GET YOUR KIT ON :'Boxercise' claims more than a million adherents in Britain and is catching on fast here – especially among women

FOR HIS wonderful book, Shadow box, the American writer George Plimpton arranged to go three rounds with the then-ageing, but still reigning, light heavyweight champion of the world, Archie Moore, in a New York gym.

It was always going to be a mismatch. Plimpton decided there was no real point in even trying to match Moore, so the bulk of his preparations consisted of exploring the history of the sport for the book.

When the pair met in the ring, it initially went reasonably well, with Moore going easy on the author – at least until the start of the third round when, riled by a room full of boxing insiders taunting him over his supposed inability to put his opponent away, the world champ simply came out and pummelled the reporter.

Needless to say, it’s a mistake I was keen to avoid, although I’ve always been somewhat in awe of the fitness levels achieved by even run-of-the-mill boxers.

Official boxing organisations and clubs appear to have been slow to realise the potential in all of this, but they are beginning to catch on. These days there are a number of organisations aiming to bring the sort of intensive training regime associated with the sport to a much broader audience, particularly women, with enormous success.

Nobody in any of these classes gets hit. Where punching is involved, the general routine is that participants, having been paired off, take turns to strike special pads held by their training partner.

Boxercise, a company whose programme is taught by a number of personal trainers and fitness instructors here, including Galway- based Jessica Cooke (jessicacooke.ie), claims to have 1.2 million participants in Britain. This seems an incredible number, but there is little doubt about the programme’s growing appeal.

“They [women] love it,” says Cooke, whose classes in Leisureland and Moycullen each week attract an almost exclusively female following. “Because there’s something to hit, they feel so empowered. It’s such a frustration reliever. I think it was developed with women in mind really.

“A lot of the focus is on footwork, stomach muscles, arms. Pretty much all of the eight moves involve twisting moves for your stomach and an emphasis on your arms, that’s all stuff women go mad for. I think it’s brilliant, really great for them.”

At Newpark Sports Centre in Blackrock, Co Dublin, (newparksports centre.ie), they’ve just started running Fitbox classes, with Jessica Davies instructing what has tended to be a far more mixed group. The enthusiasm levels have been much the same, though,with the result that there are already plans to go from one to three sessions a week.

“Boxing on the whole is getting more popular, with Katie Taylor and all that,” says Davies. “And the people we’re getting in are looking for alternatives to ordinary gym workouts. With this, there are so many drills that you can do. There’s terrific variety: the different types of punches, squats, lunges, running, suicide drills. Most of them have loved it so far.

“They’re absolutely wiped out at the end of a class, absolutely knackered and you think you’re never going to see them again but in fact they’ve been looking to do more of it.”

WHAT THEY SAY

Eugene Corri, a referee in the early part of the last century, observed that “Boxing is a game for men, and only men.” Olympic gold medal winner Michael Carruth’s experience training teenagers around Dublin as part of the Startbox programme has persuaded him otherwise, though.

“The girls seem to be outshining the boys by a mile at the moment but that’s because they listen rather than just looking to beat the crap out of someone as soon as they put the gloves on. Technically, they’re far superior although the boys do tend to be that little bit tougher because they arrive a little bit more used to taking knocks from football or what- ever.”

WHAT IT DOES

“Whether you’re training against an opponent or working with pads, boxing provides a fairly complete body workout,” says Giles Warrington, the DCU-based exercise expert.

“There’s a lot of cardio stuff in there – strength, power, muscle endurance, balance, co-ordination, flexibility and speed. You’re looking at more than 500 calories an hour but because it’s so intensive you actually continue to burn calories after the workout. It’s very good for muscle toning as well as weight loss and there are very positive confidence-building and self-discipline aspects to it as well.”

WHAT IT TAKES

All of the equipment you need is provided to those participating in the programmes mentioned in this article. Prices for classes vary but Newpark charges €6.50 per session for pay-as-you-go participants.

WHERE IT’S AT

Startbox is run by the Irish Amateur Boxing Association and information, including contact details for the development officers who run the programme, is available by following the startbox link at iaba.ie. Outline information about fitbox and boxercise can be found at fitbox.ie or boxercise.co.uk.