In fact, one of my best fighters is a 54 year old dentist who was just looking for a new way to stay in shape. Freedman also trains Golden Gloves hopefuls at a local boxing only gym, a world away from the East Bank Club. He also credits the growing involvement of women as instrumental to the sport's popularity at health clubs. Some of the women have never thrown a punch before, so they do not have any preconceived notions or bad habits. Since they also tend to be better dancers, they also learn how to put their lower body into a punch without locking up.
Freedman notes that the husbands usually catch up after a few sessions.
At the Body Shop in Blacksburg, Virginia, owner and aerobics instructor Stephanie Deasy has added a boxercise class to the offerings at her women-only studio. But since my teaching style is very athletic, the intense upper-body conditioning has made them converts. Overcoming the opponent inside images of punch drunk old timers aside, boxing training can also help build character. Amateur boxing rewards points through a very clear scoring system, instead of encouraging knockouts and bloodshed. A former guard in the California correctional system, Grazide discovered that keeping a heavy bag in the prison yard actually helped reduce violent incidents by giving inmates an immediate outlet upon which to let off steam.