A Club That’s Engaged With Every Punch

By Janee Law

jlaw@longislandergroup.com

Danny Cordova, owner of Title Boxing Club, said business has tripled since he took it over in November 2014.

At Title Boxing Club in Huntington village, there is a boxing ring, weight-lifting area and treadmills stationed to the left side of the 3,400-square-foot building. And taking up a majority of the space,  for classes, are 35 “Title” punching bags hang in rows from steel metal bars.

“We are a people business, and we happen to offer fitness through boxing and kickboxing,” said owner Danny Cordova, 48. “We’re in the business of making people happy and changing their lives.”

Title offers boxing and kickboxing classes in group or private training sessions. For $99 a month, the membership includes unlimited classes from 5:30 a.m.-7:45 p.m. (A trial class is free.)

For those who are nervous going into a class, Cordova will spend one-on-one time with students to teach the basics, including how to position the body into a fighting stance, the correct way to punch and kick and then relay the format of the class.

Starting with a 15 minute warm up, the workout session begins with eight, three-minute rounds of combinations. In between, there’s a minute of active rest, which involves lower body movements with all core and abs to complete the workout.

With eight trainers, Cordova has every trainer write down every movement demonstrated in class, and if something doesn’t work, Cordova has them take it out.

“It’s all vibe each class, motivation, positive thinking, it’s a whole science to it,” Cordova said.

For instance, during the push-up segment of the class, trainers will have their students do push ups for 10 seconds as opposed to counting up to 10 push ups, since everyone’s abilities are different.

“When people leave, they’re on a high,” Cordova said. “That’s the best part.”

“It’s a group fitness setting, although it’s your workout, how hard you want go,” Cordova said. “It’s all about the details on what the person needs, so we talk about individualized needs.”

In addition, what makes Title stand out is retention and engagement with members, Cordova said. “The more you’re engaged, the more you like the place, the more comfortable you are,” he added.

With an average class size of 20, Cordova knows every single client who attends and why they are there. If someone misses several classes, Title reaches out to its clients to help them stay focused on the healthy path they initially pursued when signing up.

“People just love that,” Cordova said. “We have that ability to have that family environment. We all know each others family and what’s going on and people come just to hang out.”

With 275 members, Title has had clients who have lost 80 pounds or some who came off their medication after having built up their strength and health from the classes, Cordova said.

“We do it in a real authentic way so that you’ll get the workout,” Cordova said. “Nothing invented uses more muscle and body parts. Our format is scientifically proven. We don’t just come up with stuff.”

Open since August 2013, Cordova, who was an Elite International Taekwondo athlete in the ‘80s, took over the boxing club in November 2014.

“It was just a passionate project of mine, I knew that I wanted to do this,” Cordova said, adding that the business has almost tripled since he took over. “If you're passionate about it, you can do anything.”

With clients ranging from 8 to 80 years old, Title also has local high school sports teams come down to train at the club, including Northport, Cold Spring Harbor and Harborfields.

For busy athletes and parents, Title will be adding half-hour classes twice a week so members can squeeze in a quick workout. Title also will be adding a 75-minute class on Sundays, with a 15-minute warm up, 12 full rounds of boxing and then a 15-minute core workout.

“You’ll never experience a total body workout where it’s total body and not made up,” Cordova said. “It’s scientifically proven that uses more muscle or body parts where you’re engaged that entire hour and you have fun, a blast doing it.”