How To Get A Shoutout On Peloton: 6 Essential Tips
If you’ve ever taken a Peloton class, you’ve probably noticed that many of the instructors will give shoutouts to riders throughout the session.
If you’re keen to get a little bit of recognition yourself then you might be wondering how to get a shoutout on Peloton.
The good news is that you’re in the right place!
Here, we’re going to walk you right through everything you need to know about how shoutouts work on the platform, and how you can increase your chances of getting one for yourself.
What is a Peloton shoutout, anyway?
A shoutout is quite simply when the instructor mentions your leaderboard name during a ride.
They may just read out your name as part of a long list of riders they’re acknowledging, or they may give you a little personalised message and congratulate you on completing a certain number of rides on the platform.
Shoutouts are a little controversial amongst the Peloton community. Some users don’t care about them at all and even find them a distracting annoyance during a class, whereas others can’t get enough of them and keep their fingers crossed every time they jump on the bike.
Whether you think they’re a waste of time or a great motivational boost is all down to personal preference really!
When I did my 100th ride and joined the Century Club, I got a shoutout from Sam Yo on a Sunday morning ride. It was unexpected and I definitely had planned for it to happen, but I have to admit that it was pretty exciting and it put me in a good mood for the rest of the day.
How to get a Peloton shoutout
Getting a shoutout is sometimes simply down to luck, but there are several things you can to do increase your chances.
Let’s look at some tips for how to get a shoutout on Peloton…
1. Make sure you’re taking a live ride
It should go without saying, but you can only get a shoutout if you’re doing a live ride!
If you’re taking a prerecorded class then the real-time action is already over, and the session in question may have been filmed days, months, or even several years ago.
To choose a live class, you need to click on ‘Schedule’ on the bike screen or on the app, and you’ll be presented with the upcoming sessions you can choose from.
Be aware that you need to select a ‘live’ class, and NOT one that’s labelled as an ‘encore’. An encore is a previously recorded class that will be ran with a new leaderboard at a specific time, but you won’t be able to get a shoutout.
2. Take a live class on your birthday and for your milestone rides
Shoutouts are much more likely when it’s your birthday, or it’s your milestone ride (for example, if it’s your 100th, 200th, or 300th ride on Peloton).
It’s worth noting here that milestones refer to a certain number of sessions of a particular kind of class. For example, you may have done a total of 199 workouts, but if 160 of those were cycling and the rest were strength, you’re not about to hit a milestone when you next complete a cycling class.
If you can organise yourself so you happen to hit a milestone on your birthday, you’ve got an even better chance of getting that shoutout!
3. Show up early to the class and stay until the very end
Live classes will typically start streaming around 3-4 minutes before the lights go down and the action gets going.
During this time, instructors will prepare for the class, welcome riders, and often start doing some shoutouts.
When the class ends, make sure you stay for the cool down stretches. This is good practice anyway to make sure that you’re taking care of your body, but it’s also a time in which you might get a shoutout.
4. Choose a less crowded ride
If you’re riding at a peak time, or with a particularly popular instructor, you might be competing with literally thousands of other riders for that shoutout.
If it’s really important to you, you might want to choose a session with an instructor that has a smaller following.
To get a feel for just how busy a ride might be, you can view how many people have ‘counted in’ ahead of the session.
5. Make sure your leaderboard name is easy to read and say out loud
If your leaderboard name is jammed full of numbers, doesn’t make use of capital letters, or is a little tricky to get your head around, you’re way less likely to get a shoutout.
Keep it simple, and ask yourself if the instructor is likely to quickly and easily understand your name!
It’s also advisable to avoid anything that could be deemed offensive or risqué.
6. Reach out to the instructor beforehand on social media
All the Peloton instructors have a strong social media presence and regularly engage with riders on platforms like Instagram.
Some users have reported having success with reaching out to their favourite instructors before a live ride and mentioning that they’re looking forward to completing their upcoming milestone ride with them.
You might think that is a little over the top or even a little intrusive, so it’s your own decision if you want to go down this route!
Some FAQs about getting a shoutout on Peloton
There are some common questions you might have about how to get a shoutout on Peloton.
Let’s have a look…
1. Why didn’t I get a shoutout for my milestone ride?
At the end of the day, it really just boils down to luck.
Getting a shoutout can be fun and exciting, but it’s really not the end of the world if you didn’t get one this time. You still have the pride that comes with knowing that you showed up for yourself and put in the hard work!
2. Can I get a shoutout if I’m a digital app user?
Many digital app users in the Peloton Reddit community have reported getting a shoutout, so it’s definitely possible.
3. Can I repeat a milestone ride to get a shoutout?
In theory, you can. You can access your ride history, delete a recent ride, and that’ll mean that you can repeat your milestone to try again to get a shoutout.
Really though, this isn’t fair on other users, and it’s also pretty pointless.
It can be disheartening if you really wanted that shoutout, but there’s always next time, and it’s definitely not the end of the world.
Whether or not you got a mention from the instructor, you still honoured yourself by putting in the time on the bike, and that’s the most important thing here.
4. How many shoutouts are there on a Peloton ride?
This one varies hugely from one class to another! It all depends on the instructor’s individual style, and how they’re feeling on the day.
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