Joey Gonzalez is the owner of Barry's Bootcamp (we know, we're as surprised as you are that his name's not Barry). Last week, he announced via Facebook that a lawyer from SoulCycle had contacted him and told him that he was banned from taking SoulCycle classes. According to Gonzalez, the lawyer said that "since I'm an Instructor in boutique fitness, I'm never allowed to take class there again."


Well, well, well.

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Sure, the fanatical spinning craze that has people obsessed, but this seems a bit extreme, no? "[The lawyer] essentially said we have a policy at SoulCycle where instructors at other group fitness studios are not allowed to take class," Gonzalez says. "He seemed half embarrassed." Gonzalez says he's also been banned by SoulCycle's parent company, Equinox.

According to other popular instructors, Gonzalez isn't alone. Several other New York fitness instructors weighed in to say they'd had a similar experience with SoulCycle. Apparently it's relatively common within the fitness community for there to be some infighting, with various factions afraid of "trade secrets" being stolen or instructors being poached.

SoulCycle has yet to officially respond to Gonzalez's claims. In the meantime, though, instructors at Flywheel have offered him a seat in their classes. [Well + Good]