In Fall 2020 I briefly moved in with my parents while the HVAC system at my house got replaced. At the time I was pet-less and staying with them allowed me to take their dog for daily walks. These walks made me aware of how sedentary I had become in 2020. I also became aware that my weekly trip to the gym prior to 2020 was not sufficient exercise. Like many, I downloaded the Peloton app during a free trial and ended up actually using it. I soon realized that if I did not actually have to make the effort to go to the gym, I actually enjoyed exercising. As I began to consider purchasing the bike, I thought about how many of the members of my gym rarely followed the gymʻs rules about personal space and cleanliness prior to March 2020, and realized that I was fine with never returning. With financial help from my family, I finally purchased the bike and the monthly bike membership.
Most of the current classes on the platform feature an instructor seemingly alone in the room. During the yoga classes, you can see a camera capturing other angles of the performance, but not the people remotely operating the cameras. The main exception to this are the classes taught prior to March 2020 which show the in-person class participants. However, these classes mainly focus on the instructor and do not show the camera operators and other laborers and technicians needed to run the classes and produce the platformʻs content.
The instructorʻs work to avoid showing otherʻs involved in producing the classes. I began thinking about this during a Tunde Oyeneyin live ride when she switched out her mic-pack during the class without stopping the class. Clearly, they did not want to show a technician helping her, and she placed the problem mic-pack next to the bike. I assume she practiced this during her onboarding to the company, and it was to minimize distractions to virtual participants in the class.
As I began to follow a few of the instructors on their social media I began to notice non-instructors in the background during some of the Instructorsʻs Instagram Lives, and several instructors posted some carefully curated “behind the scenes” moments during photoshoots and ride-planning. I also found some posts from Pelotonʻs official social media discussing members of their administrative staff and the opening of an American production plant.
None of this labor is shown during the classes, meant to feature a Minimalist aesthetic in a streamless production. During a recent live ride with Bradley Rose, the screen on the instructor bike broke, and eventually, a technician came into the frame to attempt a repair. In a following live ride, the screen remained broken, but not mentioned by Bradley Rose. The class was not released as an on-demand class and a version without technical difficulties was recorded. Bradley Rose did mention the malfunction in his social media and the original live ride became a discussion point among his fandom.
This all serves as a reminder of the human labor needed to produce Peloton classes. While I continue to enjoy the carefully produced classes, the teenage tech-theater geek in me is now curious about the steps needed to produce a class, and the need to appreciate (and hopefully fairly pay) everyone involved in the classes and equipment.