In 1959 German dancer Lotte Berk turned a back injury into the beginnings of a fitness phenomenon. Whether it was clairvoyant foresight, a prophesy spelled out in alphabet soup, or just plain stubbornness to dance her way through an injury no one knows, but her combination of ballet training and rehabilitative therapy formed the foundation of The Lotte Berk Method exercise studio. In 2001, after decades of running her own Lotte Berk studio, journalist and entrepreneur Burr Leonard teamed with a physical therapist to refine the movements of this workout to target specific muscles while reducing the impact on joints. The result became known as the Bar Method. Since the opening of Burr’s first studio, The Bar Method franchise has grown to 65 locations in 18 states across the United States and British Columbia, Canada. More than 80,000 students take these classes per month including celebrities Drew Barrymore, Ricki Lake, and Anna Paquin.