New dimension of fitness lands in Dallas

By David Mullen

The modern incarnation of the traditional workout studio may have just found a home in the most unlikely of spaces. On July 15, Playkout, a pickleball-inspired fitness facility with programs designed to boost cardio, strength and cognitive performance, opened in a 5,000 square foot space once occupied by an upscale dry cleaner.

Playkout’s flagship studio is located at 3501 McKinney Ave. in Uptown in the former Bibbentuckers Cleaners space. While Playkout is specifically designed to placate the tsunami of ardent pickleball players wanting to sharpen their skills, anyone can benefit from the workout.  

According to co-owners Bahigh Acuna and Jorge Guerrero, Playkout is “phygital.” After extensive concept testing that included a Plano lab, Acuna and Guerrero, with backgrounds in global marketing, finance, insurance and technology and collective stops at PepsiCo, Spotify and Amazon, developed Playkout, blending the physical energy of an individual or group workout with digital gamification. The two are pursuing patents on some of the technology. 

“This is a place where people rediscover the joy of fitness,” said Guerrero, a Harvard graduate with an insurance background that inspired him to follow health and fitness. 

“We created a fitness experience that blends pickleball, technology and strength training to deliver workouts that are both fun and effective. Not only does it yield fitness results, but it also enhances skill development for those looking to improve their game.” 

But most importantly, unlike a station-to-station big box gym workout or the endless time spent spinning on stationary cycles, this workout is entertaining. The facility is a logical next step for a sport seeing unprecedented popularity across all age groups. 

According to the website Pickleheads, pickleball is now the fastest-growing sport in America for the third year running. Participation in the sport, which is a cross between table tennis, badminton and tennis, has grown an average of 223.5 percent during the last three years. 

“Pickleball is the fastest growing sport because of very clear things,” Acuna, a Mexico City native of Lebanese heritage, said. “It’s a low impact sport on the body. It’s easy adoption in terms of that you don’t need a huge space to put up a court. You just need a net, two racquets and a ball. 

“And then the other thing is that it is easy to understand how to play. Whereas with other sports like tennis or soccer, you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars on lessons. You are good to go in three minutes. It is a very community-based sport. While other sports are about the competition, here you can compete but also make it very sociable.”

When entering Playkout, there is a hallway straight away that leads to the standard gym requisites of a lounge, lockers, changing rooms, showers and water closets. A quick left turn, however, is anything but standard. A journey into the future begins. You are about to get “phygital.”

Going through a rather benign doorway on the left, one enters another dimension. The room is dark with a distinctive glow. The music is up, but crowd sounds replace the traditional thumping bass heard at a chain of fitness facilities. The terms “players” and “coaches” are used to describe fitness members and instructors. 

A large screen with a virtual strength coach takes players through a workout with free weights available to use during the session. You can bypass the strength training area and proceed directly to the pickleball stations, designed to enhance cardio and improve skills. It’s not imposing, it just looks more like an LA video production studio than an LA Fitness. 

There are mobility and skills drills that build dexterity, stamina, improves footwork and pickleball hitting. Players can work out on their own or utilize an experienced pickleball coach to join the workout. 

All roads lead to massive video simulators, where pickleballs are served in rapid fire and returned by the player toward a specific target on the screen. The object is to hit multiple targets, and thus improve shot making ability. You are playing against the screen. It is where the baseball batting cage meets the golf simulator, only it is a far greater workout and a lot more fun. 

Pointing toward the stations, Acuna said: “This is where you develop footwork. This is where you work on your touch.” Motioning toward the simulator, Acuna said, “This is where you put it all together. You are moving and sweating and having fun.”

A menu of workout sessions can be found at the Playkout website at letsplaykout.com. Limited memberships and individual sessions can be secured online.  

“It is the first of its kind in the world,” Acuna said about Playkout, providing a logical next step for a sport seeing unprecedented popularity across all age groups. The partners are looking to expand into another Dallas neighborhood soon. “It is built for any skill at any level. You don’t have to play pickleball to get a great workout. And its great fun.” So far, partners Acuna and Guerrero are having a ball.