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If you’ve ever had Robin Arzón lead you through a Peloton class, you know that you’re guaranteed to get up from your bike soaked in sweat. Like, shirt-stuck-to-your-back drenched. But teaching class is only a fraction of Arzón’s physical exertion for the day.
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Robin Arzon is the vice president of fitness programming at Peloton, where she is also an instructor. Additionally, Arzon is a certified running coach, ultra-marathoner, and author of the book, Shut Up and Run.
“Instructing classes is my job, not my workout,” she says. On top of teaching, Arzón says she trains for anywhere from between two to four hours a day, six days a week. “I mix it up between running, strength training, and the bike,” she says. Besides all this, Arzón is Peloton’s vice president of fitness programming, an ultra-marathoner, and a certified running coach. Oh, and she also wrote the book, Shut Up and Run.
Clearly having a schedule like Arzón’s requires a lot of energy, and the proper food to fuel it. “I’ve been eating 100 percent plant-based for eight years,” Arzón says. As part of her ultramarathon training, she was running over 100 miles a week, so she started researching how she could reduce inflammation in her body through what she ate. That led her to experimenting with an anti-inflammatory diet that was heavily plant-based. And over time, she leaned all the way into it.
Here, Arzón shares what an average day of eating looks like for her. Her diet isn’t meant to be a guide; she’s simply sharing how she likes to eat. Keep reading to check it out.
What an average day of eating looks like for Peloton instructor Robin Arzón
Breakfast: Smoothie loaded with greens
Arzón isn’t a coffee person or a matcha person. But she is a smoothie person. “Every day I have a smoothie, just adding whatever [produce] I have in the fridge in there,” she says. “Typically, that means spinach, kale, and frozen berries.” She also adds a spoonful of almond butter to make it extra creamy, and for some much-needed protein. “I also like adding nuts and seeds, like hemp seeds,” she says, which ups the protein even more. For the smoothie base, she’s a big fan of using Sproud pea milk ($30 for a six pack), which she’s an ambassador for, because the peas provide another source of plant-based protein.
If she’s not teaching super early, Arzón says she’ll have half her smoothie before teaching and the other half after. But if she has a 7 a.m. class on the books, she’ll start her day with just a mix of water, apple cider vinegar, and sea salt and enjoy her smoothie after.
What’s the deal with apple cider vinegar? Watch the video to see what a registered dietitian thinks of it:
nata_vkusidey; Art: W+G Creative
Lunch: Salad full of protein and healthy fats
Arzón says her smoothie is satiating enough to tide her over until lunchtime, when she makes herself a huge salad. “I literally use a mixing bowl for my salads, that’s how big they are,” she says. Arzón likes to vary what she mixes in with her greens to keep it interesting, but she always makes sure her bowl is always full of plenty of proteins and healthy fats. Some of her go-to ingredients are beans, avocado, nuts, seeds, and kimchi.
Dinner: Black bean pasta with tomato sauce
Arzón says she loves to cook, so she and her husband make almost every meal at home. “I grew up in a Latin household and no one throws down in the kitchen like my family,” she says. A big pasta lover, she recently became an ambassador for Explore Cuisine and is especially into the brand’s black bean spaghetti $17 for two pounds) because it’s a good source of protein.
She likes making her own tomato sauce for her pasta, too. “Spice is key,” she says. “When I make pasta sauce, I marinate onions, use a lot of garlic, and play around with other different spices in my pantry,” she says. Usually, Arzón says she’ll have some black bean pasta leftover, so she’ll incorporate that into her lunchtime salads, too.
Arzón says she doesn’t have a big sweet tooth, so she’s not a huge dessert person. “If I’m craving something sweet, I’ll have dark chocolate or fruit. I actually crave fruit more than chocolate!” she says.
So there you have it: What a high-energy, Peloton instructor eats on an average day. “What I want people to know most is that a plant-based diet is not about restriction in any way,” Arzón says. “It’s about getting creative in new ways. The more you expand your repertoire, the more exciting it gets.”
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