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CrossFit: The Fast, Furious Workout Craze
Can CrossFit whip you into shape in just 15 minutes a session—safely?
By Sally Wadyka for MSN Health & Fitness
Fitness for All // CrossFit (C) Ben Kerns

If your gym suddenly looks like a cross between a gymnastics studio and a Marine Corps boot camp, chances are it's offering CrossFit classes. This fitness craze that's swept the nation in recent years was developed by a former gymnast in Santa Cruz, California, named Greg Glassman. The grassroots movement started with Glassman's rudimentary Web site on which he posted a daily workout routine (officially known as the "workout of the day" or simply the "WOD"). A dedicated following of police officers, firefighters and military types soon discovered the workouts, and from there, the wave just kept growing. Now, CrossFitters (as devotees are called) number in the thousands, and gyms across the country are offering this intense workout program.

"The workouts include elements of Olympic weightlifting, gymnastics, and track and field done in combinations that increase core strength and conditioning," explains Jake Platt, owner of Northwest CrossFit in Seattle. There are about 50 basic exercises that are mixed and matched to create the "WOD," and every day is different. "Routine is the enemy," says Platt, an N.A.S.M. Certified Personal Trainer. "We want to keep your body guessing and make sure that no adaption is happening that will lead you to plateau and stop seeing progress."

That variety is one of the biggest selling points of the program. "I had been going to the gym for about six months, and I was just bored with it," says Roger Parks, a software engineer in Seattle who discovered CrossFit four months ago. He has now traded his hour of treadmill time for a high-intensity CrossFit session four to five days a week. "Now I crank through my workout in 20 minutes and then I'm done for the day," says Parks. He also supplements his workouts with biking and running, and has seen his flag football and soccer playing improve thanks to the strength and stamina he's gained doing CrossFit.

Efficiency, intensity—and safety concerns

CrossFit workouts are modeled on full-body functional movements—like lifting, pulling, twisting, running, crawling and pushing. And because every move is designed to incorporate the entire body, a full workout can be accomplished in an efficient 15- to 20-minute session. The other trademark of the sessions is their intensity. "We're looking to get people to move as quickly as they possibly can through the entire workout," says Platt.

Critics of the workouts (and even some CrossFitters themselves) worry about the high intensity of the moves. "You're doing things fast with a bunch a weight, and I can see how that could be dangerous if it's done wrong," admits Parks. To avoid any potential risk, Parks started slowly. At the CrossFit gym he attends, the "WOD" comes in two versions—the prescribed routine and a modified version of it. Trainer Jake Platt agrees that there could be potential for injury if the moves aren't done perfectly. "Safety is our number-one concern, so in the beginning we work on very basic exercises and make sure people are learning perfect form and movement," he says. That's especially important considering the weights that are used in the exercises (for example, a 20-pound "wall ball" for men and a 12-pound one for women, or a 75-pound Olympic bar for men and 50-pound one for women).

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