The Cult of SoulCycle

Summary

All Of It Podcast Summary: "The Cult of SoulCycle"

Podcast Information:

• Title: All Of It
• Host: Alison Stewart
• Episode: The Cult of SoulCycle
• Release Date: June 4, 2025
• Description: This episode delves into how SoulCycle transformed fitness culture in New York City, exploring its origins, unique approach, and the ensuing cultural impact.

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1. Introduction to the Episode [01:31 – 02:43]

Alison Stewart opens the episode by setting the stage for an in-depth exploration of SoulCycle's influence on fitness culture. She introduces Jess Rothschild, the writer and producer of the podcast "Cult of Body and Soul," which investigates the rise of SoulCycle. Alison hints at upcoming discussions about the Tony Awards, a Mark Twain bio series, and the Mitford sisters, but quickly shifts focus to SoulCycle, inviting listeners into the world of this iconic fitness phenomenon.

2. Jess Rothschild’s SoulCycle Journey [03:31 – 05:07]

Jess Rothschild shares her personal experience with SoulCycle, starting her classes in 2011. Initially, Jess found her early sessions uneventful until she attended a class led by instructor Stevie Santangelo. She recalls, “[...] I saw a new instructor photo popped up and it was this woman, Stevie Santangelo. And I think instinctually, I felt a connection to her” ([04:05]). This connection was transformative, turning her routine spin classes into a profound, almost spiritual experience.

3. The Unique SoulCycle Experience [04:29 – 09:37]

Jess elaborates on what sets SoulCycle apart from typical spin classes. Unlike standard classes where music and instructors play a minimal role, SoulCycle incorporates theatrical elements, synchronized music, and a spiritual ambiance. She explains:

“SoulCycle transformed a typical spin class into a theatrical spiritual experience. [...] The lights are going on and off, they're moving candles around. It's like a 360 experience” ([04:29]).

This approach creates an immersive environment where participants feel uplifted and spiritually renewed, fostering a loyal and passionate community.

4. Founding of SoulCycle and Key Figures [09:37 – 15:00]

Founders:

• Julie Rice: A talent agent from Los Angeles with experience in branding and marketing, instrumental in turning instructors into superstars.
• Elizabeth Cutler: Focused on the spiritual and emotional aspects, she infused SoulCycle with ritualistic and spiritual elements.
• Ruth Zuckerman: The lesser-known third co-founder whose contributions are pivotal yet underrepresented.

Jess highlights Ruth Zuckerman’s crucial role:

“She was the face of it originally. She brought her riders and followers initially at that 72nd Street location. So there wouldn't be SoulCycle without Ruth” ([10:28]).

Origin Story: The trio met through their mutual connection with Ruth and quickly moved to establish SoulCycle in an unassuming location found via Craigslist. The first studio lacked the prominent signage seen today, making the origins humble and grassroots.

5. The Spiritual and Branding Elements [14:59 – 20:38]

Elizabeth Cutler played a significant role in shaping SoulCycle’s identity. She integrated spiritual practices into the business, such as placing crystals on bikes to absorb residual energy, ensuring each session felt fresh and renewed. Jess notes:

“There is a crystal at the back of every SoulCycle bike... it's meant to absorb that energy so that it's a fresh experience for the instructor and the riders every single time” ([14:59]).

Simultaneously, Julie Rice’s expertise in branding made SoulCycle a recognizable and aspirational brand, akin to the status of the Nike swoosh in athletic wear.

6. Instructor Training and Lifestyle [22:23 – 24:58]

The podcast explores the demanding training regimen for SoulCycle instructors, described as "grueling" and highly selective. Instructors undergo extensive training, teaching up to 16 classes a week under rigorous standards. Jess shares:

“The training program is grueling. They had to ride, I think, several classes a day. They went through lectures and drills and all of these different elements” ([22:23]).

The lifestyle is intense but rewarding, leading to strong bonds between instructors and riders, contributing to the "cult-like" atmosphere surrounding SoulCycle.

7. Cult-Like Following and Cultural Impact [23:58 – 25:46]

SoulCycle garnered a reputation for having a dedicated, almost cult-like following. This was characterized by:

• Uniform Branding: Classes filled with participants in SoulCycle-branded attire.
• Exclusive Language: Phrases like "Noon on Monday" became part of the community lexicon.
• Celebrity Participation: High-profile individuals frequently attended, enhancing its allure.

