There’s something contagious about the freedom and joy in the videos – hence the hundreds of comments on Power + Flow’s social channels where followers are both making their moves in Scottsdale or wondering how it’s possible for everyone in the class to know the dances inside and – out.
But the study’s growing profile has recently attracted negative attention: Star Peloton instructor Cody Rigsby commented on a video of a spin class calling it “unsafe” and “a joke” — presumably referring to the fact that students perform such complicated moves while riding at relatively fast speeds — in response to someone who tagged him asking for similar rides. on the Peloton platform.
Girod answered on Instagram about how this was an inadvertent teaching moment for her: “We often talk about how the work we do here will prepare us for what we do outside of this space,” says Girod. “And I think that scenario was the perfect opportunity to practice what we preach, and defend what we’ve built.” Girod and Power + Flow received great support (as an apology by Rigsby).
Good + good spoke to Girod about how he helps students find the confidence that allows them to have a dance party on the bike – and how everyone can find more joy in their workouts.
She lays a solid foundation
Girod says that while it may seem like everyone who takes her classes is already a cycling pro, it’s just because social media doesn’t show the foundations she lays to get them comfortable with the basics. “When Power + Flow started, I did a full month of what we called growing season,” he says. “It was basically four weeks of, this is the pace, this is how the endurance works – we had a full week of classes that I never got out of the saddle.” (This, she says, was tough on the booty, but beneficial in the long run.)
“What you see on my Instagram has been years in the making,” she says. And what don’t you see? “There are first timers in the back row just trying to survive.” When new students come in, encourage them to observe the dances until they feel comfortable. “It’s not about the choreography, or getting out of the saddle,” he says. “The only thing that’s mandatory is clapping — everyone can put their hands up and clap, and it generates this energy that just says, be free, let it go, have fun.” Eventually, she says, most students go from being “a deer in the headlights” to trying the move in the saddle, to rocking out in the front row.
Model true confidence in the front of the room
At the studio where Girod first taught Power + Flow, he felt like he was doing a kind of confidence that didn’t feel authentic. “The coach is expected to come with high energy, we can’t talk about our day, we can’t express frustrations from our personal life,” he says.
One day, she decided to be vulnerable and talk about a difficult day at her 9-5 job, and everything changed. “The room just exploded with so much love and support. And that was the moment I realized I can be honest with my students,” he says. “I tell them that I need to come into a space and move my body and clear my head. The room begins to understand that when they have a bad day, they can also look at Power + Flow,” he says.
Bringing her full, honest self to her classes usually looks like “raging, yelling, screaming, clapping and dancing,” she says — which gives her students permission to present themselves to the class as they are. That’s why a frequent social media comment drives her crazy: “I see people say, ‘It’s my goal to get in shape and then take your class,'” she says. “I just want to reach through the screen and drag them into my life.”
Girod’s authenticity has forged a space where students not only show up with the confidence to perform their dance routines, but to make them their own. “The moment people start to feel confident in a move, is when you start to see a little flutter of hands or a gesture, an extra clap, a movement that they have created – they can really dance and enjoy the movement,” he says , adding. that some movements that they officially do in class were done by the students.
Her advice: Find joy and a space that sees you
For Girod, have a workout that feels like no longer than a workout is key to avoid burnout. “One thing I like to do is stop the class and say, recognize your neighbor, we just did that,” she says. “We have this moment of joy, instead of forgetting it and moving on, what is the pleasure in it?”
This has become part of the culture of her studio, she says—students get to know each other during class without her even prompting them. “Finding that joy in work is what’s worth doing,” he says.
But not every fitness studio has the same culture of joy and community as Power + Flow. To find yours fitness house, Girod suggests noticing how it feels to enter a space: do you feel warm and welcome? “One thing we do very well is we look after our people,” he says. “That should be palpable from the moment you walk in.”