WORKOUT

Wednesday at Barry’s equals Chest, Back, and Abs. The result of this: you’ll leave feeling ripped and wanting to go back for more. This class was broken out into three rounds and, as in every class, we alternated between floor routines and treadmill. For the floor routine, we alternated between light (rec. 8-10 lbs for women) and heavy weight (rec. 12-15 lbs for women) dumbbells. From curls to bench press, lat pull downs to push-ups, our upper body was thanking us every time the treadmill rotation came around. We were shaking by the end of each exercise – we never thought we’d say this, but we were happy to get back on that tread.

Even though we had hoped for a little break from the floor routine, the treadmill routine was nothing short of easy. We started with a light jog, about a minute in each rotation but then it was game on from there. Harley had us sprinting most of the time: we hit speeds ranging from 9.0 to 11.0. Oh and our inclines hit 9.0…not to be confused with 0.9. Talk about burnin’ those legs out.

INSTRUCTOR

With a strong concentration on form, there was no room for slacking with Harley. Harley was all about quality reps over quantity, but don’t be fooled: we still got lots of reps in. He carefully guided us through the various floor exercises and was there for us when we needed him. Whether you’re a first timer or a regular, you’ll always know where you need to be. Harley challenged us on and off the treadmill and had the natural ability to balance detailed instruction with a non-drill sergeant motivational style. He commanded the room yet he didn’t have to yell to keep the class in line.

The best way to describe Dan? Yoked (aka jacked) and serious. He’s not the overly cheery type and he gets right to business. He was thorough in his instruction but could’ve done a better job commanding the room and pumpin’ us up. It was a good thing his music selection was upbeat and fast; we needed that extra oomph at times.

Dan’s Friday night class was butt and legs, one of our fav days at Barry’s. There were two rounds, alternating between the floor and the treadmill. Dan changed up the floor routine, incorporating resistance bands rather than multiple sets of squats with heavy dumbbells. This was a nice change of pace! The treadmill rounds were endurance-focused. Our recommendation: pace yourself if you need to. He incorporated a handful of sprints and resistance hills. We reached a 12.0 incline. Yes. 12.0.

Overall, he delivered a kickass workout. We would’ve liked to see some more spunk on his end, but that said, we’d go back for more. Oh and he skipped the stretch, and abruptly dismissed the class. Let’s just say, we’ve never experienced this at Barry’s; perhaps it was an off day.

If we go too long without a Barry’s class, we miss it. Don’t let the intimidation factor keep you from taking a class. It’s a really hard workout, of course, but there are different levels of intensity and everyone is welcome. There’s a lot going on in the Barry’s studio – the instructors are basically teaching two classes simultaneously between the treadmill and the floor. Many of them may not seem personable because they have a lot on their mind, but in actuality, many of them are, especially Bronwyn. She is probably one of the most approachable instructors they have so we would most definitely recommend her to all levels of ability. Do yourself a favor, rip off the bandaid already and try Barry’s.

RUNDOWN

WORKOUT

In this particular Full Body class, we did two rounds. We prefer this TBH, it’s just more efficient. We started on the tread with a pretty decent warmup to get the blood pumping and the legs loose. When we got into the actual interval work, we did three 3-minute runs (7.0 to 9.0 speed). The first minute was always flat, the second minute was at an incline, and the third minute was flat. That incline for the first round was a 3%, then we hit 6% and 9% as we progressed. We were able to recover in between each three-minute segment but it was at a jogging speed.

The second round on the treadmill was all speed work and it was quick. Bronwyn used words like “push”, “spring” and “jog” to denote speed, which mean something different to everyone. It was all up to us as to how hard we wanted to work. She put together a pyramid-style treadmill workout for us in which we built up our duration from 30 seconds to one full minute of work at a time. We did each time duration twice, at two different speeds. For example, we did a 30 second “push” speed to a recovery jog to a 30 second “sprint” speed. We did that same pattern for 45 seconds and  then one minute. While it was a shorter segment, it was definitely hard.