Jess reflects on the cultural phenomena:

“There is a ritual to it. [...] It is a language that we use. So yeah, I mean, it is, it is” ([24:58]).

This fervent community contributed significantly to SoulCycle’s branding and market dominance.

8. Evolution and Acquisition by Equinox [25:09 – 27:24]

In 2011, SoulCycle was sold to Equinox, a major fitness conglomerate. This acquisition marked a turning point:

• Cultural Shift: Transition from a boutique, instructor-focused company to a corporate structure.
• Change in Instructor Dynamics: Equinox introduced younger instructors with social media influence, reducing the emphasis on experienced, soulful instructors.
• Financial Models: Shift from generous compensation and benefits to more corporate financial structures, leading to dissatisfaction among long-term instructors.

Jess explains:

“They started paying instructors less. They started slowly hiring younger and younger instructors so they could pay them less” ([26:06]).

This shift led to what Jess describes as the "soul leaving" SoulCycle, diminishing its original charm and community focus.

9. Listener Interactions and Testimonials [12:14 – 17:03, 16:22 – 17:01]

Throughout the episode, listeners share personal anecdotes:

• Roland from Westport, Connecticut ([12:14]): Initially skeptical, Roland was converted after attending a Stevie Santangelo-led class, likening it to a spiritual experience.
• Betsy from Manhattan ([16:24]): Though not a SoulCycle participant, Betsy felt excluded from the community but found the podcast enlightening, highlighting the pervasive cultural impact of SoulCycle.

These testimonials underscore the profound personal and communal effects SoulCycle had on individuals.

10. Conclusion and Final Insights [27:32 – End]

Jess Rothschild emphasizes the ongoing relevance of SoulCycle’s story, inviting listeners to engage with her podcast "Cult of Body and Soul" available on YouTube and other platforms. She highlights the meticulous research and personal narratives that offer a comprehensive understanding of SoulCycle’s rise and transformation.

“All the episodes are on YouTube. You can watch the whole thing as well” ([27:32]).

Alison Stewart wraps up the episode by acknowledging the depth and complexity of SoulCycle's journey, leaving listeners with an invitation to explore further through Jess’s podcast.

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Notable Quotes:

• Jess Rothschild on Stevie Santangelo's Impact: “She was so amazing. And, like, when she stopped, I stopped. So now I'm fat” ([12:48]).
• Jess on Instructor Training: “They had to ride... several classes a day. They went through lectures and drills...” ([22:23]).
• Jess on Spiritual Elements: “There is a crystal at the back of every SoulCycle bike... it absorbs that energy” ([14:59]).

Key Takeaways:

• Innovation in Fitness: SoulCycle revolutionized spin classes by integrating theatrical and spiritual elements, creating a unique and immersive experience.
• Community and Culture: The strong, almost cult-like community fostered loyalty and brand prestige but also led to intense pressure and high expectations.
• Corporate Acquisition Impact: Being acquired by Equinox altered SoulCycle’s core culture, leading to shifts in instructor dynamics and community engagement.
• Personal Transformation: Participants often experience profound personal changes, feeling uplifted and connected through the SoulCycle experience.

Final Thoughts: "The Cult of SoulCycle" offers a comprehensive look into how SoulCycle became a cultural icon within the fitness industry. Through personal stories, historical context, and critical analysis, Jess Rothschild uncovers the layers behind the brand's success and subsequent challenges, providing valuable insights into the interplay between business innovation, community building, and cultural impact.

Transcript

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[Alison Stewart]

This is all of it. I'm Alison Stewart live from the Dutch WNYC studios in soho. Thanks for spending part of your day with us. I am really grateful you are here. Coming up on today's show, we'll continue our coverage of the Tony Awards with a conversation about Sunset Boulevard. The Broadway revival has earned seven Tony nominations, including one for lead actor Tom Francis, who will join us to discuss. Plus, we have another installment of our full bio series about Mark Twain. Today, biographer Ron Chernow will share a bit about how Twain thought about issues of his time, from politics, politics to racism. And then we'll talk about the outrageous Mitford sisters, a group of siblings whose lives intertwined with some significant political moments across Europe. That is our plan. So let's get this started with an investigation into the world of soul. Cycle music, please. Okay, writers, get ready to turn it up.

