Time constraints or bad weather are the most common reasons that force us to sweat within the four walls of the comfort of our home.
There are tons of apps that give us different ways to train at home and improve our fitness, including Zwift and Peloton.
We have already described Zwift in more detail in one of our articles, so let us first introduce you to Peloton.
What is Peloton?
Many people think of an expensive exercise bike when they hear of the Peloton. And yes, I agree that it is not cheap, as its price in Europe is around $1445.
However, the company also offers you an affordable app for $12.99 per month. You don’t need a Peloton bike for it, because the app provides you with various live classes where, in addition to cycling exercises, you can also find yoga, meditation, HIT cardio, running, strength training, and meditation.
With these methods, you can also take care of better physical fitness. Plus, you can get a 30-day free trial before you commit.
Every training is conducted under the guidance of Peloton’s experienced instructors, who make sure that with their interaction you feel like you are in the gym during the exercise. Instructors are with you and encourage you with clear instructions. They also introduce you to ways to adapt the training to your difficulty level, so it is never too easy or hard for you.
In the list of exercises in the app, you can notice that the instructor of each course is prominently listed. Live training and seeing the instructor on screen gives you a sense of real human connection.
If the live training takes place at a time that does not suit your schedule, you can watch and follow the archived video. There are currently over 12,000 of them.
It’s for all these reasons that the application is so popular.
If this had been a few years ago, when I was an avid gym goer and had to continue at home for certain reasons, I would have used it myself. But since I’m a cycling fan, I prefer to commit to an app like Zwift.
Peloton vs Zwift: Their main differences…
To begin, I would like to mention that there is no wrong choice, because it mainly depends on you, what you want to achieve and what you like more.
I decided on Zwit because I want to maintain my cycling fitness even in the off-season.
Zwift is based on cycling as a sport. It offers everything from group rides, to solo rides and even races. In short, with the goal of becoming stronger and faster cyclists.
On the other hand, Peloton offers you courses like in gyms. You perform them with an exercise bike. You’ll burn a lot of calories and improve your cardiovascular fitness, which will definitely help you on your bike. However, the exercises are not specific to cycling and are more generally related to cardiovascular endurance and physical fitness.
If you like guided courses with an instructor and accompanied by music, Peloton is definitely the right choice.
In fact, the essence of both brands is motivation, interaction, and variety. In addition, comfort, fun, and interesting exercises are performed at home virtually via a screen, smartphone, or television.
How exactly do they both work?
An important thing to note about Peloton is that for the whole experience, it is wise to purchase the entire system and membership. Although you can only subscribe to the app, some features are only compatible with its signature equipment, such as Auto Adjust. This allows the instructor to change the resistance or incline on your bike or treadmill.
You don’t technically need to buy a membership to use Bike or Tread, but that’s kind of the whole point of buying Peloton.
With it, you’ll have access to live courses and an on-demand library backed by music.
The ideal process is to buy your Peloton or Tread bike, sign up, and start taking classes. It’s an accessible and engaging experience that allows you to exercise dynamically on and off the machine.
Peloton:
• All-in-one experience
• Thousands of live and on-demand courses
• World-class instructors
• Huge variety of exercises
• Excellent quality
• Modern technology and features
• Two months of free access
• 30-day trial
• 12-month warranty
On the other hand, we have Zwift, which works more virtually and is primarily a competitive training game. It doesn’t make its own bikes or treadmills, so you’ll either have to have your own gear or buy new from Zwift.
In their online shop, you can find a large selection of trainers, bikes, and accessories that are compatible with its app. The brand focuses on cycling and running programs.
The ideal process here for getting started with Zwift is to use your existing bike or treadmill, connect it to your trainer or RunPod, download the app, and get started.
When you select a map, your bike or treadmill will adjust to the path below you. This means that if you climb a hill during the game, your resistance will increase. And it’s this interactive way of training that convinced me to train through Zwift for the past few years during bad weather or off-season cycling.
Zwift:
• Compete with other real users
• No need to buy a new wheel/tread to use
• 130 different courses
• 8 different worlds
• Incline/Resistance will automatically increase/decrease
• 7-day free trial
• 1-year warranty
All in all, with Peloton you’ll probably want to buy an entire bike or treadmill for the full experience, while with Zwift, if you have an existing bike or treadmill, you’ll only need to buy a trainer.
Overall, Zwift definitely will cost you less.
Zwift vs Peloton: Plans review
Let’s see the different plans.
Peloton
A monthly Peloton subscription gives you unlimited access to thousands of different classes (12 types in total) based on cardio, strength training, and yoga.
You will be able to choose them according to your goals, experience level, current mood, or even musical taste. You will be accompanied by a world-class expert instructor at each one.
Peloton gives you a sense of community and allows you to “high five” other class members and add hashtags to let others know how you feel.
Zwift
Zwift’s app is a bit different as it works a lot like an online game. You have more than 1k workouts tailored to your goals, time, and abilities. As you train, you’ll earn points and unlock achievements.
You can cycle or run together with other real users.
It offers you four different training plans: Build Me Up, Run 101, Record Breaker, and TT Tune Up, each varying in activity and level. You will be able to choose from more than 130 routes in eight different “worlds” for your rides.
You will see yourself as an avatar, moving between other users or with your friends. And, the faster you are, the faster your avatar will go. It’s very funny to me when I often find myself happily “talking” to others.
But surely the mission of each of these apps is to make exercise interesting, fun, and accessible.
On one hand, Peloton acts like a studio, while Zwift is more game-based. With a lot of exercises and classes to choose from, Peloton seems like it might have more variety, but I personally like the competitive concept of the games and the greater emphasis on cycling such as Zwift.
