Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 132. Cody Rigsby, Cycling Director at Peloton

Transcript

132. Cody Rigsby, Cycling Director at Peloton · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:00
Speaker 1: You and I as people, we have everything that we
0:02
Speaker 1: need to succeed. We have everything that we need to
0:06
Speaker 1: bring us joy. We just have to tap into it
0:08
Speaker 1: and we have to use it. We can literally achieve
0:11
Speaker 1: whatever we want.
0:27
Speaker 2: Season for What's good.
0:31
Speaker 3: Emily Abadi Here, I am the creator and host of Hurdle,
0:36
Speaker 3: and I am so amped to be here today. You know,
0:41
Speaker 3: when I started the show back at the very beginning
0:44
Speaker 3: of twenty eighteen, I never expected or even imagined being
0:50
Speaker 3: at this point, releasing three times weekly with more than
0:55
Speaker 3: one hundred and thirty guested episodes two million downloads to date.
1:02
Speaker 2: But here we are.
1:03
Speaker 3: For those of you who don't know me or may
1:06
Speaker 3: be new to the feed, I am a thirty somethingter
1:09
Speaker 3: freelance writer, a life coach, and runner living in New
1:13
Speaker 3: York City on the Upper East Side in a one
1:15
Speaker 3: bedroom with two bicycles hanging in the living room. As
1:20
Speaker 3: for Hurdle, well, I am more than happy to talk
1:23
Speaker 3: to you about that. Hurdle is a wellness focused podcast
1:27
Speaker 3: where I sit down with inspiring individuals to talk about
1:30
Speaker 3: everything from their big wins to how they've gone through
1:33
Speaker 3: some of life's toughest moments. On the show, you can
1:37
Speaker 3: expect vulnerability, motivation, and candid discussions with everyone from top
1:43
Speaker 3: athletes to aspiring entrepreneurs on what it really takes to
1:47
Speaker 3: follow your passions. My mission is simple to inspire you
1:52
Speaker 3: to be your best self, move with intention, and have
1:57
Speaker 3: some fun along the way. Episode one thirty two, to
2:02
Speaker 3: kick off season four, I am chatting with Peloton's very
2:08
Speaker 3: own Cody Rigsby. Cody is their cycling director, and right
2:14
Speaker 3: off the bat, what you need to know is that
2:17
Speaker 3: Cody is absolutely, positively so proud to just be authentically
2:24
Speaker 3: himself and honestly, I feel like everyone should be this way.
2:29
Speaker 3: In today's episode, he talks to me about growing up
2:32
Speaker 3: in North Carolina and knowing from the first time that
2:35
Speaker 3: he visited New York City that he was meant to
2:38
Speaker 3: be here. We talked about everything from when he knew
2:41
Speaker 3: that he was gay to what it was like to
2:44
Speaker 3: come out to his mom. He also chats with me
2:46
Speaker 3: about what it was like to work three different jobs
2:49
Speaker 3: at once just to make rent on his first New
2:52
Speaker 3: York apartment, and of course we also talk all things
2:56
Speaker 3: Peloton and how the gig quote unquote fell into his
3:00
Speaker 3: lap and has been one of the biggest blessings of
3:04
Speaker 3: his life. Cody talks so affectionately about the Peloton community,
3:09
Speaker 3: about his role there and that passion it is contagious.
3:15
Speaker 4: I wanted to.
3:15
Speaker 3: Start off the new season with a bang, and with
3:18
Speaker 3: the amount of motivation that is in this episode, I
3:22
Speaker 3: think it's safe to say we got it now. Before
3:25
Speaker 3: we get to Cody's story, I do want to take
3:27
Speaker 3: a moment to give some love to Hurdles sponsors. You
3:31
Speaker 3: guys know, as time goes on, I want to bring
3:35
Speaker 3: you the best of the best, the best deals possible,
3:38
Speaker 3: info about the best brands possible. And these brands, these sponsors,
3:44
Speaker 3: they help make Hurdle possible. So being a hurdler and
3:48
Speaker 3: supporting them, is you supporting the show as well. I'm
3:53
Speaker 3: so excited to kick off things this season with Bean.
3:58
Speaker 3: If you have been in the community for a while,
4:00
Speaker 3: then you have heard me talk about Beam before. They're
4:03
Speaker 3: a Boston based CBD company that's making waves in the
4:08
Speaker 3: wellness industry by offering products that combine THHC free that's
4:13
Speaker 3: very important, CBD with other high quality ingredients. Whether you
4:18
Speaker 3: are sore or stressed, CBD is key for recovery and
4:24
Speaker 3: self care. Lately, as I am just reaching the peak
4:28
Speaker 3: of my virtual New York City Marathon training. I have
4:32
Speaker 3: been loving their Boost topical that's the name of it, Boost,
4:37
Speaker 3: which helps to as you guessed it, boost athletic recovery.
4:41
Speaker 3: It also helps to ease inflammation and soothe sore muscles.
4:45
Speaker 2: And trust me, those I have got.
4:48
Speaker 3: Head on over to Beam tlc dot com and get
4:52
Speaker 3: some Beam products for yourself with a special offer just
4:57
Speaker 3: for hurd listeners. Use promo code Hurdle for fifteen percent
5:01
Speaker 3: off any Beam product today. Again that is Beam TLC
5:06
Speaker 3: dot com b e a m tlc dot com.
5:10
Speaker 2: Use the code Hurdle for fifteen percent.
5:13
Speaker 3: Off any Beam product today. Next sponsor I want to
5:18
Speaker 3: give some love to is Daily Harvest. So many of
5:22
Speaker 3: us are trying to get back into a normal routine,
5:25
Speaker 3: myself included, and whether I am having a totally relaxing
5:31
Speaker 3: or ridiculously active day, I am all about including clean,
5:36
Speaker 3: delicious eats into my routine and that is why I
5:40
Speaker 3: keep my freezer stocked with Daily Harvest. Daily Harvest delivers
5:44
Speaker 3: delicious food built on organic fruits and vegetables right to
5:48
Speaker 3: your door and it only takes a few minutes to
5:52
Speaker 3: prepare lately, I am all about making one of their
5:55
Speaker 3: harvest goals and tossing in a protein for a simple
5:59
Speaker 3: dinner option. I just tried two new ones for me
6:03
Speaker 3: last week, the spinach and Chittaki grits and the quinoa
6:07
Speaker 3: and Chipotle, both harvest roles. It felt like I took
6:10
Speaker 3: myself out to dinner. And the best part, there's no preservatives,
6:15
Speaker 3: no added sugar, and no artificial ingredients.
6:19
Speaker 2: Make things easy on yourself.
6:21
Speaker 4: You deserve it.
6:22
Speaker 3: Head on over to Dailyharvest dot com enter promo code
6:25
Speaker 3: Hurdle two five to get twenty five dollars off your
6:29
Speaker 3: first box.
6:30
Speaker 2: Again, that's promo code Hurdle two five.
6:33
Speaker 3: We're twenty five dollars off your first box at dailyharvest
6:37
Speaker 3: dot com. That's Dailyharvest dot com. On social, please tag
6:43
Speaker 3: me to promote the excitement that is season four as
6:46
Speaker 3: you are listening to this episode, it's at Hurdle podcast
6:50
Speaker 3: or over at Emily a Body. And also, while you're
6:54
Speaker 3: at it, do me the biggest, biggest favor. Head on
6:57
Speaker 3: into the iTunes store, rate and review the show. I
7:01
Speaker 3: cannot believe we're at nine hundred ratings and growing very fast.
7:06
Speaker 3: I would love for you just to do me that solid.
7:09
Speaker 3: I can't say it enough. Thank you so much for
7:13
Speaker 3: being a hurdler, for being a part of this community.
7:15
Speaker 3: I am so excited for what the next twelve weeks
7:20
Speaker 3: are going to bring with that, Let's get to hurdling.
7:33
Speaker 4: Today.
7:33
Speaker 3: I'm sitting down with Cody Rigsby. He's the director of
7:36
Speaker 3: cycling at Peloton. How you doing today, Cody?
7:40
Speaker 1: I am well. I am taking one day at a time.
7:43
Speaker 1: It's a lovely, sunny but chilly day in New York
7:47
Speaker 1: City and I had a wonderful chest workout today. How
7:50
Speaker 1: are you?
7:52
Speaker 4: Wow?
7:52
Speaker 3: That was like so many highlights and what what I'm
7:56
Speaker 3: gonna be honest, I'm really excited to have the chance
7:59
Speaker 3: to chat with you today because I'm not gonna lie.
8:02
Speaker 3: I looked you on the internet and you're not very
8:04
Speaker 3: out there from my research. Cody Rigsby doesn't do a
8:07
Speaker 3: ton of interviews.
8:09
Speaker 1: Oh fierce, Okay, Like yeah, I guess I keep it
8:12
Speaker 1: in the like Peloton circle or I kind of just
8:14
Speaker 1: do my thing on Instagram. But I'm excited that you're
8:17
Speaker 1: getting the scoop and we're we're going to dive deep today.
