James Barnett, one of Solidcore's original instructors, is now building his own footprint in New York City with the opening of TerraCut (credit: Andrew French)

James Barnett is bringing his decade of coaching experience to TerraCut Studio, a new concept blending Pilates-inspired sculpting and high-intensity reformer workouts

As Solidcore works to break away from the highly crowded Pilates market, one of its original coaches is opening his first reformer studio in New York City.

James Barnett started teaching reformer-based workouts in 2014 at Solidcore, just after the brand was founded. Now, he’s leaning fully into Pilates to build a new community at TerraCut Studio, which will begin offering preview classes on September 8 at its 270 East Houston Street location in New York City’s East Village neighborhood.

“Whether it’s Pilates, HIIT, you’re teaching people how to believe in themselves, and you’re teaching them a lot more resilience training and how to build confidence,” Barnett told Athletech News in an exclusive interview. “That’s what I want to bring to the fitness community in New York.”

His new studio will offer two different methods: TerraSculpt and TerraSweat, both on a megaformer machine he helped to design. While TerraSculpt is reminiscent of a more traditional Pilates experience, TerraSweat is a higher-intensity, upbeat workout with more challenging movements.

Barnett said he programmed the workouts to complement each other and promote active recovery, hitting different muscle groups in different sessions.

“It’s going to create a lot more variety at one location,” he said.

Breaking into an already saturated Pilates market, Barnett is proud to bring a Black and gay-owned studio to Manhattan — and he’s confident that his brand will thrive. Not only is he bringing with him loyal clientele who favor his coaching style, but he feels he has already begun building the kind of connected community he hopes will emerge at TerraCut.

credit: Andrew French

“Something I’ve been doing for the past 10 years is building community,” he said. “I’ll be able to both bring a community that I’ve already created, but then expand it in a new location. I want to have a sense of community so that the workout, it’s not just about teacher and a student, but the students will have a space where they can connect with each other as well.”

Barnett’s many years at Solidcore — the Pilates-inspired boutique fitness giant that now counts over 100 studios — have also informed his ability to build and grow his own business, he noted.

On top of his teaching experience at Solidcore and The Class, Barnett is informing his new business with his other professional experience as a consultant for 10 years, an MBA degree and an executive operator in tech for five years.

“My traditional professional work path combined with my coaching experience, but also my deep understanding of the fitness industry…I’m so excited to build something, and pull in all of my different experiences into one thing that I get to both own, but also operate,” he said.  

Barnett is also particularly excited about opening a studio in the East Village, a neighborhood he sees as a “boutique fitness desert.”

“There’s a lot of opportunity to capture that market,” he said.

Although Barnett is currently focusing his energy on opening his first studio, he has aspirations to grow TerraCut beyond the East Village, with his sights set on Brooklyn and beyond for future locations.

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