Q&A
DAVID BARTON
THE NEW YORK GYM GURU TELLS MAGALI ROBATHAN HOW WORKING OUT SAVED HIS LIFE, WHY FILING FOR CHAPTER 11 BANKRUPTCY HAS BEEN A POSITIVE MOVE, AND ABOUT OPENING HIS FIRST GYM WITH A BAG FULL OF CASH
The fashionable, design-led club was an instant hit, attracting fans including Sandra Bernhard and designer Thierry Mugler with its tagline of ‘Look Better Naked’. It was followed by a second club in New York in 1995, and a third in Miami the same year. Further clubs followed in New York, Chicago and Seattle, and celebrity clients included Renee Zellwegger, Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig. However, last year David Barton Gyms’ parent company, Club Ventures, fi led for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to restructure an estimated US$65m of debt. The company emerged from Chapter 11 earlier this year, after teaming up with Meridien Sports Club in an operational partnership to open two new gyms in Los Angeles and one in Las Vegas this summer. Here, David Barton answers our questions about the highs and lows of his career so far.
D
How did you fi rst get into health and fi tness? I stepped into my fi rst gym when I was about 11. I went to a real hardcore basement gym with the boyfriend of one of my older sisters. It was a dank, sweaty basement; I could smell the iron rusting and muscles being ripped apart. It was just the most incredible place – cops working out next to drug dealers. I fell in love with it and didn’t
David Barton started his career as a personal trainer 76 Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital
ever want to leave. There was a real camaraderie in the gym; it didn’t matter
october 2012 © cybertrek 2012
avid Barton grew up in Queens, New York, and opened his first gym in Chelsea, New York in 1992.
PHOTO: MICHELLE HOOD
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