To kick off the new year, Shonda Rhimes teamed up with Peloton for an eight-week “Year of Yes” class collection. The goal? To ring in 2021 with a commitment to prioritize our self-care, building resilience, strength, and confidence in the process.
Adrian Williams believes in the power of second chances. In 2018, the native New Yorker turned down the opportunity to join the digital wellness platform Peloton, best known for its popular exercise bike, because he was committed elsewhere. But, as luck would have it, a second chance fell into Williams’ lap the following year. He took that opening, ran with it, and hasn’t looked back since.
Now, Williams is a Tread and strength instructor with Peloton, leading popular high-octane classes that strike the perfect balance of humor and high performance. When he’s not teaching, he’s using the platform himself — including its bike, Tread machine, and app — to take a wide variety of classes. Currently, thanks to Peloton, Williams is in the best shape of his life (“I always say I want to age like fine wine,” he quips) and not just physically.
“It’s created such balance for me,” he says. “I’ve realized — just between programming, meetings, using my actual body and being the tool that is motivating people — I now take more time to rest, which then gives me the energy to perform at maximum every time I go for a workout.”
Shondaland sat down with Williams to talk about staying motivated, learning to connect, and how tragedy led him to his passion.
CHELSEA GREENWOOD: Why did you first get into fitness?
ADRIAN WILLIAMS: Why is always a good question. That's my favorite question. I got into fitness by chance. My dad had cancer for a number of years, and he was in hospice. I had gone through this journey of taking care of my family, doing odd jobs. When he finally passed away, it was a chance for me to say: What do I want to do with myself? What do I want to do with my life? Because I could start focusing on myself. One of my friends said, “I think you should go into fitness. It's something that aligns with what you wanted to do originally, which was the work in pediatrics as a nurse, and help people, and you're an amazing athlete. I think this is going to be the thing for you.”
So, I moved to the West Coast, and she hooked me up with some personal training clients. That was the first time I'd been in an environment, just one-on-one, working with people. Then this boutique fitness studio asked me if I wanted to join their team, and that's how I got into boutique fitness. So, I've been in the industry now for 11 years.
CG: How did you first join Peloton?
AW: Peloton came about in an amazing way. The first time I was asked to try out, in 2018, I turned it down — how stupid of me — because I'm a very committed person. I was working for a boutique fitness studio, and I love small businesses. I like to see something built from the ground up. So, I wanted to really be a part of that.
Fast forward a number of years, I realized that things weren't in line with where I saw myself going in the company. And I had a big, big loss in my family: my grandma. At the time, I was so caught up in working, basically six days a week, 12 hours a day. Before she passed, my grandma told me they were having a family dinner, and she said, “You can’t always work so much,” because I opted out of going. That was the last day she was alive. She had an aneurysm. So, I never got to see her alive that last time. It just changed my perspective on what time I was spending on myself and who I was spending time with as well as what I wanted to do to make myself happy. A few months later, I’m at the Peloton studio on Christopher Street in Manhattan. Rebecca Kennedy [instructor and director of strength at Peloton] walked by and asked if I’d like to try out. So, that's how I got in the door, and the rest is, obviously, history.
CG: What was appealing to you about joining Peloton?
AW: The biggest thing to me was community and how everyone was welcome. At the time, the fitness industry, in general, was really geared towards people making themselves feel better — not the people that they were trying to help. I wanted to get away from that. Obviously, I knew about the brand, but when I learned about the brand's integrity, that attracted me to jumping on board. Because it is such a members-first sort of idea where we are really there to nurture and heal the individuals we're working with. And that was why I was like, This is my jam.
CG: How has Peloton impacted your life?
AW: Joining Peloton, during training, Rebecca Kennedy was like a therapist to me. She helped me learn how to talk to people and convey a message without actually having anyone in the room, which led to me opening up myself more. Not that I was closed off; but there's a different way that instructors speak to members. And you have no choice but to be open and vulnerable. So, I think I'm more receptive to how I'm making people feel. Emotionally, I feel more connected to share. Because my story doesn't pertain to everyone, specifically, but it speaks to someone, and whether I can help one or hundreds or thousands, I think it's just made me softer, in a good way, and more emotionally open as a human.
CG: How would you say Peloton is different from other fitness platforms?
AW: I don't think anyone has the sense of community that we have. When I joined, there’s this sense of togetherness and community — you can't explain it to someone who's not a part of it. It's instant love. And it's amazing to see not only the instructors being very much like the colors of the rainbow but also our members. We have people from all around the world, people who are of different religions, colors, backgrounds, and everyone's there to support each other and make everyone who's on that leaderboard feel better. I don't think I've seen anything of that magnitude ever before.
CG: What are your favorite workouts to do personally?
AW: I just like movement in general. Because of the Peloton platform, now I do meditation. Now, I do yoga. I cycle during the week. I like all the offerings; it's like having everything on the menu.
CG: What about when you're instructing?
AW: I love boot camps, strength. I love a combination of cardio and strength. You get the best of both worlds from that: You get conditioning, cardio, and strength, all in one shot. But, I also like being still because that’s a problem for anyone who works in fitness. So, I love a strength class where you're focusing on movement and being stationary also.
CG: During your classes, do you have any favorite songs you play or motivational sayings to pump up members?
AW: I'm all over the place with music. I was born and raised in New York City and in the Bronx, so, I love meringue, bachata, salsa, but I also love hip-hop. I'm a big alternative fan. I love EDM because it reminds me of going out — which we are doing none of these days, which is fine.
As far as motivation, I'm lighthearted. I just bring a jovial approach to teaching. I try to make it fun at first and sneak in the hard parts. Because, if you're laughing and smiling, you don't pay attention to the stress of the workout. So, I'm there to be silly, to tell dad jokes to make people laugh. But, at the same time, the programming speaks for itself.
CG: Do you have any pointers on staying motivated, especially for people just starting out with an exercise regime?
AW: Accountability is key. It takes discipline. You're trying to essentially keep good habits, right? So forming good habits is always the hard part. I always say to start micro and then work to macro. Because, if you start micro, you can focus on small goals that are easy and attainable.
Once you build the confidence of passing these milestones, as we call them on Peloton, it gives you the incentive to try things that are a little more difficult. So, start small, and then work your way up to the bigger picture. But it never stops. That's the thing. You just change along the way. You might change whatever you may be wanting for yourself; you might change the way you train. And it’s okay to fall off. I tell people all the time: Just be kind to yourself. And always jump back on the bus. It's never too late. You don’t have to ever stop trying.
Chelsea Greenwood is an award-winning lifestyle writer and editor whose work has been featured in InStyle, Teen Vogue, SELF, Racked, Vulture, Brit + Co, SheKnows and Vice. Follow her on Twitter @cpgreenwood.
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