Real Women Box at Title Boxing Club

I joined the Title Boxing Club in late August to work off the summer cocktails; I’m so sick of the gym and I wanted to work my body in way that felt useful and functional.

But news of NFL players using their warrior strength to abuse the women and children around them has made me think about women feeling vulnerable and defenseless. Has made me think about how much stronger my thighs and upper body and core have gotten in the three weeks I’ve been going to the boxing gym. Has made me think that if, god forbid, I’m in a position where I have to defend myself, I might now have a better idea of what I’m doing.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think it’s a woman’s responsibility to prevent herself from being hit. It’s a man’s responsibility to not hit. But the jab, cross, hook, uppercuts that I’ve been giving the 100-pound bag at the Title Boxing Club might give me an advantage I hadn't had against an attacker I hope I'll never have to face.

Heidi Dallman, trainer at the Title Boxing Club in Falls Church, said that while the club isn’t inherently teaching self defense, the moves learned can give someone the confidence they need to discourage a would-be attacker. “You have muscle memory, and that memory might hold someone off.”

The newly opened Title Boxing Club in Falls Church is not what you imagine when you think of a “boxing gym.” It’s clean and gleaming and light-filled, without the gross 40-year-old couch and the guys yelling, “Adrian,” that Heidi remembers from her first boxing gym. The trainers are friendly and encouraging, pushing you to give a little bit more with enthusiasm and without the drill sargeant. The membership is a cross-section of fit Millenials, suburban moms and dads, and teens and tweens coming in with their parents. And while the hour-long boxing and kickboxing classes are intense, a person of average fitness ability (me!) can complete them and feel like a badass when she’s done.

“Ninety-eight percent of the people who join have no aspiration to get into the boxing ring,” Heidi said. What they want are those incredible boxer bodies, so Title Boxing Club emulates boxing workouts in order to give members those. “There are so many cardio kickboxing classes out there, but you have to be hitting that 100-pound bag to really see changes.”

Smashing elbow into bag = awesome bruise

A typical boxing or kickboxing class is broken up into three parts: a 15-minute warm up session that involves lots of high-energy cardio; a 30-minute session of working the bag, broken up into intervals with quick 30-second breaks; and 15-minutes of core work and cool down. Heidi recommends that people attend classes at least three times a week in order to see results.

She tells the story of a young woman who saw results in less time: The woman had recently joined that old, grubby gym Heidi used to go to. The woman had only been to the gym once or twice, couldn't fight a lick, when, crossing a dark parking lot, a guy ran at her with his skateboard raised over his head to hit her. The woman jumped into her fighting stance, raised her fists, and said, "Bring it on." The guy ran off.

That attack wasn't victimless; the woman cried as she told the story the next day. But when you hear the stat that three women are killed by their intimate partners every day in the United States, you understand how much worse it could have been. Whether it's a stranger or a partner, no real man hits. Real women have options. One of them is to fight back.

If you or someone you know is the victim of domestic abuse, please call The National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233. 

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Title Boxing Club

Falls Church-area residents can check out the new gym at 450 N. Washington St. Falls Church; others can click here to find a gym near you.

In-Between Tip: On Saturday, Sept. 27, from 2:30-4 p.m. Title Boxing Club Falls Church will host Safety Blueprint, a women's personal safety workshop. Shawn Rafferty, with 20 years of experience in the public and private security sector, will teach women ways to avoid being a victim. Contact the Falls Church club at 703-992-6888 to reserve a spot. The workshop cost is $50 per person.

Dogwood Tavern: Where Everyone Knows Your Name

Whoever wrote that Cheers song was a sociological genius: “Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name.” And it’s true. Sometimes you want to get out of the house and go to a place where you know you will be greeted warmly. But in the D.C.- area, with high-end prices and even higher-end attitudes from serving staff and bartenders, it’s not always easy to find.

That’s why we were struck when the first time we went to Dogwood Tavern in Falls Church, the bartender asked our names. Gave us his as he leaned over the long wooden bar to shake our hands. And then remembered our names for subsequent visits! One female bartender almost got me in trouble. I went in with my husband and she smiled genuinely at me and said, “We haven’t seen you in awhile.” My husband raised an eyebrow and wondered how often was I frequenting the local tavern without him.

Once a month for lunch! I’d order tea!

Photo from Dogwood Tavern website

That’s the thing about Dogwood, aptly named a tavern with its brick walls, large fireplace and beautiful wood-beam ceiling. Regardless whether you’re there for a Saturday night free-for-all or a Tuesday salad and tea, they make you feel welcome. They make you feel at home.

“We live in the community; our customers are part of us,” said Paul Taylor, beverage director for Vintage Restaurant Group, which owns Dogwood Tavern in Falls Church, Rhodeside Grill in Clarendon and two other Arlington neighborhood bars. “We want to give good meals, good drinks and make people happy. That’s something we can really excel at where sometimes other people fail.”

I called Paul to ask him what his organization emphasized in making a great neighborhood bar. Getting to know their customers is one thing. So bartenders will always ask your name; go in, you can test it.

Click to see menu

They also work hard to provide something that will appeal to all of their potential customers. Falls Church is a land of working singles, families and higher-end wage earners; Dogwood offers bands on the weekend and sports viewing on big screen TVs for the young, large and comfy indoor and outdoor dining spaces for families, and a great selection of craft beers, cocktails made with small batch ingredients, and interesting daily meal specials to appeal to those looking for a higher-end experience.

“We’ve definitely strived to create a place where we want to go eat and drink,” Paul said. “We love that our employees will stick around after a shift and have a beverage; they’ve worked really hard to create a welcoming environment so why not stick around to enjoy it. At the end of the day, the customers become family.”

For a long time, we were just once-every-two-to-three-weeks customers. But we were made to feel like family. We’re rabid University of Kansas basketball fans, and the bartenders would always chat us up about that season’s potential. We were even bigger fans of an appetizer called Potatoskinadilla (Potato. Skin. Adilla. All the deliciousness of a potato skin – the bacon, chives, sour cream, soft bits of potato – stuck in a cheesy quesadilla and grilled to a crisp char on the outside. Yum). We bemoaned its demise when they took it off the menu, but whenever it’s a special, the bartenders bring it to our attention.

With the opening of a rooftop outdoor bar this spring, we became once-a-week regulars, grabbing a drink on a happy hour Friday or a lazy Sunday afternoon. That’s when we got to know the bartenders: Rachel, Drew, Mike, Cassandra. If anything speaks to the embrace Dogwood provides, it’s the fact the many of these bartenders have been here since its opening in 2008. Restaurants have an incredibly high turnover rate of 62 percent, but Dogwood has created a place where both staff and customers want to stay.

"There are a lot of places around that you can go to for a meal or a drink," Paul said. "When there’s that many choices, you need to have a level of service that goes above and beyond. That’s sort of our mission."

Mission accomplished. Thanks for giving us a place where everyone knows our names.

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Dogwood Tavern

132 West Broad St., Falls Church, VA 22046

In-Between Tip: On Monday, Sept. 8, Dogwood is inviting its customers to enjoy a whiskey event with Catoctin Creek Distillery, a Virginia whiskey-maker from Loudon County's Purcellville. Paul said he was particularly excited about the Peanut Old Fashioned they will have available. "What's more Virginia than Virginia peanuts and Virginia honey?"

To check out some beautiful drinks I've enjoyed at Dogwood Tavern, check out my Instagram feed or my Pinterest page.