The Real Reason Behind Barry’s Trainer Exodus in Australia

Barry’s Bootcamp is marketed as a high-energy refuge where Sydney’s fitness crowd can burn off stress.

Yet beneath the red lights and booming music of the so-called Red Room, tensions are reportedly building. A controversial appointment and a series of instructor exits have put the premium fitness chain under renewed scrutiny.

The company has recruited Ash Ruscoe, the former partner of Olympic boxing champion Harry Garside, as it contends with an apparent exodus of Sydney-based trainers.

Ruscoe’s addition to the Sydney coaching team has prompted concern among some long-serving staff. She previously pleaded guilty to domestic violence-related offences, and the decision to hire her is understood to have been questioned internally.

The appointment follows the back-to-back departures of two of Barry’s most recognisable Sydney instructors. One referred to concerns about the company’s culture, while the other attributed the end of his seven-year run teaching Saturday classes to “management and business needs”.

A Barry’s insider told the Mail that the exits were connected to Ruscoe’s appointment, which is understood to have unsettled a number of trainers.

The dispute has prompted current and former instructors to speculate about working conditions at the boutique gym chain, with the discussion now extending to Reddit.

Ruscoe first attracted widespread attention after an altercation involving Garside at a Bellevue Hill property in March 2023.

The incident led to a closely followed legal case, although the initial domestic assault allegations against Garside were later withdrawn.

Ruscoe subsequently faced charges including common assault, stalking or intimidation, and distributing intimate images.

In late 2024, she pleaded guilty at Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court to domestic violence-related assault and stalking or intimidation.

She was given a 12-month conditional release order without conviction and placed under a two-year apprehended domestic violence order.

When the Daily Mail sought comment in July 2023, Ruscoe avoided questions by running down Park Street in Sydney’s CBD.

Barry’s has cultivated an image of exclusive, high-end fitness, drawing an affluent membership base and employing trainers who have developed celebrity-style profiles of their own.

Now, beneath the signature red lighting, relentless playlists and gruelling treadmill workouts, Barry’s is facing difficult questions over staff morale and its workplace culture.

The Daily Mail has approached Barry’s Australia multiple times for comment.

In September, veteran trainer Nicole Swift (née Christey) announced in an Instagram Story that she was leaving Barry’s Australia ‘for good’, adding a cheeky ‘for real this time lol’.

But it was her explanation that really caught the attention of fellow instructors.

‘I cannot continue to align myself with a brand that has allowed certain behaviours and actions to take place,’ she wrote.

‘After a lot of thought, I’ve realised that I can’t continue to be part of a business when I no longer feel that alignment exists.’

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Swift did not name anyone or specify the conduct she was referring to. However, the Mail understands her concerns about the company were linked to Ruscoe’s hiring.

Her post was subsequently circulated among fellow trainers, prompting speculation about what had led her to walk away.

After the Mail reported on her departure, Swift took to Instagram to criticise the article, describing it as ‘trash’ and questioning why the publication had contacted her for comment.

Days later, another popular instructor delivered a blow to his loyal Saturday-morning following, revealing he would no longer be teaching the weekend sessions after more than seven years with the business.

‘Unfortunately I won’t be teaching anyone ever again on Saturdays for a @barrysaustralia session,’ he wrote.

‘This is due to “management and business needs”.’

‘Wild to me seeing as I’ve done the same Saturday classes for over seven years.’

The trainer, described by one longtime fan as ‘a legend’, has since landed a new gig at buzzy Pilates studio Body by Berner, where he is set to become its first male instructor.

The departures have intensified concerns about the atmosphere inside Barry’s Australia, although neither instructor has publicly detailed the full circumstances behind their exit.

Meanwhile, Barry’s Melbourne operation has been attracting attention of its own, with its South Yarra studio at the centre of questions about staff dynamics.

The studio is managed by Ariel Kaplan, the former Neighbours and The Saddle Club actress who swapped Ramsay Street for the Red Room.

Kaplan has faced questions from the Mail about concerns reportedly raised by staff over the appointment of a trainer who has since left Barry’s and moved to another gym in Perth.

We understand the recruitment decision was among the issues discussed by staff, although the full circumstances remain unclear.

When contacted last month, Kaplan was not willing to discuss the matter.

‘I have nothing to say,’ she said before abruptly ending the call.

There is no suggestion Kaplan has been accused of any personal wrongdoing, nor is there any indication the issues at the Melbourne and Sydney gyms are connected.

In a recently deleted Reddit thread discussing the behind-the-scenes drama at Barry’s, one user wrote: ‘There is one trainer in particular that has a little posse of clients / loyalists who thinks she’s top s*** because she has an almost monopoly of peak times slots. [She] brags about how full her classes are to members and tries to benchmark herself to other trainers who have less desirable slots that their classes “should be as full as hers”.’

Founded in Los Angeles in 1998, Barry’s Bootcamp has become an international fitness institution, with its signature combination of high-intensity treadmill work, strength training and nightclub-style lighting attracting a devoted following.

Its Australian studios have become a favourite among influencers, socialites and the well-heeled fitness crowd.

But with longtime instructors walking away and concerns mounting over staff morale, the brand’s carefully polished image is beginning to crack.