Do Soul instructors lift weights and have their own strength routines to compliment the intense cardio they are doing all week?
It really varies. Some do SLT, Physique 57, yoga… the best compliment for our classes is yoga 100%. I do yoga and Pilates. I tend to be more personal training-driven because that was my background before I started teaching. I actually still do personal training – I only have 3 clients now because I’m spread so thin. I go to their homes. Do you ever take other instructors classes? I definitely try, when I can! I really like Bethany because we go back from Crunch when I first started. I’d say if I’m taking a class I usually go to either Janet or Bethany. What makes their classes special for you? Bethany is my comfort. I know her, she knows me and she knows how to push me in a certain way. Janet is more
of the quintessential experience that makes SoulCycle what it is. She’s very, very on point with everything, her music is incredible, her form, the way that she puts together her playlists, She hands you your ass on a silver platter without you knowing it. Tell me what you were like as a kid growing up… Most people would say that God gave me a lot of energy… my parents like to call it ADD. I was a very active kid, I played sports, I was in gymnastics because I couldn’t stop flipping and my parents were getting scared! And I went on to play volleyball and I went to college at St. Ambrose University on a volleyball scholarship. Did you ever have any struggle with your weight or eating? Oh yeah. It was when I was 20 years old… I used to be 240lbs (I’m about 180-185lbs right now). Walk me through that time in your life. Well, what ended up happening was I left my scholarship and that school after my freshman year because it just wasn’t for me. My coach was really messed up. So, that change from being a student athlete my entire life put me in a little bit of a depression. I just ate my feelings and drank my feelings and then I just looked at myself in the mirror one day and was like, “Get your shit together!” I just started working out with a personal trainer and that’s how I got into training. I started working with a personal trainer and I left the fashion industry to go into personal training. Tell me everything about being a model in Miami. Everybody has a body issue in the modeling industry and you’ll never be skinny enough and you’ll never be tall enough. It’s just body dysmorphia – you are not connected with your body at all. You become a “thing,” not a human. It’s kind of hard to explain, but it’s a very drug and alcohol-driven, bury myself/ party lifestyle. It’s just not an industry that I’m about anymore. How did you get into the fashion industry to begin with? I was actually working at the Crunch in Miami Beach and I was picked out by an agency at the gym and started modeling from there. And what was the road that led you to SoulCycle? Well, I was working at Crunch in Chicago and then moved to Miami where I started teaching
cycling. That’s where I met my boyfriend, now husband, Orlan. We met but I wound up moving to New York City with Crunch so we continued a long distance relationship for about 6 months. It was teaching cycling at Crunch where I was recruited by the CEO of SoulCycle to come teach for them… a little over a year ago. It’s interesting because there were no guidelines to teaching cycling at Crunch. You either had it or you didn’t. SoulCycle gave me more structure, which took my ride to the next level and now I don’t know if I could teach any other way than the SoulCycle method.
Tomas with his toy poodle, Eva
What does your food look like pre and post Soul classes?
Well, I’m usually teaching anywhere from 6:00 am until 7:15 at night. In the morning, I don’t like to eat before class but I do like coffee with soy milk. So, I’ll just have my coffee, teach my 2 classes back to back and then immediately grab a green juice or a protein shake with oatmeal in it and banana and peanut butter so that I can have more fuel for the rest of my day, because I do teach on average four classes a day. Then, I’ll teach another class, and then be strictly with juice afterwards. I’ll have a green juice and protein smoothie and coconut water or watermelon water to hydrate. How many calories do you think you burn while teaching? I know I’m burning around 450 calories when I’m taking it easy during the class… and when I’m going at it insane, I burn 850 to 950 calories, depending on how intense it is. So I think about how much food I can take in while still eating very clean post-class. Do you have a sit-down dinner at the end of the day? Yeah, I’ll sit down and I do like veggies with a full-balanced meal, either cooking at home or going out to eat. I assume/hope it’s a pretty big meal at that point? Ha, yes, a pretty big meal, because I have calories that I can intake. I usually can eat like 1500 calories at dinner and be happy with it and still can be hungry at the end of the day.
Tomas with his husband, Orlan Boston
How do you prevent your body from breaking down after teaching 20 classes a week? I do kill myself. It’s just maintenance. I work with a personal trainer myself twice or three times a week. I try to do yoga. I foam roll like I’m married to it. I see a physical therapist twice a week. So, I have a team that I can rely on to keep me intact and massage every other day. It’s insane. On Mondays I teach four classes, Tuesdays and Thursdays I teach three classes sometimes four, Wednesdays I teach four or five, Fridays I teach four or five. What are your
personal training sessions like?
My personal trainer is more core strength because that is where I’m riding from. I do a lot of Pilates based and strength training as well. I can’t maintain my body solely with cardio because just that doesn’t work… and the weight portion that we do in class isn’t really enough. I need cables, heavy weights, machines, etc. Where do you see yourself, in five years? I want to build my own brand, that’s my main long-term goal. I can imagine myself in Soul Cycle until I’m teaching in a wheelchair. But as far as my business, I want to have my own product that can be brought into a fitness studio or gym. SoulCycle is remarkably gay friendly. So many instructors are out and rocking it. It’s just incredible. I think it’s just this industry in general. We’re very body conscious. I mean, SoulCycle is like a stage. It’s a performance really. What was the switch you flipped in your mind that inspired your fitness career? After I left my scholarship and was no longer a student athlete, I was just really sick and tired of being a bump on a pickle, ya know? I was over it and I wanted to changed my life. I wanted a better life for myself… My family, my genetic structure. everybody is overweight in my family (living in the MidWest, in Chicago) and I didn’t want that for my own life. I also got into it because I like to be in front of people, I want to lead. I felt comfortable changing people’s bodies because I changed my whole body from to 240 to what I have now. Some people get into this industry because one of their parents died at a very young age and they want to become extremely healthy. Melanie Griffith was burned out as a corporate lawyer and was drawn to SoulCycle, people get into it for so many different reasons. Considering most of your family is overweight, as you said, what do they think of your life and career? They think I’m crazy. They are very proud of me, but like, who works out four times a day? [laughing] You know that is crazy! What is the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you during class? I’ve fallen off the bike! I was riding once in Miami and I was so into my class that I literally flew of my bike. Like literally flew off the handlebars! My ego was bruised a bit, but it was pretty funny. So, don’t ever teach a 2-hour 9am
spin class. 
Check out Tomas on the SoulCycle schedule at soul-cycle.com and his upcoming site, fitnessbytomas.com
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