When Armond Enclarde steps into the ring, he is aided by both passion and years of training.

Enclarde, a security guard at Lawrence High, brings that same focus on training to the classes he teaches as an instructor at Title Boxing on 15th and Wakarusa. Twelve years ago, he started boxing in Topeka.

“To compete is always in my nature,” Enclarde said. “I’ve done football, basketball and track in high school. It’s just in me to be competitive. Being in boxing is a little different than a team. It’s just you and another individual in the ring. Win or lose, it’s up to you. Some of it has to do with your coaching and the people that help you train, but it’s really up to you to get in the ring. I enjoy that one-on-one competition.”

Enclarde’s classes are at 6 a.m. on Thursdays and 1 p.m. on Saturdays. Each class is about 90 minutes and follows Title Boxing club’s prescribed curriculum. It starts with cardio as a warm up, followed by 30 minutes of boxing and ending with a cool down. Enclarde occasionally changes up the structure by adding 10 minutes of weights or drills

“Most of my students are burning between 800-1000 calories in my class,” Enclarde said. “In an hour, that’s a lot of calories. My class can be pretty intense.”

His classes include a variety of people from high school students to working professionals.

Although the sport’s popularity has been slowly decreasing since the 2000s, the training is still widely used for working out and becoming fit.

“You want to be as good as shape as you can be in all times,” Enclarde said. “You work on lot of technique, skill drills and things that will make you a better as a fighter.”

Senior Gretchen Hierl, who trains at Title Boxing, was surprised by the cardiovascular exercises that were involved. Her class consists of running, abdominal workouts and one-on-one boxing with the trainer.

Hierl has found boxing to be a good complement to playing soccer for LHS.

“It works muscles you don’t really use,” Hierl said.

Senior Victoria Kaufman was introduced to boxing a year ago.  She is currently training at The Summit on 9th and New Hampshire.

Each class is different. Trainers provide circuits unique for each individual class. A circuit is a series of exercises with time intervals in between.

“I like that it’s not just running or just doing one thing,” Kaufman said. “Each class is different, so you don’t know what to expect.”

Her training involves running and doing stairs as a warm up, followed by circuits in the ring with the instructor and ending with push ups and planks.

“I do dance, but boxing helps me stay fit, and it’s different,” said Kaufman.