Competing to become the 'world's fittest man,' Los Angeles resident Matty Aporta sprinted up the stadium stairs Saturday morning carrying a 45-pound weight and did 70 squats with the weight above his head. Running back down the stairs at UCLA's Drake Stadium, the 33-year-old brand agent for Maine Natural Health did 35 push presses with a 45-pound bar and ran back up the stairs to do 15 135-pound thrusters. Sprinting back down the stairs, he did 35 'burpees' -- a combined squat/push-up/jump -- ran back up the stairs and threw a 20-pound ball against a wall 35 times while doing squats. Finally, he sprinted back down the stairs, did 70 double-unders with a jump rope and sprinted 100 yards to the finish line where he fell over and 'reveled in my mess.' 'It was absolutely amazing,' a breathless Aporta said. 'It's a euphoric feeling to challenge yourself against modern-day gladiators on a field like this -- to put yourself to the test and no matter how tall, how short, how big, how small, how young or how old, you get to compete amongst your peers and be an athlete again.' Aporta was one of about 200 men and 60 women who are competing this weekend in the CrossFit 2010 SoCal Sectional Qualifier, a competition that has become the primary training program for many police academies, military special ops and elite athletes. Of those, 20 men and 20 women will go on to compete at the 2010 CrossFit Games in Aromas, Calif., in July and get a shot at being declared the 'world's fittest man' and 'world's fittest woman,' as well as winning $25,000 cash. Last year, more than 150,000 people competed in the worldwide competition. The local event, attended by about 1,500 to 2,000 people Saturday, continues today with more 'grueling and near-impossible physical challenges,' CrossFit spokeswoman Elissa Buchter said. CrossFit is a fast-growing movement in fitness with more than 2,000 affiliates opening in the past three years, including about 100 in California, Buchter said. The CrossFit games, whose training regimen was used by the cast of the movie '300' to obtain their 'Spartan physiques,' attract a variety of people from Olympic and professional athletes to police officers, firefighters and military personnel to housewives and office workers. 'I haven't done this WOD (workout of the day), but from doing them I can tell you it's pretty difficult,' said Sherman Oaks resident Evan Kantor, a 30-year-old commercial real estate agent. 'These people are at the top of their game.' Los Angeles resident Peter Kravitz, a 40-year-old vice president at Giant RV, said his wife participates in CrossFit and it's made a huge difference in her life. 'After having our twins, it helped her drop 50 pounds in a short amount of time,' Kravitz said. 'She looks amazing. We're really proud of her.' 