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During my summer in NYC, I have decided to take the hashtag #TrainLikeAnAngel seriously. I am starting a fitness series where I head to the gyms that train the top models and celebrities. After my workouts, I will come to my blog and tell you guys all about it!
The biggest fitness craze these days has been boxing and Dogpound was my first stop. I have never boxed before, but I knew I had to give it a shot. When starting a new hobby, I like to start big. I could have (and maybe should have) done a more lowkey class first before going to the toughest gym in Tribeca. On this beautiful Saturday morning at 8 am I ended up at the front door of Dogpound; one of the trendiest fitness boutiques of the moment.
For some reason, I was expecting large flashing lights and a lot of presence near the boutique studio, but I didn’t encounter anybody on my way toward the gym. Dogpound is tucked away in a convenient location right off of Canal Street. The holiday has driven most New Yorkers out of the city so it was a small class. This was nice because I got a lot of personal attention and felt like our little group had bonded by the end. When we finally got to the gym and the trainers walked in as a group. They all had great bodies, outfits, and a lot of confidence. I recognized a lot of them from the Instagrams of my favorite models.
I got my boxing gloves on for the first time and got ready to start. Dogpound has a lot of rules and I learned quickly that if I needed to follow them or else I would be doing push-ups. We started with jump rope, running, and more conditioning things. As a person who normally says things like “I don’t run” and “I don’t do push-ups” it was nice to be pushed out of my comfort zone (even though it was really painful to do so). Throughout the most of the Dogpound workout I was in a lot of pain and really lagging behind the rest of the group, but everyone was very supportive. It definitely was a strong community experience.
Our trainer Bianca gave great feedback and instruction. When we started punching the workout started to get really fun. We practiced different boxing moves and learned how to hit. When I workout on my own, I usually only do abs because I really don’t care about anything else. It took a lot for me to step out of my comfort zone and do upper body exercises. My favorite part of Dogpound was definitely when we started to do abs because I am so used to doing them.
I now have so much respect for anyone who is able to workout like this all the time! Seeing their cute Instagram videos, I never realized how much work this kind of activity is. As I said to some of my friends after I left, “I really liked the punching people part.” Dogpound is definitely a place I want to revisit after I am done traveling the best boutique gyms of the city. I 10/10 would recommend working out here! At $34 a class, the price can turn some people away. However, the instructors make sure you get your money’s worth! I was drenched in sweat and high on endorphins after this experience.
UPDATE *JUNE 18TH 2018*: Since writing this, Dogpound has changed its course policy. They no longer offer group classes so private classes are the only option available. They are $200/hour which is a steep price but the Victoria Secret Models still can’t stop coming back to get their butts kicked.
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