Review of Peloton Boxing Classes

When I decided to start the Peloton boxing classes program, my only experience with throwing punches was during karate classes many years ago. But karate is much different than boxing. Also, I’d never taken kickboxing classes at the gym. I’d always stuck with step classes. 

So I feel like I went into the two-week Peloton boxing program as a true newbie. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but it does ensure that this review as a beginner should resonate with others.

As I get into this review, first I’ll explain which Peloton instructors teach these boxing classes. Then, I’ll explain where you can find the Peloton boxing program. Finally, I’ll give you my honest opinion of the classes and program overall.

Who teaches Peloton boxing classes

UPDATE: Peloton just announced a new collection of Shadowboxing classes. And two new boxing instructors. They are Becs Gentry and Jermaine Johnson. Also, new Peloton Boxing Bootcamp classes.

Originally, there were three Peloton instructors teaching the shadowboxing classes. They are Kendall Toole, Rad Lopez and Selena Samuela. Now there are five.

You kind of knew that Peloton would eventually add boxing classes and use Kendall as an instructor. That’s because since she joined Peloton in 2019, she has referenced her background in boxing and used jabs and crosses in her arms classes on the bike.

Also, her fan group is called the Knockouts. And one of her catchphrases is “They can knock you down but they can never knock you out.” (Scroll down to the bottom of this post for some Kendall-inspired swag you can buy on Etsy.)

When Rad Lopez joined the Peloton family in 2021, we also heard about his boxing background so he’s a natural to be teaching boxing. By the way, Rad is one of my favorite strength instructors. I try to catch his classes live whenever I can. Also, he’s a fan favorite on the Hardcore on the Floor calendar so I take at least one of his classes a week.

Finally, I didn’t know about Selena Samuela’s boxing background. I knew she surfed (from her years living in Hawaii) and that she’s a big golfer. It should come as no surprise that she’s an excellent boxing instructor, as she is a strength instructor.

Where are boxing classes on Peloton

If you’d like to try some of these Peloton boxing classes outside of taking the whole program, here’s what you need to know. Boxing is listed in the Peloton app or on the Peloton website under Cardio. Then you would filter by class type and select “Shadowboxing.”

Right now there aren’t a lot of choices for shadowboxing classes. As of this writing there are 11 boxing classes. None of these are the ones you’ll find in the Get Hooked: Peloton Boxing program. The classes are either 10 minutes, 20 minutes or 30 minutes long.

Since there are 14 classes in the boxing program, I guess you could say that, in total, there are 25 boxing-related classes. I say related because some of the classes in the program are warm ups and cool downs that could be used for any cardio activity. They are not boxing specific. However, you cannot access the boxing program classes from outside the program itself, which is a drawback.

Where to find Peloton boxing program

Like other Peloton programs, you can access the Peloton boxing program from the Programs tab. On the Peloton app, you’ll find Programs listed as one of the icons across the top of the app when you open it.

Over on the Peloton website, here’s how you get to Programs:

1. Log in under My Membership
2. Click Take Classes
3. Across the top of the screen you’ll see Programs. Click that.
4. Scroll down to get to the boxing program.

You can also access programs on the bike and Tread. In fact, I did the last day of classes in the Peloton boxing program via my bike’s screen. Finally, you cannot access the boxing program (or any programs, for that matter) via a Smart or Roku TV.

Overview of Peloton boxing classes program

Like many of the Peloton programs, the boxing classes are designed to be taken in a specific two-week program. That is, the day you start, then your 14-day countdown starts.

Actually, your first seven-day countdown starts for week one of the program (consisting of five classes). Then, your second seven-day countdown starts eight days later for week two of the program.

Week one of Get Hooked: Peloton Boxing is all about the basics of boxing. This includes the punches you’ll be throwing, defensive moves and very basic footwork.