8:21
Speaker 3: We are going to dive deep I want to I
8:22
Speaker 3: want to start by asking you. I know that on
8:26
Speaker 3: a day to day basis Peloton community, so many followers
8:30
Speaker 3: on Instagram, how are you constantly protecting your own energy
8:35
Speaker 3: to show up for other people?
8:37
Speaker 1: Well, that's a loaded question, and it's very important and
8:41
Speaker 1: I think it's very top of mind for me right
8:44
Speaker 1: now in my current space. I think when quarantine hit,
8:47
Speaker 1: I was I was quick to jump into a routine
8:51
Speaker 1: and just like, Okay, I'm gonna wake up every day,
8:53
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do the gym, I'm gonna do the diet.
8:54
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I don't like to say diet, sorry, I like,
8:57
Speaker 1: you know, focus on my nutrition and you know, eat
8:59
Speaker 1: well well, and focus on work as much as I can.
9:04
Speaker 1: It got late into the summer and I've really started
9:09
Speaker 1: to feel the weight of the world of living through
9:12
Speaker 1: a pandemic, of you know, being in a public space
9:16
Speaker 1: and in a job that allows me to give so
9:18
Speaker 1: much energy, and I started to feel myself slip into
9:21
Speaker 1: some situational depression. And I think it was really key
9:25
Speaker 1: to acknowledge that by you know, meditating and going to
9:29
Speaker 1: my therapist. So a lot of right now of me
9:32
Speaker 1: getting out of that space and I can really affirm
9:34
Speaker 1: that I'm in a really good space now is connecting
9:39
Speaker 1: to my purpose and connecting and doing so through a
9:43
Speaker 1: morning routine of waking up, not getting on my phone,
9:47
Speaker 1: going and making the coffee, getting in the shower, even
9:50
Speaker 1: if I have nowhere to be, starting my day off
9:53
Speaker 1: with ten minutes of meditation or stretching or yoga. And
9:57
Speaker 1: it's really that connection to purpose and a routine that
10:00
Speaker 1: has allowed me to not only connect back to my purpose,
10:04
Speaker 1: but also protect my energy and allow me to have
10:07
Speaker 1: it for the Peloton community, my partner, my friends, my
10:13
Speaker 1: mom who I take care of. So that's really how
10:15
Speaker 1: I'm protecting my energy and guarding it in a time
10:19
Speaker 1: that's in a job that I have that's really demanding
10:22
Speaker 1: of it, but also in a time that's stealing it
10:25
Speaker 1: and need and needing it.
10:26
Speaker 3: How long do you think that it really took you
10:28
Speaker 3: to get to a place where you felt as though
10:30
Speaker 3: you had your routine down, because so many people struggle
10:34
Speaker 3: with just establishing a routine to begin with.
10:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, I want to say that off the jump right now,
10:39
Speaker 1: like the sooner that you can acknowledge that routine is important,
10:44
Speaker 1: and the sooner that you can start working on it.
10:47
Speaker 1: My personal experience is that it is going to make
10:51
Speaker 1: you happier. It's going to allow you to connect to
10:53
Speaker 1: the things that are important bring you joy, be connected
10:57
Speaker 1: to purpose. So that's what I want to put out
11:00
Speaker 1: there for anybody listening right now. You know, we are
11:03
Speaker 1: stubborn creatures. We are naturally kind of procrastinate, at least
11:09
Speaker 1: I do. And for me to build routine, I think
11:13
Speaker 1: it's always changing and depending on my priority. But it
11:17
Speaker 1: just takes a lot of trial and error. It takes
11:19
Speaker 1: a lot of trying this, failing at it, trying it
11:23
Speaker 1: again a different way and succeeding, and then kind of
11:25
Speaker 1: implementing that into my day. And I think it's also
11:28
Speaker 1: evolved throughout my life and even my career and fitness
11:33
Speaker 1: and my career at Peloton. So I couldn't pinpoint exactly
11:37
Speaker 1: like when did I get a routine, but I definitely
11:41
Speaker 1: know that in the past six months, I've lost my
11:45
Speaker 1: routine and I'm proudly reclaiming it. Reclaiming my reclaiming my
11:51
Speaker 1: routine so empowering.
11:53
Speaker 4: I love that.
11:55
Speaker 3: Okay, So let's dial it back then, before Peloton, before
12:00
Speaker 3: New York City. Give me some insight as to where
12:03
Speaker 3: you grew up.
12:04
Speaker 1: So I was born in sunny bright Los Angeles. I
12:10
Speaker 1: was born there and I grew up. I grew up
12:13
Speaker 1: there till the age of eight. So I was, you know,
12:15
Speaker 1: in my in skateboarding and rollerblading on the streets, always
12:21
Speaker 1: sunny weather, close to the beach. When I was eight
12:24
Speaker 1: years old, my mom moved us to North Carolina. No
12:29
Speaker 1: real big reason except for she just wanted a She
12:32
Speaker 1: knew that La was going to be hard as a
12:34
Speaker 1: single mother to raise a child, so she wanted a change.
12:39
Speaker 1: She wanted something a little bit more low key, and
12:41
Speaker 1: she had friends in North Carolina. So I grew up
12:46
Speaker 1: moved to North Carolina when I was eight years old.
12:48
Speaker 1: So it was like right and sunny, tons of green
12:51
Speaker 1: and nature, and we went to like rural bum I'm
12:56
Speaker 1: not gonna curse North Carolina where like the first thing
13:00
Speaker 1: that happened when we rolled into this very small town
13:03
Speaker 1: was like, mom, where.
13:05
Speaker 5: Are the sidewalks? Where am I going to rollerblade?
13:08
Speaker 1: So it was like this, this shock, this shock to
13:11
Speaker 1: like an eight year old. But you know, eventually we
13:14
Speaker 1: moved out. I think a year later we moved out
13:16
Speaker 1: of that very rural place of North Carolina, moved into Greensboro,
13:19
Speaker 1: North Carolina. Shout out to Greensboro, if anybody is listening.
13:23
Speaker 1: So I grew up there from eight to the end
13:27
Speaker 1: of college.
13:28
Speaker 5: It was a really unique.
13:31
Speaker 1: Way of growing up in the South. I was a
13:35
Speaker 1: you know, single mother who was a waitress. I didn't
13:39
Speaker 1: really make much money, only child, so you know, I
13:44
Speaker 1: had to make friends and be on my own a lot,
13:50
Speaker 1: but also like battling a very conservative and religious culture
13:56
Speaker 1: while exploring who I was as a gay man and
14:00
Speaker 1: coming to terms with that in my late teens and
14:03
Speaker 1: early twenties.
14:04
Speaker 3: I was going to say, so, coming to terms of
14:06
Speaker 3: that as a gay man, how old were you when
14:08
Speaker 3: you kind of started to question your sexual orientation.
14:13
Speaker 1: I mean, it's always different for every other, every queer person.
14:17
Speaker 1: I definitely started to recognize those feelings when I was
14:20
Speaker 1: I mean I can remember like gay thoughts and gay
14:22
Speaker 1: feelings when I was like six or even younger than that.
14:25
Speaker 5: But and then you know, being in middle school.
14:31
Speaker 1: When all of us are kind of starting to think
14:33
Speaker 1: about sexuality or sex or just like growing up, Like
14:39
Speaker 1: definitely remember having thoughts that I felt like needed to
14:43
Speaker 1: either be repressed or like knew that they were wrong,
14:45
Speaker 1: or knew I was going to get rid of kuled
14:46
Speaker 1: for I had like a religious face, like I had
14:49
Speaker 1: like went to Sunday school and Wednesday night youth group.
14:53
Speaker 1: And that was definitely something that was a social a
14:58
Speaker 1: social thing for me, and it made me feel like
15:02
Speaker 1: I had like a little bit of a bigger family.
15:04
Speaker 1: But it also was detrimental in the sense that like
15:07
Speaker 1: it was eating away and telling me everything that I
15:10
Speaker 1: felt about myself was wrong. And then it was finally
15:15
Speaker 1: it was finally in my freshman year at college, I
15:18
Speaker 1: was still in the closet. I came to New York
15:22
Speaker 1: this summer after my freshman year and did an internship
15:24
Speaker 1: at Broadway Dance Center, and from that point on, I
15:26
Speaker 1: was like, you.
15:27
Speaker 5: Know what I am.
15:29
Speaker 1: I am gay, and I am going to live my
15:31
Speaker 1: life like that, so like there is no going back.
15:34
Speaker 4: There's no going back.
15:36
Speaker 3: Do you remember like coming home and feeling differently once
15:40
Speaker 3: that you felt like you could really embrace who it
15:42
Speaker 3: is that you are.
15:43
Speaker 1: Absolutely there's something about when you live in authenticity and
15:48
Speaker 1: you stop wearing masks and you stopped pretending or you
15:51
Speaker 1: stop being someone for other people that there's a weight
15:54
Speaker 1: that comes off, and you can start to discover who
15:57
Speaker 1: you are and start to discover what brings you joy,
16:01
Speaker 1: discover the people that are right for you, the ones
16:04
Speaker 1: that support you, the ones that make you feel good.
16:07
Speaker 1: So definitely felt like a weight lifted off of me.
