The word 'Peloton' comes from the word for the main group of riders in a cycling race

Despite Peloton's online model, most users feel a deep connection with the instructors and have created community groups around their shared identities (like being a mom or a lawyer). The relationship users have with their instructors has fueled consistent engagement and paved the way for instructors to take on personal brand deals.

Peloton has two core revenue streams: the exercise equipment it sells and the company's monthly subscription that gives users access to its class library. More than half of Peloton's revenue comes from the company's core product, the monthly subscription. Its "Peloton App+" membership tier is $28.99 per month.

Like SoulCycle and Tae Bo, Peloton has struggled to stay at the forefront of the fitness industry. Despite periods of incredibly high interest and high-profile users (like the Obamas), Peloton has lost many users since the pandemic ended—and has struggled to add more.

Given the relatively high financial barriers to entry—with its cheapest bikes selling on its website for almost $2K—owning a Peloton has become a status symbol for some, representing the disparity between access to fitness between the upper and lower classes in the US (especially during COVID).

Ahead of the company's IPO, Peloton founder John Foley told investors that "on the most basic level, Peloton sells happiness." However, the inspirational sentiment didn't stick with investors—the company closed the day of its IPO with stocks trading down 11% from the IPO price.

Peloton's at-home workout classes were a game-changer for parents, giving them a chance to squeeze a workout in without leaving the house. The community group feature on Peloton created a sense of community that made users incredibly loyal to the brand.

Peloton ran a Kickstarter campaign in 2013, hoping to raise $250K and ended the campaign with $307K. Peloton sold its first bikes during that campaign for $1.5K. Foley later said that most of the bike purchases came from investors, not necessarily new customers.

The original Peloton stationary bikes sold for about $1.2K, but Peloton founder John Foley said that price point made consumers skeptical of the product's quality. After increasing the price of a bike to $2K, Foley said people started to believe it was a quality product, and sales soon increased.

While demand for Peloton's at-home fitness equipment soared during the pandemic, the company didn't necessarily have the infrastructure to support the breakthrough sales. In 2021, Peloton bought Precor—a fitness equipment manufacturing company—to help boost domestic production and decrease a backlog of orders.

The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in record-breaking sales for Peloton, as gyms closed and at-home fitness classes became the new norm. However, Peloton struggled to keep up with the increased demand. As the COVID-19 pandemic's lockdowns lifted, many people returned to the gym, reducing their need for on-demand at-home fitness classes. Some say Peloton's strong subscriber base is the ticket to helping the company eventually become profitable.

Outside of teaching Peloton classes, many instructors have amassed large social media followings and brand deals—ranging from modeling for Puma and Adidas to "Dancing With The Stars" appearances. On top of their influencer work, leading instructors at Peloton—like Cody Rigsby, Emma Lovewell, and Robin Arzón—reportedly earn salaries of more than $500K.

Years after high-profile recalls on the treadmill due to reported injuries and even a death, Peloton issued another recall on the Peloton Plus bike seat. The company said it received three reports of the seatpost breaking.

In the "Sex and the City" spin-off "And Just Like That …", Mr. Big—played by Chris Noth—dies after having a heart attack after a Peloton class. In real life, the Peloton team had not been informed of the plot point. Peloton worked quickly to create an ad starring Noth in just two days in an attempt to get ahead of the story. But very soon after, Noth received public sexual assault allegations, leading to Peloton pulling the ad.

Jenn Sherman sent an email to Peloton with the title, "This is why you need to hire me." After auditioning, she became the very first Peloton cycle instructor. Since then, she's amassed a loyal following for her brash personality.

Peloton founder John Foley said investors rejected the company's initial funding requests because there was no clear indication of what the market for at-home fitness classes looked like. Ultimately, more than 200 angel investors gave the company its first round of cash.

Foley worked for Barnes & Noble during the company's race against Amazon to dominate the e-reader market (Barnes & Noble had the Nook and Amazon had the Kindle). Foley says his time working for Barnes & Noble helped him learn the business of digital media, which is a core element of Peloton's business.

In 2021, a six-year-old died after getting caught underneath a Peloton treadmill. A federal investigation into the company revealed that Peloton knew about injuries on the treadmill as early as 2018 and failed to report the incidents to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Rigsby has the largest social media following of any Peloton instructor as of this writing and is reportedly one of the highest-paid instructors. When he competed on the show in 2021, some fans felt like his cult-like following from Peloton kept him on the show, despite not being the strongest dancer.

Polio, formally called poliomyelitis, comes from the Greek words for gray (polios) and marrow (myelos)—a reference to the spinal cord tissue that, when infected by the virus, causes paralysis.

How pickleball got its name has been a point of contention for decades. The McCallums claim the family dog, Pickles, used to snatch the balls as they played and named it for him. Joan Pritchard, though, says Pickles didn’t join the family until after the game was invented.

Robin Arzón is Peloton's VP of fitness programming and the lead instructor at Peloton. Besides teaching multiple classes a day, she reserves seven hours a week for her own personal training and says she trains like a high-intensity athlete.

