At Barry’s, they aren’t trying to be cutesy when they name their classes, so when you sign up for Chest, Back & Abs, you know what you’re in for. If Patrick is at the helm you are in good hands; his tough love will have you breathing hard and sweating profusely between the tread and the floor. Targeted workouts can sometimes be a bit boring but Patrick infused newness into the chest, back and abs workout, making it interesting yet effective. If you are relatively new to Barry’s, this class may be a little intimidating but it is 100% Barry’s, so bust out of your comfort zone and get into this class!

RUNDOWN

WORKOUT

The format of the class follows the typical Barry’s structure. The first treadmill segment was a progressive run in which we were building speed. There was a short hill thrown in for good measure: 30 seconds at a 4%, 30 seconds at a 12%, 30 seconds at a 4%, and that was it for incline. Short and sweet.

When we hit the floor for the first time, we had heavy weights and a resistance band – the ones with the handles. We worked on controlled deceleration in our chest presses and rows with the heavy weights and we used the resistance bands for quick reps of chest presses and upright rows to burn out the muscles. To finish out the floor round, we did plyo pushups and hollow holds to get into those abs.  

The second treadmill segment was all about building speed and endurance. We started out in a jog, which led into a run and then into a sprint, followed by recovery. The instructor then stacked this same sequence by two (ex: jog, run, sprint, jog, run, sprint) and then by three. The duration of each segment varied but it was a hard and fast run topped off with some all out sprints.

The second floor segment was structured to hit a rep goal in a set amount of time. The goal was to get 20 reps in 40 seconds for a chest press and a lat pull down, 30 reps in 40 seconds for a bent over row and 10 “combat burpees” (jab, cross, jab, cross, hit the deck, jump up) in 40 seconds. If you finished before the 40 seconds were up for any of these moves, you did a hollow hold until time was up. We did three rounds of this. At the end of the segment, Patrick let us know that we had just done 240 total reps….that’s a lot of reps. Overall it was an engaging, goal-oriented and fun segment on the floor but it was rigorous.  

There was not as much solo ab work (other than a hollow hold here and there), but the workout engaged the abs/core the entire time, which is definitely preferred!  

INSTRUCTOR

Patrick really takes the bootcamp part of Barry’s Bootcamp seriously. He is not looking to be your friend and he even mentioned that at least once during class. He is there to give you an awesome workout and that is exactly what he did. There were several new students who didn’t present themselves at the beginning of the class, so he had to help them get set up in the middle of class, which was clearly frustrating to him (we may have even caught an eye roll). There were also people who came in 15 minutes late (ummm, you missed an entire segment of the workout!) – also frustrating for Patrick. Halfway through class, Patrick hit his stride. He spoke about speed as a percentage of your max (especially in the second treadmill segment), which is not typical of Barry’s instructors who usually give you a specific speed range where you should be running. This type of instruction may not work for everyone, as you need to be in tune with what your max is. But if you are up for a challenge and some tough love, Patrick is your guy.

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.

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!

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.

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.

What can we say about Barry’s that we haven’t said before? It’s a work you into the ground workout. We heard first hand in the locker room that we were not the only ones that felt that way after Vlad’s Full Body class. We believe our fellow class goer said something like “that was so much harder than SoulCycle.” She wouldn’t be wrong but we think that’s like comparing apples and oranges to be totally honest. If you are looking to test your limits and perhaps slip in your own puddle of sweat, then Vlad’s Barry’s class should be on your to-do list.

RUNDOWN

WORKOUT

Vlad took us through what we would call a no frills workout. He didn’t present us with anything too wild but still put us through a grueling workout.

The first treadmill round focused on endurance with intervals that were three minutes long. The first minute was a jog (5.0 – 7.0) and the next two minutes were a run speed (7.0 – 9.0). During these endurance intervals he never cued us to go above a 9.0 but the duration of the intervals was what proved to be challenging. The second round on the treadmill was shorter (barely) and added incline. The structure of the run was the same (three minute intervals, same speed breakdown) but during the second minute we held our run speed (7.0 – 9.0) and added incline. We hit 2%, 4%, 6% over the course of the intervals. We ended this round with a 30 second all out sprint to finish off our running for the day.

The first round on the floor started with a brief body weight only warmup to get us moving in different planes. We used our heavy weights for the rest of the round doing classic (but always challenging) moves like squats, back lunges with a curl, chest presses, sit-ups and shoulder presses. For our second floor round we used a resistance band. We love the band because it so rarely gets used on Full Body day (in our opinion). We use the band for an arm and abs workout. Vlad got us using the bands for oblique crunches which was something we haven’t done in a Barry’s before. We definitely felt that the next day!

INSTRUCTOR

We could tell Vlad was excited to teach class as he enthusiastically greeted everyone as they entered the studio. Vlad did a great job of laying out where we were going in the workout (especially on the tread) so we could be mindful of our speed/weight selection. He also performed demos of all the floor moves in a timely manner so we knew what to do next. We took Vlad’s class at 2pm on a Sunday – which was a first, we must admit. We noticed a handful of new people (who he was great about checking in on) but we also noticed a lot of people who kind of did their own thing during class. We give Vlad props for not letting that be too distracting (or frustrating) as he taught class. He allowed them to coexist after making sure they were ok. We enjoyed Vlad’s style and his killer workout, however, the 2pm is probably better for people who are newer to the workout & not the diehards.

Barry’s is a solid standby any way you slice it, no matter which class you take. Arms & Abs would not be our first choice/go-to Barry’s class but regardless of that it’s a great workout. Josey prepared a “kick you in the butt” tread workout balanced with #basic arm & abs exercises. Don’t let that fool you though, you’ll be feeling sore after this one for sure. Josey teaches a fluid class that is easy to follow. Despite the fact that you are working hard, he will put a smile on your face throughout the process.

RUNDOWN

WORKOUT

We did three rounds between the floor and tread. Strategic. The rounds are a bit shorter so you don’t gas out on the arms & abs exercises. The treadmill portion of class was well-rounded. We worked on endurance in round one, sprints in round two and incline in round three. The last round was short but brutal. We took the hills at a good clip (7.0 – 9.0 on the tread), tackling a 3%, 6% and 9% incline with limited recovery between each interval. Josey played with duration as well, adding to the workload as we progressed (aka sweatfest).  

The floor rounds were a little less inspired than we would have hoped. To be fair, arms can be limiting. We used weights and bodyweight for most of the arms and abs exercises. We used resistance bands (in round three) to burn out our arms after our weight sets – it truly burned at times. Just be prepared, your triceps will be sore for two days straight after class. He hit them particularly HARD.

INSTRUCTOR

While the floor portion of class was a bit lackluster, the tread workout Josey prepared was solid. We will give him the benefit of the doubt, because, as we mentioned, it can be hard to be creative with arms and abs. Josey’s teaching style was really easy to follow. He had fluid transitions as he toggled between his directions for the floor and “treaders”. He gives adequate foresight into where you are in the workout vs. where you are going, which helps to inform your weight selection and speed range. Josey also had solid pointers during class. He talks you through everything and commands the room with his energy and expertise. He moved us through the workout efficiently due to the way he gives directions and prepares you to move from one thing to another; you know you are working hard but you don’t have time to dwell on it.

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.