The COVID-19 pandemic has us all trying to find ways to replicate the gym experience. We all miss the sound of people hitting pads, coaches yelling and encouraging, and most of all, the community. When people first began staying at home, The Cellar Gym immediately uploaded taped lessons onto the website, and those worked well.

Soon after the taped lessons went up, the gym moved to “distance training 2.0” with daily Zoom classes that very closely mirror the actual schedule – and the actual experience. Now you can hear Coach Ben, Coach Darcie, Coach Kenn, and Professor Mauricio calling out the exercises in your own living room or basement. You can see your gym-mates sweating through early morning squats along with you. And if you want, you can access a recording of the class to check on your technique and see what you can improve on. The Zoom classes have been a godsend for the Figueroa’s, who have become accustomed to training and seeing their gym mates and coaches every day of the week.

“We are all going to the Zoom classes,” said Carrie Figueroa. “It breaks up the day. When you’re stuck inside all day, being able to take these classes makes everything a little bit better.”

Carrie and her husband, Edgar, and two daughters, Vera (7) and Evelyn (6), started training at the Cellar in March 2019. The whole family took to it immediately. Initially, Edgar was looking for a gym that could teach the girls self-defense and satisfy Vera’s growing thirst for kids martial arts. They ended up choosing The Cellar for a few reasons: the kids Brazilian jiu jitsu and Muay Thai classes meant the girls could learn how to grapple and how to do stand up; the fitness kickboxing classes appealed to Carrie, who wanted to get back to pre-baby form; and Edgar wanted to slim down, too. 

The family made the Cellar a part of their life. Carrie went to the Monday-Wednesday-Friday 6am kickboxing classes, so Edgar took the girls to school on those mornings. The girls started going every day, Monday through Saturday, in the evenings and both parents lost weight during the Fire and Ice challenge. Vera took silver in her first Bjj competition. 

“It’s made us all happier,” said Carrie. “It’s brought us closer together as a family, we’re healthier, have more energy. For the girls too, I think it’s amazing for them to see so many strong women like Coach Darcie, Coach Katie, and Pam-Bam … whenever Pam fights, the girls get really excited and that’s awesome to see …. ”

“I love the results I’m seeing,” Edgar added. “I went from 224 to 206, and Carrie is looking great. The girls love it. We’re happy.”

So when the gym closed down, the Figueroa’s had a fixture of their life replaced with the ennui of sitting at home waiting for the virus to run its course. When the Zoom classes went online on April 13, the whole family signed on right away.   

“The kids used to get very upset if they got in trouble or something and we told them we weren’t going to the gym,” Edgar said. “And during this lockdown, they needed something to let some steam off, get back to what they love doing, and at least see and hear their coaches.”

“The gym is holding up their end of the bargain,” Carrie added. “I know a lot of my co-workers have given up their gym memberships – at LA Fitness or one of those other big chains – but the Cellar has really come through for us during this lockdown.” 

“We’re very satisfied.” The Zoom classes are available to all members. For more information about the online classes and memberships, please contact Darcie at darcie@thecellargym.com.

Tom Brekke has been training Muay Thai at The Cellar Gym since 2017, and although he’s been a lifelong martial arts enthusiast, his road to Muay Thai is a testament to hard work and healthy habits. As a kid, Tom was enthralled with the power and discipline of martial arts, and he especially loved superheroes and karate movies. When the Scholastic book fair came to his elementary school one day, he saw a karate picture book and bought it immediately. He started practicing the techniques he saw in the book every night after school. Eventually, his parents got the hint and signed him up for karate classes.

Tom was thrilled and hungry to learn all he could. He was fascinated by the sport and couldn’t wait to learn the jumping and spinning techniques that he saw the higher belts practicing. He soon started to compete, and he discovered that he loved the satisfaction and the rush. Through martial arts, Tom also found the confidence to stand up to bullies, speak up for himself, and defend his friends. After he earned his black belt in high school, his social life and other interests took precedence and he drifted away from martial arts (for a while)…

While attending college at St. John’s, Tom realized that he was missing something in his life. He didn’t have access to any martial arts training while in school, and after he graduated, he found himself quickly getting bored with lifting weights at a regular gym. He’d planned to get in shape so that he’d be stronger when he eventually made his way back to martial arts, but regular workouts simply could not hold his interest. He needed a goal and a way to exercise his mind as well as his body. One day, he decided he needed to just jump back in and work through the discomfort.

