IT WAS IN LOS ANGELES while training pro athletes and celebs in 1993 that Jon Hinds decided there was something wrong with the American gym and its emphasis on machines and mirrors. So the certified strength-and-conditioning specialist developed his own version of functional-strength training, bringing his clients to a section of Santa Monica beach with old-school equipment like ropes, rings, and poles. They climbed, they walked on their hands. They loved it—and soon Hinds was getting dramatic results with the likes of Darryl Strawberry and Eric Davis.

"I just couldn't stand the thought of going into another gym after that," Hinds says. Until, that is, he thought of a way to make if fun again. In 2001, in his hometown of Madison, Wisconsin, Hinds opened what, for lack of a better term, could be called an anti-gym. He named it the Monkey Bar Gymnasium, a nod to the full-body motor mechanics—that is, fun—of our youth. "My simple philosophy is that I follow nature in almost everything we do," says Hinds. "And nature is about movement. In nature we run, we jump, we crawl, we climb. So we take variations of those movements, kick up the intensity, and integrate them into training regimens that stress full-body movement." Last year the gym had to double its size due to demand, and its online membership (monkeybargym.com) is growing 5 percent a week, says Hinds.

At right are the key ways the Monkey Bar Gym differs from all the others you've seen. Turn the page for a Hinds-approved workout you can do at home.

Breaking the Rules
To rethink the gym, Hinds first had to tear it down. Here are a few of his simple rules.

No Mirrors
No preening in the Monkey Bar Gym. The focus is on how you feel and move. "When you feel good and your body's fit," says Hinds, "you look damn good."

No Machines
Muscles weren't made to be worked one at a time. They're parts of systems that work together. "Machines are purely about isolated movements for aesthetics," says Hinds. "People get on the machine with the whole purpose being ‘I have to lose fat,' not ‘I want to hike a mountain.' "

No Weights
Nobody does endless reps with dumbbells in the Monkey Bar Gym. Instead, the workout uses only body-weight resistance, medicine balls, kettlebells, and controlled movements, gradually progressing through three levels, from stability to strength to power.

No Shoes
You've got toes; use them. Hinds's program strengthens your whole system from the ground up, and that starts with your feet, which he believes are weakened by shoes. Let your feet do what they were meant to do—balance, stabilize, and support.

No Stretching
Toe touches are out. Hinds doesn't allow any static stretching in his gym. Members instead do yoga-based "active stretching" to improve flexibility and warm up at the same time.

No iPods
Music players aren't banned, but members don't use them, mostly because trainers and trainees are in constant communication. "The isolation of both the muscles and the mind when people are on machines is completely unhealthy," says Hinds.