The floor workout didn’t really give us much of a break between our treadmill workouts. Round one on the floor started with a warm up (down dogs, cross body climbers, and pushups) which we always like even though by the time we get off the tread we are drenched in sweat. The floor warm up gets you moving on different planes, which is important. We had our heavy to medium weights and did a lot of chest and abs to start. We did a couple of variations of chest presses and used our weights for jack knifes and suitcase sit ups. We dropped to one weight and got into a set of bicep curls and tricep extensions followed by goblet squats. To get a little bit of a cardio push to end the round, we ended with a minute of jump squats (without the weights). If you wanted to know why the class is called Full Body, we think round one speaks for itself.

Round two on the floor concentrated on abs and back. We used our medium to heavy weights again and did all of the moves on our left for the first time through the circuit and then did everything on the right side to even things out. We did side bends (hitting that oblique), rows on the floor, row to a side plank, rows off the bench, and side planks (without weights) with a hip dip. By the end, we were spent.

Between your time on the tread and the floor, you’re never going to leave Barry’s feeling like you didn’t get a great workout. Arms & Abs with Kara definitely lived up to the Barry’s standard. Kara was all business and it was a great balance on the floor between arms and abs. We loved how she varied the ways we hit these muscle groups. The tread was fast and flat for the most part so we covered a good deal of distance in our 50 minutes, which was strangely satisfying.

RUNDOWN

WORKOUT

We completed two rounds between the tread and the floor in this class. The treadmill workout in the first round was done at moderate speeds and more focused on endurance, while round two was more speed-focused. There was no incline in the workout, but Kara made a comment about crushing incline over the weekend (in Full Body classes) so she was laying off us for this class. Don’t hate that. The lower end of the speed spectrum was in that 7 to 9 range and she mixed in a good deal of sprints across the two rounds. Kara also pushed us to try and jog our recoveries if we could, so we got in some decent mileage on the tread.

On the floor, we stuck to medium to heavy weights for both rounds. We hit on our triceps, biceps and abs (obviously) in round one. We did a lot of bicep curls but in different ways – normal bicep curls (in front of our bodies), hammer curls and wide bicep curls (out to the side of our bodies). She also varied how fast we came up to the top of the curl and how slowly we came out of the curl. She had us doing push ups with isometric holds once we were reaching that breaking point towards the end of the curl segment. Whoa. She rounded out the first floor round with planks, tricep pushups and tricep kick backs.

Round two was more about triceps and abs; the only biceps that we did were heavy concentration curls. She coached us through several variations of skull crushers and tricep dips off the bench. We did leg lifts to get into the lower abs, toe touches and across the body sit ups. Round two had less variation and we did each set of moves more than once.

INSTRUCTOR

Kara taught a challenging class and we would definitely seek her out again. It was hard to understand her at times, which can be frustrating because there’s so much going on in a Barry’s class that the instructor cues are everything. We aren’t sure if it was her or the sound system – we’re inclined to give Kara the benefit of the doubt on that though. At the beginning of the workout, there were times when we got a little lost because her cues were not entirely clear, but towards the latter half of the class, she got better about telling us what to expect in terms of what was coming up. At the TriBeCa studio, there are huge mirrored columns on the floor that make it feel like a little bit of a fun house, and there were times where Kara would demo the move and it was literally impossible (due to the columns) to see her. Make sure you feel comfortable getting to a place where you are not obstructed  – the demos are SO helpful.

Tony’s class is a ton of fun. He will make you work (it’s Barry’s after all…), but you’ll have a smile on your face, a bounce in your step and Tony’s words of encouragement in your ear the entire class. He is as friendly as it gets from start to finish. He also checks the class roster and uses people’s names during class. This simple act has such an impact on his ability to motivate each individual. Throughout class, Tony would call on people by name and ask for .1 higher on the tread – more often than not, the person would add more than that and he would give them props. This raises the bar for everyone in class and you end up running personal best speeds. His playlist was amazing and it had people lip synching as they ran. By the end of class, your muscles will be fatigued and you will feel spent but Tony’s class is more than worth it!

