The newly added Cross-Fit elective has quickly become popular among students wishing to fulfill their physical education requirements.

Offered for both Elective I and II, the class is co-taught by Alisha Harris, personal trainer and girls’ basketball head coach, and Michelle Myers, P.E. department chair.

The course was inspired by several students’ aspirations to do further weight training than what is offered in the P.E. curriculum, Myers said.

The class began the third trimester, and 15 of the 29 students currently enrolled in P.E. have chosen to take Cross-Fit instead of the normal curriculum.

Students participate in workouts such as circuit training, pyramiding (a core exercise similar to planking) and sports conditioning, Harris said.

The workouts are broken into three sections: a five-minute warm-up, 20-40 minute workout and a 10-minute stretch and clean up.

“The type of working out differs from P.E.,” Myers said.

“The students are on an interval system, so they are in constant high cardiac output for 60 minutes versus the P.E. class that does a warm-up, plays in a variety of games and then cools down.”

“Cross-Fit is a fitness program that is, by design, broad, general and inclusive,” Harris said.

True to its name, Cross-Fit is used as good cross training for other sports.

“I want to learn soccer next year, and it is a good time to help me get in shape,” sophomore Daniel Kong said.

“Harris’s fun approach to working out motivates us (the students) to work harder,” freshman Clare Fina said.

“The music playing during the class really pumps me up,” junior Donald Hutchinson said.

Beyond working out, the purpose of the class is to teach students about nutrition.

Students keep a nutrition and fitness journal in which they log their daily eating habits and physical activity.

“Knowing other people are going to see what you eat makes you more conscious about the different foods you eat,” junior Leslie Rieger said.

In addition to the added nutrition education, unlike the normal P.E. class, the Cross-Fit class doesn’t do fitness testing. Instead they log their body fat, learn about body types and are taught about body fat percentages and body mass index (BMI).

“We do body fat testing and measurements at the beginning of the course and the last week of the course,” Harris said.

And unlike the P.E. classes, if a student misses Cross-Fit they are required to make it up before school, after school or on the weekend.

“I think this elective has been very successful so far, and I hope that it continues next year,” Hutchinson said.

The course will continue if there is enough funding and interest, Myers said.

Harris hopes students will maintain what they have learned in college, and avoid gaining the “Freshman 15”.