Monthly exercise program attracts strength trainers

Early Saturday morning, frozen water bombs pelted a group that was preparing for an intense workout under the Mopac Boulevard bridge.

The exercise-savvy individuals braved the chilly weather to do handstand push-ups, run short bursts in lines with a cross-legged technique and perform other drills that entailed constant motion.

Jeremy Thiel and Carey Kepler have started a movement that offers workouts centered around an exercise method called CrossFit. Former gymnast Greg Glassman started the organization in the 1970s. For years the program existed only in a single gym in Glassman's garage in Santa Cruz, Calif.

Thiel and Kepler shouted instructions at people who showed up for the free workout offered once a month. They also run a gym on Burnet Road that is open to the public.

Lauren Lax, a UT broadcast journalism and kinesiology junior, showed up early to partake in the Saturday workout. Lax said she is looking for a mode of strength training that allows for competition.

"CrossFit Central is the sport of fitness," she said. "You compete against yourself; you have to be self-driven."

Lax said she comes to the CrossFit meetings because there are no programs at UT that offer the same kind of training. She said she could join power lifting but that that type of training does not suit her.

Kepler and Thiel said they aim to bring CrossFit into the mainstream circuit of competitive sports. They promote it as "the sport of

fitness."

Kepler, who was a track and field athlete in college and is the founder of the CrossFit chapter in Austin, describes the movement as "men killing themselves for points."

"You compete against yourself, trying to push yourself to beat your time from previous

workouts," she said. "These workouts are then compared to those around you, creating the competitive edge which creates the sport aspect of CrossFit."

Kepler said she believes that UT would be a perfect arena for this type of sport.

"I want CrossFit to get into UT and create its own kind of competitive intramural sport type of thing," she said. "I hope CrossFit will touch a little bit of everyone in Austin."

For now the CrossFit movement is small, but many people across the nation are taking up this new form of exercise.

"There are almost 400 participants in the United States, and the numbers are growing," she said.

For more information about CrossFit, visit http://crossfitcentral.com.

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