16:10
Speaker 1: I am so grateful that I'm gay. I'm if I
16:15
Speaker 1: could choose one, would be gay, no doubts about it,
16:19
Speaker 1: because my life has been has been crafted and shifted
16:24
Speaker 1: because of it, and I've met some amazing people. I
16:27
Speaker 1: have traveled the world in such a unique way because
16:31
Speaker 1: of that, like going to lots of gay prides, having
16:34
Speaker 1: a chosen family of amazing, diverse gay men that have
16:39
Speaker 1: really allowed me to blossom and be the person I am.
16:42
Speaker 3: Do you remember coming to New York City and just
16:44
Speaker 3: feeling like, I mean, I can only imagine what a
16:47
Speaker 3: culture shift to be coming up here from North Carolina
16:50
Speaker 3: and have these thoughts of what it might be like.
16:53
Speaker 3: Did it surpass all of your expectations?
16:57
Speaker 5: Yeah?
16:57
Speaker 1: So the first time I came to New York was
16:59
Speaker 1: the before my freshman year of college, and I came
17:03
Speaker 1: up here with my girlfriend Casey. We did like a
17:06
Speaker 1: kind of senior trip. We drove from North Carolina to
17:11
Speaker 1: New York in a busted black nineteen ninety nine Kispia
17:16
Speaker 1: like on a hope and a prayer that we would
17:19
Speaker 1: make it and make it back home. And we did
17:22
Speaker 1: so that was great, And I just remember being in
17:24
Speaker 1: the city in a certain way, and there was even
17:27
Speaker 1: before I came out, like there was just a sense
17:29
Speaker 1: of freedom. There was a sense of culture, there was
17:31
Speaker 1: a sense of just like unlimited possibilities when I came
17:35
Speaker 1: to the city, and I remember, I remember at that
17:40
Speaker 1: moment when we came here that I was like, I
17:43
Speaker 1: have to be here. And it's funny because my entire
17:45
Speaker 1: life I always thought of escaping North Carolina and going
17:50
Speaker 1: back to California, where my roots were. But there was
17:53
Speaker 1: something about New York that was this new, shiny thing,
17:56
Speaker 1: but that had depth and culture and this gravita that
18:00
Speaker 1: was pulling me in. So I remember feeling that right
18:04
Speaker 1: away from being in New York City and then specifically
18:06
Speaker 1: of the summer that I came after that life is
18:09
Speaker 1: so much about giving yourself permission, and I gave myself
18:12
Speaker 1: permission to be free to explore, to lean in, to
18:17
Speaker 1: experiment in so many different ways.
18:20
Speaker 5: But That's what gave me the ability and the sense
18:22
Speaker 5: of freedom.
18:23
Speaker 1: And like, I hate right now everyone's trying to like
18:26
Speaker 1: dog on New York because I have such a special
18:28
Speaker 1: place in my heart for New York. Like it's such
18:29
Speaker 1: a resilient and beautiful city and rich, rich, rich, diverse
18:34
Speaker 1: culture that makes you think outside the box that you
18:37
Speaker 1: might be in. And so New York has always given me.
18:43
Speaker 1: I've given myself permission, but New York has given me
18:46
Speaker 1: the permission to be who I am.
18:48
Speaker 4: I love that perspective.
18:50
Speaker 3: So you come up here for that summer after freshman year,
18:53
Speaker 3: and then you go back home, you do the college thing.
18:56
Speaker 4: What were you studying in college?
18:57
Speaker 1: Okay, So my freshman year I was an acting major.
19:01
Speaker 1: Definitely did not succeed at that. I was just not
19:05
Speaker 1: successful at it. And I knew that I was like
19:09
Speaker 1: into fashion, so I switched my major to Consumer pail
19:14
Speaker 1: and Retail Studies, which is essentially fashion merchandising and a
19:17
Speaker 1: business minor. While at the same time, I'd always been
19:21
Speaker 1: a really good dancer, and I did my internship at
19:26
Speaker 1: Broadway Dance Center. That's how I got into commercial dance.
19:29
Speaker 1: And I was kind of at the same time in college,
19:33
Speaker 1: I was doing my major in my minor, and then
19:36
Speaker 1: I was taking dance class on the side because I
19:39
Speaker 1: knew that that was something that I wanted to pursue.
19:42
Speaker 1: So from a college perspective, I was studying fashion business,
19:47
Speaker 1: and on my personal level in college, I was studying dance.
19:51
Speaker 5: I literally went to.
19:52
Speaker 1: My first ballet class at the age of eighteen, at
19:55
Speaker 1: six foot two, in a class full of probably twelve
19:58
Speaker 1: to thirteen year old girls.
20:00
Speaker 5: So it was it was.
20:05
Speaker 1: I was resilient and tough and was willing to laugh
20:09
Speaker 1: at myself to get where I wanted to be.
20:12
Speaker 3: That's interesting because I think a lot of individuals would
20:15
Speaker 3: probably be like, it's just too late, Like how am
20:18
Speaker 3: I going to do this? How am I going to
20:19
Speaker 3: break into it? But you had the mentality that it
20:21
Speaker 3: was like if not now when.
20:23
Speaker 1: The cheesy like optimist in me is like, it's never
20:26
Speaker 1: too late, It's never too late. But I've always just
20:30
Speaker 1: been there's a rawness to me that I can acknowledge,
20:34
Speaker 1: and there's a there's a part of me that's super determined.
20:38
Speaker 1: I come from very very humble beginnings. My father passed
20:42
Speaker 1: away of drugs when I was very young, so like
20:45
Speaker 1: four months, so I never knew my father. My mom
20:48
Speaker 1: was a single mother also had addiction problems and was
20:51
Speaker 1: fighting that while being a single mother. And it was
20:55
Speaker 1: that that crafted me to be being really resourceful and
21:00
Speaker 1: knowing that I'm on my own, so I've got to
21:02
Speaker 1: figure it out. So everything in life I've known that, like,
21:06
Speaker 1: I've got a hustle for and I've got to fight
21:08
Speaker 1: for and I've got to figure it out. But that's
21:11
Speaker 1: a cornerstone of who I am. Like you and I
21:14
Speaker 1: as people, we have everything that we need to succeed.
21:17
Speaker 1: We have everything that we need to bring us joy.
21:20
Speaker 1: We just have to tap into it and we have
21:22
Speaker 1: to use it. We can literally achieve whatever we want
21:26
Speaker 1: and corny cliche thing to say.
21:30
Speaker 4: Yeah, but I embrace the corny cliche things.
21:32
Speaker 3: I also think that hearing that I commend you for
21:35
Speaker 3: your resilience, but I also acknowledge that that resilience comes
21:39
Speaker 3: with a certain amount of weight. And sometimes when you
21:44
Speaker 3: are showing up day in and day out, especially I
21:47
Speaker 3: mean growing up and trying to figure out who it
21:49
Speaker 3: is that you are and feeling like you have to
21:51
Speaker 3: suppress some of who you are to be okay, in
21:54
Speaker 3: your environment, Like I can only imagine how heavy that
21:57
Speaker 3: became at times to feel like, all right, well I
22:00
Speaker 3: have to handle all this on my own, but how
22:03
Speaker 3: you know?
22:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I didn't recognize that until much later in
22:09
Speaker 1: my life. I think we we either suppress, or we
22:13
Speaker 1: push away, or we rewrite history to make us feel comfortable.
22:18
Speaker 1: We as people, we suppress things, we push it to
22:22
Speaker 1: the side, we rewrite history, or we kind of just
22:26
Speaker 1: like overlook it until we're ready to confront it. And
22:29
Speaker 1: it wasn't until probably like three or four years ago
22:32
Speaker 1: when I started really meditating heavily and started working with
22:38
Speaker 1: a therapist to like unpack all my bs and really
22:42
Speaker 1: confront it that I started to kind of like acknowledge
22:45
Speaker 1: some of the things that I've been through through in
22:48
Speaker 1: life and really can acknowledge Wow, like you've persevered through
22:52
Speaker 1: a lot. You've got to just be like wow, like
22:55
Speaker 1: I am. I'm fierce like I am, and I know
22:59
Speaker 1: we from just me, I mean like literally all of us,
23:02
Speaker 1: Like you are a fierce being. This world is hard,
23:06
Speaker 1: no matter what you're upbringing, no matter where you started.
23:10
Speaker 1: Life can be really really really hard. But you are
23:14
Speaker 1: living proof that you've made it through one hundred percent
23:17
Speaker 1: of all the loads, or you would not be sitting
23:20
Speaker 1: here listening to this podcast. You would not be sitting
23:22
Speaker 1: here breathing. You've literally persevered and tapped into your resilience,
23:26
Speaker 1: and you are the proof of that.
23:29
Speaker 3: When you went back home after coming to New York,
23:32
Speaker 3: even though you felt better about embracing who it is
23:35
Speaker 3: that you are, did you feel like you were met
23:38
Speaker 3: with a little bit of resistance when you were going
23:41
Speaker 3: back into your old habitat No, not really.
23:46
Speaker 1: It even took me a year later to come out
23:48
Speaker 1: to my mom and she was totally fine with it.
