SAUGUS — Lynn Classical High School students are learning how to pack a punch courtesy of Title Boxing Club.
Angel Galiotzakis, 15, a sophomore, and Noah Corbishley, 17, a senior, were among 30 Classical students and three students from Classical’s Creating Opportunities for Autistic Children (COACh) program who were introduced to boxing during a visit to Title Boxing this week.
Both students participate in sports — Galiotzakis plays soccer and Corbishley swims.
Galiotzakis said she wanted to strengthen her arms and learn how to punch.
“I wanted to check out the really cool boxing place,” she said.
Corbishley said he wanted to learn better self-defense and punches.
“I felt like it would be a good experience for me and I love to try new things,” Corbishley said.
Joan Wiendczak, a physical education teacher at Classical. said boxing allows the students to use new muscles that they may not have used in the high intensity interval classes they take at Classical.
Students who got their experience with boxing gloves and punching bags — ninth graders all the way up to seniors — were from all different fitness levels.
After arriving at the gym, they got their hands wrapped to prep for the punching bag.
They started off with a short warm-up, where they were taught how to punch, and then moved on to working with the heavy bag before finishing up with a core workout. The high-energy session led by the gym’s general manager and one of its trainers, Philip Siedlik, lasted about 45 minutes.
“This is what we call a crossfit, which means that in a short amount of time, we’re getting our heart rate to a level that accelerates the cardiovascular system,” said Wiendczak.
Colleen Peterson, a PE/health teacher at Lynn Classical, said she’s also a member at Title Boxing Club. She noticed Breed Middle School students came to Title for a field trip last year and thought that she should get her students to the gym as well. This is Classical’s second year taking a class at the gym.
Peterson said the boxing class serves as an extension of a high intensity workout that Wiendczak does with her students. She said Lynn Classical is going to integrate boxing into its PE/health curriculum, as bags were recently ordered for the department.
“We’re trying to teach them lifelong fitness,” Peterson said. “This is something they can do lifelong after they graduate. I have a lot of seniors here so I’m hoping they can use this as something they can do once they graduate to continue with their fitness.”
Siedlik said the class is a total body boxing fitness workout — he said the biggest thing they try to promote is teaching people the skill, as well as getting the workout and training a boxer experiences.
“There’s no real ceiling,” Siedlik said. “There’s no plateau. You can always get better at learning the skill of boxing. It’s not a competition between you and the person next to you. It’s just you and the heavy bag so you can pace yourself.”
Siedlik said the workout is for all ages and ability levels. The gym’s youngest member is 4 years old and its oldest member is an 81-year-old. He said the workout helps with stress relief, strengthens the core, increases endurance and keeps people burning calories after the session is over.
“Everybody needs to relieve some stress every now and again,” Siedlik said. “It’s better to hit the heavy bag than anything else.”