The Peloton boxing punches are:

• Jabs
• Crosses
• Hooks
• Uppercuts

The Peloton boxing defensive moves are:

• Ducks
• Slips
• Rolls

Granted, these punches and defensive moves are not unique to this Peloton program. But, I wanted to give you a brief overview of what you’ll expect to learn.

Review of the Peloton boxing program

I’ll be honest. This review of the Peloton boxing program is primarily “cons.” Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of pros to share. Maybe that’s me. Maybe it’s the program. I’m not sure. But overall I did not like boxing. 

I completed the program so that I could write this review. However by the last day of the last week, I wasn’t throwing punches or doing my ducks with 100% commitment. Literally, I was just going through the moves to get to the end of class.

The one positive that I did not expect is that I earned a new milestone badge for cardio classes. Previously, I’d only done the dance cardio classes on the Peloton platform. So I’ll give boxing a pro for that–if you’re not into dance cardio but want to take cardio classes, boxing gives you a new and different option.

Also, if you’ve never taken strength classes with Selena or Rad, or you’re a Tread owner who has never ridden with Kendall, then boxing classes are a great introduction to them. They are fantastic teachers. Unfortunately, they are fantastic teachers in a mediocre program.

And, that’s about all the positive feedback I can give you on Peloton boxing. So, let me get into the “cons” in hopes that maybe someone at Peloton will read this and think about redesigning the program.

One last thing: these are not kickboxing classes. These are basically upper body boxing. The only use your legs get is for ducking, and moving forward and back.

Cons of Peloton boxing classes

Maybe it’s because I’m new to boxing or maybe these are legitimate drawbacks. But I did have some very specific issues with the Peloton boxing classes. This includes how the program is designed. Here are my complaints listed in random order.

No allowing for cross dominance in sports

I had to Google the term cross dominance. That’s because I knew what it meant–playing sports or doing tasks with a non-dominant side–but I didn’t know what it was called. I just knew that in some instances, I tend to lean leftie even though I’m very right handed.

For example, when I did gymnastics as a child, I was left-leg dominant when doing tricks. In yoga I’m much more balanced on my left left than I am on my right. Again, I am right handed.

In fact, when I took this Psychology Today quiz about testing how right- or left-hand dominant you are, I ended up equally as left handed as I am right handed. 

My older daughter is definitely right handed like I am. However, when she played softball, she threw right (she played catcher) but batted left handed. Same with golf.

My mother is the same. She’s right handed but plays most sports lefthanded.

However, maybe that’s just boxing. You box orthodox if you are right handed and you’re a southpaw if you box left handed–based on the hand you write with. But I do think being restrict to this handed-ness “box” is a drawback.

Boxing relies on one dominant side only

This critique is a continuation of what I’ve brought up, just above. The Peloton instructors kept reminding us to bring our dominant leg to the back when you get into your boxer’s stance. So for me that was my right leg. Then I would jab with my left and cross with my right. But it did not feel natural to me.

So, halfway through the boxing program, I switched sides. I brought my left leg back, jabbed with my right and crossed with my left. Now we were getting somewhere.

All the Peloton instructors boxed with their right hand

Playing on this complaint about not acknowledging cross dominance, all of the instructors box rightie. I realize that Selena Samuela, Rad Lopez and Kendall Toole are the only Peloton instructors with a boxing background.

But with all of them boxing rightie, there’s no allowing for someone who wants to box leftie or wants to watch someone who boxes with their left as they learn. So it was frustrating.

Instructors should be facing the other way while teaching

For the most part, all Peloton classes are taught with the instructor forward facing. Sometimes the camera angle might change during other kinds of classes.

For example, during yoga the camera might show the instructor from overhead or the side. I believe this difference in point of view helps you learn positioning more clearly. 

However, I believe that the boxing classes would be better off if the instructor is facing away from you and teaching to a mirror. I think it would be easier to understand the side-to-side movements of slipping or loading to throw a hook if you were standing “behind” the instructor.

