This story is part of LGBTQ+ in Fitness, a series of articles that spotlights the trainers, athletes, and gym owners who are making the fitness industry more inclusive for their community. Read the rest of the stories here.
UNDERNEATH THE DIMMED lights of the Red Room, Joey Gonzalez waits for his very first Barry’s class to begin. It’s 10 a.m. on a Saturday, and the then-24-year-old has no idea what to expect. He heard about how difficult the fitness class was, expecting a very intimidating, slightly sweaty experience before taking a seat on the bench at his assigned spot. He looks at the instructor Rich Vaughn, who stands front and center, ready to lead as “Crazy in Love” booms through the studio speakers. The class begins, and Gonzalez cycles back and forth between grueling high-speed sequences on the treadmill and heavy full-body dumbbell work.
Gonzalez was just one of 35 people in the packed room, but there was something about the Barry’s newbie that separated him from the rest: 12 years later, he would become the company’s co-CEO. The euphoric buzz he felt that day as he went through the 50-minute class is what put him on the path to running a global business. It had become almost like an addiction—so much so that he returned to the studio on a regular basis for not one, but two classes a day.
This quickly caught the attention of founder Barry Jay who asked Gonzalez if he had any desire to become one of their trainers. He eagerly said yes, got a bop-filled playlist ready, and took his rightful place on the schedule at their Los Angeles studio. He describes his early experience with the company as “love at first sweat,” remembering how he went straight home to his husband after training (something he says requires being a teacher, DJ, and entertainer all in one) and told him, “This is what I’m doing with my life.” Two years after he became a trainer, Gonzalez transitioned to partner and COO before becoming Barry’s co-CEO alongside Jonathan Gantt in 2015.
Fast forward to 2024, where there’s now 88 Barry’s studios worldwide—52 in the United States, 36 internationally—which makes Gonzalez kinda busy. Not to mention, he’s also a devoted husband and father of two. Despite having an overloaded plate, the 46-year-old understands his influence in and out of the Red Room and wouldn’t have it any other way. “I am gay, I’m Latino,” he says. “There are a lot of different things about me that I hope people connect to. A lot of [our clients] are gay, into fitness, want a family, and it’s been great to be a role model for our community.”
Ahead, Gonzalez chats with Men’s Health about leading a global fitness brand, LGBTQ+ inclusivity and community within the fitness world, and how far Barry’s has come since he started working there.
MEN’S HEALTH: What was your experience on the business side of things when you first joined Barry’s?
JOEY GONZALEZ: I got a job working the desk [at Gold’s Gym] to get a little bit of experience under my belt. I was out on the street handing flyers for a free month, but it definitely taught me a little bit about sales and about the fitness culture. After landing a GM role at Barry’s in 2006, I fell even more in love with it because not only was I running sort of the day-to-day, in charge of sales, revenue, and all of those things, but the marketing piece and driving community was so interesting. Running the business gave me the opportunity to really bring people together, as well as hire the right people, train the right people to assemble, and inspire this incredible team.
MH: At what point did you decide to go even further within the company?
JG: In 2009, I moved to San Diego and opened a studio there. I moved to New York [after that], and it became popular so quickly that we were just opening studios across the city. Since Barry’s was really the first boutique fitness concept, no one else was doing what we did. All of a sudden, that changed. By 2015, it became a pretty crowded landscape, where even though we were the original [boutique fitness class], we also understood the importance of getting to market first and establishing ourselves as the original in as many places as possible.
Gonzalez mic’d up, leading a class in the Red Room.
MH: What was it specifically about taking a Barry’s class that helped grow and shape your passion for fitness?
JG: Even though I was slightly into fitness, Barry’s is when I really dove in, and the environment really helped me believe in myself to an extent that I never did before. That was as a result of being able to accomplish and achieve things that I didn’t think were possible. I wasn’t a runner. I didn’t have a ton of experience lifting weights either, so as I got stronger and all of a sudden was [bench]-pressing 50-pound dumbbells, I just kept surprising myself on how much I could grow and meet any challenge. It took me two years to take my first Barry’s class, and once I showed up and discovered this incredibly close-knit community of like-minded people who were all there for the same reason, it was transformative.
MH: When you came on board as co-CEO, what was your first order of business? What did you want people to experience every time they stepped in and out of the Red Room?
JG: When I started taking class at Barry’s, it was a place where anyone felt welcome walking in, but not necessarily walking out. What I mean by that is it was really for elite athletes, and if you could not keep up on the treadmill, your instructor was coming up and pushing your speeds up. If you couldn’t hang on the floor, sometimes you got kicked out. The way things operated felt very out of line with my values, and was probably the single biggest change that I campaigned for. Things changed with the official rebrand in 2014 when we dropped “Bootcamp” and changed our logo from the dog tag to Chevron, but it took several years to convert all signage, websites, and social media handles. As we’ve adapted and evolved over the last 26 years and brought Barry’s to new markets, we’ve moved away from Bootcamp to create an experience that’s more of a lifestyle that’s uplifting and welcoming to all—regardless of where you are in your fitness journey.
