This year, health has been a bigger priority than ever before for many of us – so we were chuffed to see Barry’s opening its newest St Paul’s branch on Gutter Lane. You may not be able to get into the Red Room for now, but Barry’s at Home is still offering up world-class workouts to enjoy from home, keeping you strong and healthy in these uncertain times. We caught up over Zoom with the charismatic and enthusiastic Freddie, former actor and Instructor at Barry’s St Paul’s, to find out how fitness has changed his life – and why Barry’s is the place to be.

Tell us a bit about your background and how you got to Barry’s.

Freddie: I was always a very sporty kid – I actually wanted to be a professional rugby player at first, but injuries put me off that path. My family are lawyers and I went to university to study politics, thinking I’d also go on the straight and narrow – but the one thing I was always drawn to was acting. I’d read the autobiographies of heroes of mine like Brando and James Dean – so after uni I went to New York to study acting, and spent six or seven years in New York and LA working as an actor.

This all came with a certain lifestyle – I was drinking a lot and had some unhealthy behaviours, and I started to resent certain aspects of my life in LA. I started to go to Barry’s LA and Soul Cycle and really enjoyed it, and when I came back to London my ex-girlfriend at the time told me Barry’s in London was really legit. I went to some classes and I remember thinking – this isn’t your stereotypical, Mr Motivator aerobics class. This is something amazing. There was a team culture that I recognised back from the rugby days – I was competing with other people in the room and I didn’t want to let them down. I was feeding off their energy. I remember thinking, this is my frequency.

I decided I wanted to become a trainer and class instructor, but Barry’s felt like something I’d need to work towards – it was the Real Madrid of fitness! So I started working at smaller gyms and committed myself to learning as much as possible. I was a spin instructor for a year, but it wasn’t really my style, and eventually I thought about the road map to Barry’s. I started plotting my course, thinking about what experience and qualifications I needed, and who to get in contact with. I always had my eyes at the top – and most importantly, I loved it. It wasn’t about the prestige, it was about the experience. I found my way into a training week, and eventually made it through the selection process and now I’ve been a trainer there for two and a half years.

It’s been a varied journey, not your typical start to finish experience! I was working hard as an actor without focusing on my health for a long time, but I shifted. Acting is very up-and-down as a career but fitness always kept me grounded and centred. I’m working a lot at Barry’s now and I absolutely love it.

How challenging was that transition from acting to fitness?

Culturally they’re very different. In the acting world, you might work hard and audition for a part and really know your craft but you won’t be chosen because of something completely outside of your control – not having the specific look they’re after, or not having the right visa. Fitness on the other hand is an honest reflection – the harder you work, the better you do.

I’ve always been a hard worker and a really focused person, so seeing that direct correlation between how hard you work and the outcome is really satisfying. Compare that to acting – ‘sorry, you haven’t been chosen because you’re too tall or too short’ – that sort of thing just constantly pushed me down. Fitness is so much more motivating.

What do you hope people get from your classes at Barry’s?

I take my role very seriously – I’m very aware that people sacrifice a huge amount of time and money to be in the class, so I want to maximise that sacrifice. I’ll never pressure anyone to do more reps or lift the heaviest weight in the room, but I’m more than happy to say, I don’t think you’re giving this 100% effort right now and I believe you can go further. I want people to come in thinking, this could be my last class and my last chance to work hard at this – which of course feels more realistic than ever at the moment!

Tell us a day in your life (pre-pandemic!)

I’m an early riser, and I’ll normally teach classes at 6 and 7am, so by the time it’s 8am I’ve done some work and my day really begins. I find a good local coffee shop – if I’m teaching at St Paul’s I go to Black Sheep around the corner – and plan my day. There are three non-negotiables, three things I always have to do. The first is five lessons of Duolingo French. I never miss a day, no matter if I’m hungover or if it’s Christmas or my birthday – I’m on something like a 950 day streak now. My goal is to get so good at French that I can go to Barry’s in Paris and be able to teach a class. I’d love to be there for a weekend and cover a class, which is another beauty of Barry’s being this global company. The second non-negotiable is an expert sudoku – I’m getting pretty good! – and then a 10-minute meditation. After that, I’m free to do what I like, which knowing me is usually checking the sport results and reading sports news.

I spend the late morning and early afternoon working, then between 2 and 5 I do my own training. Before lockdown my friends and I were planning to tag-team swimming the channel so I was spending hours in the pool training hard. In the evening I’ll teach some classes again; my day is book-ended with work, it’s pretty unusual compared to the 9 to 5 lifestyle. Then I’ll go home, watch a game and chill out, and crash early. I like being busy, I like working and feeling productive; I hate feeling lazy. Even when I’m travelling to and fro, I’ll think about how to use that time productively.