[Comcast Representative]

Feel the spirit, feel the energy.

[Alison Stewart]

Okay, let's ride.

[Comcast Representative]

Okay. In 2006, inside an unassuming building on West 72nd Street, a new company was slowly beginning to change fitness culture in New York. The company was SoulCycle, founded by three women. Word got out that SoulCycle had curated an intense and euphoric spin class experience. It was led by charismatic instructors whose priorities was to lift people up and help writers leave. Feeling almost spiritually renewed, the music driven Workouts developed what some say was a cult level following. A new podcast dives into the history and culture of Soul Cycle, including interviews with instructors and writers. The podcast is named Cult of Body and Soul. It's hosted by our guest. It is Jess Rothschild. Nice to meet you.

[Alison Stewart]

Hi.

[Jess Rothschild]

Thank you for having me.

[Alison Stewart]

All right, I'm gonna get into your Soul Cycle experience before we talk about the podcast. You started spinning there in about 2011, right?

[Jess Rothschild]

Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

What do you remember about your first Soul Cycle class?

[Jess Rothschild]

Well, it's funny because my first class was pretty uneventful. I had been going for a while and didn't have a spiritual bond to an instructor. But then. But I was still obsessed with it. Something was definitely pulling me through. And I used to scroll the Soul Cycle website at work to kill time and just stare at the schedule.

[Alison Stewart]

Interesting.

[Jess Rothschild]

And the instructors. And one day I saw a new instructor photo popped up and it was this woman, Stevie Santangelo. And I think instinctually, I felt a connection to her and I sought out her class. And that is the class that truly transformed the course of my life, if you track it over the past decade.

[Alison Stewart]

Well, what did it offer you? What did SoulCycle offer you that spin classes and hadn't in the.

[Jess Rothschild]

At first, Theater, performance art, they took a typical, like, spin class, which if you imagine, like crunch jam, Just a typical class where the lights are on, the music is not connected in any way to what you're doing. Like not writing to the rhythm. The music is almost in the background. The instructor is almost in the background. And SoulCycle transformed this into a theatrical spiritual experience. And that was the unique identifier.

[Comcast Representative]

Well, what interested you about the history of Soul Cycle and the culture that you wanted to make a podcast about it?

[Jess Rothschild]

Because I noticed the instructors were truly artists. Like, they were. They were creating theater. The lights are going on and off, they're moving candles around. It's like a 360 experience. And I was totally obsessed with the instructor training program. Like, I knew that it was very gate capped and no one would ever talk about it because I became friends with Stevie. And it was just so vague. Like, I knew it was, you know, a certain period of time, like six to eight weeks, but there were no details about it. And so cut to me back then, I was at the brunch table saying, what the hell are they saying to these people behind closed doors? And I would threatened that I was good to my friends as a joke. I knew I didn't want to become an instructor aside, you know, even though I was Very into fitness. I knew my journey was not to become a Soul cycle instructor or a fitness instructor, but I would say I think I should audition and go through the training program because it was this itch that I truly couldn't scratch. So that's. I mean, that's why, you know, that's a large part of what I was so curious about.

[Comcast Representative]

Listeners, we want to get you in on this conversation. Do you go to Soul Cycle? When did you first start spinning? What do you get out of the workout? Our number is 2124-3396-9221-2433, WNYC. Did you go to the original location on 72nd street back in the day? Who's your favorite instructor and why? Maybe you want to work out as a soul succinct cycle instructor. You want to tell us a little bit of the tea? Spill it. 2124-3396-9221-2433-WNYC. Or maybe you go to a competitor. Tell us why. 212-433-WNYC. First of all, the. The women who started Soul Cycle, they didn't invent spinning. It goes all the way back.

[Jess Rothschild]

Yeah.

[Comcast Representative]

Tell us a little bit about the person who invented spinning, what its original purpose was.

