Up for the Count : Boxing class focuses on cutting calories, building strength, aiding coordination and, most of all, relieving stress.

Caprice Conley has her opponent pinned against the railing. She throws him a ferocious glare, then a powerful blow to his chest. He grunts. She lands a few jabs, a left hook. He groans, teeters and sinks to the ground. Her fans are cheering.

Conley’s supporters are fellow members of the Agoura Hills Spectrum Club’s boxing class. They’re applauding because she has survived a two-minute round with instructor Jim Tunney, a professional boxer with an 8-1 record and a flair for theatrics.

When it’s over, she returns to the bench gasping for breath and groping for her water bottle. “Two minutes is a long time,” says Conley, 19, her face resembling a giant tomato. On second thought, she says, “so is 10 seconds.”

Forget black eyes, fat lips and broken noses. Forget dark, humid gyms with decaying posters of Joe Louis and a guy in the corner chomping on a cigar. At the Agoura Spectrum--and a handful of health clubs across the country--members can try a new kind of boxing, the kind that takes place in a mirrored, air-conditioned studio with an opponent who won’t inflict any damage.

At least to the body. Some egos, however, do end up bruised.

“I get guys who come into class with veins popping out of their neck and big muscles,” says Tunney, who calls his class The Jim Tunney Executive Boxing Program. “After two minutes, those veins are no longer showing, and their attitudes are gone.”

The daily hourlong class, open only to club members, is designed to burn calories, increase strength, improve coordination and relieve stress. “I want you to come with all your frustrations--your relationships, your bills piling up,” says Tunney, a 154-pound junior middleweight and distant cousin of former heavyweight champion Gene Tunney. “I want you mad. But you’re going to get a helluva workout regardless.”

After plenty of pushups and abdominal exercises, class members work on footwork and punching technique to the latest rap tunes. Some days they test their skill and endurance on heavy punching bags; other days, they take turns sparring with Tunney. By the end of the hour, they indeed look like contenders--for a long shower and a nap.

“It’s very humbling. It shows me how old I really am,” says Roger Cole, 39, an Agoura office supplies executive. “The first time, I was dying after 30 seconds. I was just praying it would end.”

What do hard-core boxing types think of Executive Boxing? “It’s kind of a yuppie, white-collar thing,” says Jim Moriarty, owner of Brothers Gym in Canoga Park, where fighters refuse to work out with a fan, let alone air-conditioning.

“It’s fine. There’s no way I’m going to knock boxing. But I think it’ll fade. Anyone who starts training like a boxer, they’ll want to get in the ring, and then they’ll get a fat lip.”

Cole, for one, has no intention of ever stepping into a ring. “Before this class, I would have said yes. But now? No way.”

For many class members, the appeal of boxing is the freedom of movement. “I feel like such a puppet in aerobics,” says Conley, a freshman soccer player at Westmont College in Santa Barbara. “You’re so restricted. You only do what the instructor wants you to do.”

Monica Garcia, 28, enjoys boxing because it’s “more raw than karate--not so filled with technique.” Garcia, an Agoura resident, says the class has given her more motivation to lift weights and run on the treadmill. “I don’t like to just exercise for my health. I like to have something I’m working toward.”

Garcia also likes the camaraderie in the class. “In aerobics,” she says, “nobody’s cheering you on.”

Tunney helps motivate the class members by insulting them. To the men, he says: “Come on, you pansy. Is this all you can do?” To the women, it’s: “You should be barefoot and pregnant” or “Girls aren’t good at anything.”

He also spurs them on by groaning and staggering across the room. “It’s encouraging,” Conley says. “It makes you feel like you’re not such a wimp.”

Where and When

What: The Jim Tunney Executive Boxing Program.

Location: Agoura Spectrum Club, 5115 N. Clareton, Agoura.

Price: $12 a class for Spectrum Club members, less if you sign up for five or more classes; private lessons offered to non-members at the club and at Brothers Gym for $50 a lesson.

Call: (818) 879-9500.