For the past few months – or really, since its opening week back in May – I have been obsessed with Shadowbox.  For those of you who haven’t heard of it, it’s a gym grouped with the likes of Soul Cycle, Swerve, and Barry’s Bootcamp, where people flock to get a hardcore workout, which, at Shadowbox, includes hitting the heavy bag.  Boxing as a workout for non-athletes, dare I say? Yes!

First, let me let you in on a little secret.  In another life, I was a trained boxer.  Ok, that’s not entirely accurate, although wouldn’t it be cool if that was in fact true?  The short version is that, about ten years ago, my then boyfriend had connections to a martial arts school.  I, who had never taken a martial arts class in my life, signed up immediately for both kickboxing and Thai boxing classes.  I may not have been the best in the class, but it was an amazing workout, and, as a person who frequently gets bored at the gym, always something that I wanted to get back into.  So, when I found an article about its opening on Vogue.com, I naturally went to check it out.  Fell instantly in love.  Then persuaded my friend to join.

A far cry from the gyms that I have recently belonged to, when you walk into the dimly lit studio at Shadowbox, you feel as if time has stopped.  There are 40 numbered heavy bags hanging from the ceiling.  The music, which varies with each instructor, is full of energy and intensity.  The classes, only 45 minutes long, are a combination of interval training, shadow boxing, and heavy bag work, that will leave you drenched in sweat, gasping for breath, and so exhausted that you are barely able to pick yourself off of the floor.  But, it’s the best.  Workout.  Ever.

With boxing taking to the forefront recently (and a second Shadowbox location opening in Dumbo early next year), this is not something that you want to miss out on.  Checkout their website!  Shadowboxnyc.com