Find a CrossFit gym in NYC and learn about the benefits of CrossFit

The pain: CrossFit may have a fearsome reputation, but thankfully the unitiated get to take baby steps (literally—we walked while squatting). That’s not to say the beginner class I took was easy: I was feeling the burn, then heard “and that’s the end of the warm-up.” We practiced the constituent elements of the ring dip, maintaining balance on the rings for five seconds (hard) then doing two sets of ten floor dips (also hard). And then came the mini workout: eight minutes of alternating between burpees (from standing: squat, kick your legs back, push-up, legs in, jump in the air, repeat, lose the will to live) and rowing. After ten burpees, the strength in my shoulders decided it didn’t have to take this and left—to compensate, I improvised an ugly-looking rolling maneuver to get up. I did that 32 more times. Still, the camaraderie was cool: Reaching for the water I had left on top of the lockers was agony, but I lifted my arm to high-five my partner.

The gain: “Whatever kind of muscle [you] want to see an improvement in, CrossFit will get you those results faster than any other training style, because it combines both cardiovascular and weight-training elements. It’s fast, fun and effective. [The competitive element] does help to motivate people. You see your buddies [and go], ‘Hey, I’m going to get a better score than you.’ To get that one last point you’ll push yourself to levels you never thought possible. None of these workouts are fun while you’re doing them. They all suck. And everyone is experiencing the same level of suck. You see each other succeed, fail, grow and, inevitably, you become a family. You find CrossFit all you ever talk about anymore. Most of my closest friends are CrossFitters and that's because CrossFit is where I spend most of my time. It is kind of like a cult [Laughs].”—Jessica Pamanian, trainer at CrossFit Queens