Work and pleasure collided last week when I got the opportunity to try a class at The Club by George Foreman III in Boston (Fort Point). I belong to a networking organization through my job in the advertising industry known as BIMA (Boston Interactive Media Association). They host a ton of great events in Boston for people who work in the advertising industry and recently kicked off a new series called “Get Fit with BIMA”.

I was overjoyed when I found about this series for two reasons:

1. As you know from my blog, I’m into health and fitness and bringing my two worlds of advertising and fitness together made me so excited

2. I’ve been dying to try a class at The Club for awhile now, and this event only cost $10 – normally classes are $30 which is a GREAT deal

I had heard previously about the classes before from other coworkers who had been to The Club and loved it, but I was excited to try it for myself.

When you first enter, you walk down a flight of stairs which opens up into a large open space with two boxing rings in the center. I’ll admit I was a bit intimidated when I first saw the two rings and lots of guys hitting punching bags, but I was game to try something new.

The inside of The Club

After we checked in and signed a waiver, we went up to the women’s locker room to drop off our stuff before class. I was pleasantly surprised at the size of the locker room and the amount of lockers available – my biggest gripe at other studios/classes is that I am cramped when getting ready or I have to fight for a locker because there are about 10 of them for 40 people. I also took a quick walk around to check out the bathrooms and showers which were also very nice and clean, so good to know for when I go back for a class in the AM before work.

Once everyone was settled, we went back down to the boxing ring area to start class. Normally you are supposed to wrap your hands for any of their boxing classes but unfortunately they ran out of wraps due to the number of people in the class. However, the assistant for the class, Eduardo, came over to me and went through the proper technique for hitting the bag and gave us tips on how to protect our hands. He was SO nice and helpful from the start which put me at ease since I was already nervous!

The instructor, Reid, had us all get boxing gloves and then gather at the side of one of the rings to introduce himself and explain each of the circuits for the class, which was called Box FIIT 360. For this class, there are 12 stations which include suspension, rowing, biking, kettle bells, boxing , fight + jump rope, and cardio exercises. You spend two minutes at each station, with 30 seconds on and a 30 second rest – but don’t get fooled by the word rest – you are constantly moving in a fighters stance or doing what Reid called “the shoe shine”. If you want to know WTH a shoeshine combination is, check it out here.

The total length of time we were doing the circuits was 36 minutes, with additional time for a warm up and cool down at the end. The class went by VERY quickly since you are constantly moving around and changing circuits which I liked. Reid had a great energy and was checking in at every station to make sure you weren’t slacking as well as doing the exercises correctly. I was dripping sweat at the end of class which made me realize how much this class kicked my butt – but I absolutely LOVED it. We gathered around in a circle at the end and put our hands in as a team – when Reid yelled “can’t stop” we yelled “won’t stop” and it was such a great way to end class with high energy and morale.

One of the other perks about The Club is that there is a juice bar located inside – after class, we were provided with free bottles of juice from Nourish Your Soul which makes the juices there. I tried the PPM (Pineapple, Pear, Mint) – it was so good I practically chugged the whole thing before I even got home!

After class juice – YUM!

Overall, it was a really fun, challenging and exciting new experience for me. I called my dad this weekend to ask him for his old boxing gloves because I can’t wait to go back!

Just call me Meg Balboa from now on….

#everybodyfights