Image source: Peloton
Peloton trainer Emma Lovewell was born into the wellness field in a way—and we’re not just talking about her almost fitting family name. The 33-year-old grew up on the picturesque Martha’s Vineyard in New England, where her wellness foundation began.
“My parents were hippies, so I think they were into wellness even before wellness was a ‘thing,'” she told PopSugar. Her father was a fisherman, and the family also farmed and cultivated much of their food, so Lovewell grew up with a deep understanding of where food comes from and what she eats. Her mother, who is a Buddhist, had been practicing meditation since Lovewell was “in her womb,” and also taught her the practice at an early age.
That’s not to say things haven’t been all local cabbage all along: “Don’t get me wrong, we definitely had TV dinners now and then,” she says.
Furthermore, although her parents emphasized the values of wellness early on, the exercise wasn’t actually there – which makes it all the more interesting where Lovewell’s career took off. She was always active, playing soccer and lacrosse, swimming and rescuing, and as she grew up, she became a professional dancer and dance teacher in New York City. She began teaching fitness classes to supplement her dance career, which eventually led her to Peloton.
“I appreciate and love a good approximation of what wellness can mean,” she says. “It’s not just about what you eat, but it’s also what you do with your body. It’s your way of thinking; it’s your relationship to the earth. There are so many different things that go into living a good life. Movement was something for me that I didn’t grow up focusing on. So, I think maybe that’s why Cause I went in that direction, to learn more about this side of things.”
In hindsight, Lovewell’s professional dance career taught her plenty of lessons that resonate on the bike and in the fitness space in general. “There’s a lot of discipline,” she says. “When I was auditioning for gigs, I’d hear ‘no’ like 98 percent of the time. It’s so brutal, but you still show up, you keep going to dance lessons. You have to do it. It creates this very flexible side of your personality.” That kind of discipline, I think I’ve learned from athletics, frankly. It’s that consistency and commitment. Keep showing up, and you’ll get better. There will always be someone better than you in the room. But as long as you keep showing up, there may be something of your own that is. Distinguished.” And that something special might be what gets you in that spot on the stage, that seat in the boardroom, or, for Lovewell, that job on a peloton.
Working in the dance industry also forged a strong mind-body connection for Lovewell, which helped her achieve success as a peloton coach. Your talent for performance helps, too, when your job involves breaking a sweat while training thousands of people in real time through four different cameras. Whether you take Lovewell’s lessons regularly or the lessons of any other Peloton trainer, it’s easy to forget that these trainers were once novices, too. “But they learned skills; you weren’t born knowing how to do any of these things,” Lovewell says. One important aspect of training that Lovewell had to move on quickly? “I’m learning how to use my voice,” she says. “I think it was because, as a dancer, you’re just using your body…Once I started teaching fitness classes, it was important to know what my message was, what I wanted to say, and how to say it then move my body.”
Lovewill has already found her message – and it’s a powerful one in this respect. “I often ask people to note how they feel now versus how they felt 30 minutes ago or 45 minutes ago, before class,” she says. “There is a huge transformation that can happen in just a short period of time when you move your body and when you focus on the opportunity. I want people to feel better. I want people to feel free. I want them to feel like there is more activity in their stride and that they can handle the difficult things. All Day, you face difficult things, obstacles. But if you look at these as opportunities, you can change the way your mind interprets these challenges. I just want people to feel invincible.”
Despite her success with Peloton, Lovewell still values ”well-roundedness” for wellness, and as such, has a lot more to do than just fitness training. She’s been running a blog since before her Peloton days — called Live, Learn, Lovewell — where she writes about all aspects of living a decent life, from cooking and gardening to adventure trips and healthy cleaning. (For example, Lovewell recently partnered with 9 Elements, a line of vinegar-powered laundry and home cleaning products.) She also creates YouTube content, launched a jean line with denim brand Sene, and drew on her past life as a DJ. To organize epic playlists on Spotify. All of these things exercise their artistic side—something that isn’t always shown by the leading pop tours of the ’90s.
“My mom is an artist. My dad is a writer, photographer, and musician, so I grew up in a creative home,” she says. “I feel like there are a lot of outlets to create content or work in fashion and create a line of jeans, which satisfy all kinds of that creative need that I have.”
Although Lovewell seems like a jack of all trades—and he’s their master, too—it’s helpful to remember that even seemingly perfect Peloton trainers (just like everyone else you see in the public eye) are always working on themselves. For example, Lovewell’s next goal? “I’m actually looking for a new therapist. I’m a big advocate of therapy, and I haven’t had it in two years,” she says. Ultimately, it’s what we all strive for, Lovewell says: “I believe we all strive for our mental, physical, and spiritual well-being to be in harmony.”
