IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 2, 2026--
Pure Barre®, an Xponential Fitness brand and the largest barre brand in the United States, announced the return of its highly anticipated Barre Stronger Challenge, kicking off March 1 and running through March 31 at participating studios across North America.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260302709518/en/
After another standout year in 2025, which saw 28,615 participants take on the challenge and 15,059 successfully complete 20 classes in 31 days, Pure Barre is inviting members and new clients alike to recommit to their wellness goals through one of its most motivating and community-driven challenges.
A National Movement Toward Consistent Fitness
Now in its seventh year, the Barre Stronger Challenge is designed to promote consistency to drive long-term results by encouraging participants to complete 20 classes in 31 days. Participants are encouraged to take each of Pure Barre’s signature class formats throughout the challenge, including Classic, Define, Align, and Empower, to experience the full benefits of Pure Barre’s low-impact, high-intensity approach to fitness.
“The Barre Stronger Challenge is one of the most powerful expressions of our community and what Pure Barre stands for,” said Katelyn DiGiorgio, President of Pure Barre. “Each March, we see tens of thousands of challengers push themselves beyond perceived limits while supporting one another along the way. The participation we saw in 2025 is inspiring, and as we head into spring 2026, we’re excited to continue inspiring members to work toward their strongest selves.”
How to Become a Barre Stronger Challenger
Members can enroll in the Barre Stronger Challenge beginning March 1 through the Pure Barre app and by signing up at their nearest participating studio. New clients are encouraged to start with a free introductory class before taking on the challenge.
Real-Time Progress Tracking in the Pure Barre App
Beginning March 1, Barre Stronger challengers can opt into a dedicated in-app challenge tracker to monitor their progress in real time. The tracker automatically reflects completed classes and provides an engaging progress experience. Official class completion is verified through studio systems to ensure accurate tracking across all locations.
For more information about Pure Barre and the 2026 Barre Stronger Challenge, visit https://www.purebarre.com/.
ABOUT PURE BARRE
Founded in 2001, Pure Barre is a leading barre brand, offering a range of effective, low-impact, full-body workouts for a broad range of fitness levels. Pure Barre has five signature class formats, including introductory, classic barre, interval training, weight training, and restorative stretching. Its high-quality teachers receive specialized multi-tiered training, allowing for class format and choreography to be refreshed on a quarterly basis. Ranked on Entrepreneur Magazine’s Franchise 500 12 years running and the Fastest-Growing Franchises in three years running as well as Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 5000. Pure Barre is headquartered in Irvine, CA and part of the Xponential Fitness family of brands, a leading global franchisor of health and wellness brands. To learn more about Pure Barre, visit https://www.purebarre.com/.
2026 Barre Stronger Challenge
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday spoke to widening concerns that the U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran could spiral into a protracted regional conflict by declaring, “This is not Iraq. This is not endless.”
Hegseth, along with Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held the Trump administration's first news briefing since Saturday's strikes. President Donald Trump, while he’s conducted a few phone interviews with individual reporters, has not taken questions on camera and only released two videos since the operation began.
Hegseth said the operation had a “clear, devastating, decisive mission” to “destroy the missile threat” from Iran, destroy its navy and “no nukes.”
“No stupid rules of engagement, no nation building quagmire, no democracy building exercise, no politically correct wars. We fight to win, and we don’t waste time or lives,” Hegseth said.
Asked if there are currently boots on the ground in Iran, Hegseth said, “No, but we’re not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do.”
He said it was “foolishness” to expect U.S. officials to say publicly “here’s exactly how far we’ll go.”
He also suggested the U.S. was not seeking to change the Iraninan regime with the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,
“This is not a so-called regime change war, but the regime sure did change and the world is better off for it,” Hegseth said.
The briefing comes as the conflict has intensified into a wider war in the region. Iran and its allied armed groups have launched missiles at Israel, Arab states and U.S. military targets in the Middle East.