Tom’s first karate school had also offered Muay Thai, and although he’d always been interested, he’d never gotten around to trying it. When Tom learned that The Cellar Gym was nearby, he knew right away that he needed to check out the Muay Thai program! He immediately fell in love with the classes, and he especially relished the mental workout and the nuances of learning new techniques.

Even though he worked in retail at the time and often found it difficult to make it to class, Tom committed to being stronger than his excuses. He started making healthier food choices, running, and shadowboxing in his spare time so that he could build up his stamina and keep improving his skill level. After he quit his retail job, he was able to train consistently and he fully committed to developing his martial arts skills.

Over two years later, Tom has his blue rank in Muay Thai and has even competed in a smoker fight! Tom says that training at the Cellar has transformed his life because he’s motivated to make healthier lifestyle choices and he is always working towards a goal, which he’s proud to share with his friends and family. “I always want to learn,” he says. “I always want to get better. I’ve seen so much more growth in myself over the last two years… I feel awesome.”

During training, you’ll see the older, bigger kids often smiling and guiding the younger ones through positions, or even letting the little ones gain dominant positions for practice. It’s part of the learning process and also a function of the community ethos that arises out of martial arts.

“Eli knew he didn’t need to go full force,” said his father Grant Feyen. “He noticed it right away because he’s very aware of his level and how hard he has to go with someone, or if he’s hurting someone of not.

This type of awareness is one of the things Grant has seen develop in his son since they first became members at the Cellar gym in 2016. Eli was four years old at the time. When The Cellar Gym added a Youth Brazilian Jiu Jitsu program, Eli was one of the first to join. The Cellar offers a youth unlimited membership, which means kids can train in both striking and grappling classes, instead of having to pay for both programs.

There are several other things Grant has noticed in the three years since his sons, Eli and now his younger brother Trent, have been training at the Cellar.

“He has so much more confidence, his body awareness is much better,” Grant said. “His physical abilities carry over into other sports and onto the playground too.”

“And now when I look at him,” he added, laughing. “He’s got these muscles!”

The Cellar Gym’s youth program offers classes in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai kickboxing. The BJJ classes are taught by BJJ Black Belt Mauricio Carra and BJJ brown belt Kenn Glenn. The Muay Thai classes are lead by Katie Locken and Chris Cichon

Eli has been focusing on BJJ for the past few weeks, in preparation for a tournament coming up, but he also trains Muay Thai. Grant said he’d let Eli take a break after the tournament, then see what he wants to do, Muay Thai or BJJ.

“I’m glad they’ve got both,” Grant said. “The kids like to have a choice from time to time, so they don’t get bored. Eli usually picks one and sticks with it for a while, and then switches back.”

Grant’s younger son, Trent, has already started BJJ and will most likely get into Muay Thai as time goes on. The family – Grant, his wife Emily and their two sons – have been mainstays of the gym for three years and they don’t have plans to leave anytime soon. The gym is close to their home, it’s affordable to have the boys in the class, and the community has become a part of their lives. But they are doing this for the kids, and seeing the boys progress and become more confident is really the biggest incentive.

“Eli is one of the smallest kids out there,” his father said. “But he doesn’t get bullied. It’s not his size, it’s his confidence. You can feel it and I’ve seen it grow here at the gym. He also doesn’t bully or brag about BJJ ever, at least not that I know of. In fact, his teachers constantly tell us he’s a conflict resolver, and that he has this really good sense of fairness and justice.”

“I chalk a lot of that up to the martial arts, and training here with a bunch of other kids – boys and girls of all age groups – and the role models he sees here. Especially at this point in time, it’s really important for him to see positive male role models and positive masculinity.”

For more information about the Cellar’s children’s programs, contact Katie at The Cellar Gym or visit the website.