The company Palantir's name was inspired by this J. R. R. Tolkien reference. In fact, it's one of several Peter Thiel-cofounded companies that have a nod to The Lord of the Rings for a name, including Valar Ventures and Mithril Capital.

Originating from the Greek term "peptos," which means digestible, peptide as a word refers to two or more amino acids.

Placing bets on horse racing isn't the same as a football or basketball game. You can pick a winner (win), who will come in second (place), and even third (show). And all the bets placed on a race are pooled together and divided among the winners. This Top Ten Picks video teaches the mechanics behind each bet, and shares insider tips that can lead to more informed betting choices.

If the tournament is rather boring, you might hear a curious word getting thrown around: "chalk." In short, it means that the favorites have been winning. The word's origins go back to horse racing and its sportsbooks, where bookies would post odds on chalkboards. Over time, the bookies came to be known as "chalk" and, years later, tournaments (and their brackets) that seemed to favor those bookies earned the name, too.

Astronaut essentially translates to space sailor, though these sailors may be referred to differently depending on their home country. For example, Russian star sailors are called cosmonauts. Though why American, European, Canadian, and Japanese...

He’s one of history’s most famous soccer players: Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pelé. This piece follows the Brazilian soccer legend through various public appearances and interviews, highlighting the commercialization of his image and his own reflection on a life of stardom.

Many believe the word came into use thanks to Boulanger, an 18th-century Parisian soup vendor. According to legend, his shop claimed it served "bouillons restaurants," or "restorative broths."

The sport's origin story can be traced back to 19th-century England, where it was known as "whiff-whaff." Players initially used a dinner table to play. After decades of evolution, ping-pong reached its "Golden Age" of popularity in the 1950s and 1960s.

Traditionally, a picket line is a physical line outside a workplace, but today, it can also be digital (think: boycotting a company’s website).

For nearly 100 years we’ve referred to the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes as the “Triple Crown.” But where did that term come from? It was popularized by a sports writer in the early 1930s. But this Old Smoke Clothing article, authored by the woman who wrote the book on Sir Barton, explores the British origins and how it gained popularity with Gallant Fox’s win in 1930.

The Oxford English Dictionary records the first usage before 1575. Shakespeare used the word in his play “Measure for Measure,” with one character suggesting another “may be a Puncke.” Over time, the word acquired additional meanings. By the 20th century, it was used as an insult for a young man.

Since the late 1800s, tennis has been the world’s premier racquet sport. But in the late 2010s, rapid growth and investment in Pickleball changed that dynamic. This Cult Tennis video explores the newly created tension between tennis and Pickleball players, both on and off the courts.

-Soccer legend Pelé (1940-2022)

Only the offense knows when the ball will be snapped, giving the team with the ball the advantage. Common combinations of colors and numbers (like "blue 42") were codes for plays early in the sport, but are now used arbitrarily.

Beyond the word's origin, this article makes clear that fuzzy definitions of the disorder make it confusing for patients to describe it.

The modern BNPL model didn't take off until the COVID-19 pandemic, when consumers were stuck at home and lockdowns forced them to shop online rather than in person. The number of US BNPL loans grew more than tenfold from 2019 (16.8 million) to 2021 (180 million), according to a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report.

The story of Pheidippides is not likely true, but that hasn’t stopped the story from spreading. Much of that is thanks to Robert Browning, who enshrined the myth for a new generation in a 1879 poem that described the man dying after delivering word of the victory.

Read the entry in The Physical Dictionary by Stephen Blankaart, from 1693, where the word first appeared in English.

The world of sports gambling is filled with insider lingo: What's a "spread"? How about a "moneyline" or a "parlay"? This resource breaks down the jargon, helping you navigate the industry or, at least, giving you the keys to talk about it.

For instance, if you've been out-maneuvered by another trader, you've been "mogged." A "rulescuck" is someone who is a stickler for betting market rules and may try to win on a technicality.

In 1946, trailblazing director Antoinette Perry died after decades of creative success. The following year, Perry's professional partner, Brock Pemberton, founded a series of awards to honor her. While handing out an award at the first ceremony, Pemberton referred to it using Antoinette's nickname of "Tony," and the name caught on.

There are more than 600 muscles that crisscross the human body, and each has a name that's more than a simple label. Muscle names also typically communicate the muscle's size, behavior, length, location, appearance, direction, and attachments to bone. These names usually have Greek or Latin roots, such as in the case of the deltoid muscles, which are named in reference to the Greek letter delta (𐤃).

Doping in sports is broadly condemned as unsafe and unfair. Significant controversies in major sports, including baseball and cycling, have been prompted by the widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs, which are described as clear-cut dangers and abuses of the rules. But to many competitors, the line between a PED and the next smart technique to adopt is unclear. This podcast episode explores that gray reality.

In the novel, the author wrote about “free-lances:” mercenary soldiers who were “free” to use their weapons (called, yes, “lances”) in service of whoever paid them the most. A video details that story and other gig economy basics.