Created in California: How Barry's turned grueling military workouts into a sexy lifestyle
LOS ANGELES -- Arezu Aghaseyedjavadi signed up for her first Barry's class in 2017, motivated to give the high-intensity workout a try after noticing how fit everyone seemed when she flew from San Francisco to Los Angeles for weekly work trips.
She lost 50 pounds in the first year and got hooked. More than 1,500 classes later, the venture capitalist, who now lives in Pasadena, pays about $500 a month for the boutique fitness chain's top-level membership and has sweated it out at Barry's around the world: all seven L.A.-area locations as well as studios in the Bay Area, San Diego, Austin, New York, Miami, Chicago, Boston, the United Kingdom, Dubai and Abu Dhabi — "I went there for 48 hours for a business meeting and I was like, 'I want to get my Barry's in,'" she said.
Aghaseyedjavadi was one of hundreds of Barry's superfans who participated in a recent three-day bash to celebrate the brand's 25th anniversary — a considerable milestone in the competitive, fad-of-the-moment world of health and fitness clubs, estimated to be a $98-billion global market.
To mark the occasion, the company rented a Hollywood film studio and set up free cold-plunge baths, facial stations, a Lululemon pop-up and zero-gravity Therabody Lounger chairs. Employees handed out packets of Liquid I.V. hydration powder and samples of Mosh, a
