Aaron Hines speaks in a steady, measured cadence which is surprising given the swirl of activity in his life and work at the moment. He is prone to mottos like ‘you can’t play well if you don’t look good’ and exudes a certain high-school-quarterback-charm (he played growing up in the Bay Area and was a tight end at UC Davis) that makes you instantly trust him. Within the chaotic and selfie-crazed Los Angeles fitness demimonde he is an effortlessly solid center while others are, well, spinning every which way.
As an instructor and director of training at L.A’s Cycle House for the last four years, he leads up to 12 classes a week and is one of the most sought after teachers in the country. He manages this between his day job as a pharmaceutical rep, supplying to the seemingly bottomless SoCal demand for Botox, as well as starring in Hollywood Cycle, a reality show on E! chronicling the sturm und drang of his spin studio with it’s instructors, owners and clients. His co-star? None other than his sister and best friend, Nichelle. “She is a huge part of my life. Even with our age difference (7 years) we are close in a way now that we never were growing up so much.” He is the youngest of four and hosted his parents for thanksgiving in the new house he bought this summer in West Hollywood. “I like the neighborhood. It’s surrounded by the hottest places in L.A. It’s less than a 10 minute drive to Hollywood. If we want to go the Santa Monica it’s a 15-20 min drive, depending on traffic,” he says, relating it to freeway diametrics like a true angeleno. He likes the neighborhood’s juice bars and good restaurants and loves nothing more than a nice hike up Runyon Canyon on a Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon, “…to have peace and quiet and mountains and beautiful views, that’s probably the number one thing to do. A hike is a low impact work out and everything else we do is so high impact and intense,” he admits. To grab a bite and enjoy the canyon or the beach, he would favor a GapFit fitted sweat pant, which he loves at the moment, or the matching hoodie for a layer as California moves into what it considers “winter”.
For his nearly 20K Instagram followers he likes to post pictures that speak to his personal style, not just a barrage of gym selfies. “Redundancy will drive people away from you. You want people to be thinking ‘Aaron hasn’t posted yet today’, ‘I can’t wait to see what he’s going to post next’,” he advises. A hard and fast rule? Never post a blurry photo (you know who you are) and be conscious of alignment so it’s easier on the eye.
The Clark Kent existence of drug rep, spin instructor, and reality star all in one steer Aaron towards pieces that are versatile but stylish at the same time. “In LA it’s not necessarily about what you wear but about how good you look,” he observes. And good looking active wear strong enough for a workout but also relaxed enough for the ins and outs of a full day is perfect for Hines, as well as his very fitness oriented family. With the holidays upon us he adds: “My dad works out six times a week, so I would get him this GapFit long sleeve shirt I wore as a gift definitely. And same for my two brothers, the GapFit shorts and windbreaker I am wearing. It all works.”
Thinking of others as it relates to his work as a fitness pro is at the heart of everything he does. “I’ll get tweets or snapchats from people like ‘hey I lost 10 pounds because of you this is a person I’ve never met in my life or i’ll never meet. Knowing that I’ve had this positive influence on them and I don’t even know them is an amazing feeling,” he gushes. The possibility for a second season of Hollywood Cycle is more than likely and he offers that he may have another spot on a different show this spring. Which is all to say: even though the bikes he has mastered stay in one spot, he is going places, and fast.
