Hey, we get it: We all want to look as healthy and fit as possible. But should a three-year-old really be worrying about that stuff, too? A CrossFit gym in New York has started a class specially designed to teach future bodybuilders and fitness buffs how to work out.


Michele Kelber, a coach at the Gantry CrossFit gym in Long Island City, Queens, says the program is great for kids "who want to work out the same way as mom and dad." It doesn't come cheap: Classes start at $140 a month for once a week sessions. But is it safe?

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Eric Robertson, an assistant professor of physical therapy at Regis University in Denver, Colorado, doesn't necessarily think so. He says that CrossFit's been linked to an abnormally high humber of cases of rhabdomyolysis, a condition linked to extreme exertion which has been known to cause fatal kidney failure.

"Rhabdomyolysis isn't a common condition, yet it's so commonly encountered in CrossFit that they have a cartoon about it, nonchalantly casting humor on something that should never happen."

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Kelber is quick to note that the kiddie Crossfit program doesn't involve weights -- it's mostly squats and overhead presses sans lifting. "Children develop and grow stronger by doing no weight and lots of repetition," she said. "They don't do anything with a barbell." [DNA Info