PSA for Peloton Members: You Need to Try the New Yoga Conditioning Classes

Peloton members: If you think yoga is too boring or easy, try the new Yoga Conditioning classes, which deliver a serious burn. 

Now available in Peloton’s on-demand library, these workouts combine traditional yoga postures with strength training movements using light dumbbells, similar to CorePower Yoga’s famous Sculpt(Opens in a new window) classes. Peloton launched the new Yoga Conditioning collection earlier this month with nine classes ranging from 10 to 30 minutes, led by instructors Kristin McGee(Opens in a new window), Mariana Fernández(Opens in a new window), and Kirra Michel(Opens in a new window). 

I’ve tried a few of Peloton’s Yoga Conditioning classes, and I can attest that they offer a challenging and fun workout, even for advanced yoga practitioners. In these classes, you might, for instance, do tricep kickbacks while holding a yoga chair pose. You might perform a bicep curl to overhead press while bending and extending your legs in a high lunge. In a yoga goddess pose, you might do upright rows or oblique dips.

Also be prepared to do variations of planks, squats, and weighted abdominal exercises in these classes. In between blocks of strength training moves, you typically stretch out with a yoga vinyasa flow (a traditional sequence that goes: plank > chaturanga > upward dog > downward dog). If all of this sounds like gibberish, don’t worry: Peloton’s instructors guide you with verbal cues and demonstrations throughout the class.

(Credit: Angela Moscaritolo)

Peloton’s Yoga Conditioning classes only really require one set of light weights (2 to 3 pounds), a yoga mat, and a yoga block. If you can, I also recommend grabbing a set of medium weights (around 5 pounds) that you can use for moves like squats and lunges. 

Also commonly called Sculpt, this style of yoga is already available on several other workout apps and smart home gym machines, including the Lululemon Mirror and the Forme Studio. I’ve taught yoga for the past decade, but I fell in love with this particular style after taking the Sculpt classes on the Forme Studio. I trained to teach it last year, and have been leading a heated in-person Sculpt class at a local yoga studio here in the Tampa Bay area ever since. I am passionate about this style of yoga, which offers a full-body HIIT-style workout pairing high repetitions and light weight, an effective way to tone muscles and burn calories, so I was very hyped to see it on Peloton.

(Credit: Angela Moscaritolo)

I hope these classes catch on with Peloton members, so the company adds longer sessions of around 45 minutes to 1 hour. During the 1-hour Sculpt class I lead each week, we have more time for non-weighted grounding yoga postures at the beginning, as well as a high-intensity cardio block to get the heart rate up, elements I would love for Peloton to add to its Yoga Conditioning classes. 

At the time of this writing, Peloton hasn’t yet added a Yoga Conditioning filtering option under class type, so these workouts might go unnoticed. To find them, search the library for “yoga conditioning.”

Peloton has long offered its popular Bootcamp classes, which combine either cycling, running, or rowing with strength training. If you like the Bootcamp classes, you’ll also probably enjoy the Yoga Conditioning workouts.  Peloton also offers several other styles of yoga, including Yin, Power, Slow Flow, Restorative, Prenatal, and Postnatal. 

(Credit: Angela Moscaritolo)

After a 30-day free trial, Peloton’s app membership costs $12.99 a month, which is more than some gyms(Opens in a new window), but the company constantly releases new content to guide you, keep you motivated, and entertain you on your fitness journey. 

Peloton also recently launched scenic outdoor rowing classes, similar to those on Hydrow and iFit. There are only a handful of these scenic rowing classes on the platform at this time, led by instructors Ash Pryor(Opens in a new window) and Matt Wilpers(Opens in a new window), but I really hope Peloton adds more, because they are a lot more exciting than the studio-based rowing sessions. To find them, search the rowing workout library for “scenic classes.”