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Amanda Hinds, 31, loved indoor cycling, but over time, she grew bored with the music and found the classes didn’t feel right for her. She gave it up.
Then, she heard about a class that was different, tried it and loved it. “I was able to relate to the instructor because she was younger and Black, like me. She played hip hop, bounce and Jersey club music,” Hinds tells TODAY.com.
Hinds took more of those classes, and she realized she wanted to be that person on the podium, leading the other riders. COVID-19 derailed her plans, though. Her gym closed, and she bought a Peloton bike but quickly stopped using it. She gained a lot of weight.
“A little after COVID, I went on vacation, and I couldn’t even walk. My feet hurt just from walking and standing. My athleticism was really bad. I went to the doctor, and I saw that I had gained 100 pounds in a year. I couldn’t believe it. I was so frustrated and disgusted with myself,” she says.
Since then, she’s reached her dream of becoming a cycling instructor, lost 80 pounds and improved her fitness and stamina. She shared her inspirational journey on TikTok in a video that went viral.
Here’s how she got there.
She reconnected with her dream of teaching cycling classes
One day, Hinds decided it was time to dust off that Peloton bike and get back in the saddle. “I told myself, ‘Stop being afraid of the bike. It’s hard. Just try it. Take it day by day,’” she says.
“That was a big pivot in my fitness journey — admitting that something was hard, but could be done. It’s supposed to be hard, and it’s not going to be hard forever. Our bodies can do it. It’s just our minds telling us we can’t. When you’re trying to grow and challenge yourself, you have to remove all of that noise.”
That was a big pivot in my fitness journey — admitting that something was hard, but could be done.
Amanda Hinds
She would ride at home without following along with the classes. “I would make a playlist and record myself talking out loud: ‘Hi! This is Amanda. We’re going to warm up now.’ I was scared I would be tired, and I would have to stop. I knew that would discourage me. I didn’t think I could do it,” she says.
She took it song by song and step by step. “I didn’t think about the whole 45 minutes of a class,” she says. If she felt out of breath after two songs, she would take it a little easier for the third song.
As she got stronger, she considered auditioning to be an instructor. But she hadn’t lost any weight. She texted a friend for advice: “My friend texted me back and said, ‘Amanda, I don’t think you should wait. I think you should just try it now.’ So that’s what I did.”
It wasn’t easy. She got turned down several times. “One gym took a chance on me, even when I didn’t believe in myself yet,” she says.
She overcame self-doubt
“The first time I taught. I had imposter syndrome at an all-time high. I was nervous and scared. The day before, I wondered if I could really do it or if I deserved it. I wasn’t confident,” she says.
“I thought, these people are going to see me walk in this class and think, ‘She’s our instructor? I’m smaller than her. I’m probably more fit than her. How is she going to teach me anything?’ A lot of negative thoughts came into play when I taught my first class,” she says. But everyone supported her.
Since then, she’s honed in on her fitness, aiming to improve her health and performance. That helped build her confidence so she could be herself. “I talk and act a certain way, and I didn’t have to put on a mask. I could play the music I wanted to play. I thought I had to tone my personality down, but I didn’t have to change who I was,” she says.
She kept instructing, took other classes so she could keep learning and practiced on her bike at home. Eventually, she transitioned to leading CycleBar classes near her home in Belleville, NJ. “As a plus-sized woman of color, it feels so empowering to be up on that podium,” she says.
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