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A woman-owned Lancaster boxing studio has found a fulltime home at Liberty Place.
EnVision Train Fitness, which has slowly grown through leased space in other facilities since 2019, opened its doors Monday at 313 W. Liberty St., Suite 18.
Theresa Fackler, who started boxing to overcome personal issues, found women in the area enjoy learning to box for exercise, fun and camaraderie.
Fackler started teaching kickboxing classes at Lancaster-area gyms before teaching Les Mills classes. Deciding that was not for her because of her need to give more personalized attention, Fackler leased space from EmPower Training Systems on Granite Run Drive a couple of hours a week to offer classes and personal training.
“I thought if I ever could do this full time, it would be amazing,” she said sitting in her new studio.
While the studio is not a female exclusive space, Fackler said most of her clients are women. “We are seeing more men joining the classes,” she said.
“Being a female boxing studio owner is quite odd,” she chuckled. “It’s definitely different but I think it brings a softness to the sport. We are not a fighting gym, so we don’t use mouth guards or helmets.”
Fackler said she wanted to open her own space to ”allow me to show more people how this workout can empower them and bring more self-confidence. I played under the radar for years and now I’m coming out.”
The “boutique” gym offers scheduled classes and personal training by appointment. Right now, Fackler said the gym is not open all the time, but she hopes that will happen in the near future. Currently, she has 20 to 30 personal training clients and offers five classes a week.
“I have anywhere from 190 to 300 students, depending on the time of year,” she said.
The business has grown through word of mouth and social media. Fackler hopes to gain more exposure through working with organizations like the Lancaster Fitness Festival in September and Millersville University’s CHARGE program, which works to change health actions and attitudes for women.
“When you are talking fitness, boxing is the ultimate workout,” she said. “It builds strength, cardio endurance, hand-eye coordination, footwork and core strength, all in an hour or 90 minutes. It gives people the sense of ‘I can do this’.”
Fackler currently has two trainers working with her in the new space. “This is not a me thing, it’s a team,” she said.
“I never thought in all these years of teaching that I’d own a gym, let alone a boxing gym. I get to impact so many people.”
