SoulCycle is a fitness company owned by

Equinox Group Equinox Group is an American luxury fitness company which operates several lifestyle brands: Equinox, Equinox Hotels, Precision Run, Project by Equinox, Equinox Explore, Equinox Media, Furthermore, PURE Yoga, Blink Fitness, and SoulCycle. Withi ...

which offers

indoor cycling Indoor cycling, often called spinning, is a form of exercise with classes focusing on endurance, strength, intervals, high intensity (race days) and recovery, and involves using a special stationary exercise bicycle with a weighted flywheel in a c ...

and

spinning Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

workout classes. It was founded in 2006, and has operations in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. In early 2020, before the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, it operated 99 studios. The company is headquartered in the

West Village The West Village is a neighborhood in the western section of the larger Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The traditional boundaries of the West Village are the Hudson River to the west, 14th Street (Manhattan ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The firm operates on a pay-per-class basis and does not offer memberships.

History

Ruth Zukerman Ruth Zukerman is co-founder of indoor cycling businesses SoulCycle and Flywheel Sports. Early life Zukerman grew up in Roslyn, New York to a family of Polish, Russian, and German-Jewish heritage. Her father was a physician and her mother a psych ...

began teaching

spin class Indoor cycling, often called spinning, is a form of exercise with classes focusing on endurance, strength, intervals, high intensity (race days) and recovery, and involves using a special stationary exercise bicycle with a weighted flywheel in a c ...

es in Manhattan in 1996. In 2006, she introduced her clients Elizabeth Cutler, a real estate agent, and

Julie Rice Julie Rice in an entrepreneur, investor and co-founder of SoulCycle, a New York City-based fitness company that offers indoor cycling (also known as " spinning") workout classes. Personal life Rice studied English and theater at Binghamton Uni ...

, a talent manager for

Benny Medina Benny Medina (born January 24, 1958) is an American record executive, talent manager, and television producer. Early life and education Medina was born in East Los Angeles, California, of Dominican parents into a poor family. The death of hi ...

's Handprint Entertainment, to each other over lunch, where the three women decided to start the brand that would become SoulCycle. SoulCycle opened its first studio in 2006 on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

, and later expanded to several other locations in Manhattan. In 2009, Zukerman left SoulCycle and, in 2010, with Jay Galuzzo and David Seldin, she founded Flywheel Sports, a competitor to SoulCycle. In 2011,

The Related Companies The Related Companies, L.P. is an American real estate firm in New York City, with offices and developments in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, San Francisco, Abu Dhabi, London, São Paulo and Shanghai. Related has more than 3,0 ...

acquired a majority stake in SoulCycle. The studios originally featured a stationary

Schwinn Bicycle Company The Schwinn Bicycle Company is an American company that develops, manufactures and markets bicycles under the eponymous brand name. The company was originally founded by Ignaz Schwinn (1860–1948) in Chicago in 1895. It became the dominant manuf ...

bike with a

chain drive Chain drive is a way of transmitting mechanical power from one place to another. It is often used to convey power to the wheels of a vehicle, particularly bicycles and motorcycles. It is also used in a wide variety of machines besides vehicles. ...

typically used in the bigger gyms. In 2012, SoulCycle had Villency design a custom bike with a "split seat" model, designed to be more comfortable. In 2015, Melanie Whelan was promoted from

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

. In 2016, Rice and Cutler stepped down from their roles as co-chief creative officers and sold their shares to Equinox for $90 million. , Equinox owned 97% of the company. In July 2015, SoulCycle filed to raise $100 million in an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

at a valuation of around $900 million. The company paused the process in 2016. In a May 2018 filing with the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

the IPO was cancelled citing "market conditions." In 2017, SoulCycle introduced its Next Generation Bike, which featured an aluminum frame, a

carbon fiber Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

belt, and electromagnetic resistance. In March 2017, SoulCycle opened its first studio outside of the United States on King Street West in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. Following its success in the Canadian market, the company opened a second studio in Toronto and another in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. In October 2017, the company diversified by opening its first non-cycling-based studio, SoulAnnex, in Manhattan's

Flatiron District The Flatiron District is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, named after the Flatiron Building at 23rd Street, Broadway and Fifth Avenue. Generally, the Flatiron District is bounded by 14th Street, Union Square and Green ...

. The studio incorporated elements of

yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...

and

strength training Strength training or resistance training involves the performance of physical exercises that are designed to improve strength and endurance. It is often associated with the lifting of weights. It can also incorporate a variety of training te ...

. In February 2018, the studio permanently closed after a

class action A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...

lawsuit by local residents due to

noise pollution Noise pollution, also known as environmental noise or sound pollution, is the propagation of noise with ranging impacts on the activity of human or animal life, most of them are harmful to a degree. The source of outdoor noise worldwide is main ...