MH: How important was diversity and inclusion when making big decisions? Did that play a large part as you began to grow the company into what it is today?
JG: When you’re someone who grew up in the type of environment I did, you have to have a very strong will to survive. Then, once you come out of it, you start to learn, after a number of years, that those survival skills actually make you who you are today, for better or for worse. I grew up under very challenging circumstances because I was a gay latino and the son of two immigrants in Chicago where everybody identified as straight and white. I felt different and was made fun of constantly, so I spent the greater part of my youth yearning for inclusivity. When I saw this opportunity to foster and grow the community at Barry’s, I wanted to ensure that employees and clients—no matter who they were—felt like it was a place where they could belong. It’s because of the people, because of who we hire, and because who our trainers are that make it feel that way.
MH: Is there a particular memory from your earlier years that’s left a lasting impression on you while growing up in Chicago as a gay man?
JG: When I was 13 years old, I booked a role singing in Falsettoland at the Wisdom Bridge Theater, and the cast was so diverse in every way: their backgrounds, their lifestyles. It was wild just how different each and every one of them was, but this passion of performance and this sort of overwhelming sense of inclusiveness and non-judgment was very omnipresent, and fostered this incredible environment where I, for the first time in my life, felt like, oh, wow. I can really be whoever I want with these people, and they’ll totally not only accept, but celebrate and love me.
MH: Did you use your background in the arts as a way to mold the entertaining, slightly theatrical side that comes with taking a Barry’s class?
JG: It’s not a coincidence that founder Barry Jay is also very artistic and loves musical theater. The two of us together really drove this culture and led by example to our future trainers, that you’re not just training people, you’re inter-training people. We coined that really early on. You aren’t just here to work people out. You’re here to help people forget about their troubles for that hour of time they have with you, to play the most incredible music, to make sure that the volume is right where it should be, and that people feel included. It’s meant to be truly an immersive experience that feels almost like entertainment, and that all came from the fact that I think, at the very top, we had a deep passion for that.
MH: Barry’s does incredible things for Pride Month in June, but the brand makes it very clear that all different types of marginalized communities should be celebrated outside of their dedicated awareness month. How important was that to you as both the global co-CEO and a gay, latino man?
JG: I believe most places and spaces have become more inclusive over the years, and that it is much safer for LGBTQ+ people to live out loud than ever before. But what a lot of organizations are accused of doing today is being inauthentic and talking about things because you get the point for it. Barry’s has been talking about these things since way before it was trendy, and we’ve been dedicated to so many causes.
As Barry and I are both gay men, the business has been owned and operated and led by a gay trainer for all of its 26 years. That’s always been one of our pillars and one of our core focuses. We represent Pride all year round, but we do very much try to give it its own moment in June, both with the organizations we choose to support during that time as well as inviting our clients to participate in a challenge where they take a certain amount of classes in a certain amount of time.
Inclusivity and community at Barry’s is incredibly important to Gonzalez.
MH: So what exactly is different with you as Barry’s leader and visionary?
JG: Now you’ll hear things when you come for your first visit like, “Don’t be a hero. Go at your own pace,” and you’ll get to your treadmill or your floor spot, and there’s literally a handwritten note waiting for you from the manager or front desk. All these little touch points, trying to ensure that not only should anyone feel welcome to come, but also welcome to stay, and a place where maybe you’re not feeling 100 percent that day, and it’s okay. If your sprints aren’t as fast as they usually are, I don’t want you to feel like you’re losing. I have this approach now where I’m just glad you came [to class], and your best is going to be enough for me.
MH: Do you feel like you’ve achieved the specific goal you set out to achieve as CEO? Or has that goal just continued to evolve over time?
JG: I, like many other Type-A personalities, have a tendency to set goals and only continue to try to level up as I move through the world. What I’ve tried to do recently, and something I said to my co-CEO the other day in an effort to keep doing this, is celebrate the moments, both big and small, because if you glaze over those winning moments, then what’s the point of all the work you put into it? Then you’re just stuck in this cycle of chasing your own tail. I am naturally predisposed to setting a goal, then achieving it and just moving on to the next goal and feeling like it wasn’t enough, to now getting to a point in my life where I’m celebrating those moments and being more deliberate in recognition.
I’m so very, very proud of Barry’s and how far it’s come, and there are so many dreams we’re still working on accomplishing and achieving, and there’s so much opportunity still for the business.
This interview has been condensed for content and clarity.
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