By now you're probably familiar with the name "CrossFit." Over the past decade, its popularity has exploded, and its participants are vocal and persuasive in their support for this relatively new fitness system. So, what exactly is CrossFit, and is it right for you?

To be precise, CrossFit is a company, created by a man named Greg Glassman in 2000. Greg was a competitive gymnast in his youth, and is a cool, funny, brilliant guy, which I know because I had the pleasure of spending two days with him and his amazing team at their Santa Cruz, Calif., headquarters.

Greg surmised that pretty much every fitness protocol was targeted to a specific aspect of fitness, but that none prepared its practitioners for a total range of physical challenges. For example, bodybuilders train exclusively with weights and machines to build big muscles. Yet if you were to put a 230-pound bodybuilder on a track and have him run a mile, odds are his time wouldn't be too impressive. Likewise, someone whose training is limited to cardio classes may be lacking in the strength department, and swimmers aren't necessarily adept at mountain climbing, nor climbers at swimming.

So, Greg decided that by culling the best training elements from a wide range of fitness and athletic arenas he could create the best athletes in the world. Each year, the CrossFit Games are held in California, and after watching its athletes compete, it's very hard to argue against his reasoning. These people are insanely fit, and I do believe that the male and female winners can rightly lay claim to being the fittest people on the planet.

Now, do I think CrossFit is right for you? That depends. You first need to assess your personal fitness goals, your level of commitment to training, your physical health (injuries, heart conditions) and even your bank account. CrossFit classes (taught in "boxes" rather than gyms) are intense and competitive affairs which integrate everything from weightlifting to plyometrics to rope climbing. And joining a box, because of the personalized instruction, is often quite a bit more expensive than joining a regular gym.

Among the plusses of joining a box (besides the workouts themselves) is the camaraderie; CrossFitters, while always competing against each other, are also very supportive of one another, and often form friendly relationships that extend beyond the box. CrossFit is very much a community of likeminded people. And it can indeed get you extremely fit — and sculpt you a lean, athletic body to boot.

CrossFit does have its critics though, many of whom argue that the risk of injury in CF is high, in part because every "Workout Of the Day" is for time, so in many cases people are rushing through complex exercises — exercises where good form is all that stands between a good workout and a devastating injury. Doing the clean and jerk (an Olympic lift) quickly, for time, when you're fatigued can be a recipe for disaster. Of course you can always slow down or opt out, but the pressure of a ticking clock and a competitive group setting can spur people to push themselves to a degree they otherwise wouldn't.

Personally, I like CrossFit, yet I choose to continue along with my own style of training. I've enjoyed doing it for the last 35 years or so, and it works for me. I have had some CrossFitters do their best to convert me to their way of training, and I've found that there is a segment of the CrossFit population that is given to proselytizing, but I like training alone, in a gym, with barbells, dumbbells, cables and machines. But just as CrossFit is right for them, and lifting is right for me, it's up to you to discover what gets you out of your chair and onto the path to greater fitness.

To find out more about Shawn Perine and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.