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Newport YMCA’s military-style training course gives athletes new place to play

Kyle Markwalf of the Newport Beach Police Department participates in a police officers' challenge Saturday at The Playpen, the Newport-Mesa Family YMCA's new military-style obstacle course.
Kyle Markwalf of the Newport Beach Police Department participates in a police officers’ challenge Saturday at The Playpen, the Newport-Mesa Family YMCA’s new military-style obstacle course.
(Brittany Woolsey/Daily Pilot)
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The Newport-Mesa Family YMCA’s Playpen is not your average workout.

The intense obstacle course, filled with military-style exercises, was previewed at a grand opening Saturday at the YMCA.

A person dressed as a sergeant directed the participating men and women, including Newport Beach Police Department officers. If the workout participants were told to do push-ups, they got on the ground. If they were ordered to do pull-ups, they would grab the bar closest to their height.

The police officers ran across tires, scaled a rope wall, moved across monkey bars and lifted weights.

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The Playpen, which officially opened Monday, offers various strength, endurance and balance workouts and obstacle-race technique classes. The course, which faces the Newport Back Bay at 2300 University Drive in Newport Beach, is open to YMCA members and the general public. Monthly memberships are available.

For more information, call (949) 642-9990 or email Nina Leppanen, health and wellness director for the Newport-Mesa Family YMCA, at [email protected].

-- Brittany Woolsey
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