[Jess Rothschild]

So the person who invented spinning is a man named Johnny G. Johnny Goldberg, and he was a South African cyclist. And the spin bike was originally invented to help. To help athletes, like, recover from injuries. And he built the very first spin bikes by hand, and they would be in his backyard. This is. This is Johnny Goldberg. And spinning, the spin craze really took off in Los angeles in the 90s. And one of those people, one of those original spin instructors who really caught fire was this woman, Janet Fitzgerald. And she was the guru of one of the women who eventually co founded SoulCycle. And she had her own studio called Body and Soul. That's why the series is called Cult of Body and Soul. You know, it's a. It can mean it's a play on words. But Body and Soul was Janet Fitzgerald's studio. And tons of celebrities would take her class. Alanis Morissette, Jodie Foster. Everybody was spinning there. And the other places that Janet taught, and Janet would go on to, they would recruit her to New York to develop that instructor training program. And she built and created over 400 Soul Cycle instructors through her training program.

[Alison Stewart]

But back to Johnny G. So when did it go from being something that he used for people who biked, who needed inside training, to becoming just part of a routine, something you Might see at the gym.

[Jess Rothschild]

Just over time, stationary bike became a new form of cardio, you know, aside from running and, you know, boxing.

[Alison Stewart]

So how did Janet sort of beat into this idea, there's a stationary bike, but I can do something with it?

[Jess Rothschild]

Janet was all about creating a spiritual experience. To her, it was creating a musical experience, an emotional and spiritual experience. And she is a master at syncing what your body is doing to the music. And she always said that her goal was that your body should just know what to be able to do to the music. And that's what she really tries to impart onto instructors in training.

[Comcast Representative]

So the original Soul Cycle was in New York, founded in New York in 2006. Who was it founded by?

[Jess Rothschild]

Julie Rice, Elizabeth Cutler, and their third co founder, who not many people know about. This woman, Ruth Zuckerman. She was the person who introduced the two of them. She was their mutual spin instructor at another studio. And. Yeah. And yeah. So the very first episode is a lot about uncovering who is Ruth Zuckerman and the story behind the founding. Because everyone knows Julia Rice and Elizabeth Cutler. These are the women on the COVID of Forbes. Like, these are. Everybody knows these two founders. But the true story of how it's founded has never been told as it is in this series. In the very first episode, how would.

[Comcast Representative]

You describe Ruth Zuckerman's role in SoulCycle?

[Jess Rothschild]

She was the face of it originally. She was the face and she was the original person who they each went to with dreams of opening their spin studio. So she brought her riders. She brought the following initially at that 72nd street location. So there wouldn't be Soul Cycle without Ruth.

[Comcast Representative]

What was her start? How did she start out?

[Jess Rothschild]

She was a fitness instructor, period.

[Alison Stewart]

Yeah.

[Comcast Representative]

But more than just a fitness instructor, she had this many followers.

[Jess Rothschild]

She had a dedicated following. Yeah. Do you remember Reebok?

[Comcast Representative]

Sure.

[Jess Rothschild]

So she taught at Reebok and she taught out in the Hamptons. And like Julie Rice, one of the fans, like, she was spinning with her at Reebok and the other one was spinning with Ruth out in the Hamptons. And separately, they. They had these dreams and she's like, oh, like, maybe we should all go to lunch. They go to lunch at the Soho House. Four months later, Soul Cycle opens. It happened really fast.

[Comcast Representative]

Wow, that's really interesting.

[Alison Stewart]

How did it happen so fast?

[Jess Rothschild]

Because the other two women were sharks in business. Truly. Truly. Julie Rice was a talent agent in la. That's where she discovered Janet riding a Body and Soul. She was a talent agent. She worked for Benny Medina, who was Benny Medina, developed J. Lo, Tyra Banks, I mean, even Sean P. Diddy Combs. Not to bring him into the conversation, but she understood how to turn celebrities into brands. And. And that was what she saw we could do with SoulCycle is turn these instructors into superstars. And they did.

[Comcast Representative]

Let's take a call. This is Roland calling from Westport, Connecticut. Hey, Roland, thank you so much for making the time to call all of it.

