If Peloton wants to know why the lockdown boom in home exercise was unsustainable, then Ian Rodriguez has a good answer: working out is more fun with other people.
Rodriguez, a 52-year-old teacher from Preston, Lancashire, cancelled his gym membership when the pandemic hit but couldn’t wait to get back. As many others did, he spent money on gym equipment, including a rowing machine and some weights. But then he started missing the gym classes.
“I kept fit at home throughout the lockdown, but as restrictions eased, the lack of social interaction started to get to me. I was getting to the stage where I missed going to classes at the gym. Exercising on your own, even with someone shouting at you on a screen during an online course, just isn’t the same,” he says. Rodriguez is now back at the gym “four or five times a week”.
Millions of others around the world have responded to the call of the gym instructor, leaving Peloton, the home fitness company, facing further questions about what this means for demand for…