Danielle has kind eyes and a welcoming smile. She is an encouraging and energetic instructor who will work. you. out. Her class focused on moderate to high speeds on the tread and we covered a decent amount of distance by the end. She didn’t skimp on the hills either. She gives instructions quickly so you may miss them at first but she always repeats herself; by the time you need to change it up, you’ll know what to do.

Danielle was all about combination movements on the floor for this Full Body class. For example: side lunge to bicep curls or squat thrusters, and a lot of them. These moves were harder than usual after the tread workout. She demoed everything but was always in different place in the room so it was sometimes hard to find her. Check out the double floor team if you need a visual in a pinch.

At one point, Danielle’s laptop (aka the music) crashed and she handled it like a boss. It was fixed before most of us knew there was even an issue. Her Barry’s team helped her out and she didn’t let the technical snafu throw her off her game. Danielle is a solid teacher and we will be back for more!

Don’t let Chris’s friendly and welcoming vibe fool you, because he will make you work. Chris is encouraging but he is not a yeller – so, basically he’s a unicorn. He gets amped by hard work and good form. It’s clear that he puts a lot of thought into the way the workout flows and the tread workout really complimented the floor workout. He even wears a quarterback sleeve playbook so he stays on track. Chris provided clear directions throughout class and let us know where the workout was going so we could mentally prepare and select the proper speeds and weights as the workout progressed. Due to his demeanor and the scalability of his workout, he would be a great instructor for anyone. First-timers would feel comfortable with him and more seasoned Barry’s patrons would be impressed and pushed by his workout.

Alycia is petite, blonde and super cute but don’t let that fool you: she is all business. She was very aware of timing and encouraged efficient transitions from the tread to the floor, which we appreciated, especially when class has three rounds. On the tread, we didn’t see incline: it was all endurance running and we covered a significant distance. The abs workout was awesome. We did plank series in round one, we used the weighted sand ball in round two and a heavy weight in round three. She hit every part of the abs over the course of the workout and we were definitely shaking at several points during the floor rounds. It helped that Alycia’s playlist was amazing. She made it feel like a morning dance party.

Alycia moves around the room with purpose. She doesn’t demo as much as some other instructors but she gives props to people in class who have great form and encourages everyone else to use them as examples. She is really clear in her directions so you can keep up with what is going on quite easily. During our final sprints of class she was giving shoutouts to all the double digit speeds. She was genuine with her props when she gave them, which we find more meaningful. Alycia’s class is on point, we’ll definitely be back for more.

We have heard of Matt N. and the popularity of his classes but we had never experienced it first hand. The throngs of people waiting outside the studio was proof of his acclaim. We were pumped to get in there and see what he was all about. We left feeling satisfied, sweaty and in agreement that Matt’s a must-try instructor.

Matt had great diction and enunciation, which sounds weird but it’s actually important in a Barry’s class! Matt was warm and welcoming. He had a way of making class feel personalized; he called out people’s names, made eye contact while we were on the tread, helped people one on one with form and pushed individuals to go up in weight as he checked the weights on the floor. He was encouraging as opposed to harsh or tough on us, verbally…the workout was another story.

The runs were endurance based and pushed our threshold when it came to duration and speed. At least he spared us on incline for the day. During our floor segments we use medium to heavy weights for our full body workout. He would start us out with classic move (like lunges) and add onto them to creating combination move (lunge, curl, press overhead, twist left/right) to challenge our bodies and our minds (requires coordination!).

Matt will challenge you but understands and supports all levels of fitness as long as you keep moving. He is welcoming to everyone but expect him to ask for your personal best.