How One Doc Mom Found Her People On A Bike To

Nowhere

A Physician Mother Shares The Way Peloton Changed Her Life

Written by Alli Wittbold

“I did not expect to get what I’ve gotten. I can guarantee you that,” Dr. Melissa Hawkins Holt, a rheumatologist from outside of Baltimore, explained when I interviewed her about her experience with Peloton since she invested in her bike two years ago. She, and a group of over 500 other mothers in medicine, have found their people in a place they never expected, on a bike to nowhere.

When Dr. Hawkins-Holt purchased her Peloton bike after receiving a work bonus, she thought she was going to get a great workout. She remarked, “That was the whole point. I was going to get it because I wanted to maintain weight loss, and that’s all I expected out of it,” but what she and her daughter got was so much more. They found a healthier lifestyle, a supportive community and unexpected friendship.

The Doc Moms

Peloton was founded in 2012 as a solution to the dilemma of so many who want to fit fitness into their schedule. According to their website, Peloton provides users with a “world-class indoor cycling studio experience on your time, and in the comfort of your own home.” Since its start with a stationary bike, Peloton now offers a treadmill and an app that gives members access to a variety of live fitness classes.

The Peloton experience is sweeping the nation and changing the way Americans exercise, and it’s not just because of the incredible workout. Peloton has created an active and supportive community of people within their platform and on social media channels. The Official Peloton Member Page has more than 200,000 members. From there, users can find their own tribe in other Peloton Facebook groups like Pelowinos, Peloton Teacher Warriors, and groups connected to certain instructors.

For Dr. Hawkins-Holt, that group is the Physician Mom Peloton Group, or as they called themselves for short, the Doc Moms. It’s a group of around 500 physician mothers from all over the country who share a common love for Peloton. After Dr. Hawkins-Holt caught wind of the group and joined, she felt instantly connected.

“Quickly, these became my people,” she shares. “We connected because we could take the classes together, but it just leads to so much more. There will be discussions on our Facebook page about something that happened on a class, and then as people get to know each other more and more it’s about something that happened in our lives. That evolution has been amazing.”

Like so many women in medicine, Dr. Hawkins-Holt put her life on hold to pursue her career. With the years of training and stress involved with becoming a physician, she finished and felt like she had no friends. “Here I am. I’m ready to take on the world and I’m like, I have no one to do anything fun with,” And this experience isn’t unique to Dr. Hawkins-Holt. Physicians everywhere give up their 20s and 30s to complete their education and training, often giving up relationships, accruing significant debt, and enduring what can only be described as burnout.

What’s more, after becoming a mother, it was difficult for Dr. Hawkins-Holt to connect with other moms, creating an even greater sense of isolation when it came to finding friends. “These women don’t get me. I’m working a lot. When my kids were young, everyone knew my nanny; no one knew me. Because I was never there.”

But Peloton changed that. Because for the first time she feels like she has a real community. A community of other women with her shared experience of being a mother and a physician; women who share the same challenges and joys that she does. The members of the Doc Moms have become her friends. “That’s it. They’re my friends. I don’t care if I met them on social media, they are my friends in every sense of the word. When bad things happen, they step up; we care about each other.”

The connection Dr. Hawkins-Holt has made with the Doc Moms goes well beyond the bounds of the bike and social media. These women are connecting in real life, in a very real way. The group has organized three “home rider invasions” in New York City, where over 100 members of the group attended a weekend event in New York City to ride in the Peloton studio, see shows, eat and enjoy each other’s company.

She’s met up with friends from the group when they’re traveling through her hometown in the Baltimore metro area, and she’s connected with other members while traveling herself. Dr. Hawkins-Holt even spent Easter weekend with her daughters at a fellow Doc Mom’s family home in Chicago last year.

Dr. Hawkins-Holt’s story doesn’t stop there

For Dr. Hawkins-Holt, her own experience with Peloton brought her friendships and a healthy lifestyle she never had before, but it’s what Peloton has done for her daughter that she is forever grateful for. “I am so one thousand percent dedicated to this company because it’s been great for me. I’ve finally found my people. I’ve found friends that I’ve never had in my entire life. But it’s even more important for her [my daughter] because it’s changed her entire world.”

