Peloton Rowing Instructor Ash Pryor Is Smashing Stereotypes
When I rowed at The Ohio State University, I was never ashamed of my weight. Rowing is power per pound, and we knew how to leverage our bodies. Being tall and being bold were celebrated. It wasn’t until I got into the real world outside of athletics that I was like, Oh, wait, people think I’m not capable. But I have a championship ring, honey! I know amazing athletes who are two times my size.
Rowing is an honest and beautiful sport. I love the discipline, the teamwork, the rewiring of your brain when things are hectic. I built an inner dialogue that allows me to know what is true and what is not. I can say, Okay, this 2,000-meter row is uncomfortable right now, but I’m not dying. I give it 10 strokes to settle in, sit here for a second, then go to that next level. It’s the same thing in life: How do I sit here for a second? Rowing allowed me to never give up on myself.
After college, I got a part-time job at a big-box gym. I decided to focus on strength in the class I taught. When I finished, people came up to me and said, “Thank you for showing us that we don’t have to be a size small to be fit or be an instructor.” My class went from 5 people to 20-plus people coming in because I made it fun and free to be yourself. That was the moment I realized people just want a space to be able to exist and exhale. If you create a welcoming environment, they will accept you as you are.
Growing up, I watched the women in my family tell me I’m beautiful, but then say they’re not—and I’m like, “I look exactly like you!” You can’t be what you can’t see. I want to make sure no one else has to be, like, seventh-grade Ash, who ate barely anything at lunch and put tape on her love handles to fit into Hollister jeans. If I can help silence the need to do that for anyone else, I will forever show up.
Loving who I am while existing in a body that a majority of people wouldn’t want to live in doesn’t equate to promoting an unhealthy life. That’s what’s so devastating when I see certain fitness folks pushing against loving yourself. No one’s telling you not to be healthy. What we’re saying is, You don’t have to hate who you are and use that as fuel to get to where you want to be.
When I interviewed at Peloton, I couldn’t tell anyone about it. So no one could tell me my outfit was cute or write the plan for me. It was the most vulnerable I’d ever been. The process unlocked, for me, the idea that I don’t need people telling me what to do. I have a voice, I know who I am, and I’m secure in who I am. I’m not playing small anymore.
In my premiere row, I played the song “Fat Funny Friend” by Maddie Zahm. I made sure I had that convo, because some people are going to look at me and think, Oh, she’s going to be the easy one. But I’m not here to be your fat funny friend. We’re going to work. We’re going to giggle along the way, but we’re also going to show the world that bias has no place here.
Being a Peloton Row instructor allows me to come back to the 19-year-old who had the discipline to get up at 3:25 a.m., walk across campus, do two-a-days, and be the first woman in her family to graduate from college. We’re not going back to that person, but we can honor that phase, take the things we love from that phase, and reimagine it. Sometimes the remix is better than the original.
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