Los Angeles - September 15, 2004

Spy Hard

Spy School

How do you feel after a workout? Shaken? Stirred?

More like neither. These days your monotonous gym grind makes you want to jump off a cliff.

So jump you shall. And rappel, fight, and fire a gun.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Spy School, an exercise regimen-cum-adventure camp that teaches you everything a good operative should know, while giving you a Bond-worthy body and a butt-kicking ‘tude.

The two-month program begins at Absolution, a loft-style spy playground without a single weight or piece of cardio equipment. (Feel free to cheer.) There, instructors turn timid rookies into daring assassins with the espionage essentials: Learn to take out an assailant, scale a building, rappel off a 30-foot cliff, sharpshoot, seduce even the toughest rival, and, of course, change your identity with wigs and makeup.

If anyone should recognize you, just tell them you’re on assignment. (And then gloat while they wonder why you look so good.)

Mission accomplished.

Spy School at Absolution, 8535 Santa Monica Boulevard, at La Cienega Boulevard (310-657-7878 or absolution-la.com).