Boxing-- you may picture Rocky Balboa, leaving it all in the ring, bloody lips, fists of victory.

A classic spectator's spot.

But, a recent Google trends study found that Pennsylvanians are itching to get off the sidelines.

"It's a great stress reliever. Its a very efficient workout. I feel like you can come into the half hour classes and you get your heart rate up, you get a total body workout, and I really enjoy that," said Pat Zembower, who has five years of classes under her belt.
Level Red, a boxing studio in Erie, focuses on using the sport as a cardio workout.

"Many types of cardio have been shown to strip muscle off of your body, flatten your body. But boxing includes so many different mechanisms of the body. Your core, your shoulders, you have to keep your hands up," said Matt Pribonic, co-owner of Level Red. "And by the end of the class you feel like your shoulders are pumped up, and you feel like you just lifted weights. And we couldn't believe how great the workout felt on us, class over class."

In the study, boxing beat out Pilates, dance, yoga, and HIIT when it came to searches like 'classes near me'.

"I think people come in looking to get into the sport of boxing as fighting, but they don't realize the benefits of just boxing as exercise," said Keith Claxon, general manager for Level Red.

"I think boxing is more mental," said Jeffrey Baker, a newer boxer. "Yes its mental over there with the weights. But it also keeps you moving. This is non stop. I love it. Its a challenge. Its a great challenge."

I went ahead and gave it a go. Can confirm, very cathartic.

"You hit the bag. Its you vs the bag. You have your own spot," said Pribonic. "Once you take that first punch, everything else doesn't matter anymore. You have nothing to think about except hitting the bag."