It was 17 degrees one winter morning in 2008, but 20 people still showed up at Atholton Park to push themselves through a workout called "The Bear."

If an exercise named "The Bear" sounds arduous, that's because it is.

The participants that frigid morning were asked to hoist a heavy weight onto their shoulders and do two squats and two push-presses, during which they heaved the weight overhead. Then, they repeated that 35 more times, as fast as possible.

They probably looked crazy to anyone passing by in a warm car. But crazy or not, CrossFit was taking hold in Howard County.

Fast forward to 2010, the first official CrossFit gym -- with actual walls around it -- is open in Columbia.

CrossFit Diesel, owned by husband and wife team Evan and Mandi Davidson, is run out of a warehouse on Gerwig Lane, in east Columbia. In its second year of operation, the gym now has more than 50 members.

"Anyone out there who wants a spa environment, this is not the gym for you," Evan Davidson said. "Intensity is not comfortable."

Billed as a principal strength and conditioning program bringing "elite fitness" to the masses, CrossFit combines Olympic weightlifting, bodyweight exercises, gymnastics, running, rowing, biking and swimming.

The idea is to prepare a person, generally, not specifically, for any fitness situation. That is, the marathon runner is great at long-distance running and the powerlifter is great at heavy squats, but the CrossFitter can do it all.

But CrossFit is perhaps just as easily defined by what it's not.

In the Davidsons' warehouse, there's no air conditioning -- just a fan -- and no expensive machines or trendy cardio equipment. Throw out the bodybuilder's idea of three sets of 10 repetitions on a machine or jogging for a half-hour. Forget the Nordictrack, "8-minute Abs" and "Buns of Steel."

"It's very hard to track your improvement on an elliptical," Mandi Davidson said.

Started in California

Founded in California by gymnastics coach Greg Glassman in the early 1990s, CrossFit began gaining popularity in 2001, when Glassman launched CrossFit.com and began offering a recommended workout of the day to anyone who wanted to do it.

Soon, the concept took off, with hundreds, and now thousands, of affiliates sprouting up all over the world, particularly on military bases, where soldiers craved the intense workouts. The system also caught on with police, firefighters and martial arts fans. CrossFit developed a large community following -- which detractors sometimes deride as the "CrossFit Cult."

Each day, on CrossFit's site, users are told how to lift weights, run and eat but also what short stories, poems and articles to read and to what classical music to listen.

One day last month, for instance, CrossFitters were encouraged to listen to a Franz Schubert opus, read William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" and discuss a Harvard Baccalaureate speech.

Since the workouts change drastically from day to day, and are a surprise each morning, they prevent boredom, CrossFitters say. One day's workout might be a 10-kilometer run, the next a powerlifting session, followed by a session of walking on one's hands, upside down.

Workouts are often named after fallen members of the U.S. military or given female names.

At CrossFit Diesel, Evan Davidson said he has fun coming up with different challenges for his athletes.

Not long ago, he put his CrossFitters through a workout called a "5-ton, 5-K," in which competitors were expected to lift five tons of weight and run five kilometers.

The results have been paying off, he said.

At his gym, there's an ultra distance runner who competes in 50-kilometer races and a slew of powerlifters. Last year, alone, the gym set 13 state records in different powerlifting competitions, Evan Davidson said.

CrossFit has also turned the pursuit of fitness into its own sport.

Since 2007, the CrossFit Games in California have drawn top competitors from across the world, including medalists from Finland and Iceland, and crown the "Fittest Man" and "Fittest Woman" in the world.

One athlete there could do 106 consecutive pull-ups. He finished third.

Workouts too intense?

But the intensity of the workouts also has been a cause for concern among some gym users.

In 2008, a Prince William (Va.) County jury awarded a 29-year-old man $300,000 after he sued a Manassas gym, claiming a CrossFit-style workout he performed there left him badly injured. Makimba Mimms, a former wrestler for the U.S. Navy, said he suffered from rhabdomyolysis, a potentially life-threatening syndrome resulting from the breakdown of muscle fibers, after completing the workout and had to undergo surgery.

