How To Become A Barry’s Instructor: Step-by-Step

With the rise in popularity of their famous fitness classes, we’re not surprised that you’re looking at how to become a Barry’s instructor.

That’s why we have put together a comprehensive step-by-step guide on how to do just that. Here are the steps we will go through:

• Step 1 - Earn The Right Qualifications To Begin Your Career As A Barry’s Instructor
• Step 2 - Secure The Right Barry’s Instructor Insurance
• Step 3 - Find Your Job As A Barry’s Instructor
• Step 4 - Career Progression Options After Becoming A Barry’s Instructor

Before we begin, if you want to take the next step up from a fitness instructor to a personal trainer, why not enquire about our L3 Personal Trainer Diploma here at OriGym? Find this and more in our downloadable course prospectus. 

Step 1 - Earn The Right Qualifications To Begin Your Career As A Barry’s Instructor

First off, you’re going to need to gain the correct qualifications in order to be able to apply for a role at Barry’s so, let’s see what the requirements are and how to get started.

Level 2 Certificate in Fitness Instructing

First off, you need to qualify to teach fitness classes, this qualification is called a level 2 certificate in gym instructing or fitness instructing (the terms are used interchangeably).

This is the bare minimum level of qualification required to work in a gym. This doesn’t allow you to teach 1-2-1 like a personal trainer, and become a group fitness instructor to teach group classes!

Take a look below at the requirements on a Barry’s job advertisement and what qualifications you need to apply:

As you can see, the first thing on the list is a certification as either instructor or personal trainer, with experience working in either of these roles.

As we'll explain in the next section, there are clearly some benefits of going one step further and having a level 3 pt qualification that can really help to benefit your practice as a Barry’s instructor since it goes further than a level 2. 

That being said, let’s see how you can do just that.

Get Qualified As A Personal Trainer

With a level 2 in gym instruction being the basic qualification, you can get both of these certifications completed in one diploma.

This is called a level 3 diploma in personal training. 

Within this course, you’ll learn both how to instruct a class and how to conduct 1-2-1 PT lessons which can be hugely beneficial for the financial prospects of your career. 

Though the Barry’s classes are hugely popular, in the UK, there are only 3 major cities that have Barry’s studios. These are:

• London (7 locations)
• Manchester 
• Liverpool

That being said, it’s not like becoming a Les Mills instructor and having places everywhere to drop in and teach classes because you can only be a Barry’s instructor in a Barry’s studio. 

So if you’re in the UK, you are limited to these cities, however, you can teach internationally as Barry’s have studios all over the world. If you’re just looking to stay in the UK though, becoming a PT can be a good way to do both. 

For example, we took a look at the timetable for Barry’s Liverpool. There are 9 classes per day and with different employees, the page looks like this below:

Within this daily timetable, there are only a maximum of two classes being held by the same employee. So, if you’re a Barry’s instructor, you’re going to have some spare time to make some money in other ways, like personal training.

There are tons of benefits to gaining your level 3 in personal training before applying for a Barry's bootcamp instructor role. Not only are you going to have the ability to actually put this to use for your own benefit, but chances are that you’re going to be a preferred candidate over any other applications that are lacking a PT qualification.

Step 2 - Secure The Right Barry’s Instructor Insurance

We know that there are tons of different personal training insurance policies to sift through, which is why we’ve done all the work for you. Here are the ones that you need to look into if you want to know how to become a Barry’s instructor.

Public Liability Insurance

First and foremost, if you’re already working in the fitness industry you might already have or at least be aware of Public Liability insurance.

This insurance covers you if you are to blame for any injuries that occur in your classes or care. This is typically the bare minimum when it comes to sports insurance policies as it covers a wide range of possibilities in every level of cover.

Something else to be aware of is Barry’s X, an online alternative to Barry’s. You can still teach live classes if you get a job this way through Barry’s and often depending on your policy of choice, you will still be covered under Public Liability. 

For example, take a look at what Insure4Sport says about their fitness instructor policy.

You should speak to any managers at Barry’s should you become employed on which is necessary for your specific role. 

Personal Accident Insurance

Another policy that is popular among instructors is called Personal Accident Insurance. 

If you’re leading a fitness class, it is you as well as your clients that are at risk of injury. That is what this policy is for.

If you suffer anything whether minor or major on the job, this policy can cover you for even extreme incidents.

Loss of Earnings Insurance

Loss of earnings policies are a great way to protect yourself if you’re working for a company that doesn’t provide any cover for sick leave or if you’re self-employed working in different gyms perhaps. 

If you sustain an injury that puts you out of work, you can claim on this insurance so you’re still getting paid whilst you recover. Some covers even pay up to £750 per week like Insure4Sport which is worth looking at if you work in the fitness industry in any capacity. 