. In February 2018, the company launched SoulActivate, an on-the-bike class that incorporates

high-intensity interval training High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is a training protocol alternating short periods of intense or explosive anaerobic exercise with brief recovery periods until the point of exhaustion. HIIT involves exercises performed in repeated quick bu ...

(HIIT). In October 2018, Whelan announced that SoulCycle would begin operations in the

, with a studio slated to open in London the following year. In June 2019, SoulCycle partnered with

SiriusXM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius S ...

and

Pandora In Greek mythology, Pandora (Greek: , derived from , ''pān'', i.e. "all" and , ''dōron'', i.e. "gift", thus "the all-endowed", "all-gifted" or "all-giving") was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. As Hes ...

to launch a 24-hour SoulCycle music channel featuring the music heard in SoulCycle studios. In June 2018, SoulCycle created a media division. In July 2018, SoulCycle and Equinox launched a talent agency to represent their fitness instructors, with

William Morris Endeavor Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. (formerly known as William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, WME or WME-IMG) is an American holding company for talent and media agencies with its primary offices in Beverly Hills, California, United States. The compa ...

in an advisory role. In October 2018, SoulCycle partnered with

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

, making available instructor-curated playlists and motivational audio. It also launched live concerts during SoulCycle classes. In July 2019, the company launched SoulBeat, allowing riders to track performance metrics such as distance, power, and cadence via the SoulCycle

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...

following class. On November 26, 2019, Melanie Whelan stepped down as CEO. In March 2020, SoulCycle closed all of its then 99 studios due to the

. As a result of accelerated consumer demand for at-home fitness options, the company lost

market share Market share is the percentage of the total revenue or sales in a market that a company's business makes up. For example, if there are 50,000 units sold per year in a given industry, a company whose sales were 5,000 of those units would have a ...

Peloton In a road bicycle race, the peloton (from French, originally meaning 'platoon') is the main group or pack of riders. Riders in a group save energy by riding close ( drafting or slipstreaming) to (particularly behind) other riders. The reductio ...

, a firm offering stationary bikes used to stream at-home spin classes. While SoulCycle had announced a $2,500 bike for purchase in August 2019 in partnership with Variis, it only began shipping in May 2020, six months later than initially planned. It was available across the United States in October 2020. In 2020 was renamed Equinox+ and began to offer added exercise methods via the Equinox+ app. Due to the

, in March 2020, SoulCycle enacted furloughs and pay cuts for many employees and in April 2020, it began laying off 5%-10% of its staff. In July 2020, the company closed its King Street studio in Toronto. In an email sent to local customers, SoulCycle cited pandemic-related financial difficulties as reasoning for the location's abrupt closure. Additional studios that were permanently closed after the COVID shutdowns in 2021 include San Mateo, Calabasas,

Culver City Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most ...

, Malibu,

Union Square Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

, W60th, Scarsdale, Memorial, and Beacon Hill. In August 2019, reports that SoulCycle investor and former majority owner Stephen M. Ross would be hosting a planned fundraiser for the

Donald Trump 2020 presidential campaign Incumbent Republican Donald Trump led an unsuccessful campaign for the 2020 United States presidential election. He was inaugurated for his first term on January 20, 2017, and officially announced his reelection campaign on June 18, 2019. Do ...

prompted a spokesperson to distance the company from the event. It also led to boycott threats. In November 2020, SoulCycle employees and customers alleged that several of the company's instructors made racist and homophobic remarks and

fat shaming Social stigma of obesity is broadly defined as bias or discrimination, discriminatory behaviors targeted at overweight and obese individuals because of their weight. Such social stigmas can span one's entire life, as long as excess weight is pr ...

comments toward other staff and customers and that the company refused to take action. In December 2020, Evelyn Webster was named

of the company.

Exercise physiology

In a 2011 article in the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', certified strength and conditioning specialist James Fell approved of the company's theatrical approach to entertain and motivate its customers, saying he encourages "the importance of finding an exercise you love and embracing it with fervor." However, Fell gave the company "a failing grade for exercise physiology and biomechanics" and pointed out that the co-founders do not have certification in any type of exercise.

Popular culture

SoulCycle was prominently featured in the 2018 film ''

I Feel Pretty "I Feel Pretty" is a song from the 1957 musical ''West Side Story''. Production ''The New York Times'' explained that "Mr. Sondheim…has said he was never particularly fond of his lyrics in 'West Side Story,' especially 'I Feel Pretty, later e ...

''.

References

External links

* * at the NPR podcast

How I Built This ''How I Built This'' is an American podcast about "innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists, and the stories behind the movements they built" produced by NPR. History ''How I Built This'' began on September 12, 2016, as a podcast where the host, ...

, January 7, 2019. Hour-long interview with Julie Rice and Elizabeth Cutler {{DEFAULTSORT:SoulCycle 2006 establishments in New York City 2011 mergers and acquisitions American companies established in 2006 Companies based in New York City Health care companies established in 2006 Health clubs in the United States Medical and health organizations based in New York (state)