Crossfit, a fitness craze taking the nation and the Kansas City metropolitan area by storm, was the subject of a lawsuit from a Kansas City man.

Millions of people around the world come to gyms like Sky’s Limit Crossfit in Kansas City.

But Jonas Barrish said a split-second movement during a workout changed the rest of his life.

“When he tried to lift it, he felt something snap in his back and collapsed,” said Rob Sullivan, Barrish’s attorney.

Sullivan said his client ruptured a disc doing a deadlift exercise.

“The coach had never mentioned anything about injuries in doing these lifts or the risks involved,” Sullivan said.

He said his client’s injury threatened partial paralysis and loss of bowel and bladder function. He said the repercussions will be life-long.

“He can’t do any impact activity, so he can’t even jog without a lot of pain,” Sullivan said.

In a landmark case, Barrish filed a lawsuit against Sky’s Limit Crossfit and the national entity, Crossfit Inc., and won. It’s the first time since Crossfit’s inception that the national organization has lost a lawsuit.

“I take it personally, because he’s calling my integrity into play,” said Ronnie Oswald, the owner of Sky’s Limit Crossfit.

He said he did nothing wrong and people need to know their limits.

“If you’re going to get hurt doing that movement, clearly you have to go way too heavy and do it wrong, which is exactly what happened that day,” Oswald said.

The lawsuit claims Oswald encouraged Barrish to attempt the heavy lift.

There was about 350 pounds of weight on the bar when Barrish suffered his injury. Oswald said Barrish pushed himself too far and actually went against his instructions.

“I told him to do a percentage based off what he’d done before,” Oswald said. “He said OK, so that would be around 175 pounds.”

The jury put half the blame on Barrish and 25 percent each on Sky’s Limit Crossfit and Crossfit, Inc.

Both sides said it comes down to the trust participants place in their coaches.

“I told the jury, “Everybody knows if you lift weights, you can get hurt. The question is, do you know that you can end up in emergency surgery and a (sustain) a lifelong injury when you’re doing something that a coach is instructing you to do?’” Sullivan said.

“When you listen to your coach and you do what you’re told, you don’t get hurt,” Oswald said.

Crossfit, Inc. is appealing the ruling and did not respond to KMBC’s request for comment. There are 42 Crossfit gyms in the Kansas City metropolitan area.

Crossfit, Inc. does not oversee operations of those gyms, but certifies them after a two-day training course and a $3,000 annual fee.

A sports medicine specialist at the University of Kansas Hospital said he did not treat Barrish, but does sometimes see hip and shoulder injuries from people who have done Crossfit workouts.

Dr. Scott Mullin said extreme injuries like the one Barrish suffered are rare.

He encourages people to modify workouts for their level and to know their limits.

“A lot of the workouts are done under a timed situation where you’re trying to do as many reps or as much weight as possible in a certain amount of time,” he said. “If you don’t do it with the correct form, or if you have some underlying problems to begin with, you’re at increased risk for getting injured.”

Mullin said Crossfit is an efficient way to exercise, but he urges people to focus on doing the moves properly to help avoid injury.