1
00:00:01,480 --> 00:00:03,720
Speaker 1: Trust me? Do you trust me?

2
00:00:04,519 --> 00:00:04,600
Speaker 2: Right?

3
00:00:04,720 --> 00:00:07,720
Speaker 1: Ever lead you a story? Trust? This is the truth,

4
00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:09,280
Speaker 1: the only truth.

5
00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:12,320
Speaker 3: If anybody ever tells you to just trust them, don't

6
00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:17,080
Speaker 3: welcome to trust me. The podcast about cults, extreme belief

7
00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:21,080
Speaker 3: and manipulation from two Soulful cyclists who have actually experienced it.

8
00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:23,400
Speaker 1: I am Lola Blanc and I'm Meg and Elizabeth.

9
00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:26,720
Speaker 3: Today our guest is Jess Rothschild, creator of Cult of

10
00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:30,760
Speaker 3: Body and Soul, a documentary podcast about spinning brand Soul Cycle.

11
00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:33,320
Speaker 3: She's going to tell us about the company's origins with

12
00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:36,960
Speaker 3: a workout environment engineered to create an almost religious experience,

13
00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:40,479
Speaker 3: and how instructors chosen for their cult followings and special

14
00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:42,200
Speaker 3: charisma exploded the brand.

15
00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:45,680
Speaker 4: She'll talk about the social hierarchies that formed inside and

16
00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:49,559
Speaker 4: outside of class, some of the flings that happened with instructors,

17
00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,760
Speaker 4: the mysticism infused into the culture, and how the corporate

18
00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:56,120
Speaker 4: takeover of the brand changed everything.

19
00:00:56,640 --> 00:00:58,440
Speaker 1: And this is just a little bit more of a

20
00:00:58,520 --> 00:00:59,200
Speaker 1: lighter episode.

21
00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:02,440
Speaker 4: We know so Cycled isn't like a cult, but there

22
00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:05,880
Speaker 4: were some actually pretty surprising things we found out about

23
00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:08,319
Speaker 4: it and some pretty culty aspects.

24
00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:13,480
Speaker 3: Indeed, before we go cycling with Jess Megan, what's your

25
00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:14,480
Speaker 3: cultiest thing of a week?

26
00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:15,160
Speaker 1: All right?

27
00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:18,720
Speaker 4: Well, as always, we are like speaking about something that

28
00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:20,440
Speaker 4: might be current this week, but when it airs it

29
00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:21,479
Speaker 4: might be a few weeks from now.

30
00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:24,200
Speaker 3: So just know that this is current this week. The well,

31
00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:27,360
Speaker 3: you're not being dated in your references. I'm not being dated.

32
00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:27,880
Speaker 1: Okay.

33
00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:35,840
Speaker 4: So fifty cent and Netflix released the Sean Combs The

34
00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:38,840
Speaker 4: Reckoning documentary, which I have you have seen yet?

35
00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:41,919
Speaker 1: Can't haven't? I've seen it forty times.

36
00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:44,960
Speaker 4: Maybe it's one of the best documentaries I've ever seen.

37
00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:49,680
Speaker 4: Very sad, very informative, and just an incredible job done

38
00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:53,800
Speaker 4: by fifty cent. So who I was really drawn to

39
00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:56,360
Speaker 4: and the doc that I would love to have on

40
00:01:56,400 --> 00:02:00,600
Speaker 4: the podcast actually is his childhood friend and his partner.

41
00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:04,000
Speaker 4: His name is Kirk Burrows, and he had a quote

42
00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:07,000
Speaker 4: that they put kind of about the beginning. Kirk saw

43
00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:11,320
Speaker 4: Sean pushing around a woman and he said this, I

44
00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:14,280
Speaker 4: pushed that to the back of my mind. That was

45
00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:17,320
Speaker 4: a really bad moment. But he was weak. Does that

46
00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:20,679
Speaker 4: make me part of a Shawn Combe's cult? I may

47
00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:25,280
Speaker 4: have been the first disciple, believer and then overall protector

48
00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:30,000
Speaker 4: against all odds mm. And what stood out to me

49
00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:32,640
Speaker 4: is this man was a childhood friend of Sean who

50
00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:36,240
Speaker 4: saw many difficult things in his life happen, and he

51
00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:40,239
Speaker 4: was also seeing the good things that Sean was helping

52
00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:43,480
Speaker 4: build within this culture of building up, you know, a

53
00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:47,360
Speaker 4: community that had been so overlooked and whatever. So the

54
00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:51,640
Speaker 4: cognitive dissonance this man must have been experiencing was just

55
00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:56,560
Speaker 4: very surreal, I imagine. And then just for him to use

56
00:02:56,600 --> 00:03:02,400
Speaker 4: that religious language unpromptad and the identity fusion. Also, like

57
00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:07,160
Speaker 4: in the byte model, the information control was such a

58
00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:11,400
Speaker 4: perfect storm because there's this culture of don't snitch, you know,

59
00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:16,120
Speaker 4: which is very needed many times because as we know,

60
00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:19,040
Speaker 4: you know, if you get the cops involved or something,

61
00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:21,600
Speaker 4: they can go badly. But it did just create this

62
00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:26,160
Speaker 4: perfect storm of people not sharing information, people trying to protect,

63
00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:29,040
Speaker 4: as we see so often in cults, the broader message

64
00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:32,760
Speaker 4: and not take down somebody who might be a bad

65
00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:36,720
Speaker 4: actor because they don't want to take away the good happening.

66
00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:39,360
Speaker 4: And it was really horrible and it was really eye opening.

67
00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:43,440
Speaker 4: You know, these cult like groups can form anywhere.

68
00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:46,360
Speaker 3: Yeah, wow, I mean I wanted to watch it already,

69
00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:48,680
Speaker 3: but now I absolutely want to watch it. Someone else

70
00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:51,240
Speaker 3: had actually mentioned I think that same person to me

71
00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:53,920
Speaker 3: and that it must have been the same quote, because

72
00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:56,680
Speaker 3: it seems to have stood out to a lot of people,

73
00:03:56,800 --> 00:03:59,240
Speaker 3: the cognitive dissonance that that person was experiencing, and that

74
00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:03,160
Speaker 3: I think that probably numerous people were experiencing. Yeah, yeah,

75
00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:06,720
Speaker 3: knowing that the like these two conflicting things were happening

76
00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:09,960
Speaker 3: at the same time, and oh my gosh, yeah, I

77
00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:13,200
Speaker 3: feel so bad for those women and all, yeah, everyone

78
00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:13,880
Speaker 3: involved with that.

79
00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:17,279
Speaker 1: But I can't wait to watch. Yeah, give it a watch.

80
00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:21,280
Speaker 4: It's it's you can't press stop once to press play.

81
00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:23,400
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? I do know what you mean?

82
00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:25,799
Speaker 1: What about you? What's your cultiest thing of the week?

83
00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:29,920
Speaker 3: I am finally reading a book that has been recommended

84
00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:33,440
Speaker 3: to me like four hundred billion times, not an exaggeration,

85
00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:37,719
Speaker 3: It was literally four hundred billion times, which is parable

86
00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:40,320
Speaker 3: of The Sewer by Octavia Butler, who is this like

87
00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:46,000
Speaker 3: pioneering black woman science fiction author before that was really

88
00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:49,440
Speaker 3: a thing anywhere. And this book has been referenced so

89
00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:53,880
Speaker 3: many times because it takes place in around this time. Actually,

90
00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:55,080
Speaker 3: I want to say, it's like a couple of years

91
00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:58,479
Speaker 3: from now and the world has gone to shit, and

92
00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:02,599
Speaker 3: the inequality become so incredibly stark, and water has become

93
00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:04,280
Speaker 3: such a scarce resource.

94
00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:07,680
Speaker 1: So's it's already like a setup that I'm here for.

95
00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:08,720
Speaker 1: I'm interested in it.

96
00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:13,400
Speaker 3: But the main character is this I think teenage girl

97
00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:18,080
Speaker 3: who has this superpower called hyper empathy and basically she

98
00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:21,880
Speaker 3: creates a religion. Like the book is about her survival

99
00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:26,080
Speaker 3: during this time period and how she's creating this religion

100
00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:29,440
Speaker 3: for people to follow and building this community, which is

101
00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:33,000
Speaker 3: so desperately needed in these you know, dystopian times.

102
00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:34,480
Speaker 1: I'm sure there are a million.

103
00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:37,799
Speaker 3: Books like this, but I had not read any novels

104
00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:42,880
Speaker 3: that specifically captured the experience of the person forming the group,

105
00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:45,599
Speaker 3: which I haven't finished the book yet, so I don't know,

106
00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:47,919
Speaker 3: you know, if it becomes like a culture just a

107
00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:50,360
Speaker 3: religion or what. But it's very, very culty, and it

108
00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:53,720
Speaker 3: reads like you are in the mind of somebody who

109
00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:58,640
Speaker 3: is really trying to create a you know, religious community.

110
00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:01,960
Speaker 1: So it's super interesting. I want to read it. I've

111
00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:05,359
Speaker 1: been suggested it exactly one time and it was just now.

112
00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:09,440
Speaker 3: Well, I feel silly that it's taken me this long,

113
00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:12,160
Speaker 3: because honestly, a ton of people have recommend it's supposed

114
00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:14,279
Speaker 3: to be like one of the great speculative fiction. I

115
00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:17,479
Speaker 3: don't know the difference between sci fi and speculative fiction,

116
00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:20,479
Speaker 3: but let's say it's both. It's one of the great

117
00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:23,640
Speaker 3: novels in that category apparently, and I am really loving it.

118
00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:26,360
Speaker 1: So anyway, that's my culty thing. Cool.

119
00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:29,160
Speaker 4: I mean, it sounds like you start to kind of

120
00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:33,040
Speaker 4: side with the person starting the cult to my correct.

121
00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:35,359
Speaker 3: Well as I'm going I'm like, you know, with my

122
00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:41,400
Speaker 3: cult podcast or brain, I'm like, don't start the cult.

123
00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:41,480
Speaker 1: But I see why I need it.

124
00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:44,720
Speaker 3: Yeah, But in the world, like everybody is like stealing

125
00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:46,320
Speaker 3: from each other and killing each other. It's a very

126
00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:49,120
Speaker 3: violent book, Like there's some really gruesome imagery in there,

127
00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:52,919
Speaker 3: and you know, you're really rooting for this community to

128
00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:55,360
Speaker 3: form because the people need each other so badly, and

129
00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:58,120
Speaker 3: she does not, because this character does not seem to

130
00:06:58,160 --> 00:06:59,520
Speaker 3: have any malicious intentions.

131
00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:02,800
Speaker 1: So you know, I'm like, oh, this were the.

132
00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:05,560
Speaker 3: Real world, would you get corrupted by the power of

133
00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:07,000
Speaker 3: the people who begin to follow her?

134
00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:09,840
Speaker 1: You know, like, I don't know, it's it's fun.

135
00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:13,920
Speaker 4: Come back when you finish it, I will Okay, perfect, Okay, great,

136
00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:15,520
Speaker 4: shall we talk to Jess.

137
00:07:15,640 --> 00:07:16,240
Speaker 1: Let's do it.

138
00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:30,720
Speaker 3: Welcome Jess Rothschild to Oh my God, to trust me.

139
00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:36,920
Speaker 3: I was going to say, to podcast podcast. I mean

140
00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:40,920
Speaker 3: that's also technically true. Welcome to this podcast trust me.

141
00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:43,720
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here. I

142
00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:46,480
Speaker 1: love you guys, excited to have you.

143
00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:50,400
Speaker 3: You also have podcasts, which is why you were here,

144
00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:56,400
Speaker 3: called Clouds of Body and Soul, which is about Soul Cycle.

145
00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:02,880
Speaker 3: And obviously you know Soul Cycle is not a literal cult,

146
00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:06,120
Speaker 3: but we will be discussing some of the dynamics.

147
00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:11,080
Speaker 2: There's cultish behavior surrounds it, but no, it's not.

148
00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:15,960
Speaker 1: It's not nexium. We're not. Let's not be too hyperbolic

149
00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:20,320
Speaker 1: about it. But it was surprising to me how culte

150
00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:21,080
Speaker 1: it got.

151
00:08:21,520 --> 00:08:24,160
Speaker 2: So oh, I'd be interested to hear what yell if

152
00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:25,920
Speaker 2: you found to be the most cultish.

153
00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:26,240
Speaker 4: Yeah.

154
00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:28,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, there were things where I was like, whoa,

155
00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:30,440
Speaker 1: And we'll get in talk with them, Yes we will.

156
00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:34,400
Speaker 3: Well, what drew you to start a podcast docu saries

157
00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:35,560
Speaker 3: about Soul Cycle?

158
00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:39,480
Speaker 2: So I have hosted my own show, a weekly pop

159
00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:42,360
Speaker 2: culture show called Hot Takes and Deep Dives since around

160
00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:45,960
Speaker 2: twenty eighteen twenty nineteen. On that show, I interview people

161
00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:50,679
Speaker 2: everyone from Rosi o'donald to Isaac Mizrahi Sandra Bernhard, and

162
00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:54,800
Speaker 2: separate from those pop culture interviews, it also serves as

163
00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:58,200
Speaker 2: an incubator for things that I am just obsessed with

164
00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:01,720
Speaker 2: in my daily life. And I did an episode of

165
00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:05,280
Speaker 2: that show called The Cults of Soul Cycle about like

166
00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:07,960
Speaker 2: two or three years maybe three years ago at this point,

167
00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:12,160
Speaker 2: and where in that episode I had a fellow Spin

168
00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:15,040
Speaker 2: instructor friend. He did not teach at Soul Cycle, but

169
00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:18,760
Speaker 2: he did teach at a Soul Cycle competitor, and we

170
00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:22,160
Speaker 2: just basically talked about everything Soul Cycle. And so this

171
00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:24,880
Speaker 2: had been percolating in the back of my mind. I mean,

172
00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:26,920
Speaker 2: Will before you even had a podcast. I was the

173
00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:30,120
Speaker 2: friend at the brunch table screaming that I could not

174
00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:34,320
Speaker 2: believe that no one had made a documentary about Soul Cycle.

