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Chancellor Rishi Sunak has revealed he starts his days with a 6am Peloton workout – and among his chosen ‘spin doctors’ is fresh-faced beauty Leanne Hainsby.
The glamorous former professional dancer, 33, from Chislehurst, Kent, who jived in the background for the likes of Taylor Swift, Steps and Katy Perry after training at the Royal Ballet, is among the Brit cycle instructors with a global following.
A favourite of Rishi’s daughters – who introduced their dad to her classes, luring him away from his regular ‘go-to’ Cody Rigsby – Leanne officially joined the team as one of the first two Peloton instructors in the UK in November 2018.
She spent two months training with Cody in New York – where she met her boyfriend, fellow instructor Ben Alldis – before she began teaching on the platform, the UK’s first female to do so.
Fans love her 30-minute classes for their high energy, uplifting mood and eclectic music – with tracks ranging from Cher to The Beatles, and even the odd track from Bob Marley and the Wailers and Johnny Cash.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has revealed he starts his days with a 6am Peloton workout – and among his chosen ‘spin doctors’ is fresh-faced beauty Leanne Hainsby, pictured
Leanne is in a relationship with fellow Peloton instructor Ben Alldis (pictured together) who gave up his high-flying City job to become a fitness guru
Sales of the modern stationary £1,750 bike, which requires a £39-a-month membership, boomed by 172 per cent during lockdown. It’s now so popular that its instructors are effectively celebrities.
Leanne previously told how she gets recognised in public, recently at the top of Snowdon after climbing it with hunky boyfriend Ben, a 27-year-old University of Leeds economics graduate who was working in private equity in 2018 before he gave it up to become a Peloton instructor.
In 2016 Leanne began working in the fitness industry as a cycle and HIIT instructor at a boutique studio in London. She’d grown up dancing, having taken lessons from the age of three, and attended the Royal Ballet as a junior associate aged eight to 11.
She preferred pop and commercial, so enrolled at a performing arts college in Essex at 16, where she went on to work as a backing dancer for 12 years, appearing on The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing as well as events like the Victoria’s Secret show in London, the Summertime Ball, the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics closing ceremonies and the Royal Variety Show.
As she approached her 30th birthday, Leanne – then in a ‘really unhealthy relationship’ and ‘falling out of love with dancing’ – decided she wanted to make a change, reports The Mail on Sunday’s You magazine.
In 2016 Leanne began working in the fitness industry as a cycle and HIIT instructor at a boutique studio in London. She’d grown up dancing, having taken lessons from the age of three, and attended the Royal Ballet as a junior associate aged eight to 11
As she approached her 30th birthday, Leanne – then in a ‘really unhealthy relationship’ and ‘falling out of love with dancing’ – decided she wanted to make a change
Everything changed one day when Cody Rigsby, on the hunt for Peloton talent, walked into one of her fitness classes and asked her to go for a coffee afterwards.
She flew out to New York to audition, and got the job.
During the 10-week training she struck up a friendship with fellow trainee Ben, and the pair became an item when they got back to London, keeping their relationship private for a year until they were rumbled during lockdown, when Peloton instructors had to deliver rides from their homes.
Eagle-eyed members spotted that Leanne and Ben’s flat looked suspiciously similar.
Leanne joked: ‘We were conducting classes from our tiny spare room where we struggle to get a bed in! At one time there were 10,000 people in that bedroom!’
Despite having ‘never been a morning person’, Leanne is at the London Peloton studio by 5.45am to record classes.
She told You mag that the most difficult thing while running a class is the need to namecheck members who have reached certain milestones – and motivating herself on days when she’s exhausted.
Leanne also goes to great lengths to ensure her music appeals to everyone who takes her classes, telling Pop Sugar: ‘It’s important to me that there is a song for everybody, and a song that isn’t a typical choice for a workout might reach one person who hasn’t worked out yet.’
Leanne, who has amassed an incredible 224,000 Instagram followers, previously told Metro that dance will always be the ‘foundation’ of everything she does and ‘won’t ever leave her’.
Everything changed for Leanne when Cody Rigsby, on the hunt for Peloton talent, walked into one of her fitness classes and asked her to go for a coffee afterwards. She flew out to New York to audition, and got the job
Leanne said the most difficult thing while running a class is the need to namecheck members who have reached certain milestones – and motivating herself on days when she’s exhausted
Leanne previously told how she gets recognised in public, recently at the top of Snowdon after climbing it with Ben, a 27-year-old University of Leeds economics graduate
During the 10-week training she became friends with fellow trainee Ben, and the pair became an item when they got back to London, keeping their relationship private for a year until they were rumbled during lockdown, when Peloton instructors had to deliver rides from their homes
‘Dancing was my life, and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to give it up – but being a Peloton instructor enables me to use so many elements of my dancing and so the change felt quite natural,’ she said.
‘I still get to perform; I get myself ready for a class like I would for a show, I work with cameras, I get to make people feel good and I have a connection with music that I hope gives me such a good level of energy that I pass it on to my riders.
‘Most cycling instructors are teaching to a room of around 50 people max, however as Peloton instructors we reach a much larger audience, often thousands of riders at a time, which is amazing.’
Now, as well as the Peloton classes she teaches, Leanne works out four to five times a week and has hour-long strength training sessions with a personal trainer. She also does a yoga class for ‘me time’.
Leanne, who has amassed an incredible 224,000 Instagram followers, previously told Metro that dance will always be the ‘foundation’ of everything she does and ‘won’t ever leave her’
Now, as well as the Peloton classes she teaches, Leanne works out four to five times a week and has hour-long strength training sessions with a personal trainer. She also does a yoga class for ‘me time’
The ‘opinionated homosexual and mindful athlete’ who’s Rishi Sunak’s favourite Peloton instructor
Peloton Cycling Director Cody, 33, is a professional dancer turned fitness trainer based in New York. On Instagram, where he boasts 760,000 followers
While speaking to the Twenty Minute VC podcast, Rishi Sunak said: ‘I’m a huge Cody Rigsby fan. He has been my long-term favourite, which means you do have to listen to a lot of Britney — but you know, no bad thing in trying to get you motivated, I guess.
‘I’m trying to diversify lately. Actually my daughters really like Leanne Hainsby, who’s a Brit, so I’ve been trying to do some of her classes, and someone in my office recommended Hannah Frankson. Those are the two new ones I’ve added — but Cody is my go-to.’
Peloton Cycling Director Cody, 33, is a professional dancer turned fitness trainer based in New York. On Instagram, where he boasts 760,000 followers and regularly shares ripped topless shots, he describes himself as an ‘opinionated homosexual’ and a ‘mindful athlete’.
He frequently plays Britney Spears during his classes, encouraging his members to imagine themselves ‘in a red wig, going through lasers’ like in her Toxic music video as he reels off trivia about the popstar and mouths the lyrics. He also shares anecdotes such as his teenage crush on the Backstreet Boys.
Cody grew up gay in a conservative part of North Carolina and felt that he never fitted in until he found himself on a bike ‘working in a place where there are so many people from different backgrounds and so many different stories to be told’, he told You magazine.
Asked what makes a good instructor, he said: ‘A good person… I’m looking for someone rooted in compassion and empathy who understands that our community comes to us to overcome adversity.’
Cody grew up gay in a conservative part of North Carolina and felt that he never fitted in until he found himself on a bike ‘working in a place where there are so many people from different backgrounds and so many different stories to be told’