Because seeing it from the front was just confusing. Even at the end of two weeks of taking classes, I would still try to load a punch mirroring what the instructor was doing, only to realize they were using their front arm when I was using my back.

Peloton boxing program organized in a lopsided manner

The Peloton boxing program covers two weeks of classes, for a total of 14 classes. Week one is five classes, and week two has nine classes.

The week one series of boxing classes are all 20-minute classes. That’s one class a day. 

In week two, the nine classes are designed to be taken over three days. So, three classes a day. But these are a five-minute warmup, a 30-minute shadowboxing class and then a five minute cooldown and stretch. That’s repeated over the three days.

During week one, there are no warm ups or cool downs. Also, you’re thrown (no pun intended) right into 20-minute classes. It’s exhausting, and I’m not someone who is out of shape. 

I think Peloton has done those interested in boxing a disservice by organizing classes this way. Week one should have at least those warm up classes. In addition, the first two classes should be 10 minutes or 15 minutes. There should be a gradual ramp up to the longer, more intense classes.

Warm up and cool down classes repeat

When I started day two of week two of the Peloton boxing program, I thought I’d clicked the wrong class. Because the first class on Day 2 of week 2 was boxing warmup, but it was playing the same Kendall Toole boxing warm up class I’d taken on day one of week 2. 

No offense to Kendall but seriously, Peloton? You couldn’t have had each of the instructors record a warm up class to switch things up? And then after class, the cool down/stretch was the same one with Selena Samuela. Again, no offense to Selena but this kind of repetition in a pre-designed program is lazy and, frankly, unacceptable. 

Nonetheless, I completed them. Because I knew if I skipped the classes, I wouldn’t officially complete the program and get my badge. So I went through the motions but I really would have preferred a different class for the week 2 warm ups and cool downs.

Peloton boxing program classes don’t automatically load

After I finished a class in the program sequence, especially in week 2, I expected that the first class would flow into the second one. And then the second one would flow into the next.

In Week 1, I was willing to overlook this technical snafu, since you’re only supposed to do one class a day. But week 2, when you’re expected to do three classes a day? That was confusing.

So, when I finished my 5 minutes boxing warm up and clicked “Done,” I had to page back, if you will, in my browser to get back to Peloton programs. Then, from there I had to launch the second class of the day.

Having become used to stacked classes that prompt you for the next one in the series, I thought the programs would flow as smoothly. I’m really surprised they don’t. 

Boxing classes don’t flow like stacked classes

Peloton, please fix this. You’re more sophisticated than this. Because if users don’t know they’re expected to do three classes in a single day during week 2, they might click away and miss your opportunity to finish things out.

Finally, on my last day of doing classes, I decided to do the remaining ones on the bike. That is, I used the bike screen and my bluetooth headphones to follow the class. Normally, I would hook my laptop up to a TV via an HDMI cable to follow programs since, as I’ve mentioned earlier, you cannot access them on a Roku TV. 

So, as I finished the warm up class on the last day of boxing classes, and tapped “done,” the bike screen did advance to the next class in the series. Again, why doesn’t the app or web version of programs do this automatically? Once more for the folks in the back–they should.

You can’t stack boxing classes in a Peloton program

This problem isn’t unique to the Peloton boxing program. This is true for all classes within a Peloton program. If you stack them, along with non-program classes, you won’t get credit for taking them.

Too many people have learned the hard way about this stacking snafu. So always access the classes in the boxing (or any other) program through the programs tab.

More about Peloton programs here.

Overall thoughts on Peloton boxing classes

Well, if you’re read this far, then you’ve come away with a very clear sense that I’m not a fan of boxing classes. Again, I have taken karate in the past so I’m not afraid of the physicality that punching requires. I just think that how this program is designed is the problem. 

And I know that other Peloton users have complained about program designs overall. People don’t like the inability to follow them at your own pace. At one point you did have this flexibility to progress through a program how you wanted to. Not anymore.

Finally, I thought you would enjoy these Kendall Toole quotes you can buy on Etsy.