175
00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:37,600
Speaker 2: To me, this is the most fascinating story ever told.

176
00:09:38,559 --> 00:09:41,079
Speaker 2: So that's what drove me to do that episode, is

177
00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:43,680
Speaker 2: that I just wanted to talk about it all day long.

178
00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:48,760
Speaker 2: And eventually, once I got into making documentaries, documentary podcast series,

179
00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:51,079
Speaker 2: this is my second of course, it was going to

180
00:09:51,120 --> 00:09:53,880
Speaker 2: be on Soul cycle, because this was the thing I'm

181
00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:54,920
Speaker 2: the most passionate about.

182
00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:56,000
Speaker 1: It's your special interest.

183
00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:56,400
Speaker 2: Yeah.

184
00:09:56,480 --> 00:09:59,640
Speaker 4: Yeah, the other being Fire Island, which is also exacinating

185
00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:01,400
Speaker 4: the history.

186
00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:04,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that you love these topics. What is

187
00:10:04,520 --> 00:10:08,600
Speaker 1: Fire Island? What is Fire Island? Yeah? Oh, where are

188
00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:10,480
Speaker 1: you guys? Located? Los Angeles? Yeah?

189
00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:14,000
Speaker 2: Okay, So I'm a New Yorker and so Fire Island

190
00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:16,880
Speaker 2: is off the coast of Long Island. It's about two

191
00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:20,360
Speaker 2: hours from New York City and you take a ferry

192
00:10:20,440 --> 00:10:23,360
Speaker 2: to get there, and it's basically this gay fantasia.

193
00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:24,319
Speaker 1: Oh.

194
00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:27,480
Speaker 2: These two communities that are right that are a mile apart.

195
00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:32,000
Speaker 2: One is very focused towards gay men. That's the Pines.

196
00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:33,640
Speaker 2: You may have heard of, the Fire Island Pines. And

197
00:10:33,679 --> 00:10:36,320
Speaker 2: the one right next door is called Cherry Grove, and

198
00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:40,640
Speaker 2: that one is very like bohemian trans people, lesbians, older

199
00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:44,920
Speaker 2: gay guys, very interesting, kitchy. Yeah, and like you know,

200
00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:47,520
Speaker 2: everyone mixes and mingles between and there's a lot of history.

201
00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:49,679
Speaker 4: We were gonna ask you, like what the kind of

202
00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:52,280
Speaker 4: connection between the two are, But as you're speaking about it,

203
00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:54,680
Speaker 4: I'm like, well, that was kind of, you know, a

204
00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:57,280
Speaker 4: very integral part of the soul Cycle community was that

205
00:10:57,320 --> 00:10:58,200
Speaker 4: it was very diverse.

206
00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:01,560
Speaker 1: LGBTQ. Yeah, I'm super gay.

207
00:11:01,679 --> 00:11:04,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, as a gay person myself, A lot of the

208
00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:10,040
Speaker 2: work I do is focused on gay pop culture and

209
00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:14,680
Speaker 2: then also queer history, like I just find so fascinating,

210
00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:16,480
Speaker 2: like who came before us?

211
00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:21,800
Speaker 4: Right, there's no pop culture that's not gay pop culture.

212
00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:26,000
Speaker 1: So you are taking soul Cycle classes yourself.

213
00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:30,400
Speaker 2: Oh, I was a devote, serious devote from like twenty

214
00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:34,160
Speaker 2: ten to twenty nineteen. I stopped going at the end

215
00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:38,680
Speaker 2: of twenty nineteen, but definitely for like six years in there.

216
00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:41,000
Speaker 2: You know, I started off kind of light and then

217
00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:43,640
Speaker 2: I got really sucked in, and then towards.

218
00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:45,880
Speaker 1: The end I was on my way out.

219
00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:48,319
Speaker 2: But for I would say six years, I mean, is

220
00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:50,280
Speaker 2: it embarrassing to say it was the singular focus of

221
00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:50,680
Speaker 2: my life?

222
00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:51,880
Speaker 1: No?

223
00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:53,880
Speaker 3: No, I mean I think that's probably true for a

224
00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:56,200
Speaker 3: lot of people. Yeah, but that makes you the perfect

225
00:11:56,200 --> 00:11:58,440
Speaker 3: person to be making this podcast.

226
00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:00,559
Speaker 1: I'm talking to us about this. Yeah.

227
00:12:00,679 --> 00:12:03,240
Speaker 3: We love when someone's actually experienced the thing that we're

228
00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:03,880
Speaker 3: talking about.

229
00:12:03,960 --> 00:12:07,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, So tell us how soul Cycle began.

230
00:12:07,679 --> 00:12:10,840
Speaker 2: So, soul Cycle was founded by three women in two

231
00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:14,400
Speaker 2: thousand and six, three women who really didn't know each other.

232
00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:17,920
Speaker 2: One was a spinning instructor, this one woman, and the

233
00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:20,320
Speaker 2: other two one came from a LA she was a

234
00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:22,960
Speaker 2: talent agent and the other one had a background in

235
00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:23,520
Speaker 2: real estate.

236
00:12:23,600 --> 00:12:26,280
Speaker 1: But they all really didn't know each other very well.

237
00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:30,559
Speaker 2: And the one who was the spin instructor, the two

238
00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:33,400
Speaker 2: women were her clients, like they would take her close.

239
00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:35,320
Speaker 1: And that's how it was founded.

240
00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:37,600
Speaker 2: I mean, there's a longer story, but basically, these three

241
00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:41,080
Speaker 2: women got together and thought, hey, let's create this thing.

242
00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:44,120
Speaker 2: Like the talent agent who lived out in LA there

243
00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:49,720
Speaker 2: was a studio that she loved that really was the

244
00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:52,760
Speaker 2: bone structure of what and the emotion not even the

245
00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:55,880
Speaker 2: bone structure, I should say, rather the soul, the actual

246
00:12:55,960 --> 00:13:01,560
Speaker 2: embodiment of what. Soul cycle really managed to scale beyond

247
00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:05,160
Speaker 2: anyone's dreams. There was this spin studio in West Hollywood

248
00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:09,680
Speaker 2: that the talent manager loved, and she would then recruit

249
00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:12,040
Speaker 2: the woman who owned and was the main spin instructor

250
00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:16,400
Speaker 2: at that LA studio. Her name is Janet Fitzgerald, and Janet,

251
00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:18,760
Speaker 2: if you've listened to Cult of Body and Soul, is

252
00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:22,160
Speaker 2: the lead of Cult of Body and Soul. And they

253
00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:25,840
Speaker 2: eventually were able to recruit her to Soul Cycle, and

254
00:13:25,920 --> 00:13:29,320
Speaker 2: she taught over four hundred instructors that went through the

255
00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:34,080
Speaker 2: training program. There would not be soul Cycle without this woman, Janet,

256
00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:37,320
Speaker 2: whose roots were in la and they basically created a

257
00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:42,200
Speaker 2: copycat version of what she brilliantly designed and embodied.

258
00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:44,920
Speaker 1: Did you ever take a class with Janet? Specifically?

259
00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:48,200
Speaker 2: Oh my god, I've been obsessed with this woman for

260
00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:49,040
Speaker 2: over a decade.

261
00:13:50,120 --> 00:13:50,840
Speaker 1: It's so funny.

262
00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:53,000
Speaker 2: There are a few questions that I get over and

263
00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:56,480
Speaker 2: over again, but especially as the series was airing. It

264
00:13:56,600 --> 00:14:01,000
Speaker 2: first premiered in May of this year, and people would say, like,

265
00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:03,240
Speaker 2: where did you find this Janet?

266
00:14:03,760 --> 00:14:09,920
Speaker 1: I'm like, hello, I've been following this woman for gerald.

267
00:14:10,040 --> 00:14:13,040
Speaker 1: You mean Madonna? Yeah, the Madonna of spin.

268
00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:15,760
Speaker 3: Wait, okay, okay, I've never taken a spin class. So

269
00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:19,200
Speaker 3: for listeners who are like me and don't understand this culture,

270
00:14:19,640 --> 00:14:23,880
Speaker 3: like what makes an instructor like Janet so special.

271
00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:24,880
Speaker 1: That's a really great question.

272
00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:29,840
Speaker 2: So the difference between spinning and really any other group,

273
00:14:30,360 --> 00:14:33,360
Speaker 2: if you suppose you're comparing it to like yoga, or

274
00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:37,080
Speaker 2: like pilates, or like a boot camp, like a battery's

275
00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:41,640
Speaker 2: boot camp type class, Spinning is different and it's this

276
00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:44,080
Speaker 2: is not unique to soul cycle, but in this instance

277
00:14:44,080 --> 00:14:47,440
Speaker 2: we'll focus on soul cycle. Spinning is different because the

278
00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:53,560
Speaker 2: instructor is on an elevated podium facing the class, and

279
00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:59,760
Speaker 2: you are staring at the instructor. With yoga pilates boot camp,

280
00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:03,520
Speaker 2: the instructor is in the background, they are walking around.

281
00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:08,040
Speaker 2: You can't even see the instructor. And soul cycle and

282
00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:12,280
Speaker 2: spinning is the exact opposite. You are projecting all of

283
00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:17,760
Speaker 2: your focus onto the instructor. Interesting, and the instructor has

284
00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:22,480
Speaker 2: curated this musical journey for you to go on, whereas

285
00:15:22,520 --> 00:15:27,120
Speaker 2: in those different modalities the music is not the primary focus.

286
00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:29,480
Speaker 3: I've taken yoga classes where it is, but I didn't

287
00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:30,680
Speaker 3: really like those yoga classes.

288
00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:34,200
Speaker 4: Well, I will tell you, Jess. I was a two

289
00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:38,560
Speaker 4: thousand and nine West Hollywood Crunch girly. Okay, I was

290
00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:42,080
Speaker 4: doing the spin upstairs, and I remember like Bob from

291
00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:44,360
Speaker 4: Biggest Loser was always in it, which I thought was

292
00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:44,920
Speaker 4: really cool.

293
00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:48,720
Speaker 2: Was he teaching, No, he was just in the class

294
00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:51,560
Speaker 2: because you know, he was an instructor. He was a

295
00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:55,080
Speaker 2: very popular spin instructor in La oh oh interesting.

296
00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:57,640
Speaker 4: Well he would there was just this one particular class

297
00:15:57,680 --> 00:15:59,600
Speaker 4: that he would be at and it would just be

298
00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:03,960
Speaker 4: like the energy was so insane. You would like get

299
00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:05,960
Speaker 4: on the bikes. Do you guys remember that song? I

300
00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:08,000
Speaker 4: was like, let me see a hip swing.

301
00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:10,560
Speaker 2: We'll have to take that because I don't want to

302
00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:12,320
Speaker 2: just keep it up.

303
00:16:13,040 --> 00:16:15,400
Speaker 4: But like you'd all just I grew up like the

304
00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:17,360
Speaker 4: cult that I grew up and we weren't allowed to dance.

305
00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:19,560
Speaker 4: So I have no idea how to dance. I have

306
00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:22,680
Speaker 4: no idea. I've never like been into that world. So

307
00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:26,080
Speaker 4: this was just my first chance of like dancing with

308
00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:29,520
Speaker 4: a giant group of diverse, interesting people.

309
00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:32,800
Speaker 1: And the endorphins were like pumpin' you're saying for a

310
00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:37,360
Speaker 1: cycling class. Yeah, so you're dancing. Yeah, it's like dancing.

311
00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:41,760
Speaker 2: You're really hitting on something with the dancing because spinning,

312
00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:42,640
Speaker 2: I mean spinning.

313
00:16:42,680 --> 00:16:43,920
Speaker 1: You're on a stationary bike.

314
00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:46,400
Speaker 2: You know, if we we zume out last, you know,

315
00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:47,920
Speaker 2: just like what is spinning? You know, I think most

316
00:16:47,920 --> 00:16:49,920
Speaker 2: people know what spinning is. You're on a stationary bike,

317
00:16:50,040 --> 00:16:52,480
Speaker 2: but you are moving your body to the rhythm of

318
00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:57,040
Speaker 2: the music, which mimics the tribal experience of dancing.

319
00:16:57,720 --> 00:17:00,240
Speaker 1: Right because it's a pack that's all moving together.

320
00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:03,480
Speaker 2: And you're riding to the rhythm. So it is like

321
00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:05,480
Speaker 2: dancing on this bike.

322
00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:08,399
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, and everybody it would be like, you know,

323
00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:10,439
Speaker 4: the beat would drop and you stand up all at

324
00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:13,040
Speaker 4: the same time and then you like do your choreography.

325
00:17:13,080 --> 00:17:15,840
Speaker 4: And I was just like this is I can't miss

326
00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:16,439
Speaker 4: this class.

