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Caution: Intense workout ahead

With any fitness routine — and especially an intense one like CrossFit — you’ve gotta make sure you’re healthy enough to do it. Because even if you’re in tip-top shape, CrossFit is going to kick your ass.

And not always in a good way.

A former sailor filed a lawsuit in Virginia last year claiming that he suffered permanent disability from a CrossFit session. The sailor, Makimba Mimms, says he suffered from rhabdomyolysis — which occurs when tiny shreds of muscle fiber are absorbed by the bloodstream and ultimately poison the kidneys — as a result of performing a CrossFit workout under the direction of a trainer.

A jury found the three defendants — the gym, the CrossFit affiliate training company and the trainer — liable and awarded Mimms, a former information systems technician first class, $300,000 in October.

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Greg Glassman, who was not named in the lawsuit, could not be reached for comment. The CrossFit founder had warned of the possibility of “CrossFit-induced rhabdo” in a post to the program’s Web journal in October 2005.

“We now find ourselves obligated not just to explain CrossFit’s potency but to warn of its potential lethality,” Glassman wrote. “There are several causes and types of rhabdo, classified by the underlying cause of muscle breakdown. With CrossFit we are dealing with what is known as exertional rhabdomyolysis. It can disable, maim, and even kill.”

“Much has been made of the dangers of CrossFit,” says veteran CrossFit coach Greg Werner. “I’ve been doing and teaching this stuff for the better part of nine years and I almost never see any problems, but rhabdo almost always comes up in these discussions. It’s frustrating, because rhabdo can come up in any sport.”

Experts say rhabdo is often accompanied by dehydration, drugs or alcohol, and cholesterol-lowering medications. It’s not uncommon for strung-out meth addicts, for example, to get hit with rhabdo running from the police.

Werner recalls an Army Ranger who came to compete at a CrossFit competition a few years ago and was knocked flat with rhabdo.

“He was still drunk from partying the night before. He fell apart completely during the workout,” says Werner. An on-scene medic was able to revive him, says Werner, but “if you’re that stupid, you can get hurt doing just about anything.”

While critics contend CrossFit’s focus on intensity can lead to rhabdo and other problems, Werner says proper CrossFit training builds intensity slowly over time.

“You have to use some common sense as you ramp up. Don’t go from nothing to full intensity, that’s stupid.”

A former SEAL, Werner left the Navy after a back injury put him in perpetual pain. He credits CrossFit for his total recovery.

Instead of causing problems brought on by high-intensity workouts — whether in the gym or in combat — Werner says CrossFit actually can provide protection against blowouts

The feedback he’s getting from buds still in the special operations community is that CrossFit training is translating into faster recovery times after missions.

Gray Cook, a physical therapist who consults with a host of NFL teams on strength and conditioning, said CrossFit is not dangerous unless performed by people not physically prepared for its intensity.

Cook stressed that he did not want to disparage CrossFit, and that the program has inherent benefits, such as keeping people active and preventing boredom by mixing up workouts. His concern is that novice participants don’t know what they’re getting into.

“Football players practice a lot more than they play for a reason,” Cook said. “You are not supposed to test drive the system as much as you tune it up.”

If you are prone to sports-related injuries or are just starting a workout, check with a doctor or a personal trainer before beginning a CrossFit regimen.

“The biggest danger is starting too hard, too fast,” says Kurtis Bowler, a former paratrooper who now runs a CrossFit gym near Fort Lewis, Wash.

That means matching your intensity to your own fitness level, not to what others are doing, he says.

“We’ve got 63-year-old lady who’s working out alongside Green Berets,” says Bowler. “They do the exact same workout, she just does it with lower intensity.

“If you throw yourself at this 120 percent and you don’t have any experience, you’ll break yourself in some way — but it’s not because the exercises aren’t safe.”