Thin Air, Thick Bonds

Birth defects left 46-year-old Todd Bittner with only one kidney and damage to his heart, and he wears two artificial legs. That doesn’t slow him down much.

Bittner is a high-school assistant principal and athletic director, as well as a member of CrossFit Thin Air in Winter Park, Colo. He’s played baseball, and he was a rings specialist in high school. He was a member of the U.S. Disabled Ski Team in the ’90s, and he recently competed in the Reebok CrossFit Games Open.

“Regardless of what your body type is, regardless of who you are, how old, CrossFit is by far and away the best workout in this country,” he says.

Bittner particularly loves the community aspect of CrossFit, which unites rural people living at 9,000 feet in the mountains of Colorado.

“You can be (as) isolated as you want, or you can be part of a family and community. That’s what CrossFit Thin Air brings us: a family and community,” he says. “My wife brought me into it. It’s been one of the best things in the world.”

5min 51sec

Additional video: Why Do I CrossFit? by Ben Lunak, aired April 12, 2010.