Reporter looks to survive latest workout fad
14TH STREET ALLEY As I turn the corner, I can feel the pain in my stomach and the burning in my legs. I feel faint, as if I’m going to pass out right there in the alley near a couple of trash cans. I lean forward, gasping for air, trying not to vomit. Sweat drips from my forehead like a torrential downpour, pounding the pavement.
“I’m gonna die,” I say to myself. Both my mind and my body are telling me to give up, and that’s when I hear the voice of one of the fitness trainers, Becca Borawski holler, “Come on Kevin! You’re doing great!”
I can only muster a smile and a thumbs up. Her encouragement gives me a little boost, enough to where I can jog a few more feet before I stop with my hands on my thighs for support as I lean over taking one deep breath after another, hoping, praying that I don’t puke.
Normally, after 10 minutes of working out, I’ve barely broken a sweat and feel pretty good about myself. I’ll take a few minutes between sets to grab a drink of water, check out the score of the Lakers’ game and maybe towel-whip a buddy on the treadmill.
Not today. That’s because I’m not in the gym pumping iron by myself. I’m in Andy Petranek’s private studio (www.petranekfitness.com) in what used to be a piece of Santa Monica Cleaners getting pushed to my absolute limit as part of the latest craze in exercise, CrossFit, a mostly underground training method used by law enforcement and the military to build strength and endurance quickly through the use of gymnastics, weight lifting, cardio and body weight calisthenics, all in rapid succession and with high intensity.
CrossFit is definitely extreme. From the moment you walk into the gym to the moment you finish, you are constantly moving. The exercises are fairly simple and generic — push ups, lunges, sit ups — which is the beauty of CrossFit. Anyone can do it, that is if they’re motivated enough.
“Here, we intentionally walk on the edge of the cliff,” said Petranek, a former Marine and Red Bull-sponsored triathlete who founded the Santa Monica affiliate of CrossFit. “You can’t pick up the cell phone and talk to your friends. You can’t turn a little left or right or you might just fall off the cliff. Most people who train know the edge is there, but they really don’t come close to it. A lot of people don’t even know there’s a cliff. Here we get people to push themselves as hard as they can, with encouragement and guidance along the way.
“Without a group setting, most people just give up, they don’t want to see how far they can go,” Petranek added.
Like many fitness fanatics, Petranek was looking for a new way to exercise to spice up his routine and get better results. He stumbled across CrossFit while searching the Internet. After a few hours of research, he decided to try it and he couldn’t believe the effect it had on him.
“I got my ass handed to me,”Petranek said. That’s the reaction many people have when they first try it, but after a few weeks, their bodies adjust and they begin to see results. One client of Petranek’s said he lost 25 pounds in a matter of weeks, while another increased his dead lift by 150 pounds.
I should have known better that to sign up for the class when Petranek told me he had a tough time with it at first, but I was ordered by my editor to attend the 7 a.m. class Thursday morning, so I went. Right away I knew I was in trouble. They had me sign a waiver, just in case I died or something. Not a good sign.
Then came the warm-up, a 400-meter jog followed by a series of 30 sit-ups, 10 dips and 10 pull ups, all with no break in between. That was followed by a few stretches and then came the day’s workout plan.
With CrossFit, clients are given daily tasks to complete within a certain time frame, usually 45 minutes or so, but the goal is to finish as quickly as possible, with the stop watch keeping you motivated.
Petranek, a fun-spirited guy who seems to get a kick out of getting others fit, broke the bad news. We were to do seven kettlebell swings, seven squat thrusts with 20-pound weights, and then seven pull ups, all followed by a 200 meter run. After that, five kettlebell swings, five squat thrusts and five pull-ups, followed by another 200 meter run. The third round featured even less reps, only three of each this time, followed by a 400-meter run — all without taking a breather.
After getting the form down, it seemed like smooth sailing. I was wrong. My body was telling me to stop, as was that voice in my head, but Petranek and his crew kept encouraging me. I’ll admit, my pride also had something to do with it.
But even with all that, I still couldn’t keep up the pace. I had to stop and take five at least twice, and Petranek, sensing I was seriously out of shape, cut down my reps.
It was painful, but in the end, I felt great, like I had climbed Mt. Everest without an oxygen tank. I couldn’t believe that I came that close to performing all the tasks at hand, and I didn’t throw up.
Part of me believes I could have finished if it wasn’t so early in the morning and I hadn’t been out late the night before drinking Heinekens and smoking cigarettes (not within 20 feet of a public entrance of course), but who am I kidding. Everyone who was there that morning practically fell to the floor once they completed their cycles, including Borawski.
That’s expected though, Petranek said. Even the most experienced are taxed. It’s all about increasing reps as you get farther along in the program to keep testing one’s limits.
A couple of days later and I’m still feeling it, more so than the day before. It seems every muscle is soar, and that’s good. While critics complain that the workouts are too short and offer too much variety, never giving the body a chance to get familiar with the exercises, I think the intensity and the diverse selection of movements keeps it fresh and works every single area of the body. If I wasn’t so soar, I’d contemplate doing it again this weekend. Then again, I don’t think my thighs would approve.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 9, 2007. Read the original PDF.