Crossfit Craze

Twenty-five sit-ups. Twenty-five burpees. Twenty-five single arm kettebell overhead lunges. All done in rapid succession, pausing on the minute to do five "wall balls" which involves a front squat and a medicine ball.

And that's just the pre-workout designed to stimulate your nervous system. Or, the "buy in" as Level One Certified CrossFit Coach Robert "Robo" Mantovani calls it.

CrossFit, or cross-training, is a style of fitness that combines cardio, weight lifting and core training to promote general fitness in contrast to specialized training. The workouts are short, intense and varied. One day it might be pull-ups and back extensions; the next it might be deadlifts.

"I used to do a lot of triathlons," says Mantovani. "People get stuck in thinking that more is better. They run 5 miles, then they want to run 8, then it's 10. There is such a thing as over training. There is a point of diminishing return."

Long distance running can help support the aerobic system which helps burn calories, fight depression and lower your risk of heart disease. However, aerobic exercises (also known as cardio) like long-distance running, cycling or swimming trains only your aerobic system.

"There are different systems in your body that operate every day. For example, you've got your aerobic system, but you also got your anaerobic system," says Mantovani. "In cross-training you got some shorter workouts, some longer.

Heavy weights, lighter weights and body weight movements. It's mixed, so invariably you're training different systems."

Anaerobic exercise like weight-lifting or jump roping helps in strengthening bones, building endurance and boosting metabolism. "Once your different systems are trained, your body becomes more efficient," he explains. "I can recover from sickness more efficiently.

I can digest sugars more efficiently." This is a particularly important change for Mantovani since he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes 20 years ago.

It is no secret that regular exercise can help manage diabetes. However, new studies from the Harvard School of Public Health show that cross-training programs can substantially reduce the risk of diabetes, particularly for women. The study found that for every 60 minutes of CrossFit-style activity per week, women reduced their risk of diabetes by 14 percent. When women got more than 150 minutes per week, they reduced their risk by 40 percent.

So don't head to the showers just yet. Now that the nervous system is warmed up with the pre-workout, it's time for the "WOD" or workout of the day. Eighty pull-up knee raises followed by 80 back extensions.

Welcome to cross-training.

FITNESS CHAMPIONS

The worldwide CrossFit games kicked off in late February with a five-week open competition, followed by the Regional competition.

This year will mark Mantovani's third year competing in the Central East division. Last year he ranked 90th in the region and 2,000th in the world, which may not sound impressive until you learn that 140,000 people competed in the games last year. "It's a great litmus test if you really want to see where your fitness stands up," says Mantovani.

But perhaps the Central East region is not the best to which to compare yourself. This region, which includes the Tennessee Valley, is considered the most competitive in the nation. "We have five of the top 10 people in the country in our region," says Mantovani. Including grand champion-"the Fittest Man on Earth"-Rich Froning from Cookeville, Tenn.