Published: Thursday, 14th May, 2009 8:00am

'We don't use machines ... we make them'

A GROUP of 11 people are gently warming up in a small Dunfermline industrial unit.

In about 30 minutes all of them will be on the floor recovering from a seriously tough type of fitness programme.

Its gruelling methods were used to train the cast of Spartan epic 300 and it has gained huge popularity in the US.

CrossFit is slowly becoming the exercise phenomenon in the UK - and Dunfermline has one of only two facilities in the whole of Scotland.

'We"ve had professional boxers training with us - they got the fright of their life - rugby players, football players, firemen, policemen, ex-forces, Thai boxers …', says Raymond McAloon (40), a former marine, at the modest converted gym he runs at Elgin Industrial Estate with Simon Macauley (31), who adds, 'We also have beauticians and hairdressers.'

The CrossFit programme uses quick, high-intensity workouts, without the use of hi-tech machines.

'That means it can be anything,' continues Simon. 'A mixture of Olympic lifting, power lifting, circuit training, body weight exercises, basic gymnastics, box jumps and fireman"s carries.

'The type of exercises we do in here condition the body for functional fitness - picking things up, throwing things, pulling yourself over walls - that"s why it"s so applicable to military.

'The Navy Seals, for example, use it as the primary fitness method. Same with the US Marine Corp, SWAT and numerous other special forces in America. But we scale exercises to suit everybody. It doesn"t matter how fit or unfit you are.'

He adds, 'We have a half-marathon runner who can now do pull-ups, overhead squats, press ups - he couldn"t do these things before. He did a race recently and managed 1 hour 25 minutes'.

No stranger to the gym, I went along to a session to find out more.

The workout involved a minute each of Sumo deadlift high-pulls (repeatedly lifting a metal kettlebell from the floor to your chest), box jumps, kettlebell swings, long balls and pull ups. Three times with no rest in between.

I paid for my curiosity by taking five days out to recover fully.

Daniel Clarke (23), Lorimer Gardens, Dunfermline, remembers the first time he came along to the classes.

He said, 'I was on the floor and couldn"t move, breathing really hard. But the more you come in your fitness builds up. All the work-outs we do are short but they are sharp, intense and a lot harder.

'This works every different muscle group so it"s got all the aspects of fitness you need.'

Dunfermline woman Jacqueline MacIntyre (28), Clay Acres Court, has been going for just four weeks.

She said, 'I thought I had a not bad level of fitness until I came here and realised I"m struggling.

'I find it difficult because it"s such a challenge but I can only see myself getting better and don"t want to give in. I feel it"s improved my running. They"re a friendly bunch and you couldn"t be made to feel more welcome.'

There are now 1000 affiliates to the crossfit.com website. Every day people from across the world log in to try the workout of the day and post their times in completing selected workouts (some more extreme devotees talk proudly of "meeting pukey", vomiting after a hard workout).

One of the most popular is Fran.

This involves 21, 15 and 9 reps each of "thrusters" (a front squat and overhead press with a 95lb barbell) and pull ups. The record stands at two minutes and to achieve a sub three minute Fran is, according to Simon, 'phenomenal'.

A week later, on the day of his 40th birthday, the Press would witness Raymond achieving a time of 2 mins 55 secs, cheered on by his class. He too would meet pukey.

'The whole thing with CrossFit is that it"s a community,' says Raymond. 'Simon and I are very passionate about it. We"re lucky with the guys that are here - they love it as well.

'The more they come the more they realise they can do. If you train here consistently we guarantee improvements.'

It seems that in this gym, where there are no treadmills, mirrors or wall-mounted flat-screen TVs, fitness is being taken to another level completely.

'We don"t use machines,' reflects Simon, 'we make them.'

Visit www.crossfitfife.co.uk for more information.