Kendall Toole Launches NKO Club App: How the Former Peloton Star Turned Burnout Into a ‘Country Club for Misfits’

Former Peloton instructor Kendall Toole has launched NKO Club, a holistic wellness app that blends boxing, cycling, mental health tools, and recipes into what she calls a “country club for misfits.”

A day after officially debuting her new wellness platform, NKO Club, former Peloton star Kendall Toole is stepping into a new role: founder and CEO of her own fitness-and-mental-health ecosystem. The app, which stands for Never Knocked Out, pulls together on‑demand workouts, mindset practices, and protein-forward recipes under a single subscription and a resilience-focused mantra. ^[1]

The launch marks Toole’s first major move since she left Peloton following her final live rides in 2024 and served out a one‑year non‑compete before re‑entering the fitness space on her own terms. ^[2]

From Peloton Favorite to Independent Founder

Before she became one of Peloton’s best‑known instructors, Toole’s path wound through USC film and business studies, a role in content strategy at Snapchat, and a detour into boxing gyms that helped her connect creativity with physicality. ^[3]

Her Peloton rides — often soundtracked by rock, pop‑punk, and hip‑hop — quickly built a devoted following, especially among riders who connected with her candid discussions of anxiety, depression, and therapy. Coverage of her career at Peloton frequently highlights how she blended “therapy in motion” with intense training, making her a visible advocate for mental health on a mass‑market fitness platform. ^[4]

But by “last summer,” Toole says she had quietly hit a wall. In a recent interview with mindbodygreen, she described feeling like she was playing a character version of herself on camera — a polished persona that no longer matched the woman she was becoming off the bike. ^[5] She also talked about needing an “antagonist” or challenge in her life; when things got too comfortable, she saw that as a signal it was time to stretch again. ^[6]

In a separate profile for Entrepreneur, Toole recounts how the misalignment between her public role and her private needs became impossible to ignore. She’d survived a suicide attempt more than a decade ago and recognized early warning signs of burnout and depression returning. Walking away from one of the most visible jobs in connected fitness, she says, was both terrifying and necessary. ^[7]

A one‑year non‑compete clause meant she had to step back from any fitness coaching, leaving a rare silence for someone used to teaching daily to millions. She used that time to double down on therapy, launch a newsletter to stay in touch with her community, and sketch out the next chapter: a wellness business built directly from her own values. ^[8]

What Is NKO Club? Inside Toole’s New Wellness App

NKO Club is Toole’s answer to the question she kept asking: what would a fully integrated, genuinely human‑first wellness space look like?

According to Entrepreneur and mindbodygreen, the app launched this week with roughly 50 on‑demand classes spanning: ^[9]

Boxing and boxing‑inspired workouts
Cycling classes reminiscent of her Peloton days
Strength training and Pilates sculpt
Mindfulness and breathwork sessions

Rather than bolt on mental health as a trend, Toole weaves it throughout the platform. Interviews describe features such as gratitude practices, breathwork, and reflective prompts sitting alongside sweat‑heavy sessions, mirroring the routines she says keep her grounded in her own life. ^[10]

Nutrition is the third major pillar. NKO’s homepage emphasizes “protein‑forward, balanced recipes” designed to fuel strength and energy — part of a growing movement toward functional recipes that are simple enough for everyday life but aligned with performance goals. ^[11]

NKO Club positions itself as a single hub for movement, mindset, and meals, an approach echoed in a press‑release listing on Fitt Insider that describes the app as a holistic platform fusing workouts, mental fitness, and recipes. ^[12]

A ‘Country Club for Misfits’ — and Why Community Is the Point

In a new ForbesWomen profile, journalist Amy Shoenthal reports that Toole often calls NKO Club a “country club for misfits” — a tongue‑in‑cheek way of signaling that the space is meant for people who never felt fully at home in traditional gyms or glossy wellness influencers’ feeds. ^[13]

The idea is less about exclusivity and more about belonging. Member‑only content lives in the app, but Toole and her team describe a broader ecosystem that includes:

A 75,000‑plus subscriber newsletter, the Never Knocked Out Newsletter, which delivers weekly mindset and wellness content. ^[14]
Early “founding member” status for first‑wave subscribers. ^[15]
The NKO Fund, a social‑impact initiative Toole first teased on World Mental Health Day, aimed at supporting mental health–related causes under the same “never knocked out” banner. ^[16]

Reporting from Athletech News adds that Toole’s long‑term vision goes beyond screens; she ultimately wants the app’s community features to spill into real‑world experiences, from small in‑person meetups to larger events where members can train, talk, and connect offline. ^[17]

Burnout, Boxing and the Problem With “Performance Wellness”

Toole’s critique of the current wellness landscape is one of the through‑lines in her launch‑week interviews.

Speaking to mindbodygreen, she warns that “fitness is becoming less human”, pointing to an industry increasingly obsessed with PRs, heart‑rate zones, and recovery scores at the expense of how people actually feel. She frames much of mainstream wellness as “self‑surveillance” — data that starts out neutral but becomes another way to judge ourselves when filtered through shame or perfectionism. ^[18]

NKO Club is meant to push back against that dynamic. Toole emphasizes movement as expression rather than punishment or optimization: one day might be an explosive boxing session to channel anger; the next could be slow, precise Pilates or a walk paired with breathwork and reflection. None of these choices are morally better than the others; they’re just different tools for different nervous systems on different days. ^[19]

Boxing in particular is central to her philosophy. Toole has said she was initially pulled into the sport by a mentor who sensed she needed a physical outlet for anxiety and frustration. In her mindbodygreen conversation, she talks about how women carry enormous emotional load and how having “something to hit” can provide a safe channel for what she describes as feminine rage — the anger, fear, and stress that otherwise turns inward. ^[20]

Mental health isn’t just a talking point for her brand; it’s baked into her own daily life. Toole describes keeping a regular gratitude practice, using breathwork when she feels herself spiraling, and actively working to receive positive feedback instead of reflexively dismissing it — all habits she now encourages members to explore inside NKO Club. ^[21]

Why She Walked Away From Peloton

The story behind NKO’s launch is also the story of leaving Peloton at the height of her visibility.

