Guidebook for Los Angeles
Entertainment & Activities
The calisthenics area looks like a playground in a giant sandbox, with parallel bars, Olympic rings, climbing ropes, speed bags for boxing, and pull-up bars. The city’s best athletes show off some serious moves here. But there are also plenty of regular people just trying to figure out how to climb the ropes.
Look out for the guys from Raw Movement (see what they look like on their Instagram). They have meetups here. They’re some of the best calisthenics athletes from around Los Angeles, and they put on a real show.
234 locals recommend
Muscle Beach Venice
1800 Ocean Front WalkThe calisthenics area looks like a playground in a giant sandbox, with parallel bars, Olympic rings, climbing ropes, speed bags for boxing, and pull-up bars. The city’s best athletes show off some serious moves here. But there are also plenty of regular people just trying to figure out how to climb the ropes.
Look out for the guys from Raw Movement (see what they look like on their Instagram). They have meetups here. They’re some of the best calisthenics athletes from around Los Angeles, and they put on a real show.
This spot south of Santa Monica Pier is my #1 favorite place to work out. Unlike the muscle beach in Venice, you’ll see more gymnasts and acrobats than body builders—and these people are masters. There’s a ton of equipment, like parallel bars and traveling rings.
Sunday from 2pm or so till sunset is the most exciting time to be here. Acrobats have a real history with this spot, and this is time to come see them doing high-level acrobatics and acroyoga.
17 locals recommend
Original Muscle Beach
Ocean Front WalkThis spot south of Santa Monica Pier is my #1 favorite place to work out. Unlike the muscle beach in Venice, you’ll see more gymnasts and acrobats than body builders—and these people are masters. There’s a ton of equipment, like parallel bars and traveling rings.
Sunday from 2pm or so till sunset is the most exciting time to be here. Acrobats have a real history with this spot, and this is time to come see them doing high-level acrobatics and acroyoga.
In a nice neighborhood near Pacific Palisades, this staircase is shorter than the Culver City Stairs, so it’s a different kind of workout, with quicker intervals. The place has a bit of a cult following. You’ll see groups of women doing high-intensity workouts with pushups and leg lifts.
These stairs are a little shorter, so you can do quicker intervals. Most often you'll see people doing different versions of stair sprints. To really get the legs firing, you could add 30 air squats or jumping lunges in between sets.
57 locals recommend
Santa Monica Stairs
699 Adelaide DrIn a nice neighborhood near Pacific Palisades, this staircase is shorter than the Culver City Stairs, so it’s a different kind of workout, with quicker intervals. The place has a bit of a cult following. You’ll see groups of women doing high-intensity workouts with pushups and leg lifts.
These stairs are a little shorter, so you can do quicker intervals. Most often you'll see people doing different versions of stair sprints. To really get the legs firing, you could add 30 air squats or jumping lunges in between sets.
Everyone calls this 22-mile-long paved bike path The Strand. It really can’t be beat for a nice, long coastal ride, and you can use it to string together all of my favorite beach workouts.
In Venice Beach or Santa Monica, there are plenty of bike rental places. There’s also the Santa Monica Bike share, where you can pick up a bike on the go at 80 or so locations and pay per hour. They’re called Breeze bikes, and you can pay right at one of the 7 kiosks with a credit card.
7 locals recommend
Marvin Braude Bike Trail
Marvin Braude Bike TrailEveryone calls this 22-mile-long paved bike path The Strand. It really can’t be beat for a nice, long coastal ride, and you can use it to string together all of my favorite beach workouts.
In Venice Beach or Santa Monica, there are plenty of bike rental places. There’s also the Santa Monica Bike share, where you can pick up a bike on the go at 80 or so locations and pay per hour. They’re called Breeze bikes, and you can pay right at one of the 7 kiosks with a credit card.
On this part of the Pacific Coast Highway, up toward Malibu and Topanga Canyon, the landscape gets more interesting than the long, straight beaches to the south. The equipment here is simple—just a pull-up bar—but I think the pull-up is one of the greatest upper body exercises. Just monkeying around, swinging from a bar, is really good for the shoulders.
Doing sand sprints here is definitely something that you can do to get a high-intensity workout besides the pull-ups. Do some air squats, and sprint down to the water and back. If you can work in the pull-ups, even better.
127 locals recommend
Will Rogers State Beach
17580 CA-1On this part of the Pacific Coast Highway, up toward Malibu and Topanga Canyon, the landscape gets more interesting than the long, straight beaches to the south. The equipment here is simple—just a pull-up bar—but I think the pull-up is one of the greatest upper body exercises. Just monkeying around, swinging from a bar, is really good for the shoulders.
Doing sand sprints here is definitely something that you can do to get a high-intensity workout besides the pull-ups. Do some air squats, and sprint down to the water and back. If you can work in the pull-ups, even better.
Unlike some of the other stairways in the city, the Culver City Stairs are very long, so by the time you get to the top, you’ve earned the views of the ocean and the Santa Monica Mountains.
There’s no shade here, so I like coming at sunset when it’s cooler and the views are at their best.
337 locals recommend
Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook
6300 Hetzler RdUnlike some of the other stairways in the city, the Culver City Stairs are very long, so by the time you get to the top, you’ve earned the views of the ocean and the Santa Monica Mountains.
There’s no shade here, so I like coming at sunset when it’s cooler and the views are at their best.
Parks & Nature
From Santa Monica or Venice, I love to cruise along the beachfront bike path to the South Bay. Between 26th and 27th in Manhattan Beach, you’ll find a set of bars you can work out on. A lot of calisthenics athletes and yogis congregate here to do pull-ups and muscle-ups. And some of them perform crazy tricks like 360s.
3 sets of 10 pullups, 20 pushups, and 40 lateral bench jumps overs — which are exactly what they sound like, jumping from side to side over one of the weightlifting benches. Add on a sprint to the ocean and back for each set.
364 locals recommend
Manhattan Beach
From Santa Monica or Venice, I love to cruise along the beachfront bike path to the South Bay. Between 26th and 27th in Manhattan Beach, you’ll find a set of bars you can work out on. A lot of calisthenics athletes and yogis congregate here to do pull-ups and muscle-ups. And some of them perform crazy tricks like 360s.
3 sets of 10 pullups, 20 pushups, and 40 lateral bench jumps overs — which are exactly what they sound like, jumping from side to side over one of the weightlifting benches. Add on a sprint to the ocean and back for each set.