Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Knight.
Hi Megan, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I took kind of a meandering path into fitness. I was living in New York City, working in the fashion industry, and it just wasn’t for me. I didn’t like my job, and while I was there, OG SoulCycle was really taking off. I started riding with an instructor named Karyn, and she was actually the first person who ever told me she thought I could be a spin instructor.
I auditioned and got the job, but at the time I had a boyfriend who told me he wouldn’t live in the city. So I ended up moving to Austin instead.
When I got here, I auditioned at a bunch of studios, and every single one turned me down. On my way home from one audition where I’d just been told no, I drove past a banner on West Fifth Street that said, “Coming Soon: Love Cycling Studio.” I sent them my résumé, auditioned, and they hired me right away.
To be completely honest, I was a really bad spin instructor when I started. They actually took two classes away from me because I couldn’t fill them. But I’m stubborn, and I was determined to get better. I worked at it, figured out who I was as an instructor, and eventually started selling out my classes.
Around that same time, Knockout Kickboxing approached me about teaching there, and then something unexpected started happening. People kept coming up to me saying, “I want you to train me.” My response was always, “I’m not a personal trainer.” Their response was, “We don’t care.”
That was the push I needed to go get my NASM personal training certification. I started training clients in my apartment gym because I didn’t have a facility of my own. Eventually my client list grew so much that my apartment management basically came to me and said, “You’ve built a whole business in our gym, you can’t keep doing that.”
From there, I joined PE Fitness, then E&E Fitness, where they brought me on to teach boot camps and kickboxing. I also spent some time at Equinox before eventually finding my home at HEAT Boot Camp. Cody Butler brought me on during COVID, and six years later, I’m still there. Looking back, none of it happened the way I planned it, but every “no” ended up pushing me toward something that was a better fit.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Of course not. No road over the course of ten years is ever smooth. There are always bumps along the way.
Like I mentioned, right after I started teaching at Love Cycling Studio, they actually took two classes away from me because I couldn’t fill them. They told me if I couldn’t build attendance, they were going to take me off the schedule completely. So I figured it out. It took a lot of work, a lot of training, and a lot of practice, but eventually I started selling out my classes.
Then COVID happened, which was brutal if you were a trainer. Overnight, most of my income disappeared. So I loaded weights into the back of my little red Volkswagen Jetta and trained people anywhere I could: rooftops, parks, parking lots, because being outside was really the only option. I started online boot camps, created training guides, and just found ways to keep going. You adapt or you don’t survive.
The biggest bump in the road, though, was when Love Cycling Studio, the place where I started and spent ten years, closed its doors in December 2025. That was absolutely heartbreaking. It felt like my world was ending. That wasn’t just a job. It was my community, my home, and a studio I helped build from the beginning. I honestly never would have left if they hadn’t closed.
I basically had to figure out my next move overnight after losing my job with no notice. Thankfully, Ride Indoor Cycling decided to hold auditions, I earned a spot there, and it’s been a great fit.
The fitness industry comes with a lot of uncertainty. There are no guarantees. You have to be willing to adapt, work hard, and keep showing up when things don’t go according to plan.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a spin instructor, personal trainer, and boot camp coach, and honestly I’m proud of all of it because each role has helped shape me into the coach I am today.
Working at HEAT Boot Camp was the first time I was named Austin’s Best Personal Trainer by Austin Fit Magazine, and I’ve been fortunate enough to keep that title for the past three years. HEAT has given me the space to grow in a way I hadn’t before. We program our own workouts, so nobody hands us a template or tells us exactly what to coach. We get the creative freedom to build workouts that reflect our own style while still having an incredible team behind us that’s always helping us become better coaches. I really love being part of that community.
That said, I think I’m probably best known for my spin classes, especially Headbangers Only.
Headbangers actually came out of one of the hardest moments of my life. I had just gone through a really bad breakup, I was cheated on, and I had to teach the very next day. I couldn’t fake being okay. So I walked into my 5:45 pm. class and told everyone, “I’m not okay. I just went through a breakup, I’m devastated, and I’m about to play some really angry dubstep.”
So I did.
At the end of class, people came up to me and said, “You have to do that again.” It kind of turned into a running joke that Tuesdays were for Headbangers Only, and almost five years later it’s still my most popular ride.
It’s definitely not your typical cycling class. We’re riding to artists like Excision, Subtronics, and NGHTMRE, and we’ve built this incredible community around something that’s loud, unapologetic, and just plain fun. I think finding that niche—and not being afraid to lean into what makes me different, is probably what has set me apart the most, and it’s something I’m incredibly proud of.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I think I’ve taken a lot of risks, but the biggest one was walking away from the career I was supposed to have.
I went to college for fashion merchandising, moved to New York City, and got a job at Tommy Hilfiger. On paper, everything looked right. But I hated it. It wasn’t my passion, and I knew I couldn’t spend the rest of my life doing something just because I’d already invested time and money into it.
So I quit, left New York, and moved to Austin to work at a startup cycling studio. I didn’t know anyone here. I didn’t know if I was even going to be good at teaching. I had no guarantee it would work out. Looking back, that was a huge risk.
I think anytime you walk away from what’s safe and predictable, you’re taking a risk. But I also think that’s what pursuing your passion looks like. There isn’t a roadmap when you decide to start over.
I’m actually doing it again now. I’m in graduate school at St. Edward’s University earning my master’s in clinical mental health counseling so I can become an LPC. Staying in fitness forever would’ve been the safe choice because I’ve built a successful career doing it. But it’s not my only passion anymore, and I’m willing to start over to pursue something else that matters to me.
I’ve learned that bravery isn’t the absence of fear. It’s feeling the fear and choosing to do it anyway. Every major opportunity in my life has come from taking a chance before I knew how things would turn out, and I don’t think I’d be where I am today if I’d always chosen the safe path.
Pricing:
- Class at Rider 32$ 5$ first class!
- Drop in @ Heat 28$ 14 day trial for new members 59$
- 1 HR Personal Training 110$
- 45 min personal training 100$
- Personal Training doubles 75$ each
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @megan_the_knight
- Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/ZfFWIrl7p9aFThjfjS