What’s the best thing about working and training at Barry’s?

Our clients are incredibly disciplined and hard-working. The one collective thing about people who train at Barry’s are just a group of really cool people from all walks of life, they’re the type of people I’m really passionate about training: lovely people who I consider friends. The company and the staff as well – I had no idea about the culture but the way Barry’s opens other doors and the way the staff support each other is great; we’re such an eclectic group of people who have come at it from all walks of life and all sorts of different angles. 

I enjoy staying at work, it’s never a chore spending time with all these people. Obviously it’s been difficult during lockdown because that sense of culture and community has gone, but it’ll come back – I’m confident of that.

What advice would you give someone to lead a healthy and more active lifestyle?

The way I think about it for myself is that if the aliens invade, I want to be the last man standing. So that means I need to be able to run well, swim well, fight well, be able to jump and avoid obstacles… I want to be an all-rounder. Before lockdown I’d vary all the exercise I did to make that a goal. But I appreciate people want to find little ways of getting fitness into their lives, particularly during lockdown.

I always tell people they don’t need 15kg dumbbells and a bench at home – they just need to be creative about how they exercise. So it might be that when you go into a room, you do 15 press-ups. When you put the kettle on, you do squats until the kettle’s boiled. When you’ve got something in the microwave, hold a plank until the timer goes off. Find ways throughout the day to incorporate different types of physical exercise – it doesn’t just have to be 45 minutes of an intense class. As long as you’re moving, there’s no right or wrong. I make my mum do this!

Barry’s at Home is so easy – you just click a button and I’m there telling you how best to exercise. All you need is yourself and 2m of space around you. If motivation is the issue, and I appreciate it has been during the anxieties of a pandemic, start small and build up. Start with that kettle.

What’s your favourite kind of exercise to do?

If someone told me I could only do one exercise for the rest of my life, it would be running. You don’t need anything, just your shoes and yourself, and you can run anywhere in the world. It’s a great way to explore a new city. Also, my job involves spending time inside in loud, dark rooms, so running around a park or a lake is really refreshing.

I always think practically about exercise – I’m not a fan of doing bicep curls for bicep curls’ sake. I try to think creatively – if you’re doing a lifting action, you might compare it to lifting a child off the floor, and then it’s about doing that safely, so you can see some value in it. I’m not into the idea of training just to look good. Barry’s is like a game – you’re constantly upgrading and competing with yourself, seeing your improvement as time goes on. I think the running at Barry’s in conjunction with the weights is what makes it the 360 fitness experience, and that’s what I love about it – I know I can work hard and go into a Barry’s studio and come out knowing I’ve done a full range of motion and covered so much in one class.

What are your favourite spots in London?

I love museums, and I always go to the Tate Modern. I’m not a huge art buff, but I love the energy in there, people taking their time. The thing to remember is that I essentially work in a nightclub – sure, with no alcohol and it’s very healthy – but it’s dark and loud and there’s a lot of energy, and I’m yelling over loud music. Museums, galleries and parks are the total opposite – places to zone out and spend some time focusing on myself.

What advice would you give to someone going into a similar career?

Don’t hone in one type of training initially. All my experiences have shown me what fitness is as a whole as opposed to just knowing one type; don’t be too specific, try lots of different classes and experiment, try to work in as many different places as possible. Make yourself into a 360 trainer.

I was very fortunate to get the opportunity at Barry’s but it also came about because I was ambitious and I made a plan. I researched what Barry’s look for, just like any job interview. I knew I had to be the pinnacle of physical fitness, and I was tough on myself during training, I treated it like a selection for the SAS. Don’t come at this casually, be aggressive – this should mean more to you than anything else as you’re going to need to sacrifice a lot of free time and friendships at first, but once you’re in you’ve got so many more opportunities and it becomes a really manageable and exciting job.

The beautiful thing about Instagram as well is that someone can get hold of me tonight and say ‘hey, I read your One City interview, I’d love to know how to get into being a fitness trainer, do you have any advice?’ I’d 100% answer and think: this is the sort of person who should be working at Barry’s. I’d tell my manager to look out for them. They’ve shown they have ambition and drive. Be ready to work, and it’ll pay off – it’s been the best thing I’ve ever done and all those years ago when I left LA feeling a bit depressed I never thought I’d be here, loving what I do and raring to go to work at 5am.

Find Barry’s St Paul’s at 33 Gutter Lane, London EC2V 8AS; click here for more info and here to explore Barry’s at Home. Follow Freddie on Instagram @freddiereadhead.

For updates on what’s happening online while London’s on lockdown, sign up for our newsletter here!