More troops than ever are flipping tractor tires, lobbing 50-pound kettle bells and conquering the Three Bars of Death in an effort to become "tougher, faster, hard-bodied freedom fighter[s]." But some of them are also working out until they puke, faint or suffer permanent organ damage. Now, a team of medical researchers have a message for recruits: You're probably not fit enough for CrossFit.

Ditto for P90X and Insanity. Together, the brutally intense fitness regimes are "the big three" being studied and evaluated in a review of high-intensity fitness programs by the Consortium for Health and Military Performance, or CHAMP, at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

All three are characterized by rigorous, explosive movements and an emphasis on rippling muscles and quick results (see here, here or here). And all three have garnered dedicated followings in military circles: CrossFit is already taught by several Army Captains and has become a mainstay in the Marine Corps. The program even names workout moves to honor deceased troops, like a grueling forward-and-backward sprint combo dubbed "Griff" for Air Force Staff Sgt. Travis L. Griffin.

"Our number one concern is growing anecdotal evidence of injuries," CHAMP medical director Col. Francis O'Connor tells Danger Room. "Military leaders are interested in knowing how to handle these programs, and want more information, and we just don't have adequate solid data."

Indeed, CrossFit in particular has become linked to serious injury, including a 2008 lawsuit by former Navy sailor Makimba Mimms, who alleged that the program led to permanent disability from rhabdomyolysis, the breakdown of muscle fibers that can cause kidney failure.

Pain and suffering, though, have become something of a calling card among dedicated CrossFitters. "It can kill you," program founder Greg Glassman told the New York Times in 2005. "I've always been completely honest about that." The program's own mascots include "Pukey" the clown and "Dr. Rhabdo," whose kidneys are spilling out of his abdomen (T-shirts $32.00, S-XXXL).

Online, though, mobs of troops and veterans are quick to endorse the practical war-zone benefits of CrossFit and these other intense workout regimes. P90X's "focus on push-ups, pull-ups and dumbbell training translated into the strength I needed to pull myself over walls and other obstacles downrange," Army Lt. Col. Paul Cravey tells Air Force Times.

Already, CHAMP researchers have spent two days meeting with military leaders, fitness experts and members of the American College of Sports Medicine, to establish a research agenda. O'Connor anticipates published results and recommendations within 2-3 years, and expects subsequent studies on key issues.

And while the high-intensity fitness craze is relatively new, it coincides with another trend that makes the CHAMP review even more relevant: the lagging fitness levels of new recruits as a whole. Thirty-five percent of American youth are unfit to serve because of health problems. Compared to the Army's new training regime, which wants troops to embrace yoga and calisthenics, start slow to avoid injury and sweat their way to basic fitness levels, CrossFit's standards seem all the more extreme.

"Certainly, we are addressing a perceived lack of fitness among recruits," O'Connor says. "People are doing too much, too soon, too fast. Participants [in high-intensity programs] need baseline strength and flexibility, and they simply aren't prepared."

And while O'Connor's team is interested in evaluating the physiological pros and cons of the programs, they're also trying to figure out why troops are so gung-ho about the grueling, exhausting, physical fitness puke-fests. O'Connor, for one, has his own theory.

"What attracts people to these programs?" he asks. "Frankly, I suspect that in some cases it's because the commercials really do make them look sexy."

Photo: U.S Army

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