Other CrossFitters sometimes complain of tendonitis, exhaustion and other ailments, and some criticize the certification process for coaches as too lax.

Personal trainer Rob Graveline, who runs a Fitness Together franchise in Tysons, Va., likened some CrossFit training to "putting a machine gun in the hands of someone who has never pulled a trigger."

"I think it's great in many ways and dangerous in many ways as well," he said. "In the right hands and the right professional, you can do some great things. In the wrong hands, a client could be pushed beyond their limitations."

Though Graveline said he prefers for clients to get more personalized instruction than CrossFit sometimes offers, he's gained a lot of respect for the business practices of CrossFit.

"They took exercise and made it fun again," he said. "They've created a culture, particularly through the Internet, to start this craze. That is awesome. I look at that and say, 'You guys are geniuses.' "

Good coaching is key

The Davidsons acknowledge that CrossFit is hard -- that's the point after all -- but stress the importance of the safe, good coaching offered at their affiliate, as a better alternative to exercising at home with only the Internet as a coach.

They say the workouts are "infinitely scalable," and can be done by anyone, from a fit U.S. Marine to a nursing home resident. Participants just need to take it slow at first and build up to the more strenuous exercises.

"CrossFit wrecks your body," Mandi Davidson said, before advocating a regiment of stretching and massage. "You've got to take care of yourself."

A personal trainer at a gym in Washington, Evan Davidson said he was searching the Internet for someone who could do one-armed pull-ups when he stumbled upon CrossFit.com, where he found someone who could do eight consecutively.

From there, he was hooked. He watched videos on running technique, powerlifting, and eating the so-called "Caveman" diet, in which people endeavor to mainly eat lean meats and vegetables as the cavemen did before the invention of bread.

So impressed was he with the programming, Davidson began implementing a CrossFit style of training at the gym where he worked in Washington. His clients immediately began to see results, he said.

"You can imagine there were some hard feelings from some of the other trainers when my clients were getting amazing results and their clients wanted to come to me. Our efforts were being copied or duplicated by other trainers," he said.

A competitive dancer, Mandi Davidson taught Pilates, when her husband got her involved in CrossFit. She said she immediately saw improvements in her fitness levels.

"I could not do one pull-up," Mandi Davidson said. "Now I can do 15. Girls, we want to be able to do pull-ups. It's exciting. It's empowering."

The intensity of the workouts is what many CrossFitters love to boast about, creating cartoon mascots called "Pukey," a clown seen throwing up from exertion, and "Uncle Rhabdo," another clown with his intestines hanging out.

Since the CrossFit movements are "functional," meaning they are meant to be applicable to real life situations, Evan Davidson said people shouldn't worry too much about what negative things could happen to them if they work out. They should worry about what happens if they don't work out.

"How are you going to carry in your groceries?" he said. "How are you going to get out of your chair?"

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user comments (4)

user milton says...

All I have been hearing about on the interwebs for the past couple of years is how great CrossFit is. Glad it's finally someplace local.

Posted 10:21 PM, 07.28.10 | Permalink

user jg1000 says...

Thanks, Luke, for this article. As an experienced CrossFitter myself, I can attest to it's amazing, positive results. A good CrossFit coach is a coach experienced in watching and training technique of proper, safe body movement. Evan and Mandi are great coaches who just keep getting better at their craft. I love this stuff!

Posted 12:24 PM, 07.29.10 | Permalink

user crossfitsalinasvly says...

Anyone out there who wants a spa environment, this is not the gym for you," Evan Davidson said. "Intensity is not comfortable I love what you've said here! Our trainers at Crossfit Salinas Valley tell us to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. 3-2-1 GO!

Posted 12:37 PM, 07.29.10 | Permalink

user milestone says...

CrossFit is not going to the local gym with your iPod and working out by yourself. Search You Tube for ‘What is CrossFit? Promo Video’ to find out what it’s all about. There are plenty of personal trainers and bootcamp instructors with no certification, or by some obscure fitness organization. CrossFit is intense, but it’s scalable. 1,000’s of success stories, most of them are life-changing!

Posted 1:59 PM, 07.30.10 | Permalink