Work Train Fight Noho

Work Train Fight – putting the “Why the F#$@ am I doing this?” back into fitness. If a boutique fitness studio and a gritty boxing gym had a baby, WTF would be the sassy result. This fitness concept marries all of the lighting, amenities, friendly staff and themed gear of a boutique studio with the attitude, clientele, touch of wear and tear, and hard ass instructors of a classic boxing gym. Want respect at WTF? You earn it the ol’ fashioned way: with grit and sweat.

Our favorite quality? That WTF doesn’t take itself nearly as seriously as some of the more rough and tumble boxing gyms in Gotham. This fact is made super apparent by its list of “rules” that includes “No a%#holes allowed, divas OK”. With classes happening in and out of the ring, private or semi private training, and just regular members, this spot is a hive of activity. WTF does draw in boxing vets whose way you should not get in – think not stopping at the top of the subway stairs (ggrrrrr). But, this place is still approachable to those of us not training for a fight. There is a heavy focus on personal training and membership, but tons of class options to give you a taste.

RUNDOWN

WORKOUT

In the name of being completely transparent and looking out for our entire SC community, we have to strongly object with this class being listed for all skill levels. Seriously, WTF? We love a good ass kicking, but on its best day, this class trends toward the back half of intermediate. The pace is 100% full steam, the combos and plyo moves are more advanced, and there are no points at which the punches are reviewed for newbies.

From start to finish, this is a sweat-heavy workout. Like, leave stains on the floor kind of sweat. The warm-up included a lot of dynamic full body moves like high knee cherry pickers, jump squats, and lunge jumps. Instead of being about five minutes, it lasted about 10. And many cardio sessions like this are layered into the class in between the frosting of bag work, mitt work, and ab work. This is a stations style class that has you rotating from one to the next faster than a dreidel during Hanukkah. Shadow boxing is the active recovery when you are not either actively hitting something or burpeeing for your life. Burpees in the “up down” style no less!! Think old school football practice where you stay in a fast feet position until you are told to hit the dirt.

So this may be a very ADD class when it comes to structure, but pairing stamina with skill is the ultimate goal. Here you can’t really complain that you didn’t get enough technique or that you didn’t get enough body weight training because it is the perfect mix of both.

INSTRUCTOR

As an instructor with “fanny sack” included in roster name, we expected to run into a bit of a class clown vibe. While his mustache and style are certainly eclectic, everything about Clint reads serious hard ass… and that’s before he opens his mouth. To say that he is unsympathetic to weak fitness abilities or boxing skills would be a major understatement. We kept up, but the weaker of our herd got thinned pretty quick and pushed like crazy. Clint can absolutely smell fear. (We walked out with one guy who said he had to run to the bathroom to hurl after class … Um, thanks for sharing, dude??).

His class style is completely a “baptism by fire,” starting with a warm up which should have you pushing at about 80% of your capacity. At the end, he said “Oh yeah, we normally only do two ab sections … Welp, that third one was for free.” Motivationally, he is totally a disciple of the “rub some dirt in it” philosophy. He will make you feel stupid if you throw the wrong punch or move too slow in transitions. But, with a body like his, it’s clear he knows what he’s talking about. And as an pro-boxer, the guy has more than earned his stripes. So we’ll just chalk his treatment of his students up to “tough love”.

SPACE

This boxing gym studio hybrid has all of the detailed touches we’ve come to appreciate from our workout havens. No holds barred sayings are scattered throughout the space like “talking shit is part of boxing“ and “keep your hands up or die!”, there’s colorful backlighting in and out of the studio, and many many instagrammable nuggets. But, much like “glamping”, regular studio goers are reminded that it’s the workout that you came for, not the granite counter tops in the bathroom or free fruit out in the lobby (although hell, if we haven’t already paid for it at these $35 – $40 price tags, am I right?!).  Pretty much everything from the equipment to the studio floor and beyond are fairly run down, but run down in a way that captures the true spirit of boxing – sit down, stay humble, keep fighting.

The layout is 80% true gym with all different pieces of cardio or weightlifting equipment you can imagine. Non-ring work classes are held in a room in the back where you can close the doors, turn down the lights and get loud. And of course, no boxing studio would be complete without a ring. The place itself, from the equipment to the floor, has definitely seen better days, but you can tell they work hard to keep it clean. And hey, at least this boxing studio HAS showers – so count your blessings. You’ll have to bring your own lock and towels though … What do you think this is? SoulCycle ;)?