NEW ORLEANS -- While most are only just arriving at work and parking their cars inside Naval Support Activity New Orleans’ garage, a small group of service members are already sweating it out in the chain link cage beneath its access ramp.
Born as a predeployment conditioning program for the Marines of the 4th Marine Division in the summer of 2009, “Cross Fit Red Diamond,” as the Spartan facility has come to be called, has evolved into a permanent physical training program that attracts a steady following of fitness aficionados from across Marine Forces Reserve Headquarters as well as a number of base security and civilian workers.
CrossFit workouts usually consist of short, high intensity routines— a marked departure from traditionally longer Marine Corps workouts that usually focus on the pull-ups, crunches and distance runs that form the metric of the Corps’ physical fitness test. Red Diamond is MarForRes’s answer to similar CrossFit programs operating across the Corps such as CrossFit Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, Calif., and CrossFit Cherry Point in Havelock, N.C.
Col. Todd Ryder, 4th Marine Division G-3 assistant chief of staff, started the program shortly after he arrived at MarForRes from his previous command at the School of Infantry West aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif. It was there that—largely against his will— he was trained as a Level 1 CrossFit coach. His Marines started doing CrossFit instead of regular PT and it didn’t take long before he became a believer. Fitness test scores skyrocketed while injuries plummeted.
By the time he arrived here in 2009, a small gym’s worth of CrossFit equipment supplied by SemperFit had been gathering dust for over six months because of a lack of trainers and interest. Confident in the change he saw in his Marines back west, Ryder got to work organizing a CrossFit group for his Marines.
“In October it was just us, but by November there was interest across the board,” he said. Marines saw the group of CrossFitters performing unorthodox exercises as they drove into work and naturally became curious, Ryder surmised.
The hard-core group of regulars who only miss the daily CrossFit routines, because of temporary out of town duty or leave, number less than a dozen, but Ryder estimates that up to 100 Marines and sailors have at least tried the workouts and come back for more. MarForRes’s comptroller section now runs an afternoon session modeled after the original.
“Almost everybody improves dramatically,” Ryder said. “If you were to stick with it for a full six months you’d be blown away from how much it would help.”
In February, Ryder submitted the group for official affiliation with CrossFit Inc. as Cross Fit Red Diamond, gaining access to a wealth of fitness literature for free. Last month, Sgt. Tony Jarusook, 4th Marine Division G-3 operations noncommissioned officer and devout CrossFitter, set up the group’s Web site. He updates the page with photos and videos from CrossFit sessions as well as upcoming “WODS,” or workouts of the day, so the program can continue uninterrupted while he or Ryder are on leave or otherwise unable to attend sessions.
“CrossFit is something new. It builds on your strengths and your weaknesses and it’s fun,” said Jarusook. “It’s an efficient way of working out and a smarter way of working out.”
A typical workout starts with a warm-up: three rounds of stretching, push-ups, air-squats, pull-ups, back extensions and dips.
“For some people starting out the warm-up is a workout,” said Ryder, “But eventually you just start knocking it out.”
Next up is the WOD —power lifting, box jumps, kettle bells lifts, sprints and all the combinations in between. Most take between 15 and 30 minutes to complete and add a competitive spirit to the workouts when CrossFitters attempt to finish before one another.
The current iteration, “CrossFit 300,” focuses more on the PFT and features extra five and 10 kilometer runs. Other sessions can focus on weight control or injury recovery.
“CrossFit can absolutely be tailored,” Ryder said, explaining that all of the exercises in a WOD are “scalable” in some way. For instance, resistance bands can help those who have trouble completing their pull-ups and powerlifters can vary their plate load.
Organizers hope to attract more to their cage, but understand why some might be wary.
“It can look really unattainable, really intimidating,” said Ryder. Still, he maintains CrossFit is the perfect program for anyone who’s trying to improve or get back into shape.
Staff Sgt. Leon Wilson, training staff noncommissioned officer in charge at Division G-3, said he used to worry about pull-ups and crunches during his PFTs, but after adopting the CrossFit routine, performing the maximum 20 pull-ups and 100 crunches became a “gimme.”
“Now it’s nothing,” he said. “It’s not even really a challenge.”
For more information on Cross Fit Red Diamond or their workouts, visit http://crossfitreddiamond.blogspot.com. The CrossFitters meet beneath the East Bank parking garage access ramp every weekday except Thursday at 6:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Anyone is welcome to join.