Hilary Achauer travels to the home of CrossFit Kids to learn more about the future of fitness.
Jeff Martin needed a solution, and like most people looking for answers, he turned to the Internet.
It was 2003, and Jeff—a Krav Maga brown belt and fifth-degree black belt—was running a boxing, kickboxing and martial-arts gym. Two guys who had just started training with Jeff approached him and said they really wanted him to set up a kickboxing match for them. The problem was they didn’t have much ring experience. Jeff knew that improving their technique would take months—maybe even years—of practice. The only way they might have a shot at doing well was if they could figure out a way to quickly improve their fitness.
At the same time, Jeff was reaching his mid-40s and finding it harder and harder to maintain his fitness level.
So he sat down in front of the computer and started researching. Eventually he stumbled across CrossFit.com. The short and brutal CrossFit workouts seemed strange to Jeff, but he thought he’d give it a try.
To experience what he’d be asking his fighters to do, Jeff tested one of the workouts first. He figured it wouldn’t be too difficult because he was an experienced martial artist and gym owner.
He was wrong.