Dallas Gym News — Ding Ding Group Fitness is a Knockout, Training Mate Arrives, and a Popular Pilates Studio Expands

While taking a tour of the nearly completed Ding Ding Group Boxing last week, it felt like a Dallas fitness prophecy was finally being fulfilled.

In 2018, I wrote about a New York-based boutique boxing studio’s plans to open in the Knox area. It felt like one of the last frontiers for Dallas’ robust boutique fitness scene, which until that point offered a variety of luxury gyms for every kind of trendy workout—except for boxing.

Four years later, that chic New York studio never did come to Dallas (or anywhere for that matter) and another Manhattan-based boxing gym, Rumble, headed straight for the suburbs. Fortunately, a local team was assembling a brand new boxing-inspired concept with a deep bench of Dallas-bred talent — proving we don’t need to wait on the coasts to show us how it’s done.

Located along Ross Avenue in East Dallas, Ding Ding is co-founded by Adria Alcazar (a former regional director of curriculum for Barry’s Bootcamp) and Dre Williams (a personal instructor who trained world champion boxer, Robert Brant). The duo was put together by This and That, the branding and hospitality group behind Tiny Victories, Ferris Wheelers, Alice, and one of Dallas’ most popular boutique fitness studios: Session Pilates.

Inside, a streamlined lobby welcomes guests with luxurious finish-outs and plenty of space for mingling. But the real knockout is the boxing room. 36 Aqua Training punching bags flow 360 degrees around a center stage, where an instructor guides you through Ding Ding’s signature full-body, 50-minute class (three rounds of boxing broken up by a strength session and a core workout). Aesthetics matter, so expect eye-catching lighting, a killer playlist, and slick Ding Ding branding everywhere you look.

“While things like Peloton are great, now people really want to be around people,” Alcazar tells PaperCity. “This is such a great space because boxing really puts everyone on the same level. We’re all just here to get some aggression out, sweat, and vibe to the music.”

Ding Ding is slated to open on Monday, August 8.

Visit dingdinggroupboxing.com to learn more about the new fitness concept. 

Training Mate Heads to Dallas, Texas

Dallas has plenty of HIIT classes, but none quite like Training Mate. The Aussie gym has a stable of A-list fans (all of Training Mate’s other studios are in LA) and a celebrity founder in Luke Milton, who had a key role in Khloe Kardashian’s former E! reality series, Revenge Body.

Training Mate Dallas (the first Texas outpost for the popular gym) opens this Wednesday, July 23, in Turtle Creek Village. Start booking your Bondi Burn and Thunder Down Under classes today.

Trainingmate.com. 3858 Oak Lawn Avenue, Suite 430. 

Shine Hot Pilates Expands

Since opening in 2019, Whitney Stern and Rachel Pierce’s unique blend of sculpt, rhythm, and extremely explicit playlists have lured Pilates obsessives to their 90-plus degree studio in The Hill—and kept them coming. This summer, Shine Hot is spreading the heat to Oak Lawn, opening at 3105 Reagan Street.

Studio two is slated to open on Wednesday, August 24. Visit  shinehotpilates.com and follow @ShineHotPilates for new studio updates.