In Entrepreneur, Toole says there came a point where, despite the success, she “started wearing a mask.” The job demanded a kind of performance she could no longer sustain without sacrificing her own health. She felt boxed in by corporate structures, rarely in the room for key decisions about her work, and increasingly defined by other people’s expectations rather than her own growth. ^[22]

That tension was particularly stark for someone who had already survived a suicide attempt 11 years earlier. In the profile, she recounts recognizing familiar warning signs of depression and realizing that staying in a misaligned role — even a prestigious one — could come at too high a cost. ^[23]

Ultimately, she chose to leave, accept the one‑year pause from teaching imposed by her non‑compete, and “bet on herself” by building something new from scratch. During that year, she quietly tested ideas through her newsletter, deepened her therapy work, and refined a vision for a wellness company where authenticity, not optics, would be the metric that mattered. ^[24]

Other outlets, including an interview syndicated via AOL and OK! Magazine, frame her move as both a business decision and a mental health boundary: stepping away from a powerful brand in order to launch a platform she could fully own, with NKO Club as the product of that leap. ^[25]

Membership, Free Trial and the NKO Ecosystem

From a product standpoint, NKO Club is structured as a subscription app with a 7‑day free trial promoted prominently on its website. Visitors are invited to “Join Now | 7 Day‑Free Trial” before converting to a paid membership tier, with options managed through an in‑app account portal. ^[26]

Because the app is new and still rolling out, the brand’s FAQ includes support for users who can’t yet find NKO in their app store, guidance on changing login methods, and instructions for managing memberships or cancellations — a sign that the team expects a rapid influx of sign‑ups and early troubleshooting as the community scales. ^[27]

The broader NKO ecosystem now spans:

The app itself, with on‑demand classes and integrated mental‑health and nutrition features. ^[28]
NKO Fund, which Toole has described in past interviews and social posts as a philanthropic arm inspired by the same “never knocked out” mantra she used to close her Peloton classes. ^[29]
Merchandise and gear via the NKO Shop, extending the brand into apparel and sporting goods. ^[30]
Email and podcast tie‑ins, with references to NKO Club now appearing in wellness podcasts and newsletters that feature Toole as a guest. ^[31]

For fans, that means interacting with NKO as more than a standalone app: it’s a growing brand with educational content, philanthropy, and community touchpoints across channels.

Where NKO Club Fits in the 2026 Wellness Landscape

The timing of NKO’s launch puts it squarely in what analysts sometimes call “Wellness 2.0” — a phase where consumers are demanding tools that combine physical training, mental health, and nutrition rather than treating them as separate silos. Fitt Insider’s press‑release roundup this week slots NKO Club alongside other innovation‑driven wellness launches, from new diagnostics platforms to tech‑enabled training programs, underscoring that investors and operators see holistic offerings as the next growth frontier. ^[32]

In a recent story on Yahoo’s Creators network, Toole also shares early thoughts on AI and how emerging tech might shape wellness in 2026, suggesting she is thinking about personalization and innovation while still keeping human connection at the center of NKO’s identity. ^[33] (That piece doesn’t outline specific AI features for the app yet, but it signals the kinds of tools she’s watching.)

If NKO evolves the way she envisions, the platform could sit at the intersection of:

On‑demand fitness, for those who loved her Peloton classes
Digital mental‑health support, for people who want more than motivational quotes
Community‑driven experiences, both virtual and eventually offline

What Today’s Launch Means for Fans

For Peloton riders who once bookmarked Toole’s themed rides and boxing classes, the NKO debut offers a new way to train with her voice and programming — this time in a space she fully owns.

Peloton fan site Pelobuddy published a news update today (November 20) highlighting NKO Club’s launch, noting that the app — short for Never Knocked Out Club — includes cycling classes, boxing, strength, and recipes, and marking it as Toole’s first major move since exiting the platform. ^[34]

Meanwhile, mainstream outlets such as Forbes, mindbodygreen and Entrepreneur have framed the story as a case study in reinvention: an instructor who left a high‑profile role, honored her non‑compete, and re‑entered the market with a product designed to correct the very problems she experienced at the peak of her career. ^[35]

How to Try NKO Club Right Now

For readers curious about testing the platform:

Search for “NKO Club” or “Never Knocked Out Club” in your mobile app store.
If the app doesn’t appear yet, NKO’s FAQ suggests checking its login and membership help pages — an indication that rollout may be staggered by region or device. ^[36]
New members can start with the 7‑day free trial advertised on the site, then decide whether to continue with a paid membership. ^[37]

The Bigger Takeaway

Beneath the headlines about an ex‑Peloton star launching an app is a more universal story: what happens when success stops feeling sustainable, and whether you’re willing to walk away from it to build something truer.

With NKO Club, Kendall Toole isn’t just selling boxing combos and smoothie bowls. She’s betting that there’s a sizable audience hungry for a wellness space where:

Data informs, but doesn’t shame
Movement is a language, not a punishment
Mental health is a starting point, not a footnote
Community is built for people who’ve felt “too much” or “not enough” in other spaces

Whether NKO becomes a breakout success or a niche sanctuary, its arrival this week adds a notable chapter to the ongoing reshaping of digital fitness — and offers fans a new way to stay, quite literally, never knocked out.

The countdown is on NKO Club www.nkoclub.com

Watch this video on YouTube.

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