I Trained With Hailey Bieber’s Boxing Coach, and Here’s What I Learnt

“All you need is a hair tie, a hope and a dream,” said Noah Neiman, co-founder of Rumble Boxing.

I looked up to see if he was joking. He wasn’t. I was doing a private training session with Neiman at the company’s Bondi franchise studio, which opened in March 2023 on Hall Street. Neiman, an American like me, was in town for the studio’s opening.

Justin Bieber and Jason Derulo are investors in the company, and fans of its workouts include Hailey Bieber, Selena Gomez and Kendall Jenner, to name a few. They’re often snapped leaving Rumble studios.

The first studio opened in Chelsea, New York City in 2017, and since then the company has expanded to locations all over the US. Bondi is one of its first Australian franchises, part of its plan to open 100 studios in the country within five years — so we can all train like supermodels.

The workouts are equal parts strength and boxing, in classes lasting 45 minutes. Like an F45 workout, the exercises are displayed on screens with an instructor demonstrating.

When you book a class, you can choose whether you want to start on the strength or boxing side of the room, and together with your group, you’ll then switch sides twice. Every class starts with a run-through of the six basic boxing moves that you’ll be doing throughout. The idea is to make boxing less intimidating so that even someone who’s never boxed before can join a class.

I can confirm that once you start a class, it feels like it’s over before you know it. There’s so much going on, it’s definitely not the type of workout where you keep checking your watch for when it’s over. It’s actually… dare I say… fun?!

If you’re feeling convinced to try out the workouts some of Hollywood’s most well-known faces attend, there are a few things to know first.

Rumble Boxing classes are perfect for all levels of experience and are designed to allow everyone to Rumble at their own pace. If you can move, you can Rumble. During the class, wear whatever makes you feel comfortable, but training shoes are recommended. Boxing will help boost your endorphins, while at the same time increasing muscle tone, cardiovascular fitness, core stability, muscular endurance, improve your hand-eye coordination and act as a form of stress relief.

So will I be back?

Since that training with Neiman, I’ve been a regular at Rumble Boxing, and I’m guessing the reason why you clicked into this story is to see what I learned from him and Rumble in general.

I learnt that despite what many of us think, strength training doesn’t necessarily translate to bulky muscles. It can, of course, if that’s what you want, but it doesn’t have to. The instructors always explained the choice of weights before every exercise. I also learnt how much I love working out with blaring music and in a dark room. It reminded me of my clubbing days in Miami (with the same tunes blaring then, too) so the workout felt more like fun. Finally, I learnt how easy boxing is. I had always found it intimidating, but once you learn a few moves with an instructor, it’s easy to get the hang of it. With the instructor demonstrating each move at the start, always mentioning a detail I’d previously missed, I was able to really hone my technique.

In the studio with Neiman at that initial training, I laughed. “I love the American cheesiness,” I blurted. I immediately regretted it, hoping I didn’t offend him. But I didn’t mean it as an offense. Nearly always when I’m boxing or doing strength training to blaring ‘90s rap or classics, I’m reminded of that over-the-top, yet completely genuine enthusiasm of Americans. Now, being so distanced from it, I find it incredibly endearing. It’s probably one of the things I miss most. In a way, it keeps me close to my heritage and I hope it stops me from losing that part of myself.

This moment with Neiman reminded me that I’ve been in Australia approaching 13 years, so I often forget about what it was like living in the US and what Americans were like. But the enthusiasm of a fitness class, run by an American, reminded me that it’s so important to have fun and bring energy to everything that we do. For the most part, Americans love life, and they don’t mind sharing that fact. And if they’re fans of something, they’ll tell you. That energy is contagious.

“The first thing we always do is we always warm up together,” Neiman had told me. “Thirty people in this room, all doing the same thing. There’s a sense of community and camaraderie, the energy, that build.”