He admitted, however, that a minority did not enjoy CrossFit's intensity or find its competitive aspects motivating. That was no surprise to Glassman, who says that 80% of the people who sign up for classes at his gym don't stick with it.
"It's too hard for them; many don't get turned on by competing -- with others or themselves," he says. "And some people just don't like working out so hard that they might puke" -- an involuntary reaction to the lactic acid that floods into the bloodstream with anaerobic workouts.
The irreverent Glassman celebrates the discomfort his workout can engender by selling a popular T-shirt featuring CrossFit's cartoon mascot, Pukie, a deranged clown spewing a stream of green bile.
On my first day, after I finished Helen (three rounds of 21 kettle bell swings, 12 pull-ups, and a quarter-mile run), I was so exhausted that I had to lie down in my car for half an hour. And that was with a time of 17 minutes, 35 seconds -- a minute behind the pregnant woman and more than double the Helen world record of 7:35, set by a Santa Cruz police officer.
Fortunately, your body gets somewhat used to and even energized by this stress, which Glassman says is "natural because it's the way we all played as kids."
Over the next two months of doing CrossFit three days a week, I cut three minutes off my Helen, saw gains in nearly all strength categories, and could ride a bike uphill noticeably faster than ever before.
And although I haven't soiled my tank top yet, I wear my Pukie shirt with pride. After you make it through a couple CrossFit workouts -- tossing your cookies or not -- you feel like you've earned it.
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Andy Petranek can be reached at www.petranekfitness.com. For other trainers, go to www.crossfit.com.
