to these trainers make the difference. It's not the normal motivational approach...it's church-like.
Cult-like.
Don't believe me? Listen to Denis Morton for 90 seconds...
There's a reason I call him Pastor Denis. He and several others will slip in intense quotes and stories into these sweat session that will blow you away. At first my cynicism wouldn't allow me to take it in; quickly that would change. Two free hotel rides led me to the app. My friend was waiting for me with a 90-day pass and a coupon for the bike. The app was fine for now - I kept using the app on the spin bikes at my local gym. What astounded me and solidified my belief that Peloton is a cult was the fact that each workout was a punishment that I kept joyously signing up for. No other form of exercise for me gave me so few endorphins or instant changes (no pump or anything) but kept me coming back. It became a challenge I wanted to conquer. Plus the music and the trainers made the difference.
Do you know Tunde? How about Cody? Robin? Matt Wilpers? Even Sam Yo sometimes. Each one has their own approaches to making the pedals turn. Their playlist are incredibly different. Yet each will make sure you leave with some encouragement. Even though I work out at night and their "now you can start the day" messages aren't for me, the upliftment reminds me of the charismatic evangelical church I grew up in.
How bad is it? I'm using the Kon-Mari method to clean my apartment of clutter...so I can fit in a whole bike. I'm in.
From a learning perspective, they teach you how to progress in quick, subtle ways. Repeatable instructions as you start and change activities are subtle. Clear. Gentle drill-sergeant. Lesson learned: not all design must be fancy. If this fat rider can progress from low impact to riding with the music rides, anyone can. I've joined. And I encourage you to try it.
Adding the term "produsers" feels like Orwellian doublespeak emerging into my vocabulary. The classic book 1984 (which has been used with varying amounts of accuracy to describe the Internet experience) described how the future government would control language by shortening words into hybrid terms and shifting how people described the world. Thankfully, reading the Bruns article explains the term produser is not the term shifting the world but a description of how the world has changed around language. If you consider that many of us raised with television, movies, or books, the act of consumption is one-way. Few of us immediately read or watch and then create our own art in direct response or inspired by what they experienced, especially in the context of entertainment. A produser expresses how Web 2.0 democratizes expression: on the same media, people can produce and use content at the same level. Bruns cites YouTube as one of the examples of an internet space whe...
I mentioned The Social Dilemma in a previous blog and its assertion that social media uses the reward loop to stimulate dopamine. That point continues to rattle around in my dopamine dependent brain when considering my own social platform use and our semester’s work with social media in learning design. Diving further into the dopamine relationship, I found an explainer article from Harvard that contained a compelling quote: Although not as intense as hit of cocaine, positive social stimuli will similarly result in a release of dopamine, reinforcing whatever behavior preceded it. Cognitive neuroscientists have shown that rewarding social stimuli—laughing faces, positive recognition by our peers, messages from loved ones—activate the same dopaminergic reward pathways. Smartphones have provided us with a virtually unlimited supply of social stimuli, both positive and negative. Every notification, whether it’s a text message, a “like” on Instagram, or a Face...
Between Uvalde, Buffalo, and the ongoing war in Ukraine and others that don't make the trending pages, mourning has been on my mind. I wrote in my personal blog before that my view on mourning in America has changed. For years, I indicted American society as one that could not properly mourn. More recently, I declared that my fellow Americans do mourn, but don't do it collectively. My hypothesis was because of the battlements within our society that we mourn in communities. Other than the President declaring flags flown at half-staff, there is no collective gesture in the United States that marks death or encourages others to mourn. To be fair, all of my judgments are against how we mourn in the Caribbean. While even as Jamaica entrenches itself in the cultures of its neighbors, there are some things that are still requisite. My short list includes: The long list of phone calls The emotional church service Clothing that is set aside for just such an occasion Dis...
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