LA Boxing – the fighting bravado minus the danger

Several years ago, I (like many of you probably do) belonged to a “regular” gym. I was convinced that this was the tool that I needed to lose weight and gain my self-confidence back. Maybe I was simply a loose screw and this was the perfect screwdriver for the task. Well, turns out it was backwards hammer instead.

Back then I really didn’t know too much about workouts or fitness, I just knew that I wanted to get results. TV had taught me that “getting results” was as easy as using some equipment and doing repetitive exercises over and over again. “Sure”, I said, “I can do that, I’ve got spare time!” – And thusly a great journey was (NOT) started.

Most of those “workouts” consisted of me going to some random machines or equipment that didn’t look too daunting (you’d be surprised at what ‘daunted’ me then) and trying it out until boredom eventually set in – occasionally doing them completely wrong and worrying that I looked like an idiot (or even worse, that I WAS an idiot). I was a lot heavier back then too, and knowing what I know now about nutrition and exercise, I think that it would have been more productive (and cheaper) for me to NOT go that gym at all.

Needless to say, I didn’t lose any weight – I didn’t gain any muscle – all I managed to do was LOSE some (more) self-confidence and a few bucks to boot!

Fast forward to June 2008 (or rewind, whatever) – I had just lost 60+ lbs and felt invincible (on a the low-carb diet that I write about so much), but I felt that there was more I can do. Its a funny thing when you’re chubby, because you can’t actually see any of your muscles under all the fat – so psychologically you tend to imagine that you ARE well defined under all that blubber. Its just a little bit of self-deception that belongs right up there with phrases like “Cmon, I’m not THAT heavy. Not as bad as THAT guy. (Right?)”. Well, if you’re lucky and manage to rein in your lifestyle and lose all that weight – you might be presented with another problem. Hmm, I look GREAT, but where are all my muscles? Weird.

Now I’m not a “small” guy, whether my weight is low or not, I guess its just how I’m built – but, even so, what I saw in the mirror wasn’t really lining up with the image I had in my head. So I decided to start looking at some gyms, maybe that would be the “secret ingredient” to the giant stew of things that I had been cooking up in my life.

Local radio stations had been playing ads for a “LA Boxing” franchise that had opened in Loudonville, NY a few years earlier (which is a posh suburb right outside the incredibly non-posh City of Albany where I live). The ad must have been a corporate re-tread that was pushed out to all the different franchises for buying airplay and featured a crazy macho-man voice with too much reverb talking about “Strengthening your core!” and “Burning 1,000 calories a class!”, which honestly didn’t really excite me too much, in fact, hearing over-excited stuff like that just makes me feel tired. But what DID interest me was this whole “Boxing” idea. Even if it wasn’t actual “Boxing” – it had got to be more “Boxing-like” than a line full of treadmills – in a room full of guys who had gelled their hair JUST to go to the gym, right? I was intrigued and the idea marinaded inside my brain for a few weeks.

So, finally, one day I went and checked the place out during a lunch break at work. It was totally empty. There was just one lonely dude at the front desk. In fact, at first I almost didn’t even go inside thinking that it was closed. Little did I know that attendance pretty much lived and died by each days class schedule – and that particular time was during the mid-day lull between classes.

Cheesy Photo #1 courtesy of LA Boxing Franchise Media Kit (God, I hope thats not Dane Cook or I QUIT!)

So I went in and that “lonely dude” was the General Manager – we talked for awhile about everything (turns out he used to be a “fat kid” a few years ago too), he explained the classes, the schedules, the equipment, and just about everything else. He even reassured me (without me asking) that the members were NOT aggressive uber alpha-male types (aka jackasses, d-bags, cheese nips, {insert name of choice here} etc) who think they can push people around – something I was concerned about, but was willing to deal with if I had to (hey, every gym has its annoying cliques, right?).

Now I know he was doing his best to “sell me”, which was fine, that’s totally his job – but hell, I wouldn’t have even GONE IN if I hadn’t already my mind made up to just do it. So being the impetuous freak that I am; I signed a 2 year contract for $64 a month and somewhere in the $220 range up front (I think, the actual amount escapes me and the receipt is LONG gone).

