New York - June 07, 2005

Hit It

Aerospace Gym

You overslept. Again.

No hot water. No clean underwear. And in a half hour, your day of back-to-back meetings begins. You smell like a farm animal. (You look like one, too.) At this point, you’d love nothing more than to punch the living daylights out of someone.

Hit this instead: Aerospace, the impossibly sleek new boxing studio in the West Village.

Its founders, Michael Olajide, a former champ who’s been teaching New Yorkers (and Will Smith) the thrill of the uppercut for years, and Leila Fazel, an ex-ballet dancer, are just the folks to help you transform all that aggro. (What do boxing and ballet have in common? Grace, precision, and serious core strength, for starters.)

Within twenty minutes of hitting the bags (or the air in front of you), stress, anxiety, and excess winter weight melt away. Classes include Aeroimpact (hitting a series of punching bags until you think you’ll fall over) and Aerobox (an hour of boxing routines and jumping rope).

Olajide, by the way, is as sweet as he is inspiring. The only thing more impressive than his lightning-quick jabs are his abs. (And, okay, his metallic eye patch.)

You’ll leave feeling tough and energized. Fit. Frisky.

Though may still smell like a farm animal.

Aerospace High Performance Center, 336 West 13th Street, between Eighth Avenue and Hudson Street (212-929-1640 or aerospacenyc.com).