327
00:17:16,600 --> 00:17:18,879
Speaker 2: There's a lot of choreography, like you're getting up, you're

328
00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:22,360
Speaker 2: getting You're not just like sitting on the bike right. No, no, no, no,

329
00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:27,159
Speaker 2: Like you're getting up, you're sprinting, you're climbing hills. There

330
00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:30,359
Speaker 2: are lots of different dance oriented like moves. You're moving

331
00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:33,640
Speaker 2: your body back and forward on the bike. You're doing

332
00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:36,280
Speaker 2: also like push ups on the handlebars, like there are

333
00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:38,160
Speaker 2: a lot of different bars, so your move.

334
00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:42,240
Speaker 1: There's a lot of different choreography. It can be a corporate.

335
00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:44,280
Speaker 2: It's sort of like mental gymnastics.

336
00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:45,720
Speaker 1: It was just so fun.

337
00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:49,199
Speaker 3: Wow, Okay, I understand why it would feel more like

338
00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:51,320
Speaker 3: a shared a rave.

339
00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:55,600
Speaker 1: Yeah. It's like self help meets rave meets guru meets.

340
00:17:56,480 --> 00:18:00,840
Speaker 2: And also, unlike pilates or whatever, there's also a lot

341
00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:03,119
Speaker 2: of stuff going on with the lights, Like the lights

342
00:18:03,119 --> 00:18:06,560
Speaker 2: are dark and they'll flick on the lights. It's certain

343
00:18:06,800 --> 00:18:10,440
Speaker 2: like there's a lot of ambiance that's happening there. It's candlelight,

344
00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:14,160
Speaker 2: so there's candles. Sometimes yoga can do that, but it's

345
00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:16,720
Speaker 2: lit by candles. And then when all of a sudden,

346
00:18:16,760 --> 00:18:18,879
Speaker 2: if a beat drops, they'll like flick on the lights

347
00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:21,720
Speaker 2: that connect it to like a strobe, like a disco ball.

348
00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:25,800
Speaker 2: It's theater. It's an immersive theatrical experience.

349
00:18:25,880 --> 00:18:29,119
Speaker 3: Okay, that does sound fun. Actually now I'm remembering I

350
00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:31,840
Speaker 3: went to one. I did go to one spinning class

351
00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:33,720
Speaker 3: one time with my mom and it was the hardest

352
00:18:33,760 --> 00:18:34,439
Speaker 3: thing I've ever done.

353
00:18:34,280 --> 00:18:35,240
Speaker 1: And I left halfway through.

354
00:18:35,359 --> 00:18:42,800
Speaker 3: So my mind experience, I'm bad at working out, but

355
00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:43,480
Speaker 3: with the right.

356
00:18:43,400 --> 00:18:45,920
Speaker 1: Music and the right lighting, you know, maybe I could

357
00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:46,800
Speaker 1: make it. I think so.

358
00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:50,080
Speaker 4: And just like going back to twenty of your points,

359
00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:52,240
Speaker 4: you know, it was started by these three women and

360
00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:53,960
Speaker 4: then one of them gets kicked out, which was my

361
00:18:54,119 --> 00:18:56,840
Speaker 4: first like culty ding ding ding, is that there's this

362
00:18:56,960 --> 00:19:00,000
Speaker 4: unspoken person trope where it's like we don't say roots

363
00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:04,240
Speaker 4: name and even like kind of some slurry language about

364
00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:08,320
Speaker 4: like Grandma Ruth and you know, making her just this

365
00:19:09,359 --> 00:19:12,159
Speaker 4: person on Grada that I'm like that's culte.

366
00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:15,120
Speaker 2: One person refers to her as the boogeyman in the corner,

367
00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:17,399
Speaker 2: and I thought that quote was so good that I

368
00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:19,680
Speaker 2: titled at the name of the episode, Yes.

369
00:19:19,520 --> 00:19:21,399
Speaker 1: Yes, explain to us who Ruth is.

370
00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:25,880
Speaker 2: So, Ruth is the spin instructor who introduced the other

371
00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:30,240
Speaker 2: two women who created Soul Cycle. She was the original

372
00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:34,400
Speaker 2: spin instructor who introduced them. She was just a New

373
00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:38,919
Speaker 2: York spin instructor, hustling, trying to make it. You know,

374
00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:42,119
Speaker 2: she was a divorcee. She was older. She was like

375
00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:45,160
Speaker 2: a good decade older than the other two women. And

376
00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:49,080
Speaker 2: she was running around to a bunch of different studios

377
00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:52,040
Speaker 2: and these two women separately who didn't know each other.

378
00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:55,000
Speaker 2: They were taking her class at different studios, and she

379
00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:59,560
Speaker 2: had a dedicated following, and she introduced the two of

380
00:19:59,560 --> 00:20:02,000
Speaker 2: them be like, you know, because they'd each talk to

381
00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:03,600
Speaker 2: her about, Oh, it's my dream to open a spin

382
00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:05,480
Speaker 2: studio and she's like, oh, why don't we all like

383
00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:06,119
Speaker 2: work together.

384
00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:07,800
Speaker 1: Yeah. So that's who Ruth was.

385
00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:09,960
Speaker 4: And it seems like Ruth maybe didn't have the same

386
00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:12,760
Speaker 4: access to like a lawyer or a contract that the

387
00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:13,400
Speaker 4: other truth.

388
00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:17,800
Speaker 2: Ruth was very naive. She was not a business woman.

389
00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:21,359
Speaker 2: She was not a lawyer. She was not, you know,

390
00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:25,120
Speaker 2: unlike the other women were like sharks in business. One

391
00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:28,760
Speaker 2: was a talent agent in LA and Hollywood, and the

392
00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:32,280
Speaker 2: other woman had a lot of business experience. She worked

393
00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:36,119
Speaker 2: in real estate. She had worked on another startup before.

394
00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:39,359
Speaker 2: And so Ruth, I mean, her whole career was in

395
00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:44,639
Speaker 2: dance and then spin instruction. So she was definite at

396
00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:45,640
Speaker 2: a disadvantage.

397
00:20:45,800 --> 00:20:48,399
Speaker 3: But that happens a bit later, right, Nope, Oh no,

398
00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:49,840
Speaker 3: she got cut kicked out immediately.

399
00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:55,760
Speaker 2: That happened after the first like year and a half. Okay, yeah,

400
00:20:55,760 --> 00:20:58,160
Speaker 2: the first year and a half, she was no longer

401
00:20:58,440 --> 00:20:59,040
Speaker 2: an owner.

402
00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:12,600
Speaker 1: Tell us about the first year.

403
00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:15,919
Speaker 2: So the first year, Ruth was teaching the majority of

404
00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:16,520
Speaker 2: the classes.

405
00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:18,720
Speaker 1: The first year it was like crickets.

406
00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:21,800
Speaker 2: It wasn't like an overnight success like immediately.

407
00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:24,360
Speaker 1: The first six months were difficult.

408
00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:26,840
Speaker 2: That the classes maybe had like six or seven people

409
00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:30,400
Speaker 2: in them, and Ruth was teaching the majority of the classes.

410
00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:33,439
Speaker 2: She brought over all her clients from those independent you know,

411
00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:38,160
Speaker 2: like New York sports club type gyms, and they slowly

412
00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:45,040
Speaker 2: were finding instructors to teach these classes, and eventually they

413
00:21:45,119 --> 00:21:48,560
Speaker 2: opened an outpost in the Hamptons a summer outpost, and

414
00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:52,520
Speaker 2: that's when it exploded because a lot of these Upper

415
00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:54,720
Speaker 2: east Side, Upper West Side meaning if you think of

416
00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:56,720
Speaker 2: like the Real Housewives of New York City and.

417
00:21:56,840 --> 00:21:58,679
Speaker 1: I always am, I always think.

418
00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:03,200
Speaker 2: When I the main that was the main clientele of

419
00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:07,080
Speaker 2: Soul Cycle, and they all went out to the Hamptons,

420
00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:10,000
Speaker 2: you know, just like Ramona and Leanne. Just think of

421
00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:14,159
Speaker 2: visualized Ramona Singer and Countess Lawanne as like the clientele

422
00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:14,399
Speaker 2: for this.

423
00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:18,000
Speaker 1: As you know from Ramona in these people.

424
00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:25,280
Speaker 4: You're Ramona Turtle time the eye on the runway.

425
00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:27,040
Speaker 1: You're just speaking another language.

426
00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:29,640
Speaker 3: Sorry, please continue.

427
00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:32,920
Speaker 2: So they opened this summer outpost in the Hamptons and

428
00:22:32,920 --> 00:22:36,520
Speaker 2: that's where it really exploded because that is where people

429
00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:42,439
Speaker 2: like Kelly Rippa and Brookshields and Kira Sedgwick, Katie Kuric,

430
00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:47,040
Speaker 2: a lot of like New York based celebrities started taking

431
00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:50,879
Speaker 2: their first Soul Cycle classes out in the Hamptons because

432
00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:55,200
Speaker 2: people are obsessed with working out out there because it's

433
00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:58,320
Speaker 2: it's part of the social fabric. It's a way to

434
00:22:58,359 --> 00:23:02,680
Speaker 2: get invited to dinner. It's a social climbing type of thing.

435
00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:06,480
Speaker 2: And cut to it's after Labor Day, we're back to

436
00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:09,400
Speaker 2: the city. All of a sudden, Kelly Rippa is on

437
00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:14,040
Speaker 2: the TV talking about Soul Cycle, talking about her favorite instructor,

438
00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:18,399
Speaker 2: and then it blows up in the fall. That was

439
00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:19,919
Speaker 2: like two thousand and seven.

440
00:23:19,760 --> 00:23:21,160
Speaker 1: After the first full year.

441
00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:24,840
Speaker 2: Now they've got celebrities and classes, and once you have

442
00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:29,080
Speaker 2: that social proof of a celebrity talking about the thing,

443
00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:32,040
Speaker 2: everyone wants to check it out to say that they

444
00:23:32,040 --> 00:23:34,439
Speaker 2: were there to get the photo, whatever it is.

445
00:23:35,119 --> 00:23:36,960
Speaker 1: And that's how it exploded.

446
00:23:37,119 --> 00:23:41,040
Speaker 2: I mean, I really credit Kelly Rippa for putting Soul

447
00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:42,760
Speaker 2: Cycle on the cultural map.

448
00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:43,560
Speaker 1: Wow.

449
00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:49,120
Speaker 3: So some of these star instructors, what was it about

450
00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:51,800
Speaker 3: them that was so compelling versus a different run of

451
00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:52,679
Speaker 3: the mill instructor.

452
00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:58,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say the best Soul Cycle instructors were

453
00:23:58,359 --> 00:24:03,560
Speaker 2: charismatic leaders. They knew how to speak to the class

454
00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:08,520
Speaker 2: through the microphone and make you feel something. It was

455
00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:12,560
Speaker 2: the words they were saying. It wasn't necessarily how they looked,

456
00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:15,840
Speaker 2: it was what they were saying. It was like the

457
00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:19,400
Speaker 2: best preacher or like when you think of like Obama,

458
00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:25,520
Speaker 2: He's a charismatic, powerful speaker, and that was what the

459
00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:28,040
Speaker 2: best Soul Cycle instructors were able to do.

460
00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:30,199
Speaker 4: And I think somebody listening might be like, Okay, you

461
00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:32,240
Speaker 4: can't compare Obama to a soul cyclone.

462
00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:37,280
Speaker 1: But I again and Mochelle Obama loves soul cycle. They

463
00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:39,520
Speaker 1: people went to the White House to teach soul cycle.

464
00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:42,120
Speaker 1: It was like, see if your Asians like these people.

465
00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:46,680
Speaker 4: We were speaking the language at that level, and that's

466
00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:51,639
Speaker 4: when it kind of becomes more exciting and dangerous.

467
00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:54,840
Speaker 2: You know something else, you know, I actually really haven't

468
00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:58,080
Speaker 2: said this anywhere. I certainly don't say it in this series,

469
00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:01,719
Speaker 2: but I talk a lot about addiction in the series.

470
00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:05,639
Speaker 2: I say, you know, the most common path to fitness

471
00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:11,520
Speaker 2: instructor and fitness enthusiast is musical theater major.

472
00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:17,640
Speaker 3: Or addict in recovery. Yes's fascinating or addict period.

473
00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:23,480
Speaker 2: And therefore a lot of instructors had this performance background.

474
00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:26,320
Speaker 2: You know, you can file those people under the very

475
00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:29,520
Speaker 2: charismatic leaders. They know how to like hold the room.

476
00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:33,280
Speaker 2: And then also when you combine that with people who

477
00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:37,399
Speaker 2: have years of life experience or they're in recovery and

478
00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:40,800
Speaker 2: they're able to talk about that experience, talk about that

479
00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:46,000
Speaker 2: life experience, maybe they're not talking explicitly about recovery, but

480
00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:48,720
Speaker 2: twelve step language totally.

481
00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:50,359
Speaker 1: Is there a way of life.

482
00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:54,040
Speaker 2: It is a way of life, and I do I

483
00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:59,080
Speaker 2: am saying I believe it would seep through the classes

484
00:25:59,119 --> 00:26:01,720
Speaker 2: and seep through the walls. I do think it was

485
00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:06,080
Speaker 2: this unspoken thing of why some of those very charismatic,

486
00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:09,000
Speaker 2: the people who were really successful. A lot of those

487
00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:11,560
Speaker 2: people do you have long time recovery or have They've

488
00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:15,000
Speaker 2: been through a lot in their life and they have

489
00:26:15,119 --> 00:26:18,240
Speaker 2: the tools to be able to talk to a group

490
00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:20,960
Speaker 2: of people because they have the experience doing that.

491
00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:22,119
Speaker 1: That's so interesting.

