Anthony DeJager looked around after his college football playing days at Azusa Pacific and wasn't excited about his options.
After spending his life striving to be a better athlete, shifting to a traditional gym workout had little appeal.
DeJager didn't just want to keep his muscles toned, he wanted to be a complete athlete. That's when he discovered the emerging sport of CrossFit, which combines gymnastics, weightlifting, aerobatics, running and powerlifting into one routine that focuses on everyday movements.
"Gym workouts tend to be about aesthetics," DeJager said. "That's why they have all those mirrors. I didn't care about getting bigger delts. I wanted to be the best athlete I can be, and that's what CrossFit is about.
"CrossFit is the sport of fitness. The idea is that it will leave you prepared for anything. The running joke is if the zombie apocalypse comes and you need to run, jump, climb or lift something, you'll be prepared for that. The goal is to be able to push yourself to move large loads over long distances quickly."
DeJager started with CrossFit FTF in Fresno, then he and wife Jen decided to open their own fitness center here in Merced.
Since the Main Street facility opened in May 2011, CrossFit Merced's members have risen to 100. The classes offered focus on high-intensity, well-rounded workouts. DeJager anticipates his membership numbers to steadily grow with the 2012 CrossFit Games set to begin today.
"All athletes have their specialty," DeJager said. "A CrossFit athlete isn't going to be able to compete with a world-class cross country runner. But if the two competed in weightlifting or gymnastics, the CrossFit athlete would usually win.
"The CrossFit Games are like the Olympics, only everybody participates in every event, and you don't know what the events will be."
CrossFit was founded by Greg Glassman in a gym in Santa Cruz in 1995. Glassman created the first CrossFit Games in 2007. DeJager said the original had 68 participants with a first-place prize of $250.
The scope and scale of the Games have grown quickly in the five years since. Online registration allowed the games to go global in 2011, with ESPN airing the finals, and $250,000 prize awarded to the winners.
DeJager said over 100,000 people are expected to participate this year -- 30 of whom will be from Merced.
"The CrossFit Games start this week with the Open," DeJager said. "The Open will consist of five workouts over five weeks. You don't know what they are until the day of, and then you have five days to complete them either in front of a certified judge or with a submitted video.
"Depending on the exercise, you could be looking for number of reps or fastest times.
"We're all excited to see what the events are. If they play to our strengths, we could have four advance to the Regionals."
The top 60 athletes from each region will advance to the Regionals -- a three-week tournament spanning 17 regions around the world, that will whittle the competition down to the top three men and women of their regions. Those individuals will advance to the CrossFit Games at the Home Depot Center July 13-15.
The Games also offer a co-ed team competition, but Merced's gym won't be participating in that this year.
"We're going to join up with the Turlock gym and probably do the first week out there and then the second week here," DeJager said. "The founder of CrossFit set up the Games so that like the New York Giants are the champions of football or the Dallas Mavericks of basketball, whichever man or woman that wins this can truly claim themselves to be the fittest person in the world."
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