23:49
Speaker 1: I don't even know what I was like going through
23:51
Speaker 1: because my mom is like super level, super progressive. Speaking
23:55
Speaker 1: of like repressed memories. I remember my mom bringing me
24:00
Speaker 1: to a trans hairdresser, and like it wasn't until much
24:04
Speaker 1: later that I was like, wait, mom was pat trans
24:07
Speaker 1: and she was like, yeah, duh.
24:09
Speaker 5: I was like, oh my god. So it's like these
24:11
Speaker 5: sort of things that.
24:16
Speaker 1: That I was like, why were you even so scared
24:18
Speaker 1: of coming out to your mom?
24:20
Speaker 5: So that was even fine.
24:22
Speaker 1: The relationships I had before, I don't even feel like
24:25
Speaker 1: I either didn't keep onto them like they just they
24:28
Speaker 1: just kind of I don't want to say deteriorated because
24:31
Speaker 1: that sounds really negative, but they just like they phased
24:34
Speaker 1: out if they weren't people that I was meant to
24:37
Speaker 1: be with, and it allowed me to move into friendships
24:40
Speaker 1: and relationships that allowed me to thrive and flourish.
24:52
Speaker 3: I want to pop into today's episode to talk to
24:54
Speaker 3: you about a conversation I had yesterday with a friend.
24:57
Speaker 4: Of mine on our bike ride.
24:59
Speaker 3: He was telling me about his mornings and how he
25:01
Speaker 3: recently got into a routine that involves him taking at
25:04
Speaker 3: least six different vitamins and supplements, including vitamin C and vitamin.
25:09
Speaker 2: B twelve, and I told him that I used to
25:12
Speaker 2: be the.
25:12
Speaker 3: Exact same way until I started taking Athletic Greens as
25:17
Speaker 3: a part of my regular routine. Now, Athletic Greens, as
25:21
Speaker 3: many of you know, has been a long time sponsor
25:24
Speaker 3: of the show, and that's because I literally cannot imagine
25:27
Speaker 3: my life without it. It just makes taking care of
25:30
Speaker 3: my body so easy. It's got seventy five proven, whole
25:34
Speaker 3: food sourced ingredients, as well as prebiotics, probiotics, and adaptogens. Basically,
25:41
Speaker 3: just like what I said to him, I'll say to
25:43
Speaker 3: you guys, it's I shake it up in the morning.
25:45
Speaker 3: It's one drink, and not only does it give me
25:48
Speaker 3: all of these essential vitamins and minerals, but it just
25:51
Speaker 3: helps me stay energetic and feel better. And the best part,
25:56
Speaker 3: Hurdle listeners can get an awesome deal today with their
26:01
Speaker 3: first purchase, a free year long supply of Vitamin D
26:06
Speaker 3: something that is so so so so I can't reiterate
26:09
Speaker 3: this enough important. As we're starting to spend more and
26:12
Speaker 3: more time back inside, head on over to Athleticgreens dot
26:17
Speaker 3: com slash hurdle to get this special offer, a Vitamin
26:21
Speaker 3: D three K two Wellness Bundle with your first purchase. Again,
26:27
Speaker 3: that is Athleticgreens dot Com slash hurdle, no code necessary.
26:42
Speaker 3: You are back home, you're back in college, you're finishing
26:45
Speaker 3: things out, and then you know immediately upon graduating that
26:48
Speaker 3: you want to come back to New York City.
26:51
Speaker 1: Yes, like I said, from that that first summer that
26:55
Speaker 1: I came up here with my girlfriend Casey and I
26:57
Speaker 1: little in my Kiasophia, I I knew that New York
27:01
Speaker 1: was calling me. I had to go back. I knew
27:05
Speaker 1: that it was the best situation financially and for my
27:07
Speaker 1: education to stay in North Carolina to finish up college there.
27:11
Speaker 1: That so that was fine. As soon as I was
27:15
Speaker 1: done with my studies there, I already had a job
27:18
Speaker 1: lined up, which was a blessing and a miracle. In
27:20
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight slash nine, at the height of
27:22
Speaker 1: the recession, so I had a job lined up at
27:25
Speaker 1: a streetwear brand. I packed up all my things. I
27:28
Speaker 1: had an apartment, and I moved here with a hope
27:32
Speaker 1: and a dream and a.
27:32
Speaker 5: Prayer and like I think, like two thousand bucks in
27:35
Speaker 5: my bank account.
27:36
Speaker 3: So I was going to say, moving here and having
27:38
Speaker 3: an apartment like that in itself is a small victory.
27:41
Speaker 1: It is, but it was some very sketchy ness because
27:47
Speaker 1: my first apartment, well actually my second apartment, I only
27:49
Speaker 1: lived in my first apartment for like two months. My
27:52
Speaker 1: first apartment in New York City, I lived with four
27:56
Speaker 1: other artists in I think on like one thirty second
28:00
Speaker 1: and Broadway. We didn't pay rent with a check. We
28:06
Speaker 1: paid rent with cash in like a box that the
28:10
Speaker 1: landlord would come to the to the apartment of the
28:12
Speaker 1: first of the month and like get the cash rent.
28:15
Speaker 1: And I was paying I think four hundred and fifty
28:17
Speaker 1: dollars for rent, So you you just have to imagine,
28:20
Speaker 1: like what the apartment looked like. It was definitely a
28:25
Speaker 1: crash pad to like sleep at, sleep in, shower change,
28:31
Speaker 1: and that's.
28:32
Speaker 5: Really all I had.
28:33
Speaker 1: But you know, when you first moved to New York,
28:36
Speaker 1: especially in your like early twenties, you're barely home. Like
28:39
Speaker 1: you're just getting up every day, pumping to the subway,
28:42
Speaker 1: going to work and coming back.
28:44
Speaker 5: I was working like twelve fourteen.
28:46
Speaker 1: Hour days even at the even when I when I
28:49
Speaker 1: started here, and then even after work, I would go
28:51
Speaker 1: and take a dance class after every every every day.
28:55
Speaker 5: So I was like barely living there.
28:57
Speaker 1: But just to give you like a perspective of where
29:00
Speaker 1: I started in New York, it wasn't it wasn't cute.
29:03
Speaker 1: It was definitely not Carrie Bradshaw. So get that fantasy
29:05
Speaker 1: out of your head. All you people who have never
29:08
Speaker 1: been to New York or think that like New York
29:10
Speaker 1: City is sex.
29:11
Speaker 5: In the city.
29:13
Speaker 4: You can dream that it's sex in the city.
29:14
Speaker 3: I walk up four flights of stairs every day, and
29:17
Speaker 3: this is my this is my being for now. Okay,
29:19
Speaker 3: So you live in that crazy place, you start this
29:23
Speaker 3: first job, you're taking dance after work.
29:25
Speaker 4: How's the first job?
29:27
Speaker 5: Huh? So it was. It was fine.
29:31
Speaker 1: It lasted I don't know, probably like five months because Okay.
29:34
Speaker 1: So also when I moved to New York, so I
29:36
Speaker 1: had this, I had this part. I had my full
29:38
Speaker 1: time job. It was sales and marketing for a streetwear brand.
29:41
Speaker 1: I also was working retail like two or three days
29:46
Speaker 1: nights a week for Ben Sherman. I don't know if
29:49
Speaker 1: you remember that brand. I don't think's around anymore. And
29:51
Speaker 1: then I shit you not. During the holiday season, I
29:55
Speaker 1: was working on the weekends at a TGI Fridays in
29:58
Speaker 1: Times Square. So like, let me tell you, I was
30:01
Speaker 1: quote unquote living the jerrem.
30:05
Speaker 5: Yeah. So I was just like hustling.
30:08
Speaker 1: We closed for like the weekend or week of Christmas
30:11
Speaker 1: slash New Year's and when I came back, they're like, hey,
30:14
Speaker 1: we're going under so we can't afford you.
30:17
Speaker 5: You don't have a job.
30:18
Speaker 1: So I went from like having Oh and right before that,
30:21
Speaker 1: I quit c Jack Fridays because like I'm fine now.
30:23
Speaker 1: So I literally like was fired like five months after
30:28
Speaker 1: or laid off five months after I had moved to
30:30
Speaker 1: the city.
30:31
Speaker 4: So that what happens when you get laid off.
30:34
Speaker 1: I filed for unemployment and figured it out, you know,
30:38
Speaker 1: like was just scrappy, and figured out how to how
30:42
Speaker 1: to make it happen.
30:43
Speaker 5: But it was.
30:44
Speaker 1: It was truly in a way, you know, all all
30:48
Speaker 1: our hardships in retrospect are always blessings. They forced us
30:51
Speaker 1: to change, They forced us to move forward and figure
30:54
Speaker 1: it out. So that was a tipping point for me
30:57
Speaker 1: because I was like, I'm going to focus. I've got
30:59
Speaker 1: this little underman check, I can afford my rent. I'll
31:01
Speaker 1: I'll make everything else work. I started going to dance
31:04
Speaker 1: class more, I auditioned and got an agent. I started
31:08
Speaker 1: auditioning for work, and that's when I started to really
31:12
Speaker 1: move into my dance career, which lasted for about four
31:14
Speaker 1: or five years. That's when I was you know, I
31:16
Speaker 1: dance for Nicking Minaj Katie Perry did a Mazana video
31:19
Speaker 1: but you'll never see my face because we're in the
31:21
Speaker 1: football football uniform Victoria's Secret Show SNL. That was like
31:25
Speaker 1: such a proud moment for me because I was doing
31:28
Speaker 1: what I was passionate about and did and doing what
31:31
Speaker 1: I came to New York City.