[Caller]

Hi. It's so bizarre that I'm calling in about SoulCycle. But anyway, I. I was the original skeptic. I mean, I was like, so my boyfriend was totally into it, doing it five days a week, and he was talking about how great it was, how spirit children. I was like, oh, please, come on. And then I went to a class with Stevie, and, oh, my God, she. It was like church. Stevie was like, unbelievable.

[Jess Rothschild]

Do I know. Do I know you?

[Caller]

I don't. I don't know.

[Jess Rothschild]

Okay.

[Caller]

I mean, my boyfriend Chris was always in the front row, and of course I was in the back. But anyway. But, like, Stevie was just. She was so amazing. And, like, when she stopped, I stopped. So now I'm fat.

[Jess Rothschild]

Wow.

[Caller]

But anyway, I just wanted to mention that because Stevie is just like a one of a kind thing, I think.

[Comcast Representative]

Thank you so much for calling in. We appreciate that.

[Jess Rothschild]

She. She got me hooked.

[Alison Stewart]

She.

[Jess Rothschild]

I'm telling you, this is proof positive.

[Comcast Representative]

My guest is Jeff Jess Rothschild. She is the writer and producer of the new podcast Cult of Body and Soul, which looks at how Soul Cycle transformed fitness culture in New York. Are you someone who go to Soul Cycle? What do you get out of the workout? Did you go to the Original location on 72nd street back in the day? Or maybe you worked as a Soul Cycle instructor. What's it like to lead a class? Give us a call or text us now at 2124-3396-9221-2433. WNYC. Okay, we talked about Julie Rice. She was the. The agent. Yeah, we talked about Ruth Zuckerman. Explain Elizabeth Cutler, the third woman.

[Jess Rothschild]

So Elizabeth Cutler, she really brought a lot of the spiritual language of SoulCycle. She really imparted where Julie Rice from LA, the talent agent, was all about, like, the marketing, the branding. Like, that's why we know the Soul Cycle logo the way we would know the Nike swoosh. Elizabeth Cutler really said, this has to be a spiritual experience. And so a lot of that language that's used throughout the Soul Cycle branding and, like, the smell of it, the way, like, different elements, like There's a crystal at the back of every Soul Cycle bike, and they bless the opening of every studio with an opening of the studio, like, literally, like a ritual blessing. And that crystal is still at the back of every single Soul Cycle bike. And it's because a lot of energy gets left in the room, and the crystal is meant to absorb that energy so that it's a fresh experience for the instructor and the riders every single time.

[Alison Stewart]

So that was. Who's. Who's that?

[Jess Rothschild]

That was Elizabeth.

[Alison Stewart]

That was Elizabeth. Okay. So we had the branding. We have the spiritual element.

[Comcast Representative]

We.

[Alison Stewart]

Ruth, who's about recruiting the writers initially.

[Jess Rothschild]

Initially.

[Alison Stewart]

Initially, yeah. So then they have to find a location, and they find a sort of. It's an unassuming location. You kind of had to know where it was on 72nd Street. Was that purposeful?

[Jess Rothschild]

No, no. They found it on Craigslist. They found it on Craigslist.

[Alison Stewart]

Amazing.

[Jess Rothschild]

And it was at the back of an old. It was an old dance studio, so they had a license. It was. It was already a previous, like, fitness location. So maybe that's why it was easy to get the hookup initially through Craigslist. And because it was in the rear lobby of a building, and according to the lease, they could not use any outside signage. Like, they could not. Like, now, when you pass by a Soul Cycle location, there's a huge yellow wheel on the side of every building that is the home of a Soul Cycle. None of that existed at first. And so in the first. In the second episode, I have some of the very first employees describing, like, you make a sharp left, that you make a sharp right, the way you would, like, walk through a New York City office building, like a dentist's office, to find the room. And I find that to be hilarious, the way they describe it.

[Comcast Representative]

Let's talk to Betsy, who's calling in from Manhattan.

[Alison Stewart]

Hi, Betsy. Thanks for calling all of it.

[Betsy]

Hey, Allison. Hey, Jess. I wasn't a soul cycler, but I have some friends who were, and I kind of was abandoned by them since I wasn't part of the cult. So one of my friends turned me on to the podcast. I'm really digging it, and it's really cool to listen to all the backstory, because anybody that wasn't in was definitely out. So I kind of feel like I missed out on something, and now I get to get the whole story. And I also really am digging the music.

