10 Best Workouts in L.A. for People Who Hate Working Out

These women are exercising

Running is boring. Treadmills make me feel like a rat in an experiment. And tennis -- my racket is somewhere, and, do I have to sign up for a court somewhere, or...never mind, I'm tired already.

Sometimes you need to think outside the box to get motivated to get off your butt. Here are the 10 best workouts in L.A. for people who hate working out, from our Best of L.A. issue.

Nanette Gonzales

You can't ride this trail with your bike upside down...but almost

When Angelenos think of bike trails, the picture that comes to mind is either an asphalt route along a concrete channel or a crowded beach path à la Three's Company, where the ride is overshadowed by playing Frogger with pedestrians. But away from the madding crowd lies Duarte Bike Trail, a well-shaded, 1.6-mile, multi-use path sandwiched between a solid middle-class neighborhood and multimillion-dollar mansions. Once a Pacific Electric Railway line, the path starts at Royal Oaks Park and ends at Buena Vista Street. It's fairly flat and straight, making it the ideal place to try out your new self-propelled transport of choice. Pet- and tot-friendly, the path is shared by horses, rollerbladers, bikers and joggers. People riding fast are well-mannered, pedestrians move aside and it's probably the most urbane suburban Class 1 path in Los Angeles County. If you're aching for more, the larger San Gabriel Bike Path is just down the road. 2627 Royal Oaks Drive, Duarte. —Katie Datko

The hike to Escondido Falls starts in a dusty little parking lot just off Pacific Coast Highway on a road called Winding Way, and climbs up past sprawling homes with stables, batting cages and vineyards, through coastal scrub and chaparral, before descending into shady Santa Monica Mountain oak groves, which are home to cottontailed bunnies and fawns. The halfway point for the 4.2-mile trek is a spongy hollow bisected by a moss-covered, multitiered, 150-foot-tall waterfall. For best results, go after a good rain; in the dry season, the falls is reduced to a steady diamond drip. Trailhead starts about one block before the dead end of Winding Way, Malibu. —Tessa Stuart

Got aggressions that need to be worked out? Love heavy music? Wanna be as lean as Tommy Lee? Kirsten Potenza and Cristina Peerenboom, who love drumming, dance and fitness, have developed what may be the next major phenomenon in exercise: Pound. Slamming drumsticks into the floor as hard as you can while doing specially tailored Pilates and cardio routines might seem like raucous fun, but this is no "get physical" fad. The gals have developed special resin sticks ("ripstix") that provide resistance that goes beyond wood. The room takes on a primal, almost hypnotic feel when everyone is pounding in unison. There are no self-conscious leg-warmer types here, either. The instructors wear faded rock tees and Chucks. The classes are packed and very loud (some participants wear earplugs). If it sounds like the pit at a rock concert, it kinda is — especially the post-show euphoria part. Only here, you're the rock star. Classes are currently available at local Crunch Fitness locations. poundfit.com.—Lina Lecaro

Wikimedia commons/karpidis

Armed only with a laminated sign on a stick stuck into the sand and his Beach Yoga With Brad Facebook page, Brad Keimach offers light to moderate yoga at the shoreline each weekend for a suggested minimum donation of 10 bucks — which is, without a doubt, better than paying $19 to a stanky studio. Get your Namaste on with the seagulls and beach bums on a strip of sand just out from Barnard Way and Sea Colony Drive in Santa Monica. You'll enjoy your downward dog with seafoam tickling your heels. Keimach has taught yoga for 12 years (four on the beach), and student yogis can count on his encouraging, sunny disposition even when the weather is gray and cloudy. Oh, and he's conducted concerts with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall and studied under Leonard Bernstein. An educator, music historian and conductor, he says of the connection between yoga and composing and performing classical pieces, "Both require deep inner work, and both have an outer manifestation." Thanks to Brad, your weekend workout's outer manifestation can get you a nice tan, too. bradkeimach.com.—Wendy Gilmartin

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