Church Street Boxing Gym

"As an international pro kickboxer & Muay (japan ,Thailand )fighter, I was disappointed with my experience at this gym. Despite having a one-month membership (3 branch visit included this gym location) training myself , I found the facilities to be unclean and lacking in modern training equipment here . I've encountered another issue during evening training sessions: the gym often reaches maximum capacity, leaving no space for self-training person . Additionally, I was disappointed to find that there are no kickboxing heavy bags available for training." As someone seeking to train in boxing and Muay Thai, I was unable to find an instructor who could develop my skill level. However, I do believe that this gym would be suitable for beginners looking to learn the fundamentals of these martial arts."🥋

I've been going to Church Street for Muay Thai training for a year now, and can confidently say this is a great place to start. This year unfortunately with a lot of new signups registration is virtually required during the weeknights if you want to make a session. The community here is friendly and patient if you're willing to put in the time and effort. The coaches have all been very helpful in my development over the past year and I appreciate that the sport adopts a mutual level of respect whether you're just starting out or you've been training for over 5 years. If you're someone with more experience (3+ years), you may find the fundamentals to be lacking or the size of the facility to be inadequate, but for anyone just starting out, and even veterans, this is a great gym and quality lessons for the price point they offer.

I have an unhealthy obsession with combat sports, but have never trained a day in my life because I'm really shy and don't want to get punched in the head for a hobby. Well that's not true, I took one jiu jitsu class a few years ago and it was the most unwelcoming environment I have ever been in, but that's a story for another day. My boss, who is actually the homie, started doing Muay Thai at Church Street Boxing recently and told me to tag along for a class as I'm always shadow boxing and talking MMA with her in the office lol. I did a free trial intro level Muay Thai class at 7am, and got there about 5 minutes before to check in and get gloves. I was instructed that the Muay Thai room is in the back. I walked through the main boxing gym floor to the men's locker room, and I swear this place feels like it's out of a Rocky movie. It's a grungy, no frills gym with loads of character. This is not a “boxercise” class or a cardio kickboxing gym. If you want to look all cute in your boxing wraps and gloves, this isn't the place. This is a fighters gym. I was told that almost all of the coaches are active or former fighters. It would be the perfect setting to film a boxing movie in lol. I set my stuff down and nervously walked to the Muay Thai room in the back. I saw my boss and about 7 others warming up as the teacher, Lauren, came and introduced herself and was super welcoming. We started with 5-10 minutes of jump rope which I LOVED, I can jump rope all mf day. It's actually my party trick, I know my way around a jump rope I swear to god. After the warm up we started shadow boxing in the mirror and I immediately reverted to my prime Conor Mcgregor/Lyoto Machida karate stance that I have been doing for YEARS as my shower is warming up ahahahaa. Light on my feet bouncing back and forth, arms out wide, settle and play baby. My shampoo bottles have seen me win so many world titles. Lauren came over and helped me individually, teaching me a proper Muay Thai stance and basic punch and kick fundamentals. In contrast to my jiu jitsu experience all those years ago, she was extremely cognisant of it being my first ever class and it was much appreciated. She walked the fine line of being helpful without alienating me in front of the rest of the class lol. We then paired up, one person holding pads and the other throwing combos that Lauren had just taught us. I felt like Rodtang or Charles Oliviera hitting clean combos on those pads. It was so much fun. My boss was lowkey BLASTING me with kicks though ahahaha she has some power on those. I couldn't imagine taking a head kick. It's honestly like a baseball bat coming at you. One thing I didn't take into consideration was the class is barefoot and I have severe hyperhidrosis of the feet -- I'm sorry I know it's nasty, but it's me. I was essentially trying to throw kicks on a slip n slide due to my sweaty feet, as I just couldn't get a clean base. I'm really shy (sad face) so I felt terrible to be sweating like that on the mats haha. But, in contrast to some of these other reviews, they cleaned the mats thoroughly right after the class wrapped up. After class in the men’s locker room, there was a super nice older gentleman who was talking my ear off about the sport, tips and tricks, how long he’d been doing it, etc. After saying goodbye and asking his name he said “They call me Action Jackson, but you can just call me Action” … I thought I was being punked ahahaha I really felt like I was in a Rocky movie after that exchange. All in all, I would 100% be a regular here if it weren't for hyperhidrosis... hyperhidrosis stays dubbing me smh. IG @jnov_ Tiktok @jnov__

I attended my first group class on Dec 1, 2024. Teon is an excellent coach. He paid attention to me during class and corrected my form multiple times throughout the session.

Excellent staff and trainers. Whether you have a lot of experience or none, they go to your place and take the time to teach you the fundamentals. Everyone is very friendly, and when my kids age, I am bringing them here to train.