MICHAEL DANSER/ The Daily Campus Participants in a daily Crossfit group session exercise on row machines Tuesday afternoon inside the CrossFit Dallas Central location at 5631 Dyer St. across from the SMU campus. (MICHAEL DANSER/The Daily Campus)

Though CrossFit gyms have been around for the past few years, a recent spike in their popularity has caused the gyms to appear across the United States, with 11 Dallas locations for students to get the ultimate workout.

These 11 spots include a new location in McKinney, which opened its doors Jan. 22.

“They’re popping up like Starbucks,” Chase Ingraham, CrossFit instructor and endurance coach at the Dallas Central location said.

Though the Dallas Central location, just a short trip from the SMU campus, has been open since April of 2008, Ingraham has noticed a recent increase in the amount of clients who are showing up to classes.

However, a CrossFit workout is not your ordinary workout class.

“It’s a break from the norm. People are tired of the regular gym routines and want something to shake it up, and it works…people are getting results, which I think is adding to its popularity,” Ingraham said.

According to the CrossFit website, “[It] is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide.”

But the CrossFit craze has spread to a wider population, as well. College students are catching on and are coming back.

“It’s usually hard for me to workout because I have so many other things to do and it’s hard to know what to do when I get to the gym. SMU junior Eme Torlai said “but when I tried a CrossFit workout, it was fast. They showed me exactly what to do, and it was an incredible workout.”

Workouts run about 20 to 40 minutes in length and are full body workouts involving fast repetitions at several different stations.

There is no resting time or breaks, which gives your body a high intensity workout in a short amount of time.

But even before students can start attending the regular CrossFit classes, they need to take the CrossFit “On-Ramp” course, which is a small group class that introduces the physical workouts and gives sit down fitness and nutrition classes.

The idea is to get a great workout for any type of athlete, and Ingraham noted that CrossFit is even becoming a sport of its own, with state, national and even worldwide competitions.

CrossFit.com explains, “Our program delivers a fitness that is, by design, broad, general and inclusive. Our specialty is not specializing. Combat, survival, many sports and life reward this kind of fitness and, on average, punish the specialist.”

Though the workouts sound and look intense, CrossFit is for both men and women and caters to any kind of athlete as long as students are committed to getting in shape and will work hard to do so.

CrossFit also provides trainers to help in all of the workouts and at any point along the way.

CrossFit offers student pricing for unlimited monthly memberships as well as drop-in prices. The cost for one month is $150, but for students buying more than one month, the price drops significantly.

Not ready to fully commit? Students can try CrossFit on Saturdays at 9:30 a.m., for an introductory class, or pay $25 to drop in on one of the many classes offered throughout the day.

For more information, visit www.crossfit.com.