[Jess Rothschild]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Comcast Representative]

That was a big part of it. The music was a big part of it, right?

[Jess Rothschild]

The music was everything Soul Cycle itself is all about the instructor and the music. And I really wanted to imbue the series with that. This series called the Body and Soul with that. And so the entire series is sound design. And I have original music composed for the series by Elizabeth Ziff. She was the composer on the L Word and her band, Betty. They sang the theme song to the L Word and all. Every single episode of the series ends with one of their songs.

[Comcast Representative]

It's pretty cool.

[Jess Rothschild]

Yeah.

[Comcast Representative]

So, but it was interesting because they were talking about. In the series. Listen to the first three episodes. They were talking about how important the music was for the instructor. They used to, you know, people used to play a song here and there, but they really learned that the music was a way to get people sort of engaged with spinning.

[Jess Rothschild]

Well, yes. So part of what Janet really taught in the instructor training program was how to build the playlist. And it's all designed based on the beats per minute of each song. So when you start. When you start a class, it's not like you're immediately sprinting. It's the. Maybe the beats per minute are like 120. So it's like a slower song where it feels more like a jog rather than a run or a sprint. And you slowly build to, like, a climactic moment where, like, you are, like, essentially sprinting in the class, and then they bring it back down, which is like the 11 o' clock number, which is called the soulful moment. And that's when they really say very little. Unless they. I mean, they were taught. Somebody says there was an expression, wait, why am I talking? Wait, why am I talking? This was something that they imparted onto instructors in training. Don't say anything unless you have something brilliant to say during this moment. And that is a moment where they turn off all the lights, they'll move candles around. Sometimes, at least when I. When I was going really regularly. I haven't seen this in a while, but sometimes they would put the candle on your handlebars and allow you to, like, blow it out. I'm telling you, there was very. Like, it was a moment. Like, I haven't seen that in a while. It was a moment. But, like, that is also how they sort of hooked people, by seeking people out and, like, giving people a moment and making you feel like they're special and seen.

[Comcast Representative]

So, yeah, we're discussing the podcast Cult of Body and Soul with jest. I keep screwing up your name. Jess Rothschild.

[Jess Rothschild]

I know. That's why my friends call me Jesse. Sometimes.

[Comcast Representative]

Jesse Rothschild. We'll have more with Jesse after a quick break. This is all of It.

[Alison Stewart]

You are listening to all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. My guest in studio is writer and host and producer of the podcast Cult of Body and Soul, which looks at how Soul Cycle transformed fitness culture. It's Jess Rothschild. If you'd like to get in on the conversation, we'd like to know, did you go to SoulCycle? Do you go to Soul Cycle? What do you get out of the class? Our number is 212-433-WNYC 212-433-9692. All right, so we talked about the three founders, yet we really only know a lot about two of them. Why is that?

[Jess Rothschild]

Because after the first year, they, I think, were having a lot of internal complications just running a business. And ultimately Ruth exited, which we really explore in the first episode, and she eventually went on to co found their main competitor, Flywheel.

[Alison Stewart]

Was it a sort of a. How do we just, how do we describe it when people leave amicably? Did Ruth leave amicably or no?

[Jess Rothschild]

Well, believe it or not, she stayed on as an instructor for two more years after she was no longer an owner. Oh, interesting. Due to, like, legal. It had to do with contracts being written, she was no longer an owner. And she walked out the door, she was like, goodbye. And they were like, wait, where are you going? And she was like, I'm out of here. And they said, no, we thought you would at least stay on and teach. And after time, she was like, well, she realized she couldn't go back to Reebok meeting $40 a class. All of her riders and her clients were now at Soul Cycle. So she stayed on as an instructor for another two years at the place she co founded and yet was no longer an owner. And then one day, somebody in her class, a finance guy, came up to her and said, hey, I've got an idea, something we can do, which is to add technology to this and add metrics. And that is what Flywheel became.

[Comcast Representative]

You spoke to many instructors for this podcast. What did they tell you about how they were trained? What did they tell you about the lifestyle of a Soul Cycle instructor?

