I am 17 years old and live in Poughkeepsie, NY. I'm about 5'11" and 135-140 lbs. All of my friends are body builders and are super jacked, but I never was one for weight lifting so I'm on the slim side. I decided I wanted to get into boxing a few months ago in order to gain strength and to learn self defense.

I learned that my local boxing gym (which was the first my city had in a long time) went out of business last year due to building code violations. I found the second nearest one (about 30 minutes away) and tried several different ways to contact them to find out that they too have gone out of business.

Most recently I got in touch with the head trainer at the local gym (before it closed) who now gives private training. I was pretty excited until I spoke with him and found out it is $50 per half an hour of training which is too expensive for me.

So as of now, there's a gym about 40 minutes away that's built for school kids (I'm in college now) that I'm unsure I'll be able to get into. There's also a couple others that are about an hour away from where I am.

My question is, what would you do if you were in my situation? There isn't a boxing gym in my area and the closest trainer is extremely expensive. I'm basically looking for a place to work out and learn to box so I'm not even sure if just seeing a trainer once a week could accomplish this.

Any advice?

Thank you!!

idk man you're in a tough spot. what i would do is go to one of the gyms that's an hour away for like two marathon training sessions a week.

u called up them guys in newburgh?

What it comes down to, with everything in boxing, is how bad you want it and what lengths you will go to to get it. When I first started, at 14yrs old, the gym was luckily a 15 minute bike ride away. Later as I progressed I found that I needed to drive 45mins to an hour to get to the gym that we were working out of. Bronco McCart and I were training together back in the day and I know that he drove atleast 1hr 15 minutes every day, each way to get to the gym and train. How bad do you want it?

PS..... $50 for 1/2 hour? Find a gym that wants to build fighters and it will be much cheaper. Find a gym that mainly wants to build its bank account and you will expect to pay that much...................Rockin':boxing:

there are gyms in danbury, newburgh, and kingston.

What it comes down to, with everything in boxing, is how bad you want it and what lengths you will go to to get it. When I first started, at 14yrs old, the gym was luckily a 15 minute bike ride away. Later as I progressed I found that I needed to drive 45mins to an hour to get to the gym that we were working out of. Bronco McCart and I were training together back in the day and I know that he drove atleast 1hr 15 minutes every day, each way to get to the gym and train. How bad do you want it?

PS..... $50 for 1/2 hour? Find a gym that wants to build fighters and it will be much cheaper. Find a gym that mainly wants to build its bank account and you will expect to pay that much...................Rockin':boxing:

Yeah this is the truth, I live in England, but my gym only charges £3 for a couple of hours training, so thats roughly $3 or something (dont quote me on the conversions lol)
But i have to travel about 30-40 minutes on a bus, and then a 25-30 minute walk; just one way.
So like Rockin' said, it depends how much you want it. But dont make the mistake of thinkin paying loads of money gets you a better trainer and experience, thats not the case a lot of the time.

catskill boxing gym, exit 21
a little far but we're free

This is a bit tough...

yeah unfortunately there arent many gyms around my area as well. they are all downtown and they start training at around 430pm when traffic starts at around 2 or 3pm and ends at like 8pm. terrible situation but it all depends on how bad you want it. also if your looking for something for self defense then do muay thai and jiu jitsu. the real life application of muay thai and jiu jitsu will help you out way more then boxing will. i love boxing more then muay thai, jiu jitsu, and mma but id put my money on a well rounded muay thai jiu jitsu fighter against a boxer any day. i used to do muay thai and its a lot of fun but then again it all just depends on the person.

Yeah this is the truth, I live in England, but my gym only charges £3 for a couple of hours training, so thats roughly $3 or something (dont quote me on the conversions lol)
But i have to travel about 30-40 minutes on a bus, and then a 25-30 minute walk; just one way.
So like Rockin' said, it depends how much you want it. But dont make the mistake of thinkin paying loads of money gets you a better trainer and experience, thats not the case a lot of the time.

amen

the start of 2008 i payed $15 aussie dollars a session at this gym...that might not be a ton of money but you know its a bit considering i dont work and my parents payed it...the trainer there was crap, barely taught me anything

now i pay $15 a week for 3 quality training sessions, plus other things like traveling to other gyms to spar which doesnt cost me

I am 17 years old and live in Poughkeepsie, NY. I'm about 5'11" and 135-140 lbs. All of my friends are body builders and are super jacked, but I never was one for weight lifting so I'm on the slim side. I decided I wanted to get into boxing a few months ago in order to gain strength and to learn self defense.

I learned that my local boxing gym (which was the first my city had in a long time) went out of business last year due to building code violations. I found the second nearest one (about 30 minutes away) and tried several different ways to contact them to find out that they too have gone out of business.

Most recently I got in touch with the head trainer at the local gym (before it closed) who now gives private training. I was pretty excited until I spoke with him and found out it is $50 per half an hour of training which is too expensive for me.

So as of now, there's a gym about 40 minutes away that's built for school kids (I'm in college now) that I'm unsure I'll be able to get into. There's also a couple others that are about an hour away from where I am.

My question is, what would you do if you were in my situation? There isn't a boxing gym in my area and the closest trainer is extremely expensive. I'm basically looking for a place to work out and learn to box so I'm not even sure if just seeing a trainer once a week could accomplish this.

Any advice?

Thank you!!

I would say forget gyms. Do research, get what you need/want and start doing it at home. You have friends that can hold the pads for you. They arent stupid and have two eyes(im assuming) so they can watch a video on "how to" and thus now you have a pad guy. Get a heavy bag, now you have a punching object. Spar with your friends (Bruce Lee did it). Conditioning can be done at home without a gym. Most people like to go to gyms for this because they either need someone to keep them on track(encouragement) or dont know what they should do at home.

I would say forget gyms. Do research, get what you need/want and start doing it at home. You have friends that can hold the pads for you. They arent stupid and have two eyes(im assuming) so they can watch a video on "how to" and thus now you have a pad guy. Get a heavy bag, now you have a punching object. Spar with your friends (Bruce Lee did it). Conditioning can be done at home without a gym. Most people like to go to gyms for this because they either need someone to keep them on track(encouragement) or dont know what they should do at home.

it is true that it can be done at home but its different when your in the gym and around other people training. sometimes being in the gym pushes some people harder then being at home. i know i can push myself hard at home but the push that i have in the gym is never the same as at home. again do what you can though at home and if you want it badly then make the commute.