31:32
Speaker 4: To do, which is awesome.
31:34
Speaker 3: And so the dance thing really starts to take off,
31:37
Speaker 3: and then how do you even start to make your
31:41
Speaker 3: way toward peloton?
31:43
Speaker 1: Peloton landed in my lap. God, the universe was just
31:50
Speaker 1: like really looking after me. But I'm always I'm always
31:53
Speaker 1: a believer that the things that you do right now
31:55
Speaker 1: are secretly or not secretly preparing you for your next step.
31:59
Speaker 1: So that I all the business stuff that I learned
32:02
Speaker 1: from the fashion world and all of the performance that
32:06
Speaker 1: I learned and from being a dancer literally prepared me
32:10
Speaker 1: for Peloton. So there was a point in my life
32:13
Speaker 1: where I was really tired of dancing because I didn't
32:16
Speaker 1: feel like it was a connecting me to purpose, did
32:18
Speaker 1: not was not doing anything for me. I felt like
32:22
Speaker 1: a moving piece of furniture that was building other people up.
32:25
Speaker 1: And I was getting to an age where I was like,
32:27
Speaker 1: you're not You're not setting you're.
32:30
Speaker 5: Not creating a foundation for yourself.
32:32
Speaker 1: So I got to a point where I was like,
32:34
Speaker 1: I'm going to kind of take a break. I'm going
32:38
Speaker 1: to focus on making money, take every little and little
32:41
Speaker 1: small job that I can. So there was a point
32:44
Speaker 1: in my life where I was waking up every day
32:45
Speaker 1: I was going to the gym. I was going to
32:47
Speaker 1: a cater waiting job in the city somewhere like serving
32:50
Speaker 1: drinks or little appetizers, and then I would make it
32:55
Speaker 1: to this club in New York City that has kind
32:59
Speaker 1: of like a burlesque show. It's called The Box. It's
33:02
Speaker 1: in the Lower East Side. So I was working. I'm
33:05
Speaker 1: sure you do and you probably know the show. So
33:10
Speaker 1: I was working in front of the house there.
33:11
Speaker 5: I didn't do any performance there.
33:12
Speaker 1: So it was literally a day where I like wake
33:14
Speaker 1: up at like nine or ten and then I wouldn't
33:17
Speaker 1: get home until like four in the morning or something
33:20
Speaker 1: like that, where it was just like I'm here, I'm
33:22
Speaker 1: making money, I'm putting like that's all I'm focused on
33:25
Speaker 1: right now. It was that transitional period that got me
33:29
Speaker 1: peloton because there was a choreographer there that knew I
33:33
Speaker 1: was a dancer, and he was like, hey, my friend
33:36
Speaker 1: is looking for performers that are interested in fitness. I
33:40
Speaker 1: was like, okay, cute, like let me do, let me,
33:44
Speaker 1: let me get into this this cycling gig. Let me
33:46
Speaker 1: make a little bit extra money, Like that's all I
33:48
Speaker 1: That's literally all I thought it was going to be.
33:50
Speaker 1: I met with the old cheat Content officer and they
33:57
Speaker 1: were like, you're hired or you start training next week.
33:59
Speaker 1: So I started training with Peloton and it wasn't until
34:03
Speaker 1: I kind of got into it. And this is the
34:05
Speaker 1: beginning of it. So it was still like kind of
34:08
Speaker 1: it was always Peloton was like, Okay, this is a
34:11
Speaker 1: cool concept, but like this could this could flop, This
34:14
Speaker 1: could flop big time, Like it could flop. But the
34:17
Speaker 1: further I dove into it and started to see like
34:20
Speaker 1: John Foley's leadership and my colleagues as far as instructors
34:25
Speaker 1: like you know, Jen Sherman and Robin ars On and
34:28
Speaker 1: seeing moving into it more and seeing the leadership there,
34:32
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, this has potential, Like this could
34:35
Speaker 1: be really this could be really transformative not only for me,
34:39
Speaker 1: but for like the world. And that's when I started
34:42
Speaker 1: to like kick it into full gear and really put
34:44
Speaker 1: all of my energy into Peloton and it's and I
34:47
Speaker 1: have not looked back.
34:49
Speaker 4: I have not looked back.
34:50
Speaker 3: Before you auditioned for this cycling gig of sorts, what
34:55
Speaker 3: was your like personal workout routine, like at.
34:58
Speaker 1: All, dancing was still part of it. That was kind
35:03
Speaker 1: of like my cardio space. I had taken a few
35:05
Speaker 1: spin classes before, but I was really into strength training.
35:10
Speaker 1: My dance career is what got me into fitness. A
35:12
Speaker 1: choreographer that I had studied under and wanted to work with,
35:15
Speaker 1: he wanted to book me for a Victoria's Secret show
35:17
Speaker 1: and he's like, you're a great dancer, but girl, you
35:19
Speaker 1: need to get this body together. So fitness for me
35:22
Speaker 1: started as an aesthetic thing, as a validation piece, not
35:26
Speaker 1: only for myself but for my career, and that's when
35:29
Speaker 1: I got into strength training and eating more. So that's
35:32
Speaker 1: the foundation of it. It is very much changed because
35:37
Speaker 1: of my position at Peloton and because of the people
35:39
Speaker 1: I surrounded myself with and the things that they have
35:41
Speaker 1: taught me. Has completely shifted from that like aesthetic validation
35:45
Speaker 1: point into something that you know, I'll say it for
35:49
Speaker 1: the ninetieth time today, started connecting to me, to my
35:53
Speaker 1: purpose and connected me to loving myself fully and acknowledging
35:59
Speaker 1: that picking up weights allows me to recognize that I
36:03
Speaker 1: can absolutely achieve anything.
36:04
Speaker 3: When that choreographer was like, Hey, maybe you should kind
36:07
Speaker 3: of focus on your fitness, was that one of those
36:09
Speaker 3: moments that you were like, what are you talking about?
36:12
Speaker 3: Or was it something that you had kind of been
36:14
Speaker 3: thinking about in the back of your head.
36:16
Speaker 1: So it's definitely been in the back of my mind.
36:18
Speaker 1: But when he said that, it wasn't it wasn't a surprise,
36:21
Speaker 1: and it wasn't it wasn't anything that I pushed back on.
36:24
Speaker 5: I trusted.
36:25
Speaker 1: I trusted this choreographer and definitely had my heart set
36:30
Speaker 1: on a career in dance. So I listened to him
36:32
Speaker 1: and I was like, Okay, fine, got it, and so
36:34
Speaker 1: I jumped. I jumped right into it.
36:37
Speaker 3: In that first year of joining Peloton. I mean, I
36:40
Speaker 3: reflect on that time. I remember going to the original
36:43
Speaker 3: studio on twenty third, like right at the beginning of everything,
36:46
Speaker 3: and it was just it was such a different time.
36:48
Speaker 3: When you look back on that time, do you have
36:50
Speaker 3: any like really big takeaways from the beginning?
36:54
Speaker 1: It was a different world. Like I remember there was
36:56
Speaker 1: a Saturday that I started a Peloton I teach. I
36:58
Speaker 1: taught like a seven thirty or eight thirty class. There
37:01
Speaker 1: was literally one person in the class. So not only
37:05
Speaker 1: are you fighting like the ability to perform, but then
37:08
Speaker 1: you're also feeling nervous because you're like, God, there's only
37:10
Speaker 1: one person in this class, Like what is going.
37:12
Speaker 5: On the takeaways.
37:13
Speaker 1: I mean what I've learned is, you know, be scrappy,
37:16
Speaker 1: be willing to be willing to fight, you know, fight
37:20
Speaker 1: for everything with limited resources. And I think that's really
37:25
Speaker 1: true of Peloton, especially from the beginning. I've definitely learned
37:28
Speaker 1: that from John Foley, who has always had a dream
37:33
Speaker 1: and and a vision and has has kept Peloton really scrappy.
37:38
Speaker 1: Also a takeaway is tap into those around you and
37:44
Speaker 1: surround yourself with good people, good people, good people, good people,
37:49
Speaker 1: good people. If you do not have good people in
37:51
Speaker 1: your life. And I don't mean I don't mean like
37:55
Speaker 1: rich or people that have things or that are quote
37:59
Speaker 1: unquote successful. I mean good people that at their core
38:02
Speaker 1: are empathetic and compassionate and care about the world and
38:07
Speaker 1: care about other people. So surround yourself with good people
38:11
Speaker 1: and everything that you want to succeed in. You need
38:14
Speaker 1: a team to support you mentally, physically, emotionally, Like you
38:17
Speaker 1: need a good.
38:18
Speaker 3: Team when you first started out at Peloton, I mean
38:21
Speaker 3: definitely a big shift from being in that dance side
38:25
Speaker 3: of things. Chat with me about how you made that shift.
