Vista Gyms and Fitness

Use your VCR to tape over old workout tapes with cherished episodes of AfterMASH. With today's Groupon, $50 gets you two private Pilates lessons and one mat group class at Bella Forma Pilates (a $145 value). Located above Borders at the Carlsbad Forum Shops, the sumptuous studio takes a personalized approach to toning, the kind rarely seen since the legendary Golem of Prague was blessed by his creator with rock-hard abs.

Golf can be a bonding experience with friends or a make-or-break business meeting that masquerades as a leisure sport. Make the most of your time with friends and colleagues by knocking their argyle socks off with effortless dominance on the green. Today's Groupon to Carlsbad Golf Center gets you a one-hour private golf lesson with your choice of Carlsbad's experienced PGA and LPGA instructors (a $75–$125 value, depending on participating instructor), plus a large bucket of balls with which to practice during and after your lesson (a $10 value). Because the object of golf is to hole the ball in the fewest number of strokes, a better game will help you conserve energy for other activities such as off-track betting or braising Cornish hen.

The Dollhouse Fitness classes provide multiple womanly ways to work feminine forms into firm yet flexible states. First-timers can wrap themselves around a pole-teaser intro class, in which instructors demo proper positioning, posing techniques, and how to strut like a diva for the impending paparazzi. Unlike army boot camps, booty-camp classes put bodies through an intense series of drills in preparation for storming the beach in a skimpy two-piece. Less-aggressive courses, such as the Goddess Yoga class, provide femmes with a focused stretch of time to contemplate universal connectivity and the overwhelming complexity of the cardiovascular system. There are more than 15 weekly classes to choose from—the just-right amount according to three out of five Goldilocks.

Ballet has defined much of Shannon Higgins' life—she performed for 15 years for Linda Yourth, acted as principal instructor for the NYC Ballet, and honed her steps at the US International University in San Diego under a full ballet scholarship. She eventually left ballet on a professional level to pursue work as a personal trainer, but ballet wasn’t finished with her yet as it turns out. One of her clients introduced her to the barre technique, which rekindled her passion for the graceful art form. She was so taken with the exercise method that she gathered a team of other experienced instructors and opened Studio Barre.

Now teaching in two side-by-side spaces, Shannon and the team conduct over 60 classes a week, helping students to lift, tone, and burn. For advanced students who have competed 100 or more classes, they teach the exceptionally intense Centurions course, which promises to involve even more verbs.

The enthusiastic instructors at Wired Fitness Boot Camps, which earned an award for San Diego’s Best Outdoor Fitness Workout from CW 6’s San Diego Living, lead patrons of all ages and fitness levels in high-intensity workout routines held amid the balmy breezes and open air of multiple outdoor settings. The instructors set up obstacles course fraught with rings, cones, and poles, building off Mother Nature's steep hills, varying terrain, and intense trash talking at locales such as the lush green Carmel Valley or the sunlight-painted Mission Bay. During the one-hour classes, students sweat through always-changing interval workouts that blend plyometrics, partner drills, and obstacle courses to sculpt the entire body. Instructors lend their personal attention to each student, modifying the exercises to increase or decrease the difficulty level as needed.

Situated along the meandering Moosa Creek, the fairways of Castle Creek Country Club sweep gracefully through the foothills of Temecula Wine Country and located near three major casinos. The 1948 Jack Daray blueprint escorts players through a 6,638-yard labyrinth, hemmed in by oak-forest barriers and mottled with bunkers of white sand. After completing a testy front nine that includes the 624-yard par 5 sixth hole, players embark on the most difficult stretch of the course in holes 10, 11, and 12. These holes—a 450-yard par 4 followed by back-to-back par 5s—demand that players demonstrate an ability to hit the ball far, leaving many contestants exhausted, bleary-eyed, and swinging at golf balls that don’t exist.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 72 course

• Total length of 6,638 yards from the back tees

• Course rating of 72 from the back tees

• Course slope of 134 from the back tees

• Five sets of tees per hole

• Scorecard

• Gopher Hole Sports Bar