Kickboxing Gym Near Me on Beach Road: Active Zone's Women-Only Studio

Active Zone is a kickboxing gym where men are not on the mat. The studio at 47 Beach Road #03-03, Kheng Chiu Building, Singapore 189683, trains women only, along with children from age three. Its one-hour group trial runs every Friday from 6:30pm to 7:30pm. Esplanade MRT is a five-minute walk away, and the building sits next to Great Eastern House, across the road from South Beach Tower. Nobody spars here: you punch and kick pads held by a partner.

The Straits Times told the studio's story in February 2024. Active Zone started in 2008 as part of Active Red, a mixed-gender gym. It became an all-female space in 2013, as more women were taking up the sport, and it moved from the Orchard Road area to Beach Road in 2019. The club's own About page gives 2006 as its founding year, so the two accounts differ by two years.

Co-founder Valencia Yip told the paper that the pandemic eroded some of the studio's female clients. She also said that more Muslim women had started kickboxing there over the previous two years. Her explanation for why women stay is very specific. The training space is all white, which she finds less intimidating than kickboxing gyms dominated by black, and clients notice that it does not smell of stale sweat.

Yip is the studio's senior instructor as well as co-founder. Active Zone describes her as Singapore's most accomplished kickboxer, with more than 30 international medals, including 14 golds at World Cups, and the Straits Times notes that she represented Singapore at several competitions in 2023. The studio lists four kickboxing black belt instructors and says it has served more than 20,000 clients.

The paperwork behind the coaching is unusual for a fitness studio. Active Zone is an affiliate club of the Kickboxing Federation of Singapore, a member of the World Association of Kickboxing Organizations (WAKO). It also hosts WAKO's Kickboxing Fitness Trainer Education Centre. The studio says its instructors are the only WAKO-accredited kickboxing black belts in Singapore, and that earning one means passing 11 belts from beginner to advanced.

The flagship class is Active Kickboxing Fitness, and the fight element has been deliberately removed. Every class is done in pairs. One woman holds the shield or pads while the other punches and kicks, then you swap. If you arrive alone, the instructor pairs you with someone, and the studio pitches that as a way to meet new people. Classes are split into beginner, intermediate and advanced levels, and each one opens and closes with stretching.

Two other group formats fill the timetable. Active Kickboxing Bootcamp mixes kickboxing rounds with circuit training, toning, strength work and band exercises, drawn from what the studio says are more than 500 variations. ACTS, short for Active Circuit Training System, is a 45-minute gym circuit with no kicking at all. It suits the days when your knees want a break but you still want to train with the same group. The studio can also refer you to a nutritionist, at a separate fee, and runs corporate wellness sessions for office teams.

The adult group trial is fixed: Active Kickboxing Fitness, every Friday from 6:30pm to 7:30pm, booked through the Schedule & Trial page. Personal training trials are arranged around your preferred time. Personal training comes in one-to-one, buddy (one coach, two clients) and small group formats of up to four people, in either kickboxing or gym training.

Children are the one exception to the women-only rule. The kids' programme takes ages three and up, with trials on Saturdays at 1:30pm or 2:30pm for the Little Lions and Junior Kickboxing classes. It is affiliated with the British Martial Arts Academy, founded by Master Brian William Beck, a 9th Dan WAKO black belt. The studio says Beck, a former gymnast and bodybuilder, represented Great Britain at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

The testimonials on the website give a sense of the regulars. Melissa, a client since 2017, praises the all-women setting and the coaches' investment in her progress. Kasturi has been coming back since 2013. Another client describes doing weight training at Active Zone while she was pregnant. The studio's 2026 blog posts speak to women starting kickboxing in their thirties or later, and to women coming back after pregnancy or surgery.

Skip Active Zone if you want to spar or prepare for a fight, because the adult classes contain no combat at all. Men cannot join either. A mixed couple who want to train together should look at Evolve MMA Raffles Place, 18 Cross Street B1-08, a short MRT ride away. Active Zone does not publish its prices online, so this article quotes none. Membership costs are discussed after the trial.

The contact page lists walking times from five MRT stations. Esplanade on the Circle Line is five minutes away along Beach Road. City Hall on the North-South and East-West lines is about seven minutes away. On the Downtown Line, Bugis is four minutes via Tan Quee Lan Street, and the East-West Line exit at Bugis is about six minutes via North Bridge Road. Look for Great Eastern House, because Kheng Chiu Building is right next to it. The studio also names Shaw Towers and the South Beach Tower and Residences as landmarks, so if you can see all three, you are on the right block.

The nearby landmarks make an easy post-class walk. Raffles Hotel is a block away, and its arcade along Beach Road is pleasant after dark. Head north and you reach Kampong Glam, where Arab Street and Haji Lane are lined with cafes and Middle Eastern restaurants. If you would rather sit by the water, walk south past the Esplanade theatres toward Marina Bay.

Address: Active Zone, 47 Beach Road #03-03, Kheng Chiu Building, Singapore 189683. Email: info@activered.sg. Adult group trial: Fridays 6:30pm to 7:30pm. Kids trial: Saturdays 1:30pm or 2:30pm. Women only, apart from the kids' classes. Ask the Karpo APP to pair a Friday trial with dinner on Arab Street afterward.