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It could be described as 'the Fight Club' of workouts: a punishing regime of Olympic weight-lifting, rope-climbing and tyre-flipping, and spectacular displays of gymnastic strength and balance. Popularity has spread not through expensive health clubs but online, with groups meeting in parks or 'boxes' - mirrorless, garage-like rooms filled with frighteningly large weights and very little else - to pump iron and perform pull-ups while screaming encouragement at one another.
Tap the word Crossfit into a search engine and page after page of websites appear. Forums, where the millions of devotees converge, are filled with boasts of exercise sessions that have left the muscles so sore that walking is difficult, and hands blistered and calloused thanks to steel kettle-bells swung hundreds of times. Unsurprisingly, it has been likened to a cult.
Former star of the TV programme The Apprentice Saira Khan pictured at The Albany Gym in London
And then there are the pictures of the results. Bodies look as if they've been carved from marble, bristling with veins and muscles in places that you didn't know there were muscles, and - most prized - the six-pack abdominals. Some of them seem to have eight packs. And that's just the women.
It comes as something of a surprise that Crossfit, developed as a type of military training two decades ago, is so popular with females. But it seems Jane Fonda-style leg lifts, or even the more extreme marathons and triathlons, just aren't cutting it these days: it is estimated that there are up to 10,000 Britons currently participating in the Crossfit way of life (it also involves a practically carb-free, meat-based caveman style diet) in about 260 locations across the country - and women are well represented.
One of this new breed of alpha woman is Apprentice star Saira Khan. Today she is so toned, strong and lean that she would give gold medallist heptathlete Jessica Ennis - her 'body inspiration' - a run for her money.
Yet the 43-year-old TV presenter and businesswoman is adamant that although she came 'very close to having plastic surgery' a year ago, her remarkable transformation is purely down to spending the past eight months in thrall to Crossfit, and that she hasn't even had so much as Botox.
It has to be pointed out that she wasn't overweight or unfit in the first place, and has only lost half a stone on the scales, dropping to 8st 4lb. But she has decreased her body-fat percentage from a pretty human and healthy 16.7 to an incredible 9.4, while increasing her overall muscle mass.
These kinds of numbers would normally be seen in an elite athlete. Not known for her modesty, she says: 'I've had more media work in the past six months than ever. And my sex life has gone from being near-dormant to absolutely fantastic. Having my husband tell me I look great is the best feeling.'
Apprentice star Saira Khan is so toned, strong and lean that she would give Jessica Ennis a run for her money
The trigger for Saira's transformation came a year ago when she visited friends on the Spanish island of Minorca.
'They happened to be watching an episode of Countdown on which I appeared and I was horrified at the woman I saw on the TV screen before me,' says Saira, who is married to Steve Hyde, 49, director of his own internet marketing agency. They live in Oxfordshire with children Zac, five, and Amara, two.
'I looked big, frumpy and old. It left me feeling quite down, not least because I'd been working out in the gym and at home four times a week for years, and even ran the London Marathon a few years ago.
'I felt fit, so why did I still look so awful and why wasn't I achieving the athletic shape I longed for?
'After that, I was so desperate to shift the stubborn layer of fat sitting all over my body that by the end of last year I was seriously considering liposuction, even researching clinics and brainwashing myself that it was the only answer.'
Saira abandoned that idea only when a friend suggested she see a personal trainer instead.
'Even then I was very cynical. I mean I was already fit, I'm educated, I could go on the internet and find out more about exercise - why did I need a pricey personal trainer?'
This, it has to be said, is the posh option. Crossfit fans often organise their own group workouts and check the websites daily for the 'WOD' - Crossfit lingo for workout of the day. But, at the end of her tether, Saira reluctantly agreed to meet Alex Easby, a Crossfit trainer at the Albany Club in London. That's where Saira's transformation began.
Khan: 'I've had more media work in the past six months than ever. And my sex life has gone from being near-dormant to fantastic. Having my husband tell me I look great is the best feeling'
Her typical breakfast of muesli, milk and fruit was replaced by 100g of turkey or chicken, and half an avocado. Lunchtime sandwiches were binned in favour of more chicken and vegetables, and dinner featured grilled fish or shellfish, broccoli and sweet potato. Daily snacks of crisps, biscuits and sugary hot drinks were swapped for unsalted nuts and litres of water. Then, Alex got her to ditch the cardiovascular workouts.
'I was a cardio freak, doing hours at a time of running, skipping or aerobics, but now I understand that if it's the only thing you do, it will not give you the defined shape that you want,' Saira reveals.
'To my amazement, weight training - which I used to avoid - is what's blasted the fat and got me into the shape I'm in now. When it comes to my diet, I now think of food as fuel for my body.
'I didn't want to be skinny, I wanted to be fit and strong, to have the energy to play with my kids, look good in my clothes and reduce my risk of problems like heart disease and diabetes. As an Asian woman, my ethnicity is proven to put me at greater risk of developing them.'
Since January, Saira has been working out three times a week with Alex and now takes a cocktail of health supplements recommended by him to support the development of lean muscle mass.
She eats a strict diet six days out of seven, with one 'cheat' day dedicated to indulging her love of ice cream, chocolate and curry.
'When I first started training with Alex I only could manage ten squats at a time, but now I can do 100 in less than two minutes while holding a 22lb medicine ball or a heavy barbell on my shoulders,' she says.
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