Yesterday I had adventures at two different fitness studios.
First, I went to SoulCycle for my spin class. I seriously love being there. I walked it and people know who I am. They ask me how I’m doing and how my job situation is. They really do know me there.
My class was with an instructor who hasn’t taught at my spin studio in a while (she teaches at Beverly Hills but was subbing for another instructor yesterday). Even though she hasn’t seen me in months, she remembered me. She asked me how I was and mentioned that I had looked good in class.
When I was leaving class, another instructor who’s class I’ve taken was there. I had talked with her a few months ago about my hip issues, and as soon as she saw me she had asked me about it and if I had my next hip surgery scheduled.
Then as I was leaving, one of the front desk people who I know was outside and we chatted for a minute. I mentioned how my dad is coming to town this weekend (as you are reading this I’m probably getting him at the airport) and how he is coming with me to SoulCycle on Saturday. She got so excited and told me that she would be working on Saturday and was looking forward to meeting my dad.
It feels amazing to work out somewhere where people know you and care about you.
On the somewhat opposite end of the spectrum, I went to a grand opening of another fitness studio last night. I’m not going to mention the name of it because I’m sure what happened last night is not representative of what it will be like there and I want to give them another chance.
But I went to the opening night event, and there was nothing there for me to do. There was no information about the studio and the classes. No schedule to look at. And even in the swag bag, no free pass (I’m sure that was an oversight and I tweeted at the owner to see if I could come check out a class for free sometime).
I didn’t feel like I belonged there at all. I think most of the people who were there were friends and family of the owner and instructors and for the first 30 minutes that I was there I didn’t talk to a single person!
Finally, another blogger who was there came up to me and we started chatting. Turns out, she felt just as left out and alone as me! And she’s also a SoulCycle person! She and I both ended up leaving early because there wasn’t really anything to do there except drink and have the appetizers that were being served.
It was just such a funny contrast between the two places. I don’t know if the second studio will feel more comfortable to me one day after I take a class or two. But what I do know is that SoulCycle feels like home to me and I’m so unbelievably grateful for that!
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