A boxing and kickboxing devotee decided to open his own Bethesda gym once the one he went to abruptly closed.
Ken Gear joined the UFC Gym on Cordell Avenue two years ago. Coming off two knee replacements and looking for a new kind of workout, the Potomac resident and municipal finance officer quickly became a regular.
Then, in January, the chain announced it was closing the Bethesda location.
“There was a huge void and initially I talked to some people about investing,” Gear said Wednesday. “I started to figure out, well, if I’m going to put all of this money in, I need to be involved and I wanted to be.”
So Gear, along with some trainers who worked at UFC Gym, have opened the Bethesda Boxing & Kickboxing Academy at 4940 St Elmo Avenue.
The 2,000-square-foot space, in what was last a shoe store, has a personal training section in the front and a back studio with 18 heavy punching bags, two “peanut punching bags” for precision punching, a speed bag and space for a long roster of boxing, kickboxing and specialty classes.
Through the end of March, the Academy is offering free classes.
To make it all come together, Gear is actually leaving his job with the D.C. government. The self-described gym rat is the owner, operator and “motivator” behind the concept.
“I’m a people person. By trade, I work on municipal bonds,” Gear said. “I was really tired of sitting behind a desk and crunching numbers all day and waiting, waiting, waiting and responding to other people. I wanted something that required initiative, required more interaction with people, marketing and I love the fitness stuff. It was kind of a no-brainer.”
He signed a three-year lease with an option for another two years at the St Elmo Avenue space. With the recent move of Gallery St. Elmo out of the space next door, Gear said there’s some potential down the road for an expansion.
The Academy offers three-month, six-month, month-to-month and yearly memberships for adults and six-month and yearly memberships for kids. It’ll also offer a 10-pack of classes, which will include boxing, yoga and kickboxing as well as specialty things like jiu-jitsu, mixed-martial arts a kids’ class and myofascial stretching.
It’ll also be available to personal trainers and their clients.
The gym opened this week and is building its member base out of other former UFC Gym members, new downtown Bethesda residents and kids, thanks to the popular youth development program that will transition over from UFC.
“We’re the only one. That’s the void when UFC closed,” Gear said. “We’ve been talking to and kept contact with a number o those people and they’re slowly coming back.
“I had been a member of these big box gyms, where you do the weights, maybe get on the elliptical. But this is an active, full-body workout,” Gear said. “It’s a great type of business to be in because everybody wants to do fitness.”
