🤝 Meet Greta Dopp. If you’re a Peloton member, you may have already seen her teaching yoga, pilates, and other movement classes from the fitness company’s studios in New York City. What you may not know is she’s also Peloton’s first Canadian instructor. We caught up with her to talk about how one becomes a Peloton instructor in the first place, what goes into a great fitness class, why she stopped reading the comments, and her best advice for people struggling to stay consistent with their workouts.
The Peak: Tell me about the process for becoming a Peloton instructor. How did you get the job?
Greta Dopp: It was actually a DM. It landed in my message requests on Instagram, and to be honest with you, it looked borderline shady. I was like, this has got to be fake. It was a message from one of the recruiters, and it was like, "Hey, we're looking to grow our fabulous team of instructors. Do you have time to hop on a Zoom call?" And I'm the kind of person that has time for everyone. At the end of the day, if it's really shady, I just hang up the phone. So we got on a call, and that's how it all started. The ball started rolling. I realized, oh, this is for real. He was like, "If you're interested in sending over an audition tape,” so I sent over an audition tape, and it was both fast and slow at the same time. They liked the audition tape. They were like, "We want to move forward." But then there was the interview process, and quite a few different auditions I had to do after that as well.
Were you a Peloton member before they DM'd you? Did you ever use it before?
I was not. So I'm a new Peloton member now. And I do take class, and I'm getting my class stats up there, slowly but surely.
What classes do you take?
I'm a mat modality girl. So I love Olivia's core strength. I love Selena's strength. I do a lot of strength classes, because that's a little bit outside of my wheelhouse. I do like the cycling classes. Jess King. We have the same music style.
There are lots of people who take your classes and spend a lot of time with you on their screen. Do you get approached in the street? Do people recognize you?
Not so much in the street. Maybe around the studio here and there. But I feel like I'm not at that level yet. For me, honestly, it feels amazing. In my world, it's such a gift to hear someone from, like, Ireland say, "I love your classes." I never would have had the opportunity to practice with them. I have some friends who are like, "Oh, my mom takes your class," and I get more excited than them, I think. One person approached me on Broadway and was like, "Hey, I love your class." And I think she got freaked out because I was so excited. I literally was like, "No way! Let's take a pic." I almost became her fan, you know what I mean?
What do you think draws people to your classes specifically?
I would say maybe two things. I think my style is quite intense. I definitely push you a little bit, and my classes aren't easy. But I really try to lean towards accessibility as well. No shame. Let's just try. Don't take yourself so seriously. So maybe that's what draws people in: movement can be playful and joyous, and also kind of kick your ass.
Music is a big part of Peloton. What goes into your process for building a soundtrack for a class?
I take way too long, for sure. Music for me is everything. We have to get the rights to certain music, so I don't have access to all of Spotify. That means I have to search through a lot of different things to find what I like. Music is such an emotional thing for me, and in my classes, I want it to feel more like an experience than just a workout. So I'm really particular about how I curate a playlist: starting a little slower, then moving into stuff that’s pretty heavy, actually, beat-wise. Music for me is like a power-up, you know? So I'm pretty particular about it. It's a lot of EDM, though. A lot of EDM, or trappy rap.
How much scripting goes into your class?
The way it works is we have to submit a class plan. So I plan my movements. I know what I'm teaching. But even within that, sometimes I'll deviate and figure it out along the way. Nothing I say is ever scripted. Everything I say is really just from the heart. It's off the cuff. Maybe that's bad. I don't know.
As someone so exposed to the public, you get a lot of feedback, solicited or not. Do you read the comments online about your classes?
I used to. Not anymore. I had to cut myself off. It hurt my feelings. You can get 100,000 comments of positivity, but then you get five or six people who don't like you, or a negative thread, which I have seen come up. I think people often forget that I'm a person, and sometimes I don't have the best day, or I don't give my best performance. And instead of being able to say, "I'll teach that class again and try it with a different crew," it lives in perpetuity for everyone to take. And I'm a sensitive person, you know? Right now, I just have to focus on doing the best I can. Once you start to mould yourself to the outside noise, trying to fit and be for everybody, you're gonna be for nobody. So you have to stay in your lane. As a sensitive person, I'm like, girl, do yourself a favour. Log off.
What would you say is the most difficult part of the job?
The output is different from what I'm used to. When I taught in person in a studio, I would teach the same class all week long. Whereas, for example, today I just programmed three different bite-sized Pilates classes, and I'm teaching them all tomorrow. And they all have to feel and be different. But I want to give people variety. I don't ever want them to feel bored. So there's a lot of creativity going on for me that maybe people don't see. I'm gonna teach eight different classes in the next few days. That's been a little challenging for me.
For people who want to become more fit but struggle with consistency, what would you recommend they try? What's the secret?
Take it in tiny, bite-size chunks. Find something you enjoy. I know that's the typical cheesy answer, but it's a huge part of my ethos. You don't need to wreck yourself to make it work. You can do a 10-minute traditional Pilates class where you don't break a sweat, but after class you're like, oh, now I can sit at my desk and I feel more mobile in my spine. That feels good. And then that gives you more energy to carry on and do something after work. Chasing the optimization and the metrics and lifting the heaviest you can: that definitely has its place. But when you're just starting off, find something you like to do, where you're like, "That was fun." That's a really great place to start to fall in love, because then you start to get the endorphins, and then you fall in love with the feeling.
If there's a class that's the primer on you, which one would you pick? One that you’d recommend for people trying your classes for the first time?
I would push people towards maybe a hip hop sculpt, because I love hip hop. Sculpt feels more like my quintessential class. It's high energy, it's really fun, and you work in a short period of time.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
