I’ve been getting great results with peloton by selecting the right type of workouts and instructors that can push my limits.
I figured it’s time to dust off the keyboard and show you which peloton instructors are the toughest and help you choose the right ones for your goals.
In general, choosing the toughest peloton instructor will depend on the type of class you do. The hardest peloton trainer for cycling is Olivia Amato with her Interval rides. She is former lacrosse and track and field athlete, as well as a two-time all-state field hockey player.
Hardest Peloton Cycling Instructors
I’ve been using peloton since 2019, and one thing that I’ve learn that always moves the needle is your ability to choose the right instructor (which often means the hardest).
In general, you know which instructors are the toughest by filtering cycling classes by their difficulty level.
However, this will only show you the tip of the iceberg because peloton has over 10.000 rides and about 200 of them have difficulty above 190.
Here you can see the list of the 5 hardest peloton cycling instructors.
| Name | Number of rides | Avg difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| Olivia Amato | 309 | 8.3 |
| Christian Vande Velde | 14 | 8.2 |
| Kendall Toole | 413 | 8.0 |
| Robin Arzon | 407 | 7.8 |
| Ally Love | 608 | 7.6 |
Who is the hardest Peloton bike instructor?
It’s a difficult decision, but if I had to pick just one hardest peloton bike instructor, it would be Olivia Amato.
She teaches over 300 rides and her average difficulty level is 8.3.
Her toughest classes are HIIT and Hills, which are interval climb rides where you keep adding resistance.
I usually get the best outputs with Olivia because most of her workouts include climbing and being out of the saddle.
Standing positions allows you to generate more force, but are the most taxing on the body.
I also find that her personality allows me to push and challenge myself.
Olivia turns every class into a long-distance hike, which I like.
I used to love Tabata classes with Robin but I wasn’t getting enough intensity for the long haul until I started training with Olivia.
Now I only ride with Olivia and all my PR is with her.
Who is the second hardest Peloton bike instructor?
The second toughest peloton cycling instructor is Christian Vande Velde.
He only has 14 rides but all of them are extremely difficult.
He is the retired American professional road racing cyclist who raced in the Tour de France neck and neck with people like Lance Armstrong.
He can definitively motivate you to work hard.
Each of his rides is a good endurance challenge because he pushes you for the whole 45 minutes.
Even his cooldowns are like a race.
My average output during Christan rides is above 300 watts.
What about the easiest instructors?
It depends.
For me, the easiest peloton cycling instructor is Mayla Wedekind.
Most of her rides are low-impact, beginners, and recovery sessions that range between 5.0 to 7.0 in the difficulty score.
She also teaches a lot of warm-up and cooldown rides.
Hardest Peloton Strength Instructors
Peloton strength is the second most difficult and most diverse class category after cycling.
Choosing the hardest peloton strength coach will ensure you’re not wasting your time and you always get a good workout.
In the table below you have the list of the 5 hardest peloton strength instructors with the number of rides and average class difficulty level.
| Name | Number of classes | Avg difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| Jess Sims | 233 | 7.9 |
| Rebecca Kennedy | 286 | 7.7 |
| Tunde Oyeneyin | 17 | 7.4 |
| Chase Tucker | 207 | 7.0 |
| Adrian Williams | 150 | 6.7 |
Who is the hardest peloton strength instructor?
Undoubtedly, the hardest Peloton strength instructor has to be Jess Sims.
With over 230 strength classes and more than 180 of them set at difficulty level 7 or higher, it’s no surprise that her classes are challenging.
This sentiment is echoed throughout the Peloton online community and on social media – she is unanimously considered one of the most difficult instructors.
If you want to take a rigorous strength class, Jess Sim’s has a wide selection available!
Her most difficult weight training class lasts for 45 minutes and includes a variety of functional movements with heavy weights.
Jess also has several 20-minute strenuous workouts where she includes several complex exercises, done back to back, with minimum to no rest.
She also includes many kettlebell-style exercises like Turkish get-ups, clean and press, or armbars.
Those movements kick my ass every time because they require functional mobility and strength.
They are tough, and if you choose the right weight, you can get out of breathing right off the gate.
Who is the second hardest Peloton strength instructor?
The second toughest peloton strength instructor is Rebecca Kennedy.
She teaches over 280 strength classes (the most from all peloton instructors) and 170 are intermediate to advanced.
Rebecca specializes in bodyweight strength workouts.
I love to train with her because she uses a lot of animal movement style workouts where you don’t need any weights.
What is an animal movement workout? Overall, the animal movement workout is a combination of yoga, martial arts, and functional training.
It involves exercises named after specific animals such as bear crawls, frog jumps, gorilla walks, and more. They help to improve your strength, as well as mobility.
What about the easiest instructors? In short, the easiest peloton strength instructor is Matty Maggiacomo because he teaches a lot of 10 to 20-minute workouts that are beginner-friendly.
He has longer break times and spends a lot of time emphasizing the right technique and form.
It’s great for beginners, but not if you’re looking for a tough class.
Hardest Peloton Tread Instructors
As a whole, running is harder than cycling because it burns more calories, as well as has a higher impact on the muscles and joints.
Studies have shown that endurance training for marathons is one of the most difficult sports (Esteve-Lanao et al. 2017).
Below you have the list of the 5 hardest peloton tread instructors.
| Name | Number of classes | Avg difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| Olivia Amato | 210 | 7.6 |
| Jess Sims | 154 | 7.2 |
| Becs Gentry | 444 | 7.1 |
| Matt Wilpers | 230 | 6.9 |
| Selena Samuela | 283 | 6.6 |
Who is the hardest peloton tread instructor?
