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Picture it now: dim overhead lights, club music, hot bodies. No, this isn't a Meatpacking District club—it's the forthcoming Shadowbox, a boxing studio that's headed for the Flatiron District this spring. Well + Good writes that founder Daniel Glazer and his team are aiming to be the first gym in the city with large-format, straight-up boxing classes (no kickboxing here) that, while providing the authenticity of a boxing gym, changes the notion of who belongs there.
"I would always try to get my wife to come [boxing] with me, and like some women, she was intimidated or turned off by the usual dirty, old-school gym that really had an old boys club feel to it," Glazer explained to the site. And with double the amount of showers planned for women as for men, it's clear who he's trying to lure.
"I thought, ‘Why isn't there something out there that can bridge the gap between the amenities and atmosphere of the spin studios we know so well and bring it to boxing in a group format?'" he added. In that vein, the studio will have 40 punching bags to accommodate as many students in their standard 45-minute class format ($34), a vintage-style boxing ring, C.O. Bigelow products in the locker rooms, and a juice/coffee bar.
Shadowbox, occupying a former newspaper factory at 28 West 20th Street with soaring tin ceilings and lots of brick, is aiming for an April 1st opening.