BeatBox at Burn 83
It’s no secret that I love a good boxing workout. Starting at Elorde Boxing Gym and Elite Fitness, it’s one of the first workouts I tried when I began my journey into becoming a healthier, fitter person. So while my original fitness goal for February was to increase flexibility and coordination, I bended my own rules and decided to count boxing under coordination.
After my return to Flyweight last week, I just knew I had to do more when I paid to a visit to Jakarta. On my first week, I had such a fun experience at the SCBD’s newly opened prime fitness destination SoulBox for their Box Fit class. But for this week, I knew I wanted to dive deeper into a boutique fitness studio where it was their primary focus.
What is Burn 83?
Founded in 2018, Burn 83 is a standalone boutique fitness concept focused primarily on boxing. Under their boutique fitness classes, they have the option to do either Beatbox, their Cardio inspired class that uses boxing techniques and party music to increase boxing IQ and overall cardio fitness, or Strength Lab, a strength training group exercise divided into three categories – Max Burn, Reps and Sets and Cardio.
What are the Burn 83 Facilities?
Burn 83 is an entire building of three floors wherein the first floor is their reception, lobby and shower areas, the second floor is their HIIT and boutique boxing class studio and their third floor is their traditional one-on-one matt area with a boxing ring.
Since I found Burn 83 on ClassPass, they specifically said that either you bring your own gloves or they can rent gloves to you for IDR 30,000 (~$2/Php110). As I booked this class while I was already abroad, I was okay with paying the rental fee since I wasn’t able to bring my own gloves from Manila. What did surprise me though is that while on the app it said you said to buy hand wraps as they don’t rent them, the hand wraps which are available for sale on site costs IDR 110,000 (~$8/Php400). This came as a shock to me because you can purchase hand wraps in Manila for 1/4 the price.
For someone who travels frequently and can’t afford to bring all their fitness equipment with them, one of the reasons I prefer boutique gyms is that normally most costs are inclusive in their usual premium pricing. Still, I was already in the area and thought that it would be a waste to not push through with the workout and the high rating on the app convinced me to go through with it.
Although unlike SoulBox, which charges quite a bit for both their locker and towel use, Burn 83 has lockers, showers and sweat towels inclusive with their class rates. You do, however, have to bring your own padlocks and shower towels. They also have a ton of brand partnerships and you can sample several of their toiletries after your shower.
My Burn 83 Beatbox Experience
The staff help you wrap your hand wraps to avoid injury and send you on your way to the second floor where you’ll be briefed by the instructor on how what you will be doing in the class. There is an entire mirrored wall where you can read the workout flow and you will be assigned a number that matches your water punching back and equipment. You will also be asked to choose your own free weights for the HIIT portion of the class.
Now, I really like these water punching bags and I have yet to find a studio in Manila that has them. The last time I was able to use them was when I tried STILL Boxing in Singapore in 2017. It sounds funny to write but there’s something positively distracting when you can punch your own face’s reflection on it.
Our instructor, Paul, was probably one of the best instructors I’ve had in Jakarta. Great form, workout beats matched the music, clear instruction and really looked like he enjoyed and knew what he was doing. I’m also a little bit biased because even without me saying I could not speak Bahasa, the language of instruction of the class was mostly in English and very foreigner-friendly.
The class started with a warm up, proceeding to shadow boxing, boxing with the punching bag, then HIIT with both body weight and free weights, and back to the punching bag before cool down. The one hour class got me sweating in the 10 minutes and the momentum carried on until the end. It was a very effective workout and I have to say that time just flew by.
Studio Rates and Schedules
The cost of this class on ClassPass was 6 credits (or ~$15/Php 750+) when I booked it and their standard class pricing is IDR 200k (~$15/Php750) if you book through their app and IDR 300k (~$22/Php 1,100) if you walk in. You can check their schedules through the app that can be downloaded here.
Would I go again?
While I’m disappointed that I didn’t exactly get better value for money with ClassPass as it would have cost almost the same to book directly and actually ended up spending more because of having to buy the hand wraps and rent the gloves, I do think the workout itself is worth it.
Among other fitness studios in Jakarta in the same price range, I think you get good value for the actual class rate. That being said, I would advise you bring your own gloves and wraps as it begins to get less worth it if you will need to keep paying for these. If you intend to go for at least three sessions, your own equipment at the nearest sporting goods store will pay itself.
I think Burn 83 is one gym I’m going to visit again when I’m next in Indonesia. Looking forward to trying more of their classes in the future!
Burn 83
