“We need to make ‘indoor cycling instructor’ a job worth doing well; I’d like it to count for something on a CV”

If I asked you to describe the perfect indoor cycling class, what would you say? For me, it’s always about the instructor – but crucially, it’s not about their prowess or their performance in the saddle. It’s about how they make me feel.

It’s why I was so delighted to read the interview with Melissa Power, where she airs her concerns over indoor cycling’s breed of rockstar instructor.

She explains: “Of course you want a great instructor, but what actually defines ‘great’ is how they make participants feel. It absolutely isn’t about using class to show off what they can do.” Hear, hear Melissa.

The other trend she takes issue with is unsafe riding. To quote her again: “TikTok and Instagram have popularised double time, but it’s unsafe and bad for the joints.” At her Cadence studio, choreography is “mostly there as a break from power”.

This is music to my ears. Power has to be at the heart of training, even if presented in a less scientific way. It can’t just be about dancing on a bike.

Paco Gonzalez agrees, viewing indoor cycling as ‘undercover training’ where people get great results even while having fun. In his interview he offers his advice to a new generation of instructors: “You aren’t only there to put a smile on people’s faces. You’re also there to help them achieve tangible physical results.”

Paco is truly a rockstar in all the right ways: full of empathy, infectious enthusiasm and a passion he’s desperate to share. We need more of this in our sector – and it starts, I believe, by recognising the responsibility operators have to the young instructors in their clubs.

We need to make ‘indoor cycling instructor’ a job worth doing well; I’d like it to count for something if a young person has GX instructor on their CV, just as it does if they’ve been in the armed forces. Let’s properly educate them and focus on the leadership, customer service and motivational skills they learn. Let’s show them a progression pathway that harnesses these skills.

Above all, let’s encourage them to look to the likes of Melissa Power and Paco Gonzalez for their role models, rather than the TikTok influencers.

The payback will be significant, both for us and for them.

Uffe A. Olesen
CEO, Body Bike International A/S