What Is It Like To Be a Fitness Instructor?

This week, I asked my dear friend and one of my favorite CycleBar instructors, Cassidy Putney, to answer some questions about her life and work in the fitness industry. 

Here is how our conversation went:

How did you get started teaching fitness classes?

I was living in California at the time and was super unhappy, unhealthy, and I was overweight. I started cycling and immediately saw results in my physical and mental wellbeing. About a year later, I decided I wanted to be an instructor myself and started to train and learn as much as I could. I got certified to teach group fitness and then when I relocated to Buffalo, NY, I auditioned to be an instructor at Revolution Buffalo, and the rest is history! 

Are you a full-time fitness instructor? If not, what else do you do?

In addition to fitness, I work full-time in the sustainability field. I am the co-founder and owner of Impact Earth, which is a zero-waste lifestyle and compost hauling company based in Rochester, New York. I am also the founder and CEO of GreenHows Consulting, which is based here in Charlotte, North Carolina. 

You can follow these two businesses on Instagram @impactearth_composting & @greenhows_.

What is your favorite part of teaching and why?

Personally, I am addicted to the feeling of being up on the podium in a cycling class. I love the adrenaline rush and how my playlist can be so personal to me but also so relatable and potentially personal for others in the room. However, I find it most rewarding when my clients find their own journey and really progress in the many ways they can inside and outside our studio. I love being able to make an impact in someone’s life.

What do you think makes an effective fitness instructor?

An effective instructor is there not for themselves, but rather to help lift others up. Someone that takes the time and chooses to program their workout in a way that is accessible, challenging, and provides both extra options and modifications. I truly believe that if you put in the effort to get to know your clients, and create programs that are targeted for each and every person in the room, you can’t go wrong! I always try to bring diversity of music, especially, into my cycling classes with the hope that at least one song in every class is appealing to every single rider. I also think it’s important for an instructor to go from good to great - they need to constantly keep learning, receiving feedback, and finding new ways to coach.

What is your “why”?

I became a fitness instructor because fitness in my early 20s really changed my life and my lifestyle. And at the time, I didn’t feel that there was the correct representation of different types of bodies and different types of people up on the podium at cycling studios.

What are your other goals? Do you want to expand your teaching into other areas of fitness?

I am currently training to be a coach at ISI Elite Training where I will lead group fitness classes. I am also currently studying for my CPT and would love to get into personal, one-on-one training.

Do you have any advice for anyone that wants to get into teaching fitness?

Ask your favorite instructor about their journey! Let them know you’re interested in teaching, and they will most likely point you in the right direction. However, they will most likely 100% freak out with excitement and demand that they will help you get there!

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Thank you, Cassidy! You can follow along Cassidy’s instructor journey by following her @cassidyrayyne on Instagram, or if you are local in NC, you can take her classes at CycleBar - Matthews!