492
00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:28,000
Speaker 3: So again as a cycling nube, like what are people saying,

493
00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:30,359
Speaker 3: because like I've gone to work out classes and all

494
00:26:30,359 --> 00:26:33,600
Speaker 3: they're saying and other types of classes usually is like

495
00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:37,400
Speaker 3: and lift your but you know, like there's there's.

496
00:26:37,320 --> 00:26:44,440
Speaker 1: No five Yeah, yeah, focus on the glutes like it's

497
00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:45,760
Speaker 1: it's very like practical.

498
00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:50,199
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like what's what's the kind of sermon? Yeah, I

499
00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:54,679
Speaker 2: mean that would be difficult. Well, let me think I

500
00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:58,400
Speaker 2: mean some some some instruct there's one very well known instructor,

501
00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:01,399
Speaker 2: Angela Davis, who taught in West hollyge She taught in

502
00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:04,240
Speaker 2: LA And there's a guy in one of the episodes

503
00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:07,639
Speaker 2: who is talking about her class specifically, and like she

504
00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:11,440
Speaker 2: was Beyonce and jay Z's favorite instructor, and he said

505
00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:13,560
Speaker 2: there were some classes where there was no music.

506
00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:14,840
Speaker 1: She just spoke.

507
00:27:15,359 --> 00:27:19,399
Speaker 2: Oh, so it really was like a sermon that was

508
00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:21,879
Speaker 2: not the norm, that was like unique to her. But

509
00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:23,960
Speaker 2: I would say, Okay, in my we'll talk about like

510
00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:28,080
Speaker 2: my experience. I would say. They would be specific about

511
00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:30,679
Speaker 2: what they were going through in their life, or they

512
00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:34,960
Speaker 2: would tell stories from the from their past and different

513
00:27:35,119 --> 00:27:39,680
Speaker 2: frameworks for how to deal with challenges in your life

514
00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:41,560
Speaker 2: that weren't just Mel Robbins.

515
00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:42,760
Speaker 1: Let them mm hmm.

516
00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:47,520
Speaker 2: Okay, this is like old school theory, a lot of

517
00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:49,840
Speaker 2: metaphysical language.

518
00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:51,080
Speaker 1: That's what Janet Fitzgerald.

519
00:27:51,119 --> 00:27:54,240
Speaker 2: She would talk a lot about metaphysics, a lot about

520
00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:57,840
Speaker 2: psychic behavior. You know, she's very connected to a lot

521
00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:02,280
Speaker 2: of psychics. And so the class beingbued with the spirituality,

522
00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:03,280
Speaker 2: that's it.

523
00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:04,400
Speaker 1: It's spirituality.

524
00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:08,159
Speaker 2: If I haven't said that already, right, that's what spoke

525
00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:11,200
Speaker 2: to me. Yeah, because I wasn't getting that anywhere else

526
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:14,560
Speaker 2: in my life, so I would go there for that.

527
00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:17,040
Speaker 1: So it is like it's church like then.

528
00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:20,320
Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, we have a quote here that says the

529
00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:23,120
Speaker 4: structure of the ritual, the group, the community, and the

530
00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:25,840
Speaker 4: elation at the end of the ride was very similar

531
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:28,920
Speaker 4: to being raised in a Christian environment. This is by

532
00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:32,840
Speaker 4: one of your intervieways named John Hill. It was rapturous.

533
00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:37,080
Speaker 4: He said, yes, yeah, euphoria peak experiences, and then you

534
00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:39,240
Speaker 4: kind of become dependent on going back.

535
00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:42,560
Speaker 1: Well you get it's that dopamine hit. Yeah.

536
00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, you don't become dependent, but like think of any

537
00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:49,320
Speaker 2: drug you take right you get it, and then you

538
00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:52,680
Speaker 2: spend the rest of your time kind of like chasing

539
00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:55,760
Speaker 2: that feeling. And sometimes you do get that feeling and

540
00:28:55,800 --> 00:28:59,080
Speaker 2: sometimes you don't, but you're always looking for that feeling.

541
00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:04,880
Speaker 2: Like that's been my experience right with Soul cycle in particular.

542
00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:08,080
Speaker 3: I mean, people get addicted to working out in general

543
00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:11,680
Speaker 3: just because of what it does to the chemicals in

544
00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:14,000
Speaker 3: your brain. But I can imagine that if there's also

545
00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:18,920
Speaker 3: this like hypnotic almost like dance element where there's a

546
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:22,520
Speaker 3: spirituality spiritual talk happening at the same time.

547
00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:27,000
Speaker 1: Honestly, I'm sold, I kind of want to go I'm

548
00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:27,840
Speaker 1: soul No.

549
00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:30,560
Speaker 2: I know, it's crazy, you know, for me, it was

550
00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:33,600
Speaker 2: the spirituality, But then honestly, you could talk to somebody

551
00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:35,280
Speaker 2: else and be like, yeah, I didn't he you know,

552
00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:37,320
Speaker 2: I have a friend He's like, I didn't care about

553
00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:40,040
Speaker 2: the spirituality piece at all. For me. It was more

554
00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:43,040
Speaker 2: for me, meaning for my friend who's in the series.

555
00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:46,840
Speaker 2: He talks about how he used to love going out

556
00:29:46,920 --> 00:29:49,800
Speaker 2: to clubs, and you know, people go to clubs for

557
00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:52,040
Speaker 2: a reason. They love the dance, they love the tribalism,

558
00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:55,280
Speaker 2: they love all of that. They love that party environment.

559
00:29:55,720 --> 00:29:58,000
Speaker 2: And as you get older, you're not really going out

560
00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:00,480
Speaker 2: to the club anymore, and maybe the only you really

561
00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:02,840
Speaker 2: get to dance is at a wedding, you know, the

562
00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:05,120
Speaker 2: older you get, and like you're working a job, you

563
00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:08,600
Speaker 2: can't like be out late nights. And this gave you

564
00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:11,600
Speaker 2: an opportunity to basically go to a rave at like

565
00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:14,960
Speaker 2: whatever time you want, literally all day every day.

566
00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:17,240
Speaker 1: Yeah right, it's your schedule, right.

567
00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:20,400
Speaker 4: One of the things I found interesting about the instructors

568
00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:23,440
Speaker 4: is that they weren't really required to get a degree.

569
00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:28,760
Speaker 2: And I know, yes, that's still insane to me. Especially,

570
00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:31,760
Speaker 2: it's more like how charismatic are they?

571
00:30:31,880 --> 00:30:35,240
Speaker 4: How much are And you did also say like it

572
00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:37,440
Speaker 4: was like how much space are they giving you to

573
00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:40,480
Speaker 4: process and to project? Onto them instead of just screaming

574
00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:43,920
Speaker 4: stuff at you. Like, there's this art to it. So, yes,

575
00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:47,160
Speaker 4: we're attracting a lot of musical theater majors or just

576
00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:50,440
Speaker 4: theater majors, and they become rock stars. You said people

577
00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:53,920
Speaker 4: would be trying to touch them and whatever. Wow. One

578
00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:56,280
Speaker 4: of the things that stood out to me was how

579
00:30:57,000 --> 00:31:00,480
Speaker 4: they made it kind of sexy and a very formula

580
00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:03,360
Speaker 4: a way that I was like, Oh, that's interesting.

581
00:31:03,440 --> 00:31:05,960
Speaker 1: Can you speak a little bit about that. Yeah, it

582
00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:08,520
Speaker 1: took me a while to figure out.

583
00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:12,640
Speaker 2: So it's funny a phrase that kept coming up. They

584
00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:18,440
Speaker 2: were taught to teach from their vagina, okay, And it

585
00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:21,440
Speaker 2: took me forever to And I talked to Janet about this,

586
00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:23,600
Speaker 2: like I'm like, what are they talking about? Like what

587
00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:26,240
Speaker 2: does this mean? Like please break this down and plain english.

588
00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:30,520
Speaker 2: And what I realized what it means is like riding

589
00:31:30,760 --> 00:31:33,320
Speaker 2: from your or emit to ride from your vagina. Rather,

590
00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:37,080
Speaker 2: what it means is to ride in like a rhythmic.

591
00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:41,440
Speaker 2: It's like moving your hips in a certain way. I

592
00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:46,360
Speaker 2: do think that's ultimately what that means. And like having

593
00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:49,200
Speaker 2: like a life source and yeah, it's kind of like

594
00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:51,360
Speaker 2: when you look at Jalo when you look at Ricky Martin,

595
00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:53,840
Speaker 2: when you look at the way they dance, it's the

596
00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:57,920
Speaker 2: movement of the hips that does create a certain sexual

597
00:31:58,120 --> 00:31:59,840
Speaker 2: seductive there's.

598
00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:03,560
Speaker 1: Something going on. Must add candle light. I was gonna say,

599
00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:06,040
Speaker 1: there's candles. Looking people in.

600
00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:09,520
Speaker 4: The eye exactly like when they're really coming down from

601
00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:13,200
Speaker 4: a fast ride, make eye contact, like.

602
00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:16,520
Speaker 1: Then giving them a little touch on the hand, playing

603
00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:17,840
Speaker 1: a few slow songs.

604
00:32:17,880 --> 00:32:21,200
Speaker 4: In the beginning, one of the quotes is like they

605
00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:24,720
Speaker 4: either want to fuck you or be you. Yes, it's

606
00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:26,600
Speaker 4: kind of what the instructors were taught.

607
00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:29,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, which brings me to my question of how were

608
00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:33,040
Speaker 3: they selecting instruct Like what were the criteria for selecting instructors.

609
00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:37,560
Speaker 2: If not certification, you audition, Yeah, and then if you

610
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:41,920
Speaker 2: pass the audition, you're then enrolled in like an eight

611
00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:45,880
Speaker 2: week training program, and that's where all of that gets taught.

612
00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:49,680
Speaker 2: They basically teach them how to curate the playlist, how

613
00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:54,120
Speaker 2: to ride from the vagina, and how to do all

614
00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:56,240
Speaker 2: these sort of like little like theater tricks that there's

615
00:32:56,280 --> 00:32:58,640
Speaker 2: a bit of like snake charming to it. How to

616
00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:01,640
Speaker 2: really like hook the ride into coming back to your

617
00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:03,720
Speaker 2: class over and over. I mean This is also how

618
00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:06,520
Speaker 2: they get paid, right, You're not getting paid if you're

619
00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:10,040
Speaker 2: not filling up your room. So how to yeah, hook

620
00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:14,040
Speaker 2: the rider, how to hook clients, and and also how

621
00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:15,280
Speaker 2: to structure the class.

622
00:33:15,280 --> 00:33:16,920
Speaker 1: There's there's just a formula to it.

623
00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:19,560
Speaker 2: Of course, you know, like taking somebody on a journey

624
00:33:20,040 --> 00:33:21,640
Speaker 2: through music.

625
00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:24,840
Speaker 3: It makes sense to train your instructors to make it

626
00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:27,400
Speaker 3: a welcoming environment. I mean that's that's as I have

627
00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:29,160
Speaker 3: them made it a little too welcoming.

628
00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:33,600
Speaker 4: I was obsessed with Adken. Oh he's huge, it's so hot.

629
00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:37,880
Speaker 2: I can I encourage your encourage your listeners to look

630
00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:40,160
Speaker 2: up Acn. If you just go on Instagram, type in

631
00:33:40,400 --> 00:33:43,400
Speaker 2: a k I N, he will pop right up. I

632
00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:48,360
Speaker 2: means he now has his own very successful studio called

633
00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:52,320
Speaker 2: Acin's Army, and he has he has had a cult

634
00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:55,480
Speaker 2: like flowing following since day one. And he was the

635
00:33:55,480 --> 00:33:58,560
Speaker 2: top instructor at Soul for many years. He was making

636
00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:01,160
Speaker 2: over a million dollars a year. He Wow, he would

637
00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:06,400
Speaker 2: teach like six or seven classes a day. He never

638
00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:09,239
Speaker 2: needed a day off because he was brought up as

639
00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:11,680
Speaker 2: a young tennis prodigy, got it.

640
00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:13,560
Speaker 1: He never needed a day off.

641
00:34:13,600 --> 00:34:17,720
Speaker 2: He's built you know, like Ai to do this job,

642
00:34:18,640 --> 00:34:23,960
Speaker 2: and he is huge, and when he left soul Cycle

643
00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:28,880
Speaker 2: to open his own studio, it was a big loss

644
00:34:29,280 --> 00:34:30,120
Speaker 2: for the company.

645
00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:30,880
Speaker 1: Yeah.

646
00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:33,719
Speaker 4: Wow, And I'm not saying him in particular, but it

647
00:34:33,760 --> 00:34:36,759
Speaker 4: does seem as though there was a culture of some

648
00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:39,800
Speaker 4: of these male instructors or even a female instructor sleeping

649
00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:41,640
Speaker 4: with the students.

650
00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:44,400
Speaker 2: Well, I think that happens in any job. That's not

651
00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:45,960
Speaker 2: unique to Soul Cycle.

652
00:34:46,440 --> 00:34:50,160
Speaker 3: But also exercise class, so it's not like it's school.

653
00:34:50,200 --> 00:34:52,840
Speaker 4: Well, I mean some of it was very scandalous, like

654
00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:57,040
Speaker 4: it was on page six. Married people sleeping with their instructors.

655
00:34:57,680 --> 00:34:59,799
Speaker 1: It's not unique to soul Cycle, but.

656
00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:04,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, all of that stuff is certainly present here.

