Things To Do In Coronado

When a golfer seeks inspiration, she looks toward the skies over Scotland, just as a baker gets a second wind from his brochure of the Choco Mountain Range. Today's Groupon inspires with a saucy salute to Memphis: $20 worth of sweet meats and succulent, finger-licking barbecue for $10 at Lil' Piggy's Bar-B-Q in Coronado. Follow the sweet-smelling dreams that haunt long nights in your rib-shack.

When Kate Danta opened P.B. Yoga & Healing Arts, she envisioned more than a simple yoga studio. Her holistic health center would offer both Pilates and yoga classes that explored different types of practice along with a range of wellness services such as massage and acupuncture. Kate is a holistic health practitioner, a massage therapist, and a yoga instructor with 30 years of experience, herself, so she was in a unique position to make her dream become reality. Rather than doing everything herself, Kate assembled a staff of certified massage therapists, naturopathic healers, and yoga instructors to add their knowledge of Svaroopa, Kripalu, and Kundalini yoga to the studio's repertoire.

Visitors to the holistic studio can choose to better their bodies and minds by choosing to attend classes or visiting one of the staff's variety of physical and spiritual healers. During yoga sessions, instructors lead students through guided relaxations, breathing techniques, and yoga poses to help clients build flexibility and relax deep spinal muscles. Pilates mat classes are taught by an experienced instructor who sold her thriving studio in order to move to San Diego and join the staff at PB Yoga and Healing Arts to challenge clients' muscles with small isometric movements, which work to improve posture and protect the back by building strength throughout the core. The studio also has a Pilates Specialist whose background includes the New York Ballet Co. She works one-on-one with the help of the Gyrotonic equipment and the Pilates Reformer. The studio's on-staff licensed acupuncturist specializes in sports medicine, and can relieve chronic pain by carefully placing needles in strategic points along the body. Clients can achieve spiritual balance with visits to a Sunday morning meditation class facilitated by an ordained Zen Buddhist monk, Tenshin; who also teaches the Tai Chi classes. The center also offers sessions with an on-staff practitioner who can deliver both psychic readings and spiritual counseling to help clients reach inner peace.

Navy SEAL veteran and MMA coach Brian Sargent had a vision of a cutting-edge mixed-martial-arts facility. He knew what equipment was needed, but it was not until 2007—when he teamed with Joe Mannino, a 30-year owner and operator of a health club—that the nitty-gritty details fell into place. With Mannino’s newly envisioned facility and Sargent’s training know-how, the two built Victory MMA and Fitness, bringing on a staff of top-notch trainers to teach a burgeoning clientele of professional MMA fighters.

The sounds of pumping hearts and fists swooshing through the air that Brian and Joe love to hear can be sensed between the glass walls and doors that divide the 22,000-square-foot facility into eight training areas, and there’s room left over for a retail shop and ringside café. A 20-foot mixed-martial-arts cage and 7,000 square feet of mats host aspiring pugilists as they train their wrists and fists among a forest of hanging punching bags, while students in Jiu Jitsu and MMA classes learn the practical art of self defense. The nearby cardio and weightlifting areas are the metaphorical psychologist’s couch upon which personal trainers condition their clients, and a cordoned-off yoga studio breaks the black-and-red patterning of the gym with bright white walls and a pale hardwood floor.

As he trains his eye on the target's innermost ring, the archer retrieves an arrow from his quiver. He exhales, crooking his fingers around the bowstring and pulling it back until the feathery fletches tickle his cheek. He will only have one shot to win the contest and finally earn his family's respect—but his elbow is off, and his aim will suffer. "Cut!" comes the call from the director, and the cameras stop rolling for a moment as an archery coach enters the scene. She tilts the actor's arm and adjusts his stance so that his form is truer to life, breathing accuracy into the portrayal. When "Action!" sounds, the archer is ready, and the tension achieves new heights.

Sending its nationally certified coaches to such television clients as CSI: Miami and The Discovery Channel is just one way that Archery House spreads an appreciation of the sport. Company leaders Lorinda Cohen and Tara “Robey” Folz—both of whom hold national titles—ally their combined 36 years of archery experience with marketing savvy to plan classes for all ages, promotional events, and athletic counseling. At multiple outdoor ranges, they outfit beginners with the equipment and know-how to pop a balloon at an impressive remove, and challenge advanced archers to do so with a balloon that’s farther away and filled with wasps.

The percussive clacking of club and ball welcomes club-toting compatriots to City Golf of America's indoor training facility, a golfer’s haven with more than 23,000 square feet of swing-honing amenities. Inside the vast facility, students of golf can gain valuable reps at 1 of the 18 hitting bays of the indoor driving range, plant spiked shoes into the soft grains of a real sand bunker, and inoculate themselves against outbreaks of the yips on two nine-hole putting greens. The immense screens of high-tech golf simulators channel the lush landscapes of 60 of the world’s most renowned courses, whisking golfers to the famed greens of Amen Corner of Augusta National, the windswept heathers of St. Andrews, or near the loudmouth porpoises of Pebble Beach. The facilities are rounded out by a fitness area and members' lounge, where golfers can sink into divot-free leather furniture while noshing on snacks from the café, surfing free WiFi, or watching flat-screen TVs. A staff of teaching professionals and PGA pros leads students through private lessons. The staff makes use of JC video-analysis technology to deftly diagnose swings and proffer both onsite corrective tips and longer-term practice strategies to streamline swing mechanics.