Lena, 29 · Development sector · Min Bhawan
12 weeks: from one round on the bag to six, with no sparring
Lena had never boxed when she moved to Kathmandu for work. In 12 weeks of classes she went from one 3-minute round on the bag to six, and her resting heart rate fell from 76 to 64. She chose never to spar.
- Trainer: Nima Rai
- Gym + classes plan
- 12 weeks
BeforeWeek 1AfterWeek 12Before and after
One round on the bag to six in 12 weeks
Never boxed, didn’t want to be hit. 34 classes later she boxes six rounds and has never sparred.
- Started
- 2 June 2026
- Length
- 12 weeks
- Trainer
- Nima Rai
- Plan
- Gym + classes
Measured from June 2026 to August 2026, 12 weeks
- Bag rounds
- 16
- 3 minutes each, 1 minute rest
- Resting heart rate
- 76 bpm64 bpm
- Her watch, 7-day average
- Skipping
- 40 sec3 min
- Without stopping
- Classes
- 034 of 36
- Gym + classes plan, 3 a week
Before
Where Lena started
Lena moved to Kathmandu on a two-year contract and found the running she did at home hard in the winter air and the traffic.
She wanted something indoors that wasn’t a treadmill. She had never boxed and didn’t want to be hit.
The turning point
The free session
Her free session was a Wednesday 6 PM boxing fundamentals class. Nima told her before the warm-up that sparring here only ever happens by choice, which was what she needed to hear.
She did a taster round of footwork and jab, and joined on the Gym + classes plan, which includes every boxing class.
The plan
The plan Nima wrote
Every class starts with fundamentals, and Nima kept her there until they were automatic.
- Three classes a week: Wednesday and Friday at 6 PM, Saturday at 8 AM.
- Weeks 1 to 4: stance, footwork, jab and cross, mostly without a bag.
- Weeks 5 to 8: hooks, pad work with a coach, two rounds on the bag.
- Weeks 9 to 12: combinations, defence drills and conditioning rounds.
- Skipping at the start of every class, timed.
How it went
Week by week
Week 2
Fixing the stance
Her feet kept drifting into a line. Nima stood behind her and moved them until the stance held for a whole round.
Week 5
First real bag work
Two rounds on the bag, jab and cross only. She said her shoulders burned more than her lungs.
Week 12
Six rounds
Six 3-minute rounds of combinations on the bag with a minute’s rest, and three minutes of skipping without a trip.
The result
What changed in 12 weeks
Lena came to 34 of 36 classes. Her resting heart rate fell from 76 to 64 beats a minute over the 12 weeks, and she can now box six full rounds.
She has never sparred and doesn’t plan to. She now comes to four classes a week.
“I came to get fit, not to fight. Nobody here ever made me feel that was the wrong reason.”
Most people who come to boxing for fitness quit because a class throws them into sparring too early. Lena never needed to spar to get what she came for.
Nima Rai, boxing coach
What it cost
NPR 6,000 a month, on the Gym + classes plan
Today’s price, as of 28 October 2026. Everything in Gym, plus boxing, Zumba and HIIT classes.
Who a plan like this suits
A good fit if
- You want a hard indoor workout that isn’t a treadmill.
- You are a complete beginner.
- You may never want to spar.
Not a fit if
- You want sparring from the first week. Here it comes months later, and only if you ask.
- You only want the odd class. A single class is NPR 800, with no membership.
