CrossFit training offers both ... Pain and Gain

By Melanie Tucker
of The Daily Times Staff

If exercise was truly fun, we’d all be doing it and there wouldn’t be a 65 percent obesity rate in this country.

Or as Steve Bright puts it, “If this was easy, we would have people lined up and down the sidewalk coming up to the front desk and saying, ‘May I buy an advance ticket?’”

Bright is a certified CrossFit trainer along with Caleb Gregory, at Cherokee Health and Fitness in Maryville. The fitness center just recently started offering this off-the-mainstream-path exercise program that incorporates components of gymnastics, weight lifting and cardio workouts. It started out in California, created by Greg Glassman, a former gymnast. It grew from Glassman’s garage in Santa Cruz, Calif. to over 350 gyms worldwide and a popular interactive Web site.

On Thursday at 8 a.m., I decided (was strongly persuaded is more like it) that it was my turn to discover CrossFit. Bright and Gregory met me at the door on this cold, rainy day and led me to the carpeted area where the kettlebells were lined up and waiting. Kettlebells are weights that range in size from 17 pounds up to 70. I was given one of the smaller ones, and with it, did a series of squats and lifts. The jacket came off after only a few and I was searching for a towel.

When I had mastered the kettlebells (that might be an overstatement), I moved on to pull-ups and then a 400-meter run on the treadmill, followed by more pull-ups. I got introduced to dead weights and push-ups and met up again with an old friend, sit-ups.

“Do you want to go another round?” Bright asked.

I said sure, but my legs screamed no. I had probably run through this routine in 20 minutes and I was done.

“It will hurt tomorrow and even worse the next day,” Bright told me. He didn’t lie.

The method behind the madness

CrossFit workouts are designed to make you work hard and fast and at different exercises. Bright said it’s like you have a huge hopper with “all of the exercises in it under the sun.” You crank the hopper and three exercises come out. That is your CrossFit routine of the day. The challenge is to complete it, of course, but over time improve on the minutes it takes you.

Cherokee Health and Fitness became a CrossFit affiliate back in October. Bright said he wanted a way to set his gym apart from the rest.

Gregory discovered this program while living in Nashville. He comes from a wrestling background and participates in mixed martial arts and climbing. Bright bikes 50 miles or more on a given day. Both said CrossFit has made them better athletes. It can be a humbling experience at the start.

“During my first workout I got through one round,” Gregory said. “I had to swallow my pride and self evaluate.”

The non-traditional workout has been embraced by police departments and now the U.S. military. In 2007, the Marine Corps incorporated CrossFit into its fitness training program.

There are men in their 80s and women in their 70s doing this program, the two trainers said. When a newcomer to the program arrives, fitness levels are assessed before any workouts begin.

Bright, who said he suffers a little from Attention Deficit Disorder, prefers this to other programs because of the random selection of exercises. One day it may be pull-ups, jump rope and running or weight lifting, kettlebells and push-ups. Then it’s on to medicine balls, squats and climbing.

Women like CrossFit because they really see the results, Bright and Gregory said. And athletes who no longer compete in their sports do this because it gives them an outlet for their skills. There are even CrossFit Games, like a mini Olympics, for the true competitors.

CrossFit has been compared to a cult because of the way it has gained momentum throughout the world. There is a Web site that offers the workout of the day along with a place for participants to keep track of each other’s progress.

CrossFit classes are held at 6:05 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. at Cherokee. Bright said they will probably add more classes as word gets out about the successes. At Cherokee, there are CrossFit members who have lost in excess of 40 pounds.

After my early morning workout Thursday, I was moving a lot slower on Friday but chose to work out anyway. Bright said it is important to work through the soreness and not skips workout days. Ideally, you should do the workout at least three days with one off.

Because of the way it’s designed, CrossFit is for anybody, but because of the intensity, it’s not for everybody, Bright and Gregory said. It is definitely for those who have become bored with the same routine.

“That kind of routine is like being a mouse in a cage,” Bright said. “With this, your body doesn’t get used to it because it is constantly changing. The downside is you are more sore.”

True, true, true.