657
00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:08,279
Speaker 3: Yeah, I suppose when you know, the instructors are like

658
00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:11,400
Speaker 3: put on this sort of pedestal and developed a literal

659
00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:15,040
Speaker 3: and are literally higher than everybody else. Like certainly that's

660
00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:18,919
Speaker 3: going to create more of a god complex.

661
00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:21,240
Speaker 1: Yeah, sex complex.

662
00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:26,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, also make them just more appealing to you know,

663
00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:27,759
Speaker 3: like it definitely creates a.

664
00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:31,439
Speaker 2: Little Yeah, they're dripping, they're dripping in sweat. They look

665
00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:36,600
Speaker 2: really good in skimpy clothing. Like the sweat, the glistening

666
00:35:36,680 --> 00:35:40,799
Speaker 2: of that also The other difference is, I guess most

667
00:35:40,880 --> 00:35:45,000
Speaker 2: fitness studios you're surrounded by mirrors. But there's something about

668
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:49,000
Speaker 2: the mirror layout that's interesting is you're you're so focused

669
00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:52,560
Speaker 2: on the instructor, you're not really looking at yourself, whereas

670
00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:55,200
Speaker 2: in a lot of other studios you're just looking at yourself.

671
00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:58,840
Speaker 3: Yeah, you're not. That's all I do totally. I'm like,

672
00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:00,720
Speaker 3: why do I look so stupid this movement?

673
00:36:01,719 --> 00:36:03,560
Speaker 1: Why am I not pulling my butt up? Why am

674
00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:04,440
Speaker 1: I frog shaped?

675
00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:07,200
Speaker 3: Yeah?

676
00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:08,319
Speaker 1: No, I mean it is.

677
00:36:08,360 --> 00:36:12,720
Speaker 4: It is a perfect storm, and again would get pulled

678
00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:13,319
Speaker 4: right in.

679
00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:17,719
Speaker 1: But it was what forty dollars a class is? Is

680
00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:21,320
Speaker 1: that what it is now? Today? It's forty dollars a class? Yeah.

681
00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:24,520
Speaker 2: When I was going it was thirty four dollars a class,

682
00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:27,440
Speaker 2: and when it started it was twenty seven.

683
00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:30,240
Speaker 1: Dollars a class. Well, inflation, so that's just like inflation.

684
00:36:30,560 --> 00:36:33,560
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I mean there was one one interesting comment

685
00:36:33,760 --> 00:36:36,799
Speaker 4: a woman made that was like she started to kind

686
00:36:36,840 --> 00:36:39,359
Speaker 4: of realize red flags about her sohul cycle, you said,

687
00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:42,160
Speaker 4: outside of the class, Like not when she was in

688
00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:45,000
Speaker 4: the class, but like she'd like maybe see her bill

689
00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:46,960
Speaker 4: at the end of the year and be like, I'm sorry,

690
00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:49,320
Speaker 4: I just spent nine thousand dollars at Soul cycle.

691
00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:51,280
Speaker 1: That's a you know estimate.

692
00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:55,480
Speaker 4: Yeah, but yeah, were there any moments where stuff like

693
00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:57,840
Speaker 4: that happened to you where you were like, oh, dang.

694
00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:02,279
Speaker 1: Well, you know, I'll be honest. I mean, yeah, so

695
00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:04,239
Speaker 1: I certainly was spending that kind of money on it

696
00:37:04,280 --> 00:37:04,600
Speaker 1: a year.

697
00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:09,080
Speaker 2: But I would say for me, and this didn't occur

698
00:37:09,160 --> 00:37:12,200
Speaker 2: to me until later when I was like taking a

699
00:37:12,239 --> 00:37:15,840
Speaker 2: step back. For me, there was an element of wanting

700
00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:22,560
Speaker 2: to please certain instructors, meaning I would force myself to

701
00:37:22,680 --> 00:37:24,600
Speaker 2: go even a class that I didn't if I was

702
00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:27,040
Speaker 2: exhausted after a day of work, like it's five o'clock,

703
00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:29,440
Speaker 2: I'm exhausted. I just want to go home and collapse.

704
00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:32,640
Speaker 2: I wouldn't cancel out of a class. I would still

705
00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:36,600
Speaker 2: go to, like a six thirty class, because I still

706
00:37:36,640 --> 00:37:39,920
Speaker 2: wanted to be seen as like one of the Golden Riders,

707
00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:41,080
Speaker 2: one of the favorites.

708
00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:42,759
Speaker 1: There was one.

709
00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:45,399
Speaker 2: Guru I had at Seoul who really was the woman

710
00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:48,359
Speaker 2: who hooked me, and she's interviewed in the series. Her

711
00:37:48,440 --> 00:37:50,960
Speaker 2: name is Stevie, and she is a wizard.

712
00:37:50,719 --> 00:37:51,280
Speaker 1: A witch.

713
00:37:51,360 --> 00:37:55,920
Speaker 2: She is incredible, She's everything that you want the experience

714
00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:59,000
Speaker 2: to be. And there were times I just wanted to

715
00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:01,319
Speaker 2: go to bed and not force my body to go

716
00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:05,359
Speaker 2: through this extreme physical experience. But I didn't want her

717
00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:08,880
Speaker 2: to like forget about me, right, it's the sick. I

718
00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:11,080
Speaker 2: don't know what it is. I don't I don't know

719
00:38:11,120 --> 00:38:13,799
Speaker 2: what the word is. But there was this for me

720
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:17,640
Speaker 2: wanting to remain one of the special ones.

721
00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:19,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

722
00:38:19,760 --> 00:38:25,520
Speaker 3: Were there people who were going just overboard that you

723
00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:28,160
Speaker 3: talked to doing this podcast, like just going to too

724
00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:30,640
Speaker 3: many classes a day, pushing themselves too hard?

725
00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:34,200
Speaker 1: For sure. Oh. I would see people who would take

726
00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:37,640
Speaker 1: like three in a row. Oh my god. Yeah, there

727
00:38:37,719 --> 00:38:39,040
Speaker 1: was high intensity workout.

728
00:38:39,160 --> 00:38:41,840
Speaker 4: I mean, if Adkin was teaching what are you supposed

729
00:38:41,880 --> 00:38:42,880
Speaker 4: to do?

730
00:38:42,920 --> 00:38:45,560
Speaker 1: Just not just kicking? He was teaching six classes a day.

731
00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:46,799
Speaker 1: I guy to take six.

732
00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:51,200
Speaker 2: His riders, which was like basically ninety eight percent female.

733
00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:54,920
Speaker 2: His riders would if he was teaching like three classes

734
00:38:54,920 --> 00:38:57,760
Speaker 2: in one location and then two classes in another location,

735
00:38:58,080 --> 00:39:00,800
Speaker 2: they would literally follow him from two a studio.

736
00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:04,720
Speaker 1: Oh my god. He's John Lennon of cycling.

737
00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:08,440
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, he caused what you called the Great Divide?

738
00:39:08,520 --> 00:39:10,160
Speaker 1: What what was that? Just when he left.

739
00:39:10,680 --> 00:39:16,040
Speaker 2: The great divide referred to the people who were part

740
00:39:16,080 --> 00:39:19,160
Speaker 2: of the training team, people who were like lead basically

741
00:39:19,200 --> 00:39:22,440
Speaker 2: like people who like were soul Cycle branded and like

742
00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:25,040
Speaker 2: they were soul Cycle like working for the very like

743
00:39:25,160 --> 00:39:29,920
Speaker 2: company forward. Acken was never like branded in soul Cycle.

744
00:39:30,239 --> 00:39:33,960
Speaker 2: Accen was branded as himself. He just he worked for

745
00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:36,000
Speaker 2: soul Cycle because that was his employer and that's where

746
00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:38,640
Speaker 2: he could make the most amount of money doing this thing.

747
00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:42,080
Speaker 2: But he was his own brand and his own name.

748
00:39:42,280 --> 00:39:45,080
Speaker 2: And so that was the great divide in the sense

749
00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:46,960
Speaker 2: that he didn't have to play by the.

750
00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:49,919
Speaker 1: Rule I see. And merch was like a huge part

751
00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:51,000
Speaker 1: of this for everybody.

752
00:39:51,120 --> 00:39:54,680
Speaker 4: Yes, every month k new merch is dropping and he

753
00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:56,600
Speaker 4: was just like, well, I'm not wearing a shirt at all.

754
00:39:57,160 --> 00:39:58,200
Speaker 1: Yes, that he.

755
00:39:58,160 --> 00:40:02,560
Speaker 2: Would, he would never really wear soul Cycle clothing. And

756
00:40:02,560 --> 00:40:05,560
Speaker 2: then he started and then he started selling his own merch.

757
00:40:06,080 --> 00:40:07,680
Speaker 1: Oh is that allowed?

758
00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:10,799
Speaker 2: It was allowed in his case because again they bent

759
00:40:10,920 --> 00:40:13,200
Speaker 2: every rule for him because they wanted to hang on

760
00:40:13,280 --> 00:40:15,800
Speaker 2: to him as soon as long as possible, at least

761
00:40:15,840 --> 00:40:18,800
Speaker 2: back in the day. Today these rules are different. Today,

762
00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:21,279
Speaker 2: You're allowed to teach at multiple different studios, you can

763
00:40:21,320 --> 00:40:23,680
Speaker 2: be a yoga instructor and teach at Soul Cycle and

764
00:40:23,719 --> 00:40:26,680
Speaker 2: teach someplace else. Ten years ago, if you were a

765
00:40:26,680 --> 00:40:31,800
Speaker 2: Soul Cycle instructor, you could only teach at Soul Cycle period.

766
00:40:32,520 --> 00:40:38,279
Speaker 2: Ackin because he was this unicorn different specimen. They didn't

767
00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:40,440
Speaker 2: want to lose him, so he could do whatever he wanted.

768
00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:43,680
Speaker 2: So in addition to teaching at Soul Cycle, he also

769
00:40:43,719 --> 00:40:46,839
Speaker 2: would teach his own boot camps at like a Lululemon

770
00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:50,239
Speaker 2: or different studios that he could just go in there

771
00:40:50,280 --> 00:40:52,600
Speaker 2: and teach his class, get the money and not have

772
00:40:52,680 --> 00:40:56,440
Speaker 2: to necessarily split it with a huge corporation. And that's

773
00:40:56,480 --> 00:40:59,480
Speaker 2: for sure. He can sell his merch at out right

774
00:40:59,640 --> 00:41:00,760
Speaker 2: thing or online.

775
00:41:01,120 --> 00:41:03,880
Speaker 3: So he's sort of an outlier in terms of the

776
00:41:03,920 --> 00:41:08,319
Speaker 3: Soul Cycle culture. But Soul Cycle because of the way

777
00:41:08,480 --> 00:41:12,520
Speaker 3: that people are have to audition to become instructors and

778
00:41:12,560 --> 00:41:17,040
Speaker 3: are being selected specifically for their charisma, it like fosters

779
00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:23,520
Speaker 3: this environment where the little cult leadery type instructors can arise.

780
00:41:24,120 --> 00:41:25,840
Speaker 2: Let me put a little addendum on that or a

781
00:41:25,840 --> 00:41:30,839
Speaker 2: little asterisk. So Acin, for example, was recruited, he didn't

782
00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:33,520
Speaker 2: have to audition, got to There were some people who

783
00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:38,040
Speaker 2: were like superstars from like different areas of New York City.

784
00:41:38,480 --> 00:41:41,280
Speaker 2: They kind of got to fast pass the whole process.

785
00:41:41,320 --> 00:41:43,560
Speaker 2: They certainly didn't have to audition. Maybe they had to

786
00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:46,480
Speaker 2: go through the training a bit. But a person like

787
00:41:46,560 --> 00:41:49,480
Speaker 2: acin he wouldn't have to go through the whole training, right,

788
00:41:49,520 --> 00:41:52,240
Speaker 2: They wouldn't have to patience for that, Like he would.

789
00:41:52,040 --> 00:41:53,440
Speaker 1: Just like put me on this, I'm not doing this.

790
00:41:53,719 --> 00:41:55,759
Speaker 4: Yeah, it seems like if somebody had a following, they

791
00:41:55,760 --> 00:41:58,080
Speaker 4: were like, just come on, come join the team and

792
00:41:58,120 --> 00:41:59,760
Speaker 4: like bring your following with you, and.

793
00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:03,719
Speaker 1: It's very rare. But yes, like that happened to Act

794
00:42:03,760 --> 00:42:04,040
Speaker 1: and then.

795
00:42:03,960 --> 00:42:07,080
Speaker 3: A few other people Okay, okay, yeah, yeah, was there

796
00:42:07,280 --> 00:42:11,239
Speaker 3: Like how do I put this question? Like, you know,

797
00:42:11,800 --> 00:42:15,880
Speaker 3: in cults typically there's an ink group and an outgroup,

798
00:42:15,960 --> 00:42:18,560
Speaker 3: and like you, this is the only way to live

799
00:42:18,600 --> 00:42:19,080
Speaker 3: your life.

800
00:42:19,239 --> 00:42:21,680
Speaker 1: Like how much of that was kind of going on

801
00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:25,120
Speaker 1: in the community. I'm not sure that was so present.

802
00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:28,440
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, well I'll say this, if you were in

803
00:42:28,520 --> 00:42:33,120
Speaker 2: a clique of a particular instructor and then you, as

804
00:42:33,200 --> 00:42:37,480
Speaker 2: just a human being with like free will, decided that,

805
00:42:37,520 --> 00:42:39,880
Speaker 2: I know, when you want to do this. For whatever reason,

806
00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:43,040
Speaker 2: maybe you got turned on to a different workout or

807
00:42:43,040 --> 00:42:46,080
Speaker 2: maybe you moved or like whatever it is, Yeah, you

808
00:42:46,120 --> 00:42:49,640
Speaker 2: weren't in the click anymore, right, because the clique was

809
00:42:49,680 --> 00:42:53,440
Speaker 2: dependent upon being in that class and then going to

810
00:42:53,600 --> 00:42:57,000
Speaker 2: dinner after the class or going to brunch after the class.