38:27
Speaker 1: I am not one to hold on to things really tightly.
38:32
Speaker 1: I'm I'm willing to let go, and there I was
38:35
Speaker 1: already kind of one step out of the dance the
38:37
Speaker 1: dance world when Peloton.
38:39
Speaker 5: When Peloton happened for me, I.
38:43
Speaker 1: Think I did like one or two more dance gigs,
38:45
Speaker 1: and I was really willing to like just let it
38:49
Speaker 1: go and accept. What was a something that followed me
38:52
Speaker 1: a toxic trade is that as a dancer, you're constantly
38:56
Speaker 1: thinking that you're competing against people. Because in a dance world,
39:00
Speaker 1: you go into an audition, if there's only four gigs
39:02
Speaker 1: and there's forty people here, there's still only four gigs,
39:05
Speaker 1: and you have a what like.
39:06
Speaker 5: Ten percent chance. I hope that math is right ten percent.
39:10
Speaker 3: Thank you.
39:10
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I'm so bad. I'm so glad that
39:12
Speaker 1: was right. Someone can factor herself like the no. I mean,
39:15
Speaker 1: you know, you come into you come into this world thinking,
39:18
Speaker 1: like into the fitness world, and you're like, oh, it's
39:21
Speaker 1: you know, I've got to compete.
39:23
Speaker 5: I've got to compete.
39:24
Speaker 1: I've got to be better than so and so, and
39:25
Speaker 1: I've got to show up and show out. And I
39:29
Speaker 1: would actually say that's pretty that's pretty accurate for a
39:32
Speaker 1: lot of other people in the fitness space, just because
39:36
Speaker 1: in boutique fitness. You're fighting for you're fighting for you know,
39:40
Speaker 1: good times, You're fighting for clientele, and it can be
39:44
Speaker 1: very competitive. The thing about Peloton is where we were
39:48
Speaker 1: all in the same playing field and we weren't there
39:51
Speaker 1: was nothing to compete about. We knew that, we knew
39:55
Speaker 1: that if we all worked hard, we were going to
40:00
Speaker 1: get to the same successful place, and that there are
40:03
Speaker 1: enough seats at the table that we can have everybody,
40:07
Speaker 1: and everyone can have their own lane, and everyone can
40:09
Speaker 1: have an audience and everyone can be heard. And I
40:14
Speaker 1: think that's really beautiful, and it's kind of how I
40:18
Speaker 1: try to approach life in the sense that, like, we
40:20
Speaker 1: have all the resources we need, don't take a chair
40:22
Speaker 1: away from the table, don't be scared of someone else,
40:25
Speaker 1: Invite them in. You can benefit from somebody else's perspective
40:29
Speaker 1: or somebody else's skill sets being in the same sphere
40:31
Speaker 1: as you. I always compare it like I always feel
40:35
Speaker 1: like I'm standing shoulder to shoulder with like Titans when
40:38
Speaker 1: I think of like my colleagues at Peloton. That's what
40:41
Speaker 1: double like the Avengers like. It just feels like that
40:44
Speaker 1: all the time.
40:46
Speaker 3: So Peloton obviously starts to pick up, and with that
40:49
Speaker 3: hand in hand comes obviously more eyes on you. How
40:53
Speaker 3: do you start dealing with that and possibly the idea
40:58
Speaker 3: of unsolicited feedback.
41:00
Speaker 1: Oh, she's a dancer, She's a Gemini. So I definitely
41:04
Speaker 1: like attention. Like I'm not even gonna I'm not gonna lie.
41:07
Speaker 1: I'm very much, you know. I like the eyes on me.
41:09
Speaker 1: I never had a problem with that, and it felt
41:11
Speaker 1: like a performance, So it was somewhere. It was a
41:13
Speaker 1: space that I thrived. It's interesting you bring this up
41:16
Speaker 1: unsolicited to me back. I don't care, Like people will
41:18
Speaker 1: roll up in my DMS and like here's a suggestion
41:21
Speaker 1: or like I didn't like that, and I'm like, okay, girl, Like,
41:23
Speaker 1: well that's good for you. I'm gonna keep pumping over here,
41:25
Speaker 1: Like I don't I really, I really don't care, because
41:28
Speaker 1: like what I've been doing is working, so like, who
41:29
Speaker 1: are you to tell me what you think think of me?
41:33
Speaker 1: So it's easy for me to block to kind of
41:35
Speaker 1: block those things out. But there is this pressure, and
41:41
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's internal, but there is a
41:43
Speaker 1: pressure to constantly be raising the bar or doing better
41:47
Speaker 1: than I did before. And maybe that's in performance as
41:51
Speaker 1: far as like numbers, but I don't even equate it
41:54
Speaker 1: to that. But I just always want to be I
41:57
Speaker 1: don't like to be comfortable. I don't like to be
42:00
Speaker 1: the same space that I was three months ago, six
42:03
Speaker 1: months ago. So I'm always looking for a ways to
42:05
Speaker 1: be innovative and bring a different side of me to
42:09
Speaker 1: my content or develop a new skill set. So I'm
42:13
Speaker 1: always looking for that, for something to better myself because
42:17
Speaker 1: I want to be the best version of myself. I
42:20
Speaker 1: do also believe in having either plateaus or moments to
42:24
Speaker 1: land and recognize my recognize our success, like we have to,
42:28
Speaker 1: like if we're working hard for three months at something,
42:31
Speaker 1: we have to land at one point and be like,
42:33
Speaker 1: you know what, I did a really good job.
42:35
Speaker 5: I'm really grateful for where I am right now.
42:37
Speaker 1: I can take a breath and not put so much
42:38
Speaker 1: pressure on myself and then when I'm ready, I'm gonna
42:41
Speaker 1: start climbing the next ladder. But there is this immense pressure,
42:45
Speaker 1: either myself or just from you know the world and
42:49
Speaker 1: having more eyes on us to constantly be raising the
42:51
Speaker 1: bar and bring the best, to bring the best to
42:55
Speaker 1: the peloton content. And it wasn't until I think in
42:59
Speaker 1: that same in that same space where I started to
43:01
Speaker 1: acknowledge my my situational depression, where I was like.
43:05
Speaker 6: Uh, this job can be can be has a lot
43:10
Speaker 6: of pressure and I'm either being hard on myself or
43:15
Speaker 6: setting expectations.
43:16
Speaker 5: That are not leading me to joy.
43:19
Speaker 1: And I've gotta I've got to unpack that and figure
43:22
Speaker 1: that out. So definitely, with more eyes there comes more pressure.
43:25
Speaker 1: And I don't I don't think it's external. I think
43:27
Speaker 1: it's I think it's internal. And I'm really trying to
43:31
Speaker 1: focus on I think I'm in a I think I'm
43:33
Speaker 1: in a in a I'm I've landed on the stepping
43:36
Speaker 1: stone right now, and I'm trying to breathe, acknowledge, acknowledge
43:39
Speaker 1: what I've done, and take a moment until I until
43:44
Speaker 1: I start to think about like my next step.
43:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think that landing on the stepping stone
43:50
Speaker 3: or the plateau so to speak, comes with its fair
43:53
Speaker 3: share of challenges. First of all, so many of us
43:56
Speaker 3: have problems or like, aren't good at accepting that we
44:01
Speaker 3: need to take that land, we need to take that
44:04
Speaker 3: be and take some time to recognize accomplishment. And then
44:08
Speaker 3: on the other side of the coin, it's like you
44:10
Speaker 3: struggle with how long your quote unquote allowed to hang
44:14
Speaker 3: out on the plateau and like enjoy your work.
44:17
Speaker 5: Absolutely. I mean we are conditioned to like never be
44:20
Speaker 5: happy with where we are.
44:22
Speaker 1: It's in our it's in our society, and like put
44:25
Speaker 1: in put in social media.
44:26
Speaker 5: Now it's like we're constantly.
44:29
Speaker 1: A looking for validation and looking to improve, like it's
44:33
Speaker 1: got to be it's got to be more, it's got
44:34
Speaker 1: to be more, it's got to be better, it's got
44:35
Speaker 1: to be this, it all these and we've also conditioned
44:40
Speaker 1: that throughout our entire life, with school, with work, with money.
44:44
Speaker 1: It just is embedded in our society and we have
44:48
Speaker 1: to scrub up. We have to like literally scrub that off.
44:51
Speaker 1: Unlearn that and unlearning things are so much harder than
44:55
Speaker 1: learning things, you know, like to take off all these
44:58
Speaker 1: bad habits. But it's essential that you take those moments,
45:04
Speaker 1: you breathe, you look around yourself, and you start to
45:07
Speaker 1: acknowledge what you've accomplished, and don't downplay it. Don't rewrite
45:14
Speaker 1: this script and be like, oh, I just did my
45:19
Speaker 1: first you know, I just did my first set of squats,
45:24
Speaker 1: or I just did a forty five minute ride When
45:29
Speaker 1: all I could do was the thirty automatically or automatically
45:32
Speaker 1: and be like, oh, well you could have gone heavier
45:34
Speaker 1: on that squat, or like, well some people are doing
45:36
Speaker 1: sixty minute rides, so like why aren't you doing that?