It’s not for me to say who the toughest Peloton Tread instructor is, but if you’re looking for a challenging class, Olivia Amato’s is hard to beat.
Her 45-minute Hills Runs feature high-intensity interval training and tread incline as well as speed – it wouldn’t be for everyone, but for those in the know, they represent a very tough workout.
To learn more about why these classes can be so difficult, just look up the Peloton Facebook group for an inside view.
(Let’s just say that it has become a bit of a social media challenge among members of that community.)
Olivia’s HIIT runs have a higher work-to-rest ratio where you will run for 3-5 minutes around your lactate threshold, followed by the recovery time.
Minimal breaks, high incline, and a take-no-prisoners mindset.
Choose her if you want to PR your next tread session.
Please don’t be fooled by her innocent look.
She will kick your ass while keeping a smile on her face.
Who is the second hardest peloton tread instructor?
The second most challenging peloton tread instructor is Jess Sims.
She has over 150 tread classes and 70 of them have difficulty levels above 7.5.
She specializes in 45-minute Hill Runs, as well as Interval Runs.
She also teaches the class called “The Fastest Mile”.
This is an assessment-style class without incline or speed recommendations designed to make you run at your best and beat your record in running 1 mile in under 11 minutes.
It starts with a progressive 8-minute warm-up.
This is the perfect class for everyone who likes short but intense runs.
Who is the easiest peloton tread instructor?
In general, the easiest peloton tread instructor is Matty Maggiacomo.
He mainly does Recovery runs and Intervals for beginners.
His tread classes on average are between 4 to 6 difficulty levels.
Hardest Peloton Bootcamp Instructors
I think Peloton Bootcamp is the most challenging workout available because it’s a combination of cardio with weights.
Here are the top 5 peloton Bootcamp instructors.
| Name | Number of classes | Avg difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| Jess Sims | 181 | 8.6 |
| Olivia Amato | 43 | 7.8 |
| Chase Tucker | 124 | 7.7 |
| Andy Speer | 115 | 7.4 |
| Rebecca Kennedy | 77 | 7.2 |
Who is the toughest peloton Bootcamp instructor?
For me, the hardest bootcamp instructor has to be Jess Sims.
Her strength lies in her 60-minute full-body classes which have a difficulty level of around 9.
The classes employ an effective workout system where you alternate between interval run for 5-10 minutes and then 8-12 minutes of full body exercises using heavyweights.
It’s no wonder that she’s become so popular among many who are pushing themselves further in efficient and creative ways.
Her workout split between cardio and strength is around 40 to 60.
This is the most challenging 60-minute class on the peloton.
She dominates bike Bootcamp, as well as tread Bootcamp.
What I like about her Jess Bootcamp sessions is that she also includes several high-impact and plyometric moves like jumps, burpees, and tuck jumps.
This is a great alternative for strength training that boosts muscle power, strength, balance, and agility.
The second hardest peloton bootcamp instructor is Olvia.
She has 43 Bootcamp classes altogether, but only 3 of them are for beginners.
Instead of focusing on full-body, she does a lot of body part splits combined with cardio (e.g. Legs and Glutes, Core, or Arms and Shoulders).
Who is the easiest peloton Bootcamp instructor?
In general, the easiest peloton tread instructor is Selena Samuela.
Most of her Bootcamp sessions are for beginners.
She teaches a lot of Bootcamp core workouts where she mainly uses her body weight, together with light weights.
Hardest Peloton Yoga Instructors
When I was choosing the hardest peloton yoga instructors I needed to remind myself that yoga is not like cycling or running classes where you assess difficulty levels by their intensity.
Yoga is more about a range of motion because you can be the stronger guy or gal in the room but without good mobility, you won’t be able to perform certain asanas.
Here are my top 5 peloton yoga instructors ranked by difficulty.
| Name | Number of classes | Avg difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| Ross Rayburn | 529 | 6.5 |
| Anna Greenberg | 559 | 6.5 |
| Kristin McGee | 597 | 6.2 |
| Denis Morton | 368 | 5.9 |
| Marianna Fernandez | 157 | 5.5 |
Who is the most difficult peloton yoga instructor?
As a whole, the hardest peloton yoga instructor is Ross Rayburn because he teaches some of the most difficult 30-minute Power Yoga classes.
Most of his advanced sessions include a good mix of arm-balancing poses, inversion poses, and backends.
Apart from teaching some of the most advanced yoga poses like headstand, scorpion, or even handstand, Ross has many 45-minute Vinyasa-style Yoga Flow classes.
Here you move from one pose to another, with minimum time to rest.
One thing that I like about Ross is that he gives a hard class but doesn’t intimidate people.
He always gives alternatives for people who are not quite there.
The second most difficult peloton yoga teacher is Anna Greenberg.
She goes with Ross’s neck and neck because they both have an equal number of advanced and intermediate classes.
However, some of the Yoga Flow last for up to 60 minutes.
The bottom line
In short, the most difficult peloton instructor is Olivia Amato.
She is one of the top four peloton instructors that teaches bike, tread, and strength classes.
Plus, most of her workouts are advanced and intermediate, regardless of the class category.
Please remember that most of the peloton instructors specialize within specific categories so choosing the hardest one isn’t always that simple.
This will depend mainly on your mobility, fitness level, and personal goals.