I've been going to Juniper for about a month. I didn't really have any experience in martial arts, aside from a little taekwondo as a kid & boxing at a fitness gym. At first I started casually with the women's classes. Now I am going 6 days a week and trying to get everyone I know to sign up. I can't believe how much I have learned in such a short time. I also feel mentally sharper and am growing muscles where I didn't even think muscles could grow. Soon they will probably need a restraining order to get rid of me, but I don't think they'd even do that 'cause everyone is really nice.
This gym is awesome for many reasons, including:
- Very friendly and welcoming environment - both instructors and members. There are people of all experience levels, fitness levels, ages, genders, ethnicities, ages, sizes, etc. There are changing rooms for men, women and gender neutral folks. There are no egos, no cockiness, no drama and no judgement. There's definitely a sense of community with fight watch parties, 50/50's to raise money for traveling fighters, live streams of their fights and a Facebook group for everyone to stay connected. I imagine it will get a lot cooler, once we're out of the pandemic, though. In addition to educating on technique, the instructors also talk about the sport/ larger community pretty often.
- There's something for everyone - Classes for kids, women, advanced people, yoga for the sore people, etc. I like to get to classes a little early to watch the tail end of the previous class. It's super cute to watch the kids classes, but also awesome to see them get a little more confident each time. Mixed classes are fun because you get to work with a wide variety of people and there's always something you can learn. If you need a little extra, you can come to work out when there are classes. There's a squat rack, spin bike, hand weights, pull up bar, etc.
- Covid safe -This place is very, very clean. Everyone wears masks, everything is cleaned all the time, there are small classes, and attendance lists for contact tracing. But, since you're mostly wearing hand wraps and gloves, you're not really touching too much anyway. If you wanted to, you could just work on a bag and not really be near anyone.
- Respectful of women - Whenever I see some kind of combat sport class for women, my ears go up a little. Often us ladies get sold a bunch of BS, preying on fear of domestic abuse/ rape/ etc. The women's class is not is NOT a bunch of "self defense" parlor tricks. This class isn't really any different from the regular Muay Thai class. It's just all women. And all of the women rule. Very nice group of girls. Also, the instructors are pretty adaptable, based on the interests of the group. For example, they'll work in sparring, if that's what the ladies want to do. But, you never have to make any kind of contact, if you don't want. It's flexible.
Juniper is great. 5 stars, for sure. read more