Tag Archives: Joey Gonzalez

The Tough, Funny & Joyful Alycia Stevenin at Barry’s Bootcamp

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Monday night, the possibility popped up on Facebook to join Joey Gonzalez at Barry’s Bootcamp for a class with Alycia Stevenin. I had heard some amazing things about her classes and immediately wanted in. So on Tuesday morning, I made my way over to Barry’s Bootcamp. It had been a few months since my last visit and I was a little nervous about it – plus, this class was going to be my first “Butt & Legs” session at Barry’s Bootcamp.

I arrived a little early and had one of those slightly awkward check-ins, you know, one of those exchanges that made me feel like I was wearing a big sign that said “does not belong”. Luckily, that has never stopped me, so off I went to the locker room to get ready for class and stash my stuff. Heading back to the front to wait for my class, I settled onto the bench, chatting with two of the other women who were also waiting for class to start. I always love those few minutes of people watching before a class, and this class was filled with obvious Barry’s regulars.

As we were finally let into the room for class, I got my first look at Alycia, the tiny spitfire who was going to kick my ass for the next hour. She is small but has this amazingly large presence about her and lit up the room. As we walked in and made our way to the treadmills she joked with one of the ladies I had been talking to about how she was going to “run that ass right off you!” It was funny, but also made me a little nervous about exactly how crazy hard this class was going to be! We all started on the treadmills, since there were only 20 of us in the class, we could all do the same thing instead of splitting into two sections, as is sometimes the case at Barry’s most packed classes. After a short warm up, the 1st round was a pattern of a running uphill at 3% grade for 1 minute, 6% for 45 seconds and then 9% for 30 seconds before going back to 0% for an all too brief 30 second walking rest for 3 rounds. It was about 10 minutes of hard, but it didn’t kill me. Then, we were off to the floor for a long session of deadlifts, squats and alternating lunges. It was during this part that Alycia totally won me over, though, because she was really watchful of everyone’s form and made some great corrections – ALWAYS a good thing. The reps seemed to go on forever and made the second treadmill section seem especially brutal. Also you know you are in trouble when the section is prefaced by the trainer telling you “I did this run with my friend the other day and it almost killed me! But it didn’t, so we are going to do it today to prove how strong you really are! Now, GO!” I don’t remember the specifics of that section at all since I spent the whole time thinking I really might keel over at any minute. Then, it was back to the floor for more killer moves with resistance bands, anchored under the bench and looped over our feet – so ridiculously hard that it was almost comical, and of course, I loved it! Then, it was back to the treadmill for our last running section, which was a full-on sprinting section. 45 seconds all out, 30 seconds rest until the last section where we got a minute rest, but then, Alycia told us that we all had to be at least a 10, which is SO MUCH FASTER then I think I can go. Anything over a 9 and I am pretty sure I am just going to shoot off the back of the treadmill. So, I was cranking it up and hit a 9.9, but at that point, I was just booking it and focused on not flying off. The guy next to me was flying at a 12.5, looks over and says: “You are SO close. COME ON! DO IT!” So, I hit the button one more time and actually finished at the 10 mark. I so needed that extra push at that moment! It was funny, he started to apologize for it at the end of the run, and I just stopped him by beaming and said: “Are you kidding? Thank you!! I so needed that!” Sometimes, you need others to help push you past were you think you can go.

It was a crazy good class – tough, funny, and joyful, just like Alycia. I can’t believe she only teaches four classes there a week, but I will definitely be back for another one. She was absolutely awesome.

I left class on a total endorphin high…the perfect start to any day!

(Image of Alycia from Barry’s Bootcamp NYC website)

Joey at Barry’s Bootcamp kicked my ass.

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I am mostly amazed these days when a class really kicks my ass. Last night, I went to Barry’s Bootcamp with Joey Gonzalez. 15 minutes into the class, I knew this class was going to kick my ass but also that I was going to love it.

In the last week, Barry’s Bootcamp had popped up a lot on my radar, the most enticing of those being a video they had posted last week with Joey and Lacey Stone giving a tour of the space and showing a bit of the actual class. It was the first time that it sounded like something I would like. I have to say, I really hate the branding of Barry’s Bootcamp – it is very sexy starlet and buff action dude and in every other review it sounded like such an LA class that I had pointedly avoided it. It didn’t sound like a really challenging class to me but between that clip and a friend of mine raving about the class, I decided to go check it out. After a Facebook exchange with Joey on Sunday, he graciously (and awesomely!) invited me in the next night to check out a class at 6:30pm.

The studio, on 20th and 6th, is small but really nice. It was PACKED though when I went in, since it was a peak-hour class. I signed my waver and was pointed to where the locker rooms were.  The locker room is tiny but really nice, with actual showers – a weird thing that seems to be missing at a lot of NYC studios. I dropped off my stuff in one of the lockers and went to join the masses waiting.

Before class actually started, Joey called me in to introduce himself and give me a brief overview of the class. The class that night was focused on the Arms & Abs.  They also have Butt & Legs, Chest & Abs, Back & Shoulder and Full Body. He also took the time to tell me about the Woodway treadmills they use as part of the class. I have over the years heard others rave about Woodways before but never the WHY of what makes them better. The slatted belt, not a solid belt, with each tread covered in thick shock-absorbing layer, causes much less impact on the joints than traditional treadmills. Who knew? I can say I will be grabbing a Woodway treadmill from now on at the regular gym too…

The class of 30 or so divides into two groups with one starting out on the treadmills and the other on the floor with weights and a step. I choose the treadmill to start with since I am such a solid runner these days. I am not sure it was the wrong choice but damn, that was not an easy way to start a class! The light run pace was a 6mph, but we spent most of the time going between 7-8mph with inclines and speed bursts of 9mph. Oh man. By the time the first section was over, I was gasping and drenched already. The floor section with weights was seriously hard with each exercise going to failure, where you really couldn’t do one more before going on to the next exercise. After 15 minutes, we swapped again.

The second treadmill section started with a high knees drill on a 15% incline. It was a thing I would have never thought of doing on a treadmill and it was hard. We then went back to the running pace and did 15 minutes of alternating between a light jog and full out sprints with occasional bouts of incline runs.  By the time that one finished, I was a little concerned I might hurl and that if I did, they would never let me come back. Then it was back to the floor for a resistance band section. I chose the intermediate blue band and about midway through, I was kicking myself for not grabbing the easier red band. It was challenging in the best way possible but I think the red band would have not made me want to cry  the way the blue one did.

In the end, it was an amazing class that flew by, kicked my ass and made me feel like I should eat humble pie. It is a challenging, intense, fun workout and I am so glad I got to check it out.  I can’t imagine the Butt & Legs class though, my legs were so wobbly by the end of this class that walking home was a very slow process! I wonder if I could even make it home after that one? Or would I end up just sitting like a lump of jello in Barry’s juice bar?

(photo credit: Barry’s Bootcamp via Facebook)