When Jon Hinds was designing Monkey Bar Gym, he drew inspiration from the playground to create a unique type of exercise that focuses on full-body workouts. The fitness regimen at the gym combines six simple skills learned as a child: running, jumping, crawling, climbing, rolling, and reacting. Jon Hinds and the certified trainers at Monkey Bar Gym have combined these principles into a high-intensity routine that was featured on Fox 6 news and in fitness publications such as Men’s Fitness magazine. “The workouts are intense, but you won’t see any training partners screaming their buddies through forced reps here,” says a reporter from Muscle & Fitness who visited the gym. “The challenges come in making the exercises as efficient as possible and constantly working to a higher level of skill and movement.”

At MBG Cypress, the air-conditioned fitness studio resembles a warehouse, and a set of monkey bars looms in the center of the room. Owner and instructor Leslie Niermeyer helms the classes, walking students through boot-camp, yoga, and strength classes that focus on movements people make every day. Moves vary, but students can often be found doing pushups, pull-ups, resistance-band training, heavy-rope training, and gymnastics-inspired moves on hanging ropes.