Dr. Hawkins-Holt’s 15-year-old daughter, Lindsey, has always been a highly competitive and athletic girl, but struggled with her weight and self-confidence after puberty started. After Dr. Hawkins-Holt got her Peloton bike in September 2017, Lindsey took a vague interest, she’d done maybe 20 rides and found the trainers inspiring but didn’t really commit. That all changed in June 2018.

—Dr. Hawkins-Holt

While visiting her older daughter at a summer ballet intensive in New York City, Dr. Hawkins-Holt invited Lindsey to ride with her in studio, and that one ride was all it took. “I think what happened was she was in studio hearing the milestone shout outs…I remember we left that day and she said, ‘Mom do you think I could get 100 rides by the end of the summer?’ And that became her mission. Since June 2018 she’s done 900 rides.”

Lindsey is unique in the Peloton community because she is only 15. Yet, she doesn’t just ride, she gives it her all, consistently beating grown men and women. Her mother shares, “She’s so unique in the Peloton community that she’s gotten a lot of attention because of it. A lot of the instructors know her, they celebrate her, they are happy to see her, have done some special things for her. And that has set it for her, it’s been really meaningful for her.”

Because of Peloton, Lindsey has become more confident, happier, and so strong. Like her mom, she’s found her tribe of people in a group connected to instructor Jess King, The Jess King Collective. Lindsey and Dr. Hawkins-Holt have attended meet-ups for this group as well. Dr. Hawkins-Holt spoke about the experience, “It’s a bunch of grown people, who love my daughter! They celebrate her. They’re kind and inclusive to her. She walked in there [to the home rider invasion in NYC] and she was surrounded by friends. She found her people.”

How the Doc Moms helped Lindsey better understand her mom

It’s not just Lindsey’s group of people and the instructors that have been a source of support to her. The Doc Moms have also embraced, supported and celebrated Lindsey in her journey. Dr. Hawkins-Holt shared about two weekend retreats with a few other Doc Moms where Lindsey was invited to come along. The experience was meaningful for both mother and daughter because it was the first time Dr. Hawkins-Holt felt like her daughter had been around other women like her.

“It was the first time Lindsey had been exposed to other women that were just like me. And she was absolutely fascinated with it. She just hung onto every word that these women were talking about. I think it was good for her to see that I’m not, like, a freak,” she laughs. “I’m not alone, I’m not the only one. There are other women that are just like me.”

When I asked what that meant she said, “We’re stressed; we’re trying to keep it all together. We’re equally fierce and stressed.” She went on to say that this experience wasn’t unique to Lindsey. Many of the Doc Moms’ children have formed friendships themselves and connected on social media. “It’s been good for her [Lindsey], as well as I suspect for the other children of these women, to see what women do. And see how fiercely women live.”

What about her daughter’s future?

With all the changes in medicine today, many physicians are steering their own children away from the stressful realities of working in the field. When I asked Dr. Hawkins-Holt if she’d want her daughter to follow in her physician footsteps, the answer surprised me.

“She’s a smart kid. I think she always thought she would become a physician and I’m okay with that. I think medicine has changed a lot. It’s definitely not what we got into years ago. There’s so many things that have changed and made it different and somewhat stressful. But I still think that at the heart of it you’re still doing the things you got into it for. We’re still changing lives, saving lives, treating disease. We’re still doing that.”

And at the end of the day, Dr. Hawkins-Holt says she can’t really predict what her daughter will do with her life. But right now she sees the way she is inspiring and changing people through a fitness platform, and knows that a spark for helping others is there. Peloton has given Lindsey that confidence.

Peloton’s positive impact has changed their lives forever

For Dr. Hawkins-Holt, purchasing her bike on somewhat of a whim two years ago changed her life in ways she could have never imagined. For the first time in her life she had a support group of friends that she could relate to, was in better shape, and saw a transformation in her 15-year-old daughter from a self-conscious teen into a confident and strong young lady.

As we ended our conversation Dr. Hawkins-Holt remarked, “There’s been some really amazing things that have come out of this. It’s what I’d really describe as true friendship. And I never had it. Because I was too busy becoming a doctor. And I’m in better shape, too.” 1