Urban Anchor Photography
Coach Leo Morel (foreground) leads shadowboxing with weights at Canvas Club Boxing.
If your fitness aims are to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee, you’ll want to check out Canvas Club Boxing.
The latest boxing-centric fitness club in Madison opened March 10 at 1831 Monroe St. Besides the wood floor, few traces are left of former tenant Barriques (which moved up the street). The space now features a boxing ring created by a Chicago-based designer, heavy bags and a poster of sports icon Muhammad Ali.
The club is co-owned by Melissa Ernst, whose family has operated Middleton’s Harbor Athletic Club for 32 years. Ernst is pleased with the “grittiness and old-school feel” of the studio.
The main “bout” — or class — that Canvas Club Boxing offers is a 45-minute boot camp session with many dynamic components. The group class begins with a warmup and moves to shadow boxing in front of a mirror, then transitions to critical segments done twice: bag work, ring work and strength and agility elements. The workout concludes with weights, push-ups and one round of abdominal conditioning.
Participants on the heavy bags doing combination drills at Canvas Club Boxing.
A boxing match consists of three-minute rounds, a tradition Ernst mirrors with her Canvas Club Boxing workouts. “Boxers who come to train will start with shadow boxing, hear the buzzer and will move to do the next thing,” she says. “Every class won’t be the same. We want people in the ring, on the bags and doing some type of speed work, and how cool is it to step into that ring?”
In structuring the workout, staff wanted to make it accessible to students of any fitness ability level. Ernst hopes students walk out of the studio feeling empowered.
Students are required to use hand wraps, sold on site. Boxing gloves, also known as pads, are provided free for use during class.
Ernst is also planning activities to appeal to a wide range of clients — date nights for couples, for instance, and beer and boxing socials.
Canvas Club Boxing also will feature one-on-one training, and an “Introduction to the Noble Art” class led by Leo Morel. All instructors have certified fitness or personal training backgrounds, but Morel is the only one with boxing credentials.
The boxing gym was a fixture during Morel’s childhood in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where his father, Cirilo Morel, trained athletes at the facility. Leo picked up the sport at age 6 and strung together a 19-1 record as an amateur, but quit after suffering his only loss at 17.
Leo Morel, who moved to Madison in 1987, was a full-time maintenance worker at Harbor Athletic Club for seven years prior to joining the Canvas staff.
Many Madisonians likely are familiar with the athletic pursuits of Leo’s younger brother, Eric Morel, who was a member of the 1996 U.S. Olympic team that competed in the Summer Games in Atlanta. Eric held the World Boxing Association Flyweight title from 2000 to 2003.
Leo Morel is eager to share his passion for the sport in a safe environment where a person can get in a workout and gain boxing knowledge under one roof.
“Why do you throw a jab-jab [instead of] a punch?” Morel asks. “You’re going to understand when you watch a fight why a person throws a hook, why a person throws a jab.”
Morel thinks that the average person avoids going to “a real gym” because it’s intimidating. “But here, everybody is equal.”
There are other boxing-related fitness options in town, too. Ford’s Gym was the pioneer in the area, and many martial arts studios also offer kickboxing sessions.
9Round offers individual circuit-training workouts with a kickboxing focus. Paul Ryan opened 9Round west in 2011, and added an east-side location in 2012.
On a recent weekday afternoon, the west studio was bustling with members rotating through a 30-minute routine, created by a professional boxer.
The nine stations begin with cardio and strength elements, and conclude with an abdominal core drill. Hand wraps and boxing gloves are included in the membership cost, and a trainer is always present to answer questions and offer guidance.
A bell-and-lights sequence alerts members to begin a circuit or switch stations, with 30 seconds of exercise between each station, too — sit-ups, push-ups or jumping jacks — to keep a person moving the entire session.
Bells, balls and bags are all part of the routine. The first station involves a three-minute jump rope drill, followed by dumbbells, kettle bells or medicine balls that develop stamina for punch and kick moves.
Stations three through eight are the most challenging, as members use combinations of punches and kicks on 100-lb. long bags and double-end bags. Stations seven and eight highlight an uppercut bag and speed bag, and the last station focuses on core drills aimed at toning the abdomen and glutes.
9Round is different from other area facilities, says Ryan, because there are no set class times and many different kinds of equipment. He suggests participating in sessions at least three times per week.
“You learn a little bit about kickboxing and self-defense,” Ryan says. “It’s an efficient workout. Most people burn 500 to 700 calories in doing one.”
Canvas Boxing Club and 9Round both offer a free class to first-time students.
Canvas Club Boxing 1831 Monroe St., 608-576-2809, canvasclubboxing.com
9Round 6636 Mineral Point Rd., 608-831-0108; 4522 E. Washington Ave., Suite 5, 608-310-5220; 9round.com