811
00:42:57,440 --> 00:43:02,319
Speaker 2: The class was the nucleus for these cliques. Right.

812
00:43:02,840 --> 00:43:04,760
Speaker 1: It would start in the class and then the teacher

813
00:43:04,760 --> 00:43:06,799
Speaker 1: would like tap you on the shoulder like, oh, come

814
00:43:06,840 --> 00:43:11,439
Speaker 1: to we're going out after. Like that's how it manifested.

815
00:43:11,080 --> 00:43:13,520
Speaker 3: Right right, And I have to imagine there are enough

816
00:43:13,560 --> 00:43:15,759
Speaker 3: people at least just on their own making it their

817
00:43:15,880 --> 00:43:20,640
Speaker 3: entire personality, which like core not necessarily coming from the top,

818
00:43:20,680 --> 00:43:23,120
Speaker 3: but like I go there for my social life and

819
00:43:23,160 --> 00:43:26,960
Speaker 3: my spiritual life and my workout life and my you know. Yes,

820
00:43:27,400 --> 00:43:31,520
Speaker 3: So how did the company evolve over time? It kind

821
00:43:31,560 --> 00:43:35,920
Speaker 3: of explodes. There's all these celebrities going like what's the journey?

822
00:43:36,400 --> 00:43:40,359
Speaker 2: So at first there were maybe like five or so

823
00:43:40,560 --> 00:43:44,160
Speaker 2: locations just New York City alone. That was when it

824
00:43:44,200 --> 00:43:47,000
Speaker 2: was like very homegrown, like mom, it was still run

825
00:43:47,040 --> 00:43:49,440
Speaker 2: just by the Eventually it was the two those two women,

826
00:43:49,960 --> 00:43:52,880
Speaker 2: and there was so much love and care, like every

827
00:43:52,960 --> 00:43:58,280
Speaker 2: studio had its unique personality and it was just pure hospitality,

828
00:43:58,400 --> 00:44:01,239
Speaker 2: like they always the found used to say, we're not

829
00:44:01,400 --> 00:44:06,080
Speaker 2: in the fitness industry, We're in the hospitality and service industry.

830
00:44:06,760 --> 00:44:10,320
Speaker 2: And you could really feel that how much care was

831
00:44:10,360 --> 00:44:13,919
Speaker 2: put into For example, if you they somehow the front

832
00:44:13,920 --> 00:44:16,000
Speaker 2: desk knew you were having a bad day, they would

833
00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:18,200
Speaker 2: give you a swag bag like full of clothes just

834
00:44:18,360 --> 00:44:21,719
Speaker 2: for whatever reason. Or if you missed a class, they

835
00:44:21,760 --> 00:44:24,600
Speaker 2: would drop some extra classes in your I remember getting

836
00:44:24,600 --> 00:44:27,400
Speaker 2: an email, oh, five extra classes because I was like

837
00:44:27,440 --> 00:44:32,000
Speaker 2: a frequent you know, user of soul Cycle, frequent rider.

838
00:44:32,760 --> 00:44:37,880
Speaker 2: And then they were acquired by Equinox, which is a behemoth,

839
00:44:38,520 --> 00:44:44,000
Speaker 2: and that enabled the company to expand to California, to Chicago,

840
00:44:44,280 --> 00:44:47,920
Speaker 2: to Miami, to Boston, to the major cities in the

841
00:44:48,040 --> 00:44:52,120
Speaker 2: United States. You know California, you know Los Angeles and

842
00:44:52,239 --> 00:44:58,000
Speaker 2: San Francisco. They were all over. And then Equinox really

843
00:44:58,040 --> 00:45:01,719
Speaker 2: started like clamping down, like there has to be this

844
00:45:01,840 --> 00:45:04,640
Speaker 2: many riders. Like it evolved out of being this like

845
00:45:05,040 --> 00:45:10,280
Speaker 2: homespun company to being really money driven and like unit driven,

846
00:45:10,360 --> 00:45:12,960
Speaker 2: like bodies in the room. They no longer cared about

847
00:45:13,000 --> 00:45:15,560
Speaker 2: the actual riders as people. You were just like a

848
00:45:15,640 --> 00:45:20,359
Speaker 2: metric to them. And because there were so many more studios,

849
00:45:20,920 --> 00:45:23,560
Speaker 2: it became more lax with who they were passing through.

850
00:45:23,600 --> 00:45:24,960
Speaker 1: They just needed people to teach.

851
00:45:24,760 --> 00:45:28,239
Speaker 2: These classes instead of there being like, let's let's say

852
00:45:28,239 --> 00:45:31,279
Speaker 2: I'm giving just like a raw number, like instead of

853
00:45:31,320 --> 00:45:34,600
Speaker 2: there being like five classes a day at a particular studio,

854
00:45:34,840 --> 00:45:36,719
Speaker 2: now all of a sudden, there's ten classes a day.

855
00:45:37,040 --> 00:45:38,600
Speaker 1: Well, who's going to teach those classes.

856
00:45:38,920 --> 00:45:42,440
Speaker 2: It's not going to be the magical unicorn instructor. How

857
00:45:42,440 --> 00:45:43,680
Speaker 2: many of these can you pump out?

858
00:45:44,160 --> 00:45:44,440
Speaker 3: Right?

859
00:45:45,200 --> 00:45:45,680
Speaker 1: Yeah?

860
00:45:45,719 --> 00:45:51,000
Speaker 2: And so the quality control for the instructors really started

861
00:45:51,040 --> 00:45:55,279
Speaker 2: to go down. It just wasn't possible to maintain that

862
00:45:55,440 --> 00:46:00,719
Speaker 2: level of quality that they had, and so in it

863
00:46:00,760 --> 00:46:02,880
Speaker 2: turned a lot of people off that are like, oh,

864
00:46:02,920 --> 00:46:05,440
Speaker 2: it's not what it used to be. You know, all

865
00:46:05,480 --> 00:46:08,160
Speaker 2: of a sudden, the studios aren't as nice that the

866
00:46:08,360 --> 00:46:10,200
Speaker 2: front desk people aren't able to maintain.

867
00:46:10,600 --> 00:46:11,759
Speaker 1: They're not able to get to.

868
00:46:11,719 --> 00:46:14,439
Speaker 2: Know the riders the way they used to because there's

869
00:46:14,520 --> 00:46:15,880
Speaker 2: so many more people.

870
00:46:16,120 --> 00:46:17,960
Speaker 4: Yeah, it seems like the front desk people are like

871
00:46:18,000 --> 00:46:22,400
Speaker 4: a very important component. It's like being a door person

872
00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:23,720
Speaker 4: at an exclusive club.

873
00:46:23,960 --> 00:46:26,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, in the beginning and the glory days,

874
00:46:26,200 --> 00:46:30,880
Speaker 2: like they were trained deeply in hospitality. How to remember

875
00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:35,399
Speaker 2: every single person's face, their name, where they grew up,

876
00:46:35,719 --> 00:46:38,080
Speaker 2: how like talk to them. Remember when they tell you

877
00:46:38,160 --> 00:46:41,200
Speaker 2: they went on vacation, remember it? Yeah, Like now to

878
00:46:41,239 --> 00:46:44,600
Speaker 2: remember every single detail a person shares with you and

879
00:46:44,640 --> 00:46:48,080
Speaker 2: then ask questions like that is hospitality. And they would

880
00:46:48,120 --> 00:46:51,480
Speaker 2: go through a rigorous hospitality training program.

881
00:46:51,600 --> 00:46:55,759
Speaker 3: Wow, what a skill good for actors. And that that memorizing, well.

882
00:46:55,640 --> 00:46:56,680
Speaker 1: It's customer service.

883
00:46:56,800 --> 00:46:59,640
Speaker 2: I mean that was the secret sauce of Soul Cycle

884
00:46:59,800 --> 00:47:02,440
Speaker 2: was not only are you getting that cult like ritual,

885
00:47:02,960 --> 00:47:06,000
Speaker 2: dancy experience in the room, the spiritual, just all of

886
00:47:06,040 --> 00:47:08,799
Speaker 2: that magic in the room, but the minute you walk

887
00:47:08,840 --> 00:47:13,760
Speaker 2: in the door of the actual storefront, people are acting

888
00:47:13,840 --> 00:47:15,080
Speaker 2: like they're your best friend.

889
00:47:15,280 --> 00:47:17,000
Speaker 1: What can I do for you? Can I get you water?

890
00:47:17,440 --> 00:47:20,960
Speaker 4: And you feel special? Wellly, you can't go back in

891
00:47:21,040 --> 00:47:22,280
Speaker 4: time and join Soul Cycle.

892
00:47:22,400 --> 00:47:25,440
Speaker 1: Why not? It's still exactly. Don't worry, I'm too bad

893
00:47:25,480 --> 00:47:28,520
Speaker 1: at working out happened? Can you tell us a little

894
00:47:28,560 --> 00:47:31,840
Speaker 1: bit about what an opening ride at Soul Cycle entails,

895
00:47:32,440 --> 00:47:35,399
Speaker 1: like the new studio blessing and stuff like that.

896
00:47:35,480 --> 00:47:38,279
Speaker 2: Oh my god, yes, so I interviewed. So there's a

897
00:47:38,320 --> 00:47:41,560
Speaker 2: guy in the series. Miles who his job. He worked

898
00:47:41,600 --> 00:47:45,799
Speaker 2: for corporate and it was his job to lead the openings,

899
00:47:45,880 --> 00:47:48,920
Speaker 2: how to build out the studios across the country and

900
00:47:49,000 --> 00:47:52,719
Speaker 2: like oversee you know, everything like the sound proof thing,

901
00:47:52,960 --> 00:47:56,200
Speaker 2: everything to do with sound, the design of the studio,

902
00:47:56,400 --> 00:48:01,200
Speaker 2: and there was there is a crystal behind every Soul

903
00:48:01,280 --> 00:48:04,320
Speaker 2: Cycle bike. I didn't know about this until I started

904
00:48:04,400 --> 00:48:08,719
Speaker 2: working on the series. There's a crystal behind every Soul

905
00:48:08,800 --> 00:48:13,800
Speaker 2: Cycle instructor bike that has been blessed before they open

906
00:48:13,920 --> 00:48:15,760
Speaker 2: the studio for the very first ride.

907
00:48:16,280 --> 00:48:17,080
Speaker 1: They like it like.

908
00:48:17,239 --> 00:48:20,000
Speaker 2: Cleanses all the energy in the room and they like

909
00:48:20,040 --> 00:48:23,280
Speaker 2: do this whole ritual. And the purpose of the crystal

910
00:48:23,560 --> 00:48:26,600
Speaker 2: is that whatever goes on in the room, like during

911
00:48:26,640 --> 00:48:30,880
Speaker 2: any class, for like hereafter a lot of energy gets expelled,

912
00:48:31,080 --> 00:48:33,239
Speaker 2: gets dumped on the floor, is in the airs, in

913
00:48:33,239 --> 00:48:36,600
Speaker 2: the atmosphere, and the crystal is meant to absorb the

914
00:48:36,800 --> 00:48:40,880
Speaker 2: energy so that it's a clean environment for the next

915
00:48:40,920 --> 00:48:42,439
Speaker 2: instructor coming into the room.

916
00:48:42,719 --> 00:48:45,400
Speaker 3: And who came up with the crystal? Where did that

917
00:48:45,440 --> 00:48:45,960
Speaker 3: come from?

918
00:48:46,040 --> 00:48:49,719
Speaker 2: One of the founders interesting and it was very she's

919
00:48:49,800 --> 00:48:51,000
Speaker 2: very into spirituality.

920
00:48:51,480 --> 00:48:54,520
Speaker 1: She brought that to it. Is that still true now

921
00:48:54,560 --> 00:48:58,279
Speaker 1: that Equinox owns it. I have no idea. Yeah, I'm

922
00:48:58,320 --> 00:48:59,040
Speaker 1: gonna take a guest.

923
00:48:59,120 --> 00:49:02,719
Speaker 2: I would say, no, you know, I y okay, here's

924
00:49:02,719 --> 00:49:06,359
Speaker 2: my gas and this is pure. My guess is that

925
00:49:06,640 --> 00:49:09,239
Speaker 2: the crystals that were there to First of all, they're

926
00:49:09,280 --> 00:49:11,960
Speaker 2: not opening new studios, so we'll just say that. So

927
00:49:12,040 --> 00:49:14,640
Speaker 2: there's no more like opening rot like, they're not building

928
00:49:14,640 --> 00:49:17,600
Speaker 2: out anymore new studios. Because I've ridden a lot in

929
00:49:17,640 --> 00:49:20,640
Speaker 2: the last year. There, I know now I noticed the

930
00:49:20,680 --> 00:49:22,040
Speaker 2: crystal behind the bike.

931
00:49:22,440 --> 00:49:22,640
Speaker 1: Yeah.

932
00:49:22,719 --> 00:49:25,000
Speaker 2: Oh so yeah, it's not like they took them out.

933
00:49:25,200 --> 00:49:27,040
Speaker 2: They're just there right right, So.

