Saying Goodbye to Group Fitness
For the past six years, I have been teaching group fitness.
I have taught virtually for college students. In-person at boutique studios with high prices. At my local YWCA, to women in their 60s and 70s. I have taught on Instagram to my followers and friends.
I have taught barre, HIIT, strength, yoga, stretch, and other hybrids and formats, too.
I’ve taught weekly since 2021, and I recently decided to take a step back from teaching. Honestly, I had been thinking about it for some time.
I got into teaching fitness because I wanted to empower others through movement. I wanted to be the kind of instructor who encouraged you to celebrate your body for all the things it can do, to honor it, to be grateful for it.
In my class, you would never hear me say things like “shedding for the wedding” or “earn that glass of wine.” I wanted to create an environment where working out was empowering and enjoyabl,e and not meant as a way to shrink yourself.
And I think I did a good job with that. The challenge was that I stopped looking forward to teaching; instead, it became another thing on my to-do list, it felt like a chore, not a gift. I have mostly taught virtual classes over the past year, and I find myself not getting excited to log on to class, not feeling connected to participants, and while in the moment I enjoy it, and enjoy empowering others, it just doesn’t quite fit into this season of my life.
I’m focusing on writing novels and plan to publish my debut novel in 2026. I am in a different season, focused on different hobbies. So why did it take me so long to step away from group fitness?
There are two reasons.
Being a fitness instructor in a plus-sized body felt like a way to tell the world they were wrong about fitness and health. You can be fat and healthy. You can be fat and fit. You can be fat and be a fitness instructor. To me, it was a way to give the middle finger to diet culture and how toxic some fitness spaces are.
I am less proud of this reason. It gave me credibility in a fat body. Yes, I was fat, but I was fit enough to be a fitness instructor, so try and judge my health by looking at me now?
Most often, people were surprised when I told them I taught fitness. A look of shock would light their faces before they hid it. And it made me angry to see that shock, but also proud to put them in their place.
Yes, I’m fat, but I’m also fit. Fit enough to teach a class to others, to make movement empowering rather than a torture you inflict because you hate your body.
I wanted to prove the world wrong. That when they look at me, and see my thick thighs, my round belly, my jiggling arms, that they couldn’t define me on sight, that they couldn’t put me in some box because I transcended their judgments.
And I hate stepping away from teaching because I WANT to keep giving the middle finger to diet culture and all those studios where every instructor is thin and white with a perfect manicure and expensive workout clothes. I wanted to show them.
I feel that my body representation in the space mattered. I know I had clients who felt more confident and accepted in class because of how I looked and the way I taught. And it feels a bit like a failure to step away from that, because representation does matter. Diverse bodies in these spaces matter, but this isn’t my season for that.
I am still a certified fitness instructor. I can still teach whenever I want, and maybe I will pick it up again in the future, but right now, my heart isn’t in it. I don’t even go to group fitness classes myself anymore, I far prefer lifting solo at the gym and having time for me, for challenging myself, and carving out space to breathe.
The truth is I feel sad, like I let people down, like a failure for not being able to balance it all.
But I can’t. I can’t work a 9-5, pursue my dream of becoming a novelist (which includes writing, editing, marketing, and so much more), build an online body-confidence community, teach fitness classes, and be a dog mom, wife, friend, and daughter. I cannot do it all.
Teaching fitness had to drop off the plate, at least for now.
But let me leave you with this. You deserve to work out to feel empowered and enjoy it, and not because you hate your body or want to shrink it. I love working out. It is one of my favorite things, and I want that peace and enjoyment for it for everyone. I will keep fighting against diet culture and for body acceptance as long as there is air in my lungs, but for now, fitness is not my main priority, my dreams are.