Four American troops have been killed in action. Trump on Sunday predicted there would be more U.S. casualties.
Caine on Monday said the U.S. expected to have additional losses.
“We grieve with you, and we will never forget you,” he said of the family members of those killed.
The latest sign of the escalating upheaval came when U.S. ally Kuwait “mistakenly shot down” three American fighter jets during a combat mission as Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles and drones were attacking. U.S. Central Command said all six pilots ejected safely from the American F-15E Strike Eagles and were in stable condition.
U.S. officials have not offered any exit plan or offered signs that the conflict would end anytime soon, and the Khamenei cast doubt on the future of the Islamic Republic and hurtled the region into broader instability.
In laying out a case for the strikes, Hegseth pointed to the Iranian regime as having started the conflict from its inception, declaring that for 47 years it has "waged a savage, one-sided war against America.”
“Their war on Americans has become our retribution against their Ayatolloah and his death cult,” he said.
He did not point to any threat of an imminent nuclear threat from Iran, and he said again that last summer’s strikes by the U.S. and Israel “obliterated their nuclear program to rubble.”
Instead, Hegseth pointed to threats from other weaponry such as ballistic missiles and drones that justified the operation.
“Iran was building powerful missiles and drones to create a conventional shield for their nuclear blackmail ambitions,” Hegseth said.
He said that during negotiations with U.S. officials leading up to the attack, Iranian officials were “stalling."
“The former regime had every chance to make a peaceful and sensible deal. But Tehran was not negotiating," Hegseth said.
Trump, in an interview Sunday with The New York Times, said the assault could last “four to five weeks.”
Hegseth dismissed questions about the time frame and said, “President Trump has all the latitude in the world to talk about how long it may or may not take. Four weeks, two weeks, six weeks. It could move up. It could move back.”
The Republican president said the U.S. and Israel had struck hundreds of targets already. That included Israel and the U.S. bombing Iranian missile sites and targeted its navy, claiming to have destroyed its headquarters and multiple warships.
Caine said that, as with the operation that dropped massive bunker-buster bombs on Iranian nuclear facilities last year, Epic Fury also utilized B-2 stealth bombers, which the chairman said made a 37-hour round trip.
Caine several times referenced the use of cyber technologies in the strikes, which he said had “effectively disrupted communications and sensor networks,” leaving “the adversary without the ability to coordinate or respond effectively.”
Without giving specifics, Caine said the U.S. military “delivered synchronized and layered effects designed to disrupt, degrade, deny and destroy Iran’s ability to conduct and sustained combat operations on the U.S. side.”
The Iranian Red Crescent Society said at least 555 people have been killed in Iran so far by the U.S.-Israeli campaign. Eleven people have been killed in Israel and 31 in Lebanon, according to authorities there.
The news conference came hours before Secretary of State Marco Rubio was slated to brief congressional leadership on Monday.
Rubio, Hegseth, Caine and CIA Director John Ratcliffe were also set to brief the full membership of Congress on Tuesday.
In a private briefing on Sunday, Trump administration officials told congressional staff that U.S. intelligence did not suggest Iran was preparing to launch a preemptive strike against the U.S., three people familiar with the briefings said.
The administration officials instead acknowledged there was a more general threat in the region from Iran’s missiles and proxy forces, two of the people said. The third person, however, said the administration emphasized that Iran’s missiles and proxy forces posed an imminent threat to U.S. personnel and allies in the region.
The information conveyed to the congressional staff contrasts with the message from Trump, who said the objective of the mission was to eliminate “imminent threats from the Iranian regime.”
Senior Trump administration officials, who like others were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, had told reporters Saturday that there were indicators that the Iranians could launch a preemptive attack.
Associated Press writers Meg Kinnard in Charleston, S.C., Bill Barrow in Atlanta, David Klepper and Ben Finley in Washington and Farnoush Amiri in New York contributed to this report.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, greets Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., before President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