934
00:49:27,080 --> 00:49:29,680
Speaker 4: Yeah, like what brought you because you took a long

935
00:49:29,840 --> 00:49:32,719
Speaker 4: break from so it's like five years. Yeah, what It

936
00:49:32,800 --> 00:49:35,719
Speaker 4: sounds like a lot of people maybe felt it might

937
00:49:35,760 --> 00:49:37,640
Speaker 4: be a toxic or like it might be not for

938
00:49:37,680 --> 00:49:39,880
Speaker 4: them anymore, but then they always kind of come back.

939
00:49:40,200 --> 00:49:44,319
Speaker 1: What's what's that journey? Why did you stop? Why did

940
00:49:44,320 --> 00:49:45,480
Speaker 1: you stop? And why did you come back?

941
00:49:45,960 --> 00:49:50,720
Speaker 2: I stopped? I stopped, Uh because my favorite instructors left.

942
00:49:51,400 --> 00:49:54,719
Speaker 2: I don't have a dramatic story really as to why

943
00:49:54,760 --> 00:49:58,520
Speaker 2: I stopped, just because my favorite you know, preachers weren't

944
00:49:58,520 --> 00:50:00,520
Speaker 2: there and I was there for the theater of it.

945
00:50:00,600 --> 00:50:04,840
Speaker 2: I was there for the preaching, the spirituality, and quite frankly,

946
00:50:05,600 --> 00:50:06,920
Speaker 2: I don't even love spinning.

947
00:50:07,360 --> 00:50:09,319
Speaker 1: I don't even like a bite.

948
00:50:09,719 --> 00:50:13,520
Speaker 2: I would prefer to like run or box, like it's

949
00:50:13,600 --> 00:50:15,400
Speaker 2: not my chosen form of cardio.

950
00:50:16,719 --> 00:50:18,719
Speaker 1: So like I was there for the theater of it.

951
00:50:19,000 --> 00:50:22,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, later I would say, like I would literally work

952
00:50:22,640 --> 00:50:25,360
Speaker 2: out at the gym and then go to Soul Cycle

953
00:50:25,400 --> 00:50:26,839
Speaker 2: because that was my entertainment.

954
00:50:27,160 --> 00:50:29,879
Speaker 1: Oh my god, that's so interesting.

955
00:50:29,880 --> 00:50:31,680
Speaker 2: It was like going to the theater. It was like

956
00:50:31,680 --> 00:50:32,719
Speaker 2: seeing a Broadway show.

957
00:50:33,160 --> 00:50:35,759
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're getting your heart right really high up at

958
00:50:35,800 --> 00:50:36,440
Speaker 3: the same time.

959
00:50:36,800 --> 00:50:38,480
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.

960
00:50:38,520 --> 00:50:41,440
Speaker 2: So what I left was because my favorite performance was,

961
00:50:41,480 --> 00:50:44,320
Speaker 2: for lack of a better word, started to leave. You know,

962
00:50:44,360 --> 00:50:46,600
Speaker 2: I'm very into health and fitness, and so I just

963
00:50:46,760 --> 00:50:49,280
Speaker 2: start to go their places and I like different modality.

964
00:50:49,280 --> 00:50:51,200
Speaker 2: I love to box, I like a lot of different things.

965
00:50:51,520 --> 00:50:54,279
Speaker 2: So and then the pandemic hit and so forget about

966
00:50:54,320 --> 00:50:55,960
Speaker 2: it that all these places were closed.

967
00:50:56,280 --> 00:50:57,640
Speaker 1: So I didn't go for five years.

968
00:50:58,000 --> 00:51:00,920
Speaker 2: And then I knew I wanted to tell this story

969
00:51:01,040 --> 00:51:04,080
Speaker 2: because I mean, to me, this is so interesting and

970
00:51:04,120 --> 00:51:06,120
Speaker 2: I could and I could always talk about Soul Cycle

971
00:51:06,200 --> 00:51:09,359
Speaker 2: even when I wasn't going just the experience of it

972
00:51:09,440 --> 00:51:12,200
Speaker 2: was still inside of me, and I loved just commiserating

973
00:51:12,200 --> 00:51:14,560
Speaker 2: and talking to people about it. So I knew I

974
00:51:14,719 --> 00:51:16,920
Speaker 2: was going to go on this journey of creating the

975
00:51:16,960 --> 00:51:20,600
Speaker 2: series and like interviewing people, and Janet was the very

976
00:51:20,680 --> 00:51:24,520
Speaker 2: first person who I reached out to, and I knew

977
00:51:24,880 --> 00:51:27,080
Speaker 2: that I was going to have to go back, so

978
00:51:27,239 --> 00:51:31,040
Speaker 2: like just for like journalistic purposes. Yeah, what's changed, what

979
00:51:31,200 --> 00:51:35,880
Speaker 2: stayed the same, And also a lot of the series

980
00:51:35,960 --> 00:51:40,239
Speaker 2: is my experience, like meeting my friends there, my experience

981
00:51:40,280 --> 00:51:44,120
Speaker 2: with my guru, soul Cycle instructor, my connection to different

982
00:51:44,120 --> 00:51:47,480
Speaker 2: people there, and so I had to go back to

983
00:51:47,640 --> 00:51:51,560
Speaker 2: legitimize the whole thing. So that's when I went back.

984
00:51:51,600 --> 00:51:55,000
Speaker 2: But I will say I kept going back for the

985
00:51:55,080 --> 00:51:59,560
Speaker 2: latter part of the year because I so deeply loved

986
00:51:59,600 --> 00:52:04,280
Speaker 2: and was so deeply moved by Janet's class even today

987
00:52:04,520 --> 00:52:07,879
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty five. Wow, so Janet's still teaching there. Yeah,

988
00:52:07,960 --> 00:52:11,560
Speaker 2: she's still teaching there. I talked to her frequently, and

989
00:52:12,280 --> 00:52:15,680
Speaker 2: doing the series reconnected me with all these people who

990
00:52:15,760 --> 00:52:18,000
Speaker 2: like kind of left my life because they either left

991
00:52:18,040 --> 00:52:20,759
Speaker 2: the company or they you know, they were my soul

992
00:52:20,800 --> 00:52:24,920
Speaker 2: Cycle friends. Some of them became more close friends, but

993
00:52:25,200 --> 00:52:27,399
Speaker 2: a lot of them, like I just knew from riding there,

994
00:52:27,800 --> 00:52:31,200
Speaker 2: and so it reconnected me with all these people. And

995
00:52:31,320 --> 00:52:37,000
Speaker 2: that's been a beautiful byproduct that I never would have anticipated. Yeah,

996
00:52:37,239 --> 00:52:39,680
Speaker 2: it maybe fall a little bit back in love with it.

997
00:52:40,120 --> 00:52:42,799
Speaker 1: I mean, is this episode secretly just a sales pitch

998
00:52:42,840 --> 00:52:45,520
Speaker 1: for Janet? Because now I want to I know, I

999
00:52:45,560 --> 00:52:48,040
Speaker 1: was like, if I'm ever in the city, I will

1000
00:52:48,040 --> 00:52:49,440
Speaker 1: come to that with you. Yeah.

1001
00:52:49,560 --> 00:52:53,000
Speaker 4: Yeah, she's fascinating. Yeah, she's fascinating.

1002
00:52:53,080 --> 00:52:54,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, I have to know.

1003
00:52:54,600 --> 00:52:57,480
Speaker 3: So the third woman who kind of got edged out,

1004
00:52:57,600 --> 00:53:00,160
Speaker 3: like you know, obviously the other two women still this

1005
00:53:00,200 --> 00:53:02,400
Speaker 3: company made a ton of fucking money.

1006
00:53:03,120 --> 00:53:05,840
Speaker 1: So what where did they sold it for a They

1007
00:53:05,960 --> 00:53:10,960
Speaker 1: each got ninety million? Ninety million? Yeah, and what about

1008
00:53:11,080 --> 00:53:13,040
Speaker 1: the initial instructor.

1009
00:53:13,120 --> 00:53:15,799
Speaker 2: Well, because she was cut out after that first year,

1010
00:53:16,520 --> 00:53:20,000
Speaker 2: she went on to co found Flywheel, which was their

1011
00:53:20,040 --> 00:53:22,359
Speaker 2: main competitor, at least in New York. I mean, they

1012
00:53:22,600 --> 00:53:26,120
Speaker 2: were franchised all over the country. But she obviously didn't

1013
00:53:26,120 --> 00:53:26,720
Speaker 2: make any money.

1014
00:53:26,760 --> 00:53:29,840
Speaker 1: She made zero million. How did they get her zero million?

1015
00:53:29,840 --> 00:53:31,640
Speaker 3: How they how do you kick someone out who's like

1016
00:53:31,719 --> 00:53:34,080
Speaker 3: the reason you start the endeavor in the first place.

1017
00:53:34,120 --> 00:53:37,000
Speaker 1: She didn't how many paperwork. She never had a contract signed.

1018
00:53:37,280 --> 00:53:40,600
Speaker 2: It appears allegedly allegedly, it appears they did it on

1019
00:53:40,680 --> 00:53:45,839
Speaker 2: good faith. Oh no, she never signed anything. Oh girl,

1020
00:53:45,960 --> 00:53:49,320
Speaker 2: I don't understand how this could happen. I don't understand

1021
00:53:50,080 --> 00:53:50,840
Speaker 2: how should.

1022
00:53:52,760 --> 00:53:56,160
Speaker 1: Reason that fucking exists. She should get her forty million

1023
00:53:56,239 --> 00:53:56,640
Speaker 1: or whatever.

1024
00:53:56,880 --> 00:54:00,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm I'm sure, I'm sure she's bought it.

1025
00:54:01,480 --> 00:54:04,520
Speaker 4: But yeah, it's just it's a sad part of the story,

1026
00:54:04,560 --> 00:54:04,959
Speaker 4: for sure.

1027
00:54:05,160 --> 00:54:06,920
Speaker 1: It's a sad part of the story.

1028
00:54:07,120 --> 00:54:07,279
Speaker 2: Yeah.

1029
00:54:07,360 --> 00:54:10,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, So where is soul cycle now? Because a bunch

1030
00:54:10,080 --> 00:54:13,279
Speaker 3: of locations closed of a pandemic? Like, how are they doing?

1031
00:54:13,680 --> 00:54:18,280
Speaker 2: They're doing okay, I mean, listen, when I take Janet's class,

1032
00:54:18,320 --> 00:54:20,880
Speaker 2: it's full on a Sunday, nine thirty am.

1033
00:54:21,320 --> 00:54:22,719
Speaker 1: That class is full.

1034
00:54:22,800 --> 00:54:26,080
Speaker 2: I think, like the star instructors still do pretty well

1035
00:54:26,120 --> 00:54:29,400
Speaker 2: in their classes, but they're not opening a new you know.

1036
00:54:29,440 --> 00:54:32,759
Speaker 2: It's listen, it's like any rise and fault, like any

1037
00:54:32,840 --> 00:54:36,000
Speaker 2: business like hits its peak and then it kind of

1038
00:54:36,080 --> 00:54:39,880
Speaker 2: like plateaus. Now, you throw in a global pandemic, you

1039
00:54:40,040 --> 00:54:44,040
Speaker 2: throw in like the world has changed, right, you know,

1040
00:54:44,880 --> 00:54:47,600
Speaker 2: not only since the pandemic, but I think ever since

1041
00:54:47,640 --> 00:54:52,759
Speaker 2: the twenty sixteen election, everything has been so politicized and

1042
00:54:53,600 --> 00:54:57,279
Speaker 2: really divided a lot of people apart. And so I

1043
00:54:57,320 --> 00:55:00,640
Speaker 2: think you see that play out in this company as well.

1044
00:55:00,680 --> 00:55:03,520
Speaker 2: And I trace that how the presidential the twenty sixteen

1045
00:55:03,560 --> 00:55:07,280
Speaker 2: presidential election affected the company affected morale.

1046
00:55:07,920 --> 00:55:11,040
Speaker 3: There was a little scandal, a little pro Trump scandal

1047
00:55:11,120 --> 00:55:13,240
Speaker 3: from one of the main investors, right.

1048
00:55:13,320 --> 00:55:16,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, So yeah, if you listen to it, you'll you

1049
00:55:16,560 --> 00:55:20,080
Speaker 2: get more into the nitty the nuance of you know why.

1050
00:55:20,200 --> 00:55:25,120
Speaker 2: It was many different things that contributed to its quote

1051
00:55:25,200 --> 00:55:28,919
Speaker 2: unquote downfall, although it's not a downfall, but many people

1052
00:55:28,960 --> 00:55:32,760
Speaker 2: are gainfully employed there. Yeah, many and many riders still

1053
00:55:33,080 --> 00:55:35,839
Speaker 2: love it and still go three four times a week,

1054
00:55:35,920 --> 00:55:38,840
Speaker 2: like I see them there. And so to me, that's

1055
00:55:38,880 --> 00:55:41,080
Speaker 2: that's a great I mean, this place has been in

1056
00:55:41,120 --> 00:55:44,399
Speaker 2: business for over twenty years. To me, what could you ask,

1057
00:55:45,080 --> 00:55:47,920
Speaker 2: you know, But yeah, in the court of public opinion,

1058
00:55:48,000 --> 00:55:49,399
Speaker 2: maybe that's changed a little bit.

1059
00:55:49,480 --> 00:55:52,720
Speaker 1: But it's just felt. The whole thing is just fascinating. Truly.