[Jess Rothschild]

The lifestyle is grueling. The training program is grueling. They had to work, Stevie says, like, they had to really work to get into training and to stay in training. They had to ride, I think, several classes a day. They went through lectures and drills and all of these different elements part of the training program. And it's extremely difficult. They are teaching upwards of 16 classes a week. At least in the heyday, the schedule would be either a full time instructor would be 12 to 16 classes. However, there's one instructor became a full blown phenomenon even outside of the existing frenzy. That was SoulCycle. He's a Turkish tennis prodigy named Akan Ackman. And any fitness junkie in New York City knows about Akon and he became a legitimate phenomenon and he eventually left and he opened his own thing called Atkins Army. But when he was at SoulCycle, because he was a true athlete, he was teaching more than 30 classes a week because he, he was this. He's a robot. Yeah. This guy is AI generated. He never needed. He never needed a day off. So he was teaching seven days a week, six or seven classes a day.

[Comcast Representative]

Wow. Wow. It's interesting because Soul Cycle has this reputation for having a cult like following. Even SNL parried it. Parried it. It was very funny. How much do you agree or disagree with the cultist association around SoulCycle?

[Jess Rothschild]

I think that cult of personality definitely forms between the writers and the instructors. It's cult of personality, I think is where it's most. It's most expressed. But cult, I mean, yeah, we're all especially, you know, between 2011 and 2016 at its height, everyone in the class is wearing SoulCycle branded clothing. There is a ritual to it. You're all signed like. The third episode is titled Noon on Monday. Because this was a frenzy going on. Servers would crash. My friend was the assistant to a very high level CEO and part of his job was to book her bikes Noon on Monday because this woman is busy running a company. She didn't have time. And so part of his job, he's like, oh, that was my whole life was getting my, my boss into classes. So Noon on Monday is a phrase. There are expressions that. This is a language that we use. So yeah, I mean, it is, it is.

[Alison Stewart]

How about the cost of it? It cost a lot of money to go to one class. Was that an issue ever? No, no. Were they doing that on purpose to keep.

[Jess Rothschild]

Well, the certain level? SoulCycle invented the pay per class model. So previously you sign up for a gym, it's a monthly. It's a monthly membership. And what SoulCycle did was they thought, no, we're not going to do a membership. You're going to plunk down the $34 every single time you take a class.

[Alison Stewart]

A lot of money. Yeah.

[Jess Rothschild]

Now it's $40.

[Alison Stewart]

Wow.

[Jess Rothschild]

But yeah, they invented the paper class model and that revolutionized the entire boutique Fitness industry. Every, every, you know, Barry's boot Camp, every competitor, they're all paper class.

[Alison Stewart]

In 2011, the original Soul Cycle owner sold the company to Equinox, which was just in the news recently for having to pay out a certain amount because it was difficult to make up classes. Read Gothamist.com to find out more. What changed about SoulCycle once they sold, once the original owners departed, everything, yeah.

[Jess Rothschild]

The entire culture changed and there was a real culture war between SoulCycle and Equinox. How SoulCycle was running its company under Julie and Elizabeth. It went from being like a small homegrown mom and pop business where the instructors were taken care of, they were giving, given health insurance, they were paid more than any other instructors, they were being compensated for their talent and really taken care of to now you're under a corporation, a behemoth. Equinox is a subsidiary of Related Companies which owns every single apartment, nearly every single apartment building in New York and Los Angeles. And you feel that corporate trickle down. They started paying instructors less. They started slowly hiring younger and younger instructors so they could pay them less people with less experience, those older, more soulful, more experienced life experience instructors started to get faded out because they were making so much money and they just wanted younger influencers teaching the class. And that is really what changed. So the soul started to leave.

[Comcast Representative]

To learn more about it, you should listen to the podcast Cult of Body and Soul. It is hosted and produced by Jess Rothschild.

[Jess Rothschild]

By the way, you know, all the episodes are on YouTube. You can watch the whole thing as well. All right, so yeah, if you're not a podcast, listen, we got you on YouTube.

[Comcast Representative]

Thanks, Jess.

[Jess Rothschild]

Thank you.

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[Caller]

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[Comcast Representative]

Bottom of the bottom.