“Welcome, Peloton family,” says instructor Mr Alex Toussaint, addressing the 50 members physically present for his half-hour Hiit class at a cycling studio in New York’s Chelsea, the 500 or so riding the class live at home on their touchscreen-equipped bikes, and the 5,000 or more who will ride the class on-demand in the coming fortnight. “We’ve got 30 minutes to be great and I plan to execute every second of that opportunity.”

Dubbed “the Netflix of fitness”, Peloton has also been described as a “cult”, which is apt for the fervour of its converts if not their number: more than a million across the US, Canada and the UK, including celebrities such as Mr David Beckham and Mr Hugh Jackman (now spared the ignominy of being papped in a sweaty mess whenever they work out). Normally, those members are restricted to communicating via the virtual leaderboard on their Peloton bike or treadmill, or the hundreds of unofficial Facebook groups. But on the weekend of 3-5 May, around 3,000 members, drawn from all over, descended on NY for the brand’s fifth annual Homecoming event.

Originally called “Home Rider Invasion”, Homecoming began when a group of enterprising members descended upon the studio to cycle together, and with their favourite instructor, in real life. Now hosted by Peloton, the event comprises live classes, various wellness pop-ups and instructor meet-and-greets, culminating in a red carpet “community celebration” at the Hammerstein Ballroom headlined by Beck. The real stars of the show, though, are the instructors, who are mobbed by members throughout. They’re part PT, part TV presenter, complete with minders – members are warned before classes start filming: “Do not rush the stage or we will take you out.” The New York Times even wrote an article on the burgeoning celebrities: “Peloton Instructors Ride for Fitness and Fame”.

“It’s a very unique job,” says Mr Benjamin Alldis, one of Peloton’s UK instructors, whom you might take for a celebrity even if you haven’t seen him on-screen, with his athletic 6ft 2in frame clad in a biker jacket, hoodie, sweatpants and Yeezy Boost 700s. Mr Alldis was previously in private equity but got into boutique fitness so much that he was asked to become an instructor at his favoured London studio, teaching 12 classes a week around his demanding finance gig. After being scouted by Peloton, there followed a 10-week initial training programme starting in November, camera work being the steepest learning curve. Even after that, Mr Alldis attends weekly, if not daily, sit-downs to fine-tune his performance and brainstorm ways to build his class base, reach and “brand”.

Working to a monthly schedule, Mr Alldis typically films two to three classes a day, five days a week. He gets there an hour early to prepare, more to get in the zone than to get make-up. “You have to be ‘on’ the whole time,” he says. The actual filming is only 30 per cent of his workload, which comprises programming the classes and playlists, plus production meetings, promotional appearances and other activities: “So it’s actually really busy.”

As well as teaching two to three classes a day, Mr Alldis is also doing them, so he goes to a physio every week to ensure that he’s not wearing himself out. He also swears by infrared saunas, floatation tanks and cryotherapy. Foam rolling is “really important”, while his Hypervolt massage device is “a game changer”. Having learnt the value of shuteye for recovery, he sleeps seven to eight hours a night, versus five when he was in finance. Because of the amount of the exercise that he does, he doesn’t have to be too strict with his diet, but from Monday to Friday he has the 3,500 to 4,000 calories that he consumes a day sent to him by a meal-delivery company for the sake of convenience.

Mr Alldis scarcely has time or need to do any exercise outside of his classes, but he stays on message by using a lot of Peloton’s other offerings, which include bootcamp, strength, stretching and meditation. He also does his own strength training: compound movements and CrossFit-style work. He’s contractually not allowed to do any extreme sports.

Managing Mr Alldis’ social media is practically a full-time job, although he receives some assistance from Peloton’s team. Mostly, it’s messages from members telling him they loved his class, or that he’s changed their life by getting them into fitness. Does he ever receive any more, ahem, unusual correspondence? “You do,” he acknowledges, without divulging any details. “But that’s just part and parcel of having a bit of reach.”