1060
00:55:52,960 --> 00:55:55,399
Speaker 3: It sounds like it was this kind of it had

1061
00:55:55,440 --> 00:55:58,440
Speaker 3: a cult following, shall we say, more so than being

1062
00:55:58,440 --> 00:56:01,240
Speaker 3: an actual cult, for being this like a really special

1063
00:56:01,320 --> 00:56:03,840
Speaker 3: place that gave you this high and this like special

1064
00:56:03,880 --> 00:56:08,279
Speaker 3: spanential experience and then Corporate America, as as Corporate America does,

1065
00:56:08,520 --> 00:56:09,319
Speaker 3: just kind of ruined it.

1066
00:56:09,680 --> 00:56:13,000
Speaker 1: That's perfect. That is the perfect summation.

1067
00:56:13,560 --> 00:56:17,040
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yes, I liked something that Stevie said your in

1068
00:56:17,239 --> 00:56:20,719
Speaker 4: your Favorite Instructor where she was just like, people say,

1069
00:56:20,760 --> 00:56:22,439
Speaker 4: I want to go back to the good old days

1070
00:56:22,480 --> 00:56:24,920
Speaker 4: of it, and you need to just stop focusing on

1071
00:56:25,000 --> 00:56:27,960
Speaker 4: that and leave room for new things to come in

1072
00:56:28,000 --> 00:56:30,759
Speaker 4: the future. And I was like, oh, clock that, because.

1073
00:56:30,560 --> 00:56:33,680
Speaker 1: I also was like, yes, correct, I do need to

1074
00:56:33,719 --> 00:56:36,720
Speaker 1: do that. Yes, yeah, that's good life advice.

1075
00:56:36,960 --> 00:56:41,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, listen, Stevie had an extremely

1076
00:56:42,040 --> 00:56:46,680
Speaker 2: devoted hole like following, and yeah, when she left a

1077
00:56:46,719 --> 00:56:48,880
Speaker 2: lot of her riders were heartbroken. I mean that's the

1078
00:56:48,920 --> 00:56:51,759
Speaker 2: reason that I stopped going. And it was when she

1079
00:56:52,120 --> 00:56:55,200
Speaker 2: left the company for a variety of reasons.

1080
00:56:55,440 --> 00:56:58,160
Speaker 1: Which she clearly spill spells out in the series.

1081
00:56:58,360 --> 00:57:01,480
Speaker 2: And yeah, what she basically says is, you know, she

1082
00:57:01,600 --> 00:57:04,600
Speaker 2: talks to people from some of the like iconic nights

1083
00:57:04,640 --> 00:57:06,799
Speaker 2: that we had there, and they're like, Oh, don't you

1084
00:57:06,840 --> 00:57:09,080
Speaker 2: wish we could like just recreate that Monday night at

1085
00:57:09,080 --> 00:57:13,839
Speaker 2: eight thirty and her exact phrasing is for her to

1086
00:57:14,080 --> 00:57:17,920
Speaker 2: say that, to put that energy out there, it takes

1087
00:57:18,360 --> 00:57:22,640
Speaker 2: energy away for her looking for her next big thing.

1088
00:57:23,160 --> 00:57:25,880
Speaker 1: Hey man, no, amen, is not that's religious?

1089
00:57:26,720 --> 00:57:31,680
Speaker 2: H yes, yes, I was just going to say, like

1090
00:57:31,720 --> 00:57:35,320
Speaker 2: preach queen, but that's religious true. And I love that

1091
00:57:35,480 --> 00:57:38,520
Speaker 2: and that period and I can see how somebody like

1092
00:57:38,600 --> 00:57:40,160
Speaker 2: saying stuff like that to me while I'm on a

1093
00:57:40,200 --> 00:57:44,400
Speaker 2: bicycle and a rave would really get Yeah.

1094
00:57:44,440 --> 00:57:46,440
Speaker 1: So the rave part doesn't get me.

1095
00:57:46,920 --> 00:57:51,040
Speaker 4: It's this fascinating yeah, and somebody didn't need to do this.

1096
00:57:51,040 --> 00:57:54,680
Speaker 4: This is Yeah, it's a really cool story and deep dive.

1097
00:57:54,840 --> 00:57:56,600
Speaker 1: Oh thank you, I want to say.

1098
00:57:56,640 --> 00:57:59,320
Speaker 2: Also, you can watch so it was created as an

1099
00:57:59,360 --> 00:58:02,560
Speaker 2: audio docum mentory, which like is ever on all podcast platforms,

1100
00:58:02,640 --> 00:58:05,560
Speaker 2: but I have a full visual documentary of it on

1101
00:58:05,640 --> 00:58:08,400
Speaker 2: YouTube where it uses all found footage and you can

1102
00:58:08,440 --> 00:58:11,360
Speaker 2: see photos and videos of all the instructors. So if

1103
00:58:11,360 --> 00:58:13,760
Speaker 2: you're like, oh, I'm on into podcast, if you want

1104
00:58:13,760 --> 00:58:15,920
Speaker 2: to watch it, you can watch it.

1105
00:58:16,080 --> 00:58:17,120
Speaker 1: As a documentary.

1106
00:58:17,560 --> 00:58:19,520
Speaker 2: If you just type in Cultive, Body and Soul videos

1107
00:58:19,520 --> 00:58:22,080
Speaker 2: anywhere and google like, you'll get looped into my YouTube

1108
00:58:22,160 --> 00:58:24,000
Speaker 2: channel and then you can watch it it's like a

1109
00:58:24,000 --> 00:58:25,000
Speaker 2: seven part series.

1110
00:58:25,440 --> 00:58:29,200
Speaker 4: That's how I listened, and it was very invigorating because

1111
00:58:29,280 --> 00:58:31,360
Speaker 4: you can see off you can see all the people

1112
00:58:31,440 --> 00:58:33,240
Speaker 4: and get kind of like, oh, I can see how

1113
00:58:33,360 --> 00:58:36,560
Speaker 4: I can really get me or I have Stevie wud

1114
00:58:36,600 --> 00:58:37,080
Speaker 4: be like.

1115
00:58:37,040 --> 00:58:38,800
Speaker 1: So cool and that's it and it's just cool to

1116
00:58:38,800 --> 00:58:41,280
Speaker 1: see all the jam it. It really like puts you

1117
00:58:41,360 --> 00:58:45,880
Speaker 1: into the room. Yeah, great podcast, Thank you, great stuff.

1118
00:58:46,080 --> 00:58:47,680
Speaker 1: Remind us the name of the podcast.

1119
00:58:48,040 --> 00:58:50,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, so if you just search for Cultive, Body and Soul,

1120
00:58:50,200 --> 00:58:53,120
Speaker 2: you'll find everything related to that.

1121
00:58:53,720 --> 00:58:57,040
Speaker 1: And my Instagram is jess x n YC.

1122
00:58:57,400 --> 00:58:59,520
Speaker 2: And then if you follow me on Instagram, like you'll

1123
00:58:59,520 --> 00:59:02,720
Speaker 2: see all the interviews that I do, and also you know,

1124
00:59:02,760 --> 00:59:05,640
Speaker 2: I do lots of different projects, but it's all sort

1125
00:59:05,640 --> 00:59:11,120
Speaker 2: of in this wheelhouse of like gay Witchy.

1126
00:59:09,840 --> 00:59:13,200
Speaker 3: We love gay wait too shit, amazing. Well, thank you

1127
00:59:13,280 --> 00:59:15,320
Speaker 3: so much for joining us. Thank you.

1128
00:59:15,400 --> 00:59:16,240
Speaker 1: This was wonderful.

1129
00:59:17,600 --> 00:59:21,400
Speaker 3: All right, Okay, so Megan, it's part of the episode.

1130
00:59:21,440 --> 00:59:23,400
Speaker 3: We've come to the time where I ask you if

1131
00:59:23,400 --> 00:59:24,600
Speaker 3: you would joined Soul Cycle.

1132
00:59:25,600 --> 00:59:31,080
Speaker 1: Absolutely, of course I would. Oh my god. Number one.

1133
00:59:31,240 --> 00:59:32,080
Speaker 1: I love spinning.

1134
00:59:32,320 --> 00:59:34,800
Speaker 4: Even though the more I watched the stock, I was like, oh,

1135
00:59:34,800 --> 00:59:39,680
Speaker 4: it's incredibly hard on your joints, and it's probably not

1136
00:59:40,360 --> 00:59:42,760
Speaker 4: that great for you to do very often. But anyway,

1137
00:59:43,040 --> 00:59:45,840
Speaker 4: I love it. If somebody were up there yelling like

1138
00:59:45,960 --> 00:59:50,600
Speaker 4: motivational soul stuff at me, I would be hooked. It

1139
00:59:50,760 --> 00:59:53,800
Speaker 4: just was out of my price point, thank god, because

1140
00:59:54,080 --> 00:59:56,600
Speaker 4: we know how many different things I would join if

1141
00:59:56,680 --> 01:00:01,200
Speaker 4: I could afford it. So thank you once again, Universe

1142
01:00:01,360 --> 01:00:04,400
Speaker 4: for not giving me enough money.

1143
01:00:04,280 --> 01:00:09,960
Speaker 1: To take full cycle. I'm with you.

1144
01:00:10,080 --> 01:00:10,480
Speaker 2: I don't know.

1145
01:00:10,480 --> 01:00:11,120
Speaker 1: If I'm with you.

1146
01:00:11,320 --> 01:00:13,720
Speaker 3: I really would have to go and see, because, like

1147
01:00:13,760 --> 01:00:16,320
Speaker 3: I said in this episode, the one spinning class I

1148
01:00:16,400 --> 01:00:18,520
Speaker 3: tried was horrible and I had to leave.

1149
01:00:18,600 --> 01:00:21,480
Speaker 1: So I am just that out of shape. But I

1150
01:00:21,520 --> 01:00:21,880
Speaker 1: don't know.

1151
01:00:21,960 --> 01:00:24,400
Speaker 3: Maybe you know, I think you'd like it because it

1152
01:00:24,480 --> 01:00:27,920
Speaker 3: is dancing. I guess it's probably music dependent. Like if

1153
01:00:27,960 --> 01:00:30,000
Speaker 3: the music were music I was really vibing with, then

1154
01:00:30,160 --> 01:00:30,840
Speaker 3: then maybe yeah.

1155
01:00:30,880 --> 01:00:33,000
Speaker 1: If it's like dance music, I'm out. I don't want it.

1156
01:00:33,160 --> 01:00:35,480
Speaker 4: You'd find you at the right playlist, the right teacher,

1157
01:00:35,520 --> 01:00:39,160
Speaker 4: and you'd be hooked, Okay, hooked if the teacher's flirting

1158
01:00:39,200 --> 01:00:40,920
Speaker 4: with you too, like they're kind of trying to do.

1159
01:00:41,080 --> 01:00:41,480
Speaker 2: Like I.

1160
01:00:43,080 --> 01:00:46,040
Speaker 3: Try to think of all the exercise programs, the one

1161
01:00:46,200 --> 01:00:48,640
Speaker 3: that seems the most like I could get obsessed with

1162
01:00:48,720 --> 01:00:52,960
Speaker 3: it is CrossFit because of the competitive nature and everybody's

1163
01:00:52,960 --> 01:00:54,680
Speaker 3: shouting at each other that they can do it and

1164
01:00:54,720 --> 01:00:56,760
Speaker 3: the like like, I feel like I need that and

1165
01:00:56,840 --> 01:00:59,680
Speaker 3: I need to like feel like I'm winning something if

1166
01:00:59,720 --> 01:01:00,800
Speaker 3: I do good job.

1167
01:01:02,440 --> 01:01:07,400
Speaker 1: Hi, Oh my god, well then it might not be

1168
01:01:07,480 --> 01:01:10,760
Speaker 1: for you. Listen. I hate exercising. I really need to

1169
01:01:10,800 --> 01:01:13,280
Speaker 1: trick myself into doing it. Well.

1170
01:01:13,400 --> 01:01:16,760
Speaker 4: Join us here next week and as always, remember to

1171
01:01:16,800 --> 01:01:19,960
Speaker 4: follow your gut, watch out for rad flax.

1172
01:01:19,880 --> 01:01:27,240
Speaker 1: And never ever trust me. Bye. Hi. This has been

1173
01:01:27,240 --> 01:01:30,400
Speaker 1: an exactly right production hosted by me Lola Blanc and

1174
01:01:30,520 --> 01:01:33,640
Speaker 1: me Megan Elizabeth. Our senior producer is ge Holly.

1175
01:01:33,960 --> 01:01:37,000
Speaker 3: This episode was mixed by John Bradley. Our associate producer

1176
01:01:37,080 --> 01:01:40,360
Speaker 3: is Christina Chamberlain, and our guest booker is Patrick Kuttner.

1177
01:01:40,720 --> 01:01:43,040
Speaker 1: Our theme song was composed by Holly amber Church.

1178
01:01:43,360 --> 01:01:47,400
Speaker 4: Trust Me as executive produced by Karen Kilgareth, Georgia Hartstark

1179
01:01:47,440 --> 01:01:48,400
Speaker 4: and Danielle Kramer.

1180
01:01:48,640 --> 01:01:50,920
Speaker 3: You can find us on Instagram at trust Me Podcast

1181
01:01:51,080 --> 01:01:53,240
Speaker 3: or on TikTok at trust Me coult Podcast.

1182
01:01:53,560 --> 01:01:56,600
Speaker 1: Got your Own Story about Cults? Extreme belief our manipulation.

1183
01:01:57,000 --> 01:02:00,000
Speaker 1: Shoot us an email at trustmepod at gmail dot com.

1184
01:02:00,080 --> 01:02:02,960
Speaker 3: Listen to trust Me on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts,

1185
01:02:03,080 --> 01:02:04,640
Speaker 3: or wherever you get your podcasts.