Crunch Gym’s rival gym owner David Barton and his wife, Susan Partch

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by Ollie Coleman

May 21, 2023 | 7:56 a.m

We’ve heard of verbal rage, but this is absolutely ridiculous.

It seems like the folks at Crunch Fitness aren’t thrilled to learn that David Barton is back in the body business.

Page Six heard that Crunch in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood booted the gym teacher and his wife – Nightlife legend Susan Partch — last month when management learned he was building a competing gymnasium nearby.

Barton was described in the 1990s as the man who “made exercise cool” with his nightclub-like gyms. But the chain closed in 2016, and he sold his other gym, TMPL, the following year.

Meanwhile, we’re told the pair have been regulars at Crunch on 19th Street between seven and eight since the pandemic.

But a source close to the couple tells us that in late April, Partch went to rehearsal only to be told “verbally,” according to sources, that she and her husband were no longer welcome because of his new venture, the U, which is set to open four blocks north on 23rd Street in the old Chelsea YMCA. opposite the Chelsea Hotel.

We hear Barton doesn’t sweat. “It was a little amusing,” said one insider.

The 35,000-square-foot, three-story U Hotel is set to open on May 31.

When he announced the new project last year, Barton told us, “I’m building a place where my trainers can push your limits with machines so innovative that NASA even thought about bringing them to Mars.”

He added: “The simulated brain waves will convince your glutes that they just did 100 squats.

“At U, every time you leave, you can walk out a different person than the person who walked in the door,” he promised.

The couple married in 1995 and divorced twice.

Crunch Fitness has not returned to us.