It can feel disheartening when your regular workout routine becomes boring and monotonous. Usually the solution involves switching things up a bit: adding a new cardio element, taking your indoor workout outside, working with a personal trainer for a few sessions.

Or you may just need a recess. Not a break from working out, but a new fitness class that really shakes up your routine regimen.

Recess, offered through fitness studio Movement Dallas, is as retro as it sounds. An instructor leads you through various playground games from your childhood – you remember tag and red light/green light, right? The class isn't meant to simply take you down memory lane, though – it's actually a butt-kicking workout, disguised as kiddie high jinks.

Movement Studio founders Craig and Bonnie Keaton dreamed up the recess class. Craig, 30, leads the classes, while Bonnie, 29, helps out and serves as a fitness partner to the partner-less.

Recess has a youthful feel, and it's not just because you get to play tag. The participants are largely in their 20s and 30s. Despite being a tough workout, the mood stays buoyant and humorous, and classmates keep their sense of fun throughout, which even makes pairing up with a stranger easy.

Farah Fleurima An occasional look at unique ways to work out

Setup: Meet at Movement Dallas' studio and walk with the rest of the group across the North Central Expressway overpass to Glencoe Park. There, a cordoned-off area serves as the "playground."

Learning curve: Not steep at all for anyone who's ever participated in recess or playground games.

Action! The walk to the park gets your muscles warmed up a little, but if you opt to meet the workout bunch at Glencoe, recess leader Craig will lead you through a full muscle-loosening warm-up. After that, it's game on, as you pair up with a partner and play everything from tag to relay races. During a dodgeball-esque game of tag, those who were bopped with the ball had to leave the game and either run backward, skip or jog the perimeter of the area. That backward run is a thigh killer – after my Saturday session, my legs were screaming through the following Friday.

The sweat factor: Intense (but bear in mind I'm fairly out of shape). After a couple of activities that involved bear-crawling forward and backward, and catching a tennis ball – which is not as easy as it sounds – I staggered to the sidelines to, ahem, "take some notes."

But is it fun? So much so that you forget you're burning calories and getting a fabulous cardio workout.

What to wear, bring: Water, and plenty of it. Other than that, arrive in sneakers and comfy

gym clothes or sweats. Ladies, do not forget a sports bra.

Movement Dallas' recess classes are Tuesdays at 6 p.m. and Saturdays at 8 a.m. Meet at the studio 10 minutes early or drive directly to Glencoe Park. 5210 McKinney Ave., Suite 250. $15 to drop in; 10- and 20-session packages available. 214-521-9200. themovementdallas.com.

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