45:39
Speaker 1: Get that noise out of here, Sit here in your space.
45:43
Speaker 1: Acknowledge your successes, Acknowledge what you've accomplished, have gratitude towards that,
45:50
Speaker 1: be happy with that, which is sometimes very hard, and
45:55
Speaker 1: settle in that and feel the weight of that. Sometimes
45:57
Speaker 1: don't We just don't even take a part or a
46:00
Speaker 1: moment to feel I said this in a class, and
46:05
Speaker 1: I think I heard it from my colleague Chelsea, who
46:10
Speaker 1: does yoga meditation. Repelton is like, if you're numbing yourself
46:14
Speaker 1: from pain, you're also numbing yourself from joy. So if
46:19
Speaker 1: you're numbing yourself in these moments and constantly moving and
46:22
Speaker 1: constantly going to the next thing, not only you're not
46:24
Speaker 1: going to feel the pain, you're not going to feel
46:26
Speaker 1: the joy. So take a moment, see where you're at,
46:30
Speaker 1: Acknowledge your success, breathe, feel what it feels like to
46:34
Speaker 1: be proud of yourself, to be happy, to be content,
46:39
Speaker 1: to feel connected to your purpose and then you can
46:43
Speaker 1: start to kind of be like, Okay, what's my next step?
46:47
Speaker 1: What is an area of improvement? And then you and
46:51
Speaker 1: then you go on your next journey.
46:53
Speaker 5: And that's that's really how I try to go about
46:57
Speaker 5: my life, my career, my plans.
47:08
Speaker 3: Taking a break from today's episode to talk to you
47:11
Speaker 3: again about Daily Harvest. Listen, I only talk to you
47:15
Speaker 3: about brands that I am actually using on the regular,
47:18
Speaker 3: And I cannot imagine my hectic weeks without having Daily
47:23
Speaker 3: Harvest at the ready. With Daily Harvest, there is an
47:25
Speaker 3: option for any time of day smoothies for breakfast. I
47:29
Speaker 3: am so big on a Menca cow crisp flatbreads for
47:33
Speaker 3: lunch or dinner that feel like an absolute treat. And
47:36
Speaker 3: then there's also the comfort food miss of the Harvest bowls,
47:41
Speaker 3: perfect for right now as the weather starts to pool
47:44
Speaker 3: down now. Most weeks, I feel like there is just
47:47
Speaker 3: not enough time. So the best part about getting on
47:51
Speaker 3: the Daily Harvest train is that everything stays fresh in
47:53
Speaker 3: your freezer until you are ready.
47:55
Speaker 2: To enjoy it, helping you to reduce your food waste.
48:00
Speaker 3: Over to Dailyharvest dot com enter promo code hurdle two fives.
48:04
Speaker 3: You get twenty five dollars off your first box. Again,
48:07
Speaker 3: that's promo code Hurdle two five for twenty five dollars
48:10
Speaker 3: off your first box at Dailyharvest dot com. That's Dailyharvest
48:16
Speaker 3: dot com. When did you realize with Peloton that this
48:27
Speaker 3: wasn't just going to be another cycling studio?
48:31
Speaker 5: Wow, I'm not sure like the exact moment. It really
48:34
Speaker 5: comes back to the members. But pre Covid we.
48:38
Speaker 1: Had people from literally all over the world come to
48:43
Speaker 1: that twenty that very modest and humble twenty third Street
48:47
Speaker 1: studio to take classes with us and be part of
48:51
Speaker 1: the experience that they love so.
48:54
Speaker 5: Much in their homes.
48:56
Speaker 1: And I'm so grateful and I'm so honored that people
49:00
Speaker 1: let me into their lives in such an impactful way.
49:03
Speaker 1: My job is so much about storytelling, telling telling stories
49:08
Speaker 1: about my life, telling you know, funny or serious, and
49:12
Speaker 1: when people reciprocate that connection with their story and describing
49:19
Speaker 1: to me the impact that I've had on their life,
49:22
Speaker 1: that made it feel very real and that there was
49:28
Speaker 1: that momentum and that we were really creating change.
49:32
Speaker 5: In the world.
49:34
Speaker 1: You and I we are constantly immersed in different cultures,
49:38
Speaker 1: different people. Also, we have a bajillion opportunities to move
49:44
Speaker 1: our bodies and sweat and hear people's stories in boutique
49:48
Speaker 1: fitness classes or at gyms, Like we're just constantly in that.
49:51
Speaker 1: When you think about the rest of the country or
49:53
Speaker 1: the rest of the world, there's like very either rural
49:55
Speaker 1: or small parts of the world that just don't get that.
49:59
Speaker 1: So to so for people to have that experience with
50:02
Speaker 1: me and it be maybe the first time that they're
50:05
Speaker 1: connected to their bodies, they're connected to movement, they're connected
50:10
Speaker 1: to literally being the best version of themselves, they're connecting
50:14
Speaker 1: to confronting their BS. It is so powerful and to
50:19
Speaker 1: hear those stories, that's that's that kind of aha mom
50:22
Speaker 1: where I'm like, oh Wow, Peloton is literally changing the
50:25
Speaker 1: world and is an outlet for good and they're so
50:32
Speaker 1: a on a global scale and even on a digital
50:34
Speaker 1: and in a digital scale, there's just nothing that I
50:37
Speaker 1: can think of that's like bringing that much joy and
50:41
Speaker 1: that much confrontation of BS and evolution to the.
50:46
Speaker 3: World for sure, And I mean the in the evolution
50:51
Speaker 3: of this brand and in your evolution as an instructor.
50:55
Speaker 3: When you look back on the last few years of Peloton,
50:58
Speaker 3: what would you say has been in one of the
51:01
Speaker 3: biggest turtles in kind of going along and embracing this ride.
51:06
Speaker 1: You know, once you start getting any sort of momentum,
51:09
Speaker 1: people want to people want to pick you apart, and
51:12
Speaker 1: people want to either focus on flaws and weaknesses, and
51:16
Speaker 1: those are there in any individual and any brand or
51:19
Speaker 1: any company.
51:20
Speaker 5: So it's.
51:23
Speaker 1: It's fighting my own frustration with criticism from the criticism
51:30
Speaker 1: that we may or may not receive and just be
51:31
Speaker 1: like you're you're not seeing it right, or like the
51:34
Speaker 1: way you're describing is not what it's supposed to be.
51:37
Speaker 1: So it's our job to kind of like change that.
51:40
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, I'm going to kind of
51:42
Speaker 1: do a little bit of a shameless plug right now.
51:44
Speaker 1: I think that the brand being seen as elitist or
51:49
Speaker 1: that this is only something that is for people that
51:52
Speaker 1: have money, I'm just like, that is not what it is.
51:55
Speaker 1: There's so many there's so many entry points into this
51:59
Speaker 1: world of fitness and this brand. And when I say
52:02
Speaker 1: you that, when I tell you that nobody has better
52:04
Speaker 1: content than Peloton, I mean that, like I we have
52:07
Speaker 1: the best instructors, we have the best content, Like no
52:08
Speaker 1: one's doing it like we are. So the app is,
52:11
Speaker 1: you know, under fifteen dollars. I think it's thirteen dollars.
52:14
Speaker 1: And you can get it on your phone, you can
52:15
Speaker 1: get on your TV, you can get it on your tablet,
52:18
Speaker 1: you can get it on you know, anywhere you want
52:20
Speaker 1: to take fitness classes, you can take it on the
52:22
Speaker 1: Peloton app. You know, we want to make fitness accessible
52:25
Speaker 1: to everybody, and it should and it should be moving
52:28
Speaker 1: our bodies and learning what our bodies are capable of
52:31
Speaker 1: just teaches us so much respect for ourselves, and it
52:35
Speaker 1: teaches us that it empowers us to really recognize what
52:39
Speaker 1: we're what we're capable of. And I'm so proud of
52:44
Speaker 1: the relationship that I have with my body and its
52:46
Speaker 1: capabilities that I want everyone to have that relationship with themselves.
52:53
Speaker 3: Has there been a time over our point over the
52:56
Speaker 3: last few years where your body is kind of rebelled
52:59
Speaker 3: about the amount of activity that you're taking on?
53:02
Speaker 5: Ooh yes, girl, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, talk to
53:05
Speaker 5: me about that. Well.
53:06
Speaker 1: I definitely think there was a point where I was
53:09
Speaker 1: just taking on too much stuff. I work with my
53:14
Speaker 1: therapist like, I don't like being idle. I am constantly
53:17
Speaker 1: on the go and trying to like, you know, let
53:19
Speaker 1: me take on this project, let me do this, let
53:20
Speaker 1: me do this, let me do this, And it was
53:23
Speaker 1: just it was if it wasn't work, it was my workouts.
53:27
Speaker 1: If it wasn't that, it was you know, stuff on
53:30
Speaker 1: social media, brand partnerships, taking on a relationship, going through
53:35
Speaker 1: a breakup at one point. You know, all of this
53:39
Speaker 1: takes its toll on yourself. And as a New Yorker
53:42
Speaker 1: or even as a person constantly going, you do you
53:46
Speaker 1: don't acknowledge your threshold of pain, but you kind of
53:48
Speaker 1: just like you just think that it's normal to like
53:52
Speaker 1: be working and constantly going. But it just takes its
53:54
Speaker 1: toll on you where you're physically drained, you're mentally an emotionally.