It was easy for Kenny to ignore his creeping weight gain at first. He saw himself in the mirror every day and didn’t notice any dramatic changes, and he was so focused on other areas of his life. But he found it harder and harder to focus at work, and his coworkers were starting to notice the changes to his body. When he struggled to run a 5K with his girlfriend, he finally realized how out of shape he’d gotten.

One day, Kenny came across some old pictures of himself and felt shocked at how different he looked in more recent photos — his face had become rounder, and his large shirts had gotten too tight on him. He finally decided it was time to get back in shape, so he bought some weight lifting equipment off Craigslist to set up a gym in his garage. But when it got cold a few weeks later, he started searching for a local gym and discovered The Cellar Gym right down the street.

Kenny signed up for a trial week and immediately knew that the Cellar’s Muay Thai program would be a good fit for him. As a child, he used to watch his cousins spar in taekwondo and always wished he could learn too, and now, here was his chance to learn martial arts and self-defense while getting back in shape too. At the end of his trial week, Kenny was already starting to see and feel the results of his hard work!

To get the most out of his new training program, Kenny made some changes to his lifestyle. He tightened up his diet, with advice from his new teammates, and shifted his work schedule so that he could train at least an hour every evening. The Cellar’s coaches pushed him in every class, encouraging him to keep going even when he got tired and felt like quitting, and his new friends helped keep him accountable.

With his weight steadily trending downwards, Kenny started focusing heavily on his Muay Thai technique. He always felt excited to go train at the Cellar after work and further his knowledge. After he reached his weight loss goal, he felt driven to create new goals and keep getting better every day. Now, Kenny is a blue rank in Muay Thai and is always improving his skills on the mats.

Kenny’s physical transformation changed his life immensely, but he’s also seen the benefit in countless subtle ways. He finds it easier to focus at work and no longer struggles with distracting thoughts and brain fog. With a clearer mind and a healthier body, his relationships at home and at work are stronger. He’s learned how to set goals for himself and follow through with plans. And he’s in the best shape of his life!

“Training at the Cellar not only transformed my body physically and improved my martial arts skills, but I’ve noticed it’s also helped me mentally.” Kenny explains, “I’ve had issues in the past where I have brain fog and it’s hard for me to stay on task and I’ll get distracted easily… The biggest thing for me is overall mental focus and being able to think things through. It just changed my life for the better.”

In 2010, Sean attended the South Africa World Cup with his friends. While out at a restaurant, Sean and five of his friends were attacked by a crowd of an opposing team’s fans. Sean ended up in the hospital for six days with a broken nose, a fractured eye socket, and a titanium plate in his skull. The pain wasn’t the worst part for Sean. The worst part was how angry and vulnerable he felt at his inability to protect himself, even though there was no possible way he could have ever fought off so many people.

Sean returned to the United States in 2011 and decided that he would never anything like that happen to him again. He sought martial arts instruction from a family friend and started to develop his striking with traditional styles like karate and Tang Soo Do. A few years later, Sean sought a more comprehensive martial arts training and walked into The Cellar Gym with the intent of learning a kickboxing style similar to the fights he used to watch on TV. Instead, he fell in love with Muay Thai and quickly became a force to be reckoned with.

One day in sparring, Sean hit his partner with a perfectly timed kick to the body. Although he’d certainly never intended to hurt his friend, he suddenly realized that he had developed enough skill to defend himself against an attacker if he had to. “It felt good knowing that I was capable of that because I’ve always been a little bit doubtful of my abilities. So having that confirmation felt good,” Sean says.

Sean says he’s thinking about competing, especially with the encouragement from his coaches. But for him, Muay Thai is about building confidence. He is always working on being a better version of himself than he was the day before, and his biggest focus is on improving his mental game. Training at the Cellar has taught him work ethic and improved his relationships, his work life, and his fitness level. Although he hopes to fight someday, the greatest benefit he’s gained at the Cellar is the ability to defend himself, and an invaluable peace of mind.

What is your reason for starting martial arts? We would love to hear your story!! (Like seriously, we love hearing our member’s stories!  If you’d like to share, shoot us a message)!