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For some more helpful resources on how to get into the fitness instructing industry, head over to our articles below:

• How to Become a Group Fitness Instructor
• How to Become a Piloxing Instructor
• How to Become a Gymbox Instructor

Step 3 - Find Your Job As A Barry’s Instructor

Once you have your qualifications and insurance out of the way, it’s time to find a job at Barry’s. 

Whether it is internationally or nationally, it is actually extremely easy to find a role since you can only work at licensed Barry’s studios. 

That being said, you can simply go on their website to see any job openings, this is the page you need to go on here:

This is the careers page in which you can navigate easily. 

Once you scroll down, you will see there is a section called “opportunities at Barry’s” where you can see two drop down menus like this:

All you have to do is choose the options that are relative to you and there will be a list of any available positions. You can then click into these and see the job descriptions just like our examples earlier.

If you don’t go to the website, you can use the likes of Google Jobs to see if there are any other postings nearer to you, like this below:

This way, you can head over to the likes of Glassdoor and look for any reviews on salary or treatment within the company from past employees.

Glassdoor is hugely popular for this kind of thing, it is easy to find at least approximate salaries if you’re interested in the company. Their page will look like this below:

As you can see, it can be helpful to find approximate numbers for particular roles, but we do recommend going straight to the Barry’s official site. 

This is because it is going to be the most legitimate route as well as it being well explained on the requirements, location and responsibilities.

Step 4 - Career Progression Options After Becoming A Barry’s Instructor

Finally, if you’re wondering what comes next for you as a Barry’s instructor, there is a ladder to climb and other routes to go down if you want a higher income all together.  

Here are some of those options to consider:

#1 - Manage An Official Barry’s Studio

Becoming a manager with Barry’s can be a hugely successful way of making a higher income while doing what you love.

It can often be daunting going into the fitness industry self-employed since it can take time to build a client base but similarly to becoming a gym manager, this kind of role is a step up from the journey to become a Barry’s instructor to climbing the ladder and becoming a manager.

The good news about this role in Barry’s is that you’ll be required to work a minimum of 40 hours a week, meaning that you won’t go without hours and thus, have a healthy income that is secure.

This is of course attractive for a fitness professional looking for a salaried position as they know what is going to come in every month. 

Take a look below at a snippet of the job description for managing a Barry’s studio:

As you can see, this is just regarding the client experience, not the other sections including:

• Operations
• Leadership
• Culture
• Requirements

The job description is lengthy and there is a lot expected from you to apply, including at least 2- years of experience in a similar role. Thus, it is something that you would need to climb the ladder to reach.

However, learning how to become a Barry's bootcamp instructor is certainly the first step in the right direction!

#2 - Train Clients In 1-on-1 Personal Training Sessions

Something that can secure a fulfilling career in fitness is by combining your future as a Barry's bootcamp instructor with a career in personal training too. 

As we mentioned in step 1, it is desirable for you to have a level 3 in personal training and a level 2 in gym instruction to apply for Barry’s roles, so it would only make sense to utilise this qualification for your own benefit too.

You can use your qualifications by becoming a successful personal trainer, and can even go on to do things like take a level 4 in personal training to climb the ladder by unlocking more opportunities and getting more clients on board.

For example, if you decide to take a step up and become a qualified as a Level 4 Personal Trainer, you could start training specialist populations like obesity and weight management clients.

Thus, if you’re looking to climb the ladder at Barry's, having a level 4 experience in any capacity of training prior to application is going to be hugely beneficial in your favour. 

It shows that you know how to instruct and that you are dedicated to a long and lucrative career in this sector thus, making the perfect candidate!

#3 - Teach your Own Fitness Classes as a Freelancer

If you’re interested in how to become a Barry's instructor, you undoubtedly have an interest in being a fitness professional. That being said, you might be interested in progressing your career into a freelance class instructor. 

This can be done alongside your role at Barry’s since you have the ability to choose your hours and where you work as a freelancer.

These are almost always in demand, things like Les Mills classes or just generic weekly fitness classes are hugely popular for freelancers to teach in various gyms. Take a look at this job vacancy for example:

As you can see, you’re getting more than double the national hourly minimum wage in the UK for a 45 minute class! This is typically uniform across gyms, the pay out is healthy so if you gain contracts with multiple different gyms, it can be great for business.

You could assign yourself ‘X’ amount of hours outside of the Barry’s timetable to make some extra money, make new connections in the industry and even get 1-2-1 training clients by meeting new class members week on week.

It is a route perfect for anyone who loves to teach classes and have a secure income.

Before You Go…

Hopefully you know what tools you need to become a successful Barry’s instructor, ensure you keep an eye on their careers site for any updates.

You can get ahead of the game right away by enquiring about a level 3 diploma in personal training here. Alternatively, browse through our many accredited health and fitness courses in our downloadable course prospectus.