54:02
Speaker 5: Tapped out or not even or definitely not tuned in.
54:07
Speaker 1: And so it takes this toll on on It's taking
54:11
Speaker 1: its toll on me and many many occasions. And it
54:15
Speaker 1: it's a practice for me because I naturally gravitate towards
54:19
Speaker 1: these like high intensity kind of like days and work cycles.
54:25
Speaker 1: And it's not until I've beat myself up to a
54:28
Speaker 1: place where I'm like, oh wow, I'm so tired. I'm
54:31
Speaker 1: either sad, or like something's really off, and to be honest,
54:35
Speaker 1: just yeah, I've seen a massive manifest in really nasty
54:38
Speaker 1: ways where I kind of lash out towards people that
54:39
Speaker 1: are close close to me, and I hate that.
54:42
Speaker 5: So it's been those moments where.
54:45
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, what do you Why are you snapping?
54:47
Speaker 1: Like what's going on? And it's taking that moment, that
54:50
Speaker 1: breaking point and then breaking it down like oh, you're
54:52
Speaker 1: working yourself too much or you're doing too much to
54:54
Speaker 1: your body, And I've gotten better at finding more recovery
55:00
Speaker 1: moments or more self care moments. I hate saying balance
55:05
Speaker 1: because I don't. I don't believe in balance, but to
55:07
Speaker 1: balance out, balance myself out, I believe in like you're
55:12
Speaker 1: you know you're going to be there's gonna be a
55:14
Speaker 1: demand on you and you're gonna have to give it,
55:16
Speaker 1: but then you're gonna also have to like reel it
55:18
Speaker 1: in to take care of yourself.
55:20
Speaker 3: Yeah. I feel that, And I also I mean you're
55:23
Speaker 3: talking about showing up for people.
55:25
Speaker 4: Obviously, you have to show up for your.
55:26
Speaker 3: Community and your members very regularly in so many different
55:30
Speaker 3: ways when you are going through these times where you're
55:33
Speaker 3: just like I just feel as though I can't like,
55:35
Speaker 3: how do how do you actually show up?
55:41
Speaker 1: So the fortunate thing is that I love my job,
55:44
Speaker 1: and I love getting on the bike and is and
55:46
Speaker 1: I love working like I love the content that I create.
55:49
Speaker 1: So that's always a space that I never have a
55:51
Speaker 1: hard time feeling good and feeling happy. And it's honestly
55:54
Speaker 1: sometimes a therapy session for me because the things that
55:57
Speaker 1: come out of my mouth are things that I either
55:59
Speaker 1: need to hear or things that I'm dealing with just
56:02
Speaker 1: kind of in this a little bit more of a
56:04
Speaker 1: you know, filtered.
56:05
Speaker 5: Kind of way.
56:06
Speaker 1: So I'm experiencing a lot of the things that I'm
56:08
Speaker 1: talking about with members. I have no problem at this
56:12
Speaker 1: point in my life saying no or creating boundaries. I
56:17
Speaker 1: think boundaries that we can all create is a work boundary,
56:21
Speaker 1: Like it's okay to say no and you and if
56:24
Speaker 1: it's getting hard for you to say no or you're
56:27
Speaker 1: feeling unhappy, you need to communicate that with your you know, director,
56:33
Speaker 1: whoever you're reporting to from a workspace. It's also okay
56:39
Speaker 1: to say no to friends. You can say no to
56:43
Speaker 1: a night out of the bar, you can say no
56:45
Speaker 1: to a maybe I have to say this, but a
56:47
Speaker 1: birthday party or a trip or you know this this
56:49
Speaker 1: peer pressure, like it's okay to say no and be like,
56:51
Speaker 1: you know what I need to I need.
56:53
Speaker 5: To do me for for a little bit.
56:56
Speaker 1: So it's it's really creating those boundaries so that you
56:58
Speaker 1: don't get overworked or you don't put too much out there.
57:03
Speaker 1: And it's also really connecting to what are the things
57:06
Speaker 1: that are necessity necessity.
57:10
Speaker 4: What excites you right now?
57:13
Speaker 5: What excites me right now?
57:17
Speaker 1: Drag Race always excites me because that's like the gape,
57:20
Speaker 1: although like, well, no, I was actually gonna say, like
57:22
Speaker 1: drag race is not a break, but like, I'm such
57:24
Speaker 1: a drag Race fan that I'm even watching drag Race
57:26
Speaker 1: Holland right now on Wow Presents. So there's always a
57:30
Speaker 1: drag race, so that excites me. I'm really excited about
57:33
Speaker 1: my workouts. I'm back in the gym with my trainer,
57:36
Speaker 1: so that's been really exciting and just fun. And I
57:41
Speaker 1: just feel like it almost feels like I'm working out
57:42
Speaker 1: for the first time again because I haven't seen I
57:44
Speaker 1: haven't gotten underneath heavyweights like this in a while.
57:49
Speaker 5: What else excites me?
57:52
Speaker 1: I Mario Kart always excites me because it's just like
57:55
Speaker 1: a fun thing to do. But no, actually, that's what
57:58
Speaker 1: excites me is my so my chosen family. A lot
58:01
Speaker 1: of the summers we're all traveling and we're all over
58:04
Speaker 1: the place, or we're just like super busy, And it's
58:09
Speaker 1: been really amazing to connect with that chosen family and
58:13
Speaker 1: have really simple, yet fulfilling and enriching moments with people.
58:21
Speaker 5: That I absolutely love and adore.
58:26
Speaker 1: You know, I think all the things that we've taken
58:29
Speaker 1: for granted, we can kind of sit back right now
58:32
Speaker 1: and savor.
58:34
Speaker 5: And that that really excites.
58:36
Speaker 1: Me is really connecting with my friendships and the people
58:42
Speaker 1: that are important in my life.
58:44
Speaker 3: A really great takeaway from what some are referring to
58:48
Speaker 3: as one hell.
58:50
Speaker 4: Of a year.
58:51
Speaker 3: When someone when someone goes to your social they see
58:55
Speaker 3: three hundred and seventy six thousand plus followers.
58:57
Speaker 4: They see a peloton.
58:58
Speaker 3: Instructor, when you look in the mirror, what is it
59:02
Speaker 3: that you see?
59:04
Speaker 1: I see, I see a sun, I see a force
59:19
Speaker 1: of power. I see a source of good. I see
59:25
Speaker 1: some of them with lots of flaws and imperfections. I
59:29
Speaker 1: see a work in progress. I see a kid. You know,
59:37
Speaker 1: I just turned thirty three in June. Yet I still
59:42
Speaker 1: feel like a kid.
59:44
Speaker 5: I don't. I'm like, keep looking around, I'm like, have
59:47
Speaker 5: I grown up yet?
59:48
Speaker 3: Am I?
59:48
Speaker 5: Am? I? Am? I? Am? I a grown up now?
59:50
Speaker 5: I think like when I used to be a kid,
59:52
Speaker 5: I thought that I would be a grown up now.
59:53
Speaker 5: But I don't.
59:54
Speaker 1: I don't feel it even though I have all this
59:56
Speaker 1: you know, responsibility. I see someone who's striving to just
1:00:01
Speaker 1: be a good person and create positive change in the
1:00:07
Speaker 1: world through movement and living my life authentically.
1:00:11
Speaker 3: You have an opportunity right now to offer yourself one
1:00:15
Speaker 3: piece of advice. Let's go to the guy that is
1:00:18
Speaker 3: prepping to move to New York. He is ready to
1:00:22
Speaker 3: take under this new chapter, give an opportunity to offer
1:00:26
Speaker 3: him one piece of advice. Looking back on that hurdle
1:00:28
Speaker 3: moment right now, what do you tell him?
1:00:31
Speaker 1: I tell that person to tap in to their purpose.
1:00:39
Speaker 1: And if you're questioning what your purpose is, you're off
1:00:44
Speaker 1: to a good start. You're just going to have to
1:00:46
Speaker 1: do the work to uncover it and start tapping in
1:00:51
Speaker 1: to who you are, which means loving yourself and creating
1:00:57
Speaker 1: that relationship with yourself.
1:01:00
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for your time today, Cody.
1:01:02
Speaker 5: Thank you so much for having me.
1:01:05
Speaker 3: Of course, tell me how do the hurdlers keep up
1:01:08
Speaker 3: with you, Cody, give me the details.
1:01:10
Speaker 1: Well, you can always follow me on Instagram at Cody Riggsby.
1:01:15
Speaker 1: You can jump on the peloton app or bike and
1:01:20
Speaker 1: take a class with me. There's a free trial for
1:01:22
Speaker 1: anybody who has never taken a peloton class and maybe
1:01:26
Speaker 1: you'll just you know, see me out in the streets
1:01:28
Speaker 1: of New York City.
1:01:29
Speaker 3: Out in the streets I am at Emily Abadi at
1:01:33
Speaker 3: Hurdle Podcast. Another Hurdle Conquered. Catch you guys next time.