Owner, Lead Coach

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Sam founded Brooklyn Barbell in 2008, after becoming disillusioned with a deskbound career as a computer programmer.  What started as a few people working out in the park morphed into tens of people working out in various temporary spaces all over the city, and then into hundreds of people working out in a giant, dirty warehouse on North 8th Street, and finally hundreds of people working out in a much nicer, cleaner warehouse on Bayard Street.

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Sam loves every day she gets to spend in this magical place helping people discover their full athletic potential. She is a CrossFit Level 2 Trainer, a USAW Sports Perfomance Coach, a BirthFit trainer, and has completed CrossFit certification courses in Endurance, Kettlebells, Masters, and Nutrition.

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Lead Coach

 

The myth of Ariel Fernandez begins in Queens, New York, where he is rumored to have grown up amongst many brothers (perhaps as many as 5!) Details are sketchy, but we hear he attended Baruch College, and played baseball in the minor leagues (a story that may serve to explain his immense strength.)

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As a member of Team Virtuosity, Ariel went to the CrossFit Games in 2014. His training regimen is impressively extensive. He claims to be training for this year’s Games season, but we suspect he’s really trying to join the circus: we’ve seen him get absurdly close to full splits, as well as front squat over 400lbs.

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Ariel is a CrossFit Level 2 Trainer, a USAW Sports Performance Coach, and has been coaching for 8 years.

Associate Coach

 

Noelle began her strength journey after she gave birth to twins, and found herself carrying around two increasingly heavy babies-slash-weights. Her resultant shoulder pain led her to an exploration of bodywork that (in typical Noelle no-half-measures style) became a career, turned her on to the world of physical culture in general, and eventually led her to us.

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In addition to being one of the most gifted bodyworkers we’ve ever had the privilege of having torture massage us, Noelle is a natural coach. She describes her coaching style as “your badass mom,” so expect some tough love!

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Noelle specializes in working with older athletes, particularly women. She dreams of a world full of strong, kick-ass 40-, 50-, 60-, 70-, 80-, and 90-plus year-olds who are fully embracing their physicality and staying self-sufficient throughout their golden years!

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Noelle is a CrossFit Level 1 and CrossFit Masters trainer.

Associate Coach

 

Ursula is a strength athlete who competes in Powerlifting at the national level. Over the years, she has applied her athletic abilities to a diverse range of sports including Olympic Weightlifting (in which she was also nationally ranked), CrossFit, ice skating, tennis, and wrestling.

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As the busiest person we know, Ursula is currently starting a masters degree program, coaching for us full time, and somehow still finding time to squeeze in several hours of her own training every day!

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Ursula is a CrossFit Level 1 and ACE Personal Trainer.