That’s a tad pricey when compared to a “regular gym”, but blind leaps of faith are never quite logical and 100% financially sound.

Back to the present – So now its been over a year and I’ve gone through my stretches of “going constantly” to “not going at all”, and have finally settled on a nice 3 day a week schedule that seems to work both for my body, my lifestyle, AND random time constraints (like work, play, etc.).

The bottom line for ME? I like this place.

I can’t vouch for other LA Boxing franchises around the country, since each one is probably going to be quite different regarding the people and the overall experience (I’m not sure how hands-on the corporation is with its little franchises), but this one is pretty nice.

You’re probably saying, “I don’t care about some small gym in upstate New York – I want to know about the workouts and this whole ‘boxing’ thing!”, and to that I would say, “Settle down, Beavis – I’m almost there, its called CONTEXT!”.

LA Boxing Gyms work like this – they offer a range of hour-long classes and current members can come and go as they please and attend any class at any time. I’m sure some locations have more classes than others, but heres what mine does (currently):

• Boxing (Regular)
• Muay Thai Kickboxing
• Kickboxing (Regular)
• MMA Conditioning (modified kickboxing class)
• Brazillian Jui jitsu
• Sparring Class & Sparring Sessions (on different levels)

In addition to the classes, each gym has a full-size boxing ring (for sparring, jui-jitsu, etc) and a full comlpiment of “regular gym” equipment including ellipticals, stationary bikes, treadmills and the like. Each trainer-instructed class is different depending on the disciple and the teacher, obviously – but they MOSTLY (I say mostly because some trainers tend to mix it up quite a bit, others are pretty static) go something like this:

• warm-ups
• stretching
• some calisthenics (push-ups, plank, crunches, etc.)
• heavy bag work (broken into 3 minute “rounds” separated by 1 minute “rest periods” of straight cardio)
• some more calisthenics
• stretching

Cheesy Photo #2 courtesy of LA Boxing Franchise Media Kit

The real “meat” of the class is the heavy-bag work – and that’s the part that gets tough due to the fact that you never really stop moving. Its either cardio (”resting”) or doing punch (or kick) combinations on the bag (which I consider more “resistance training” instead of cardio, but I guess it depends on the level of effort you put in).

The first class I ever took was rough, not only because I didn’t know what to expect – but was really out of shape, and by ‘out of shape’ I mean ‘my muscles weren’t accustomed to doing much’, I’m a programmer – so suffice it to say, I don’t get a whole helluva lot of strenuous activity during the week.

Now I get through the class much easier, but its still kicks my ass (which is what we want, right?) AND dare I say, it can be a fun and de-stressing event as well? Hitting things can have a therapeutic side too.

Hitting things = fun, de-stressing, therapeutic, & healthy!

Another interesting thing I’ve found (maybe this is just because my gym is relatively small), but it seems to be more personal and sociable than some regular cheese-nip filled gyms out there.

I recommend that you check it out, you can always take the a free class to see if you like it.

Now I know that SOMEONE is going to say, “but, its not a REAL Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts Gym for people serious about learning how to fight” – My answer? Of course its not! Its a suburban “boxing” gym (note the quotes, i mean them this time) for gods sakes. They have other places for stuff like that – this is a cross between those real hardcore places (in terms of subject matter) and a regular gym because everyone is welcome. You see SUCH a mix of people in the classes. People of all fitness and age levels, it never seems intimidating or scary. Try walking into a “real boxing gym” and see how it feels – very different.

LA Boxing does a great job of leveraging the huge marketing / popularity of things like MMA / UFC fighting and homogenizing it into a “workout experience”. People can FEEL like they’re badass without risking teeth or precious brain cells, which if you ask me, is a win on both sides.

(the sparring is very real though, trust me – we even have a few people who take classes that are amateur boxers. My foray into sparring earlier this year was brief – but I plan to make a comeback – not sure if any amateur fights are in my future though, however it would make for one good story)

I’m not saying that you’re a loose screw and cardio boxing or kickboxing is the perfect tool to “tighten you up”, what I AM saying is to look around and see what is out there fitness-wise. Give it a try, you may learn more about yourself than you thought. Even a flat-head screwdriver works better than a one-size-fits-all hammer.

(photo on top is picture of the actual Loudonville, NY location)

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