Some Christians are directly applying CrossFit’s workouts and strategies to their faith. There are Christian-oriented CrossFit gyms, such as CrossFit 27:17, named after a verse from Proverbs (“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another”), and CrossFit For My Savior (“Because My Savior Was Fit for the Cross”).

On Easter, some CrossFitters participated in a special Easter Workout of the Day, an especially grueling session that, wrote one gym leader in Texas, “is brutal, but not nearly as brutal as what Jesus endured for each of us.”

CrossFit Faith, associated with competitive CrossFit world champion Rich Froning, provides a spiritual Workout of the Day, which pairs Biblical readings with guidelines for reflection.

At One Church in Columbus, Ohio, you can even do a CrossFit workout as part of a Sunday morning service. As One Church pastor Greg Ford told me, the church realized that “instead of doing music, we could do the workout as the worship.” The service leader eggs on his congregation by telling them things like, “this is giving glory and honor to God and our bodies.” Afterward, congregants stretch, eat bananas, and hear a sermon. Between 50 and 70 people attend on an average Sunday, says Ford, and a second campus is in the works.