I'm hyperventilating. Twelve minutes into what I thought was a simple, 20-minute workout of pull-ups, kettle bell swings and short-distance runs, I'm bent over with my hands on my knees, mouth wide open, head spinning, shoulders numb and torso heaving with giant belly breaths. I'm spent, I feel nauseated.
"Hurry up!" urges my trainer. "You're on the verge of being beaten by a 38-year-old housewife who is four months pregnant!" As a lifelong gym rat, endurance cyclist and runner, I thought I was fit -- until my first day of CrossFit, a free, fast-growing, largely underground workout plan that some say is rewriting the rules of fitness.
The conventional wisdom is that you can't accomplish aerobic and strength training at the same time, and that you certainly can't develop world-class fitness on 20 or 30 minutes a day. CrossFit says you can -- if you push hard enough.
CrossFit is extreme, intense cross-training that can be done with basic gym equipment -- in a group or alone -- both for general fitness and as a base for specific sports. It's been used for several years in law enforcement, firefighting and military circles; adherents have included members of the Miami FBI SWAT team, the Colorado State Patrol, the Jacksonville, Fla., Sheriff's Department, the Des Moines, Iowa, Police Department, the Honolulu Fire Department, the Orange County Fire Authority Academy and the Canadian Army. Now the program is exploding into the mainstream.
Eighty-four official trainers (double that of a year ago) teach CrossFit in major cities around the country. People who need to learn proper form -- or who simply need to be pushed -- can find a list of trainers on the website, www.crossfit.com. The guy who put me through my paces, Santa Monica CrossFit affiliate Andy Petranek charges $25 for the initial session and $15 for repeat visits.
People who already know how to do the moves with proper form -- and who have no trouble with self-motivation -- can go straight to the workouts, posted free online every day.
The regimens are short and brutal, replacing ordinary weight lifting and steady-state aerobic training with mixed-up, amped-up, double-espresso workouts that leave you reeling -- and quickly begin melting fat, building muscle, increasing flexibility and giving you measurable increases in both aerobic capacity and strength.
