At Alternative Athletics/CrossFit, you won’t find treadmills, weight machines or a lot of fancy fitness equipment.

“You’ll see kettle bells, flipping tires and carrying weights up and down the street. It’s a real ‘50s-style gym,” owner Clinton Hull said.

“We have pull-up bars, but not a lot of equipment,” he said. “The only machine we have is a rower.”

This back-to-basics approach to fitness emphasizes natural movements, and for most people that translates into better results, said Hull.

“If you think about natural movement, say if you pick up a pumpkin, you’re going to use your back and your biceps,” he said. “With us, it’s the same idea. We want functional movement because we want to emulate moving in the real world as much as possible.”

The Alternative Athletics website, www.alternativeathletics.com, features video testimonials from members who have lost weight, increased their muscle mass and have turned their lives around, with help from the gym’s trainers.

People who join Alternative Athletics can expect personal attention, with small groups of people being supervised by experienced trainers.

“We never have more than 10 people at a time in a group,” Hull said.

Hull grew up in Joliet and graduated from the University of Montana in 1999. He worked in financial services but decided to join the U.S. Navy in the wake of the Sept. 11 tragedy.

Hull learned the CrossFit training in the Navy and had trained many athletes who have gone into the special forces in the military.

The gym’s training staff includes Phil Sanderson, a Rocky Mountain College graduate and member of the U.S. Olympic team in 1980.

And who goes to Alternative Athletics?

“It’s hard to put a demographic on our members,” Hull said “We have everybody from high school students, state champion wrestlers, state champs in track and field, and collegiate soccer players and football players all the way up to 63-year-old grandmothers.

“Of course we’re not going to ask Grandma to do the same thing as a linebacker from Rocky,” Hull said. “But everybody ends up in a puddle at the end of the day.”

How did you get where you are in your business?

I started training sailors to help prepare them for Naval Special Warfare training pipelines and took CrossFit training to the private sector after being honorably discharged in early 2009.

What’s the toughest challenge you face in your job?

It can be a challenge meeting the varied needs of an athletically diverse population (kids, high school, college and professional athletes up to 63-year-old grandmothers) and keeping a large clientèle motivated about their own health and fitness.

If you could make one positive change for Billings, what would it be?

To end obesity, Type I diabetes and all other diseases related to hyperinsulinism.

Aside from profit and loss, how do you measure success in your business?

Changes in the quality of life for our clients.

Which living person do you most admire?

Richard Saul Wurman, the creator of TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design).

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Every time one of our members gives me a heart-felt story about how we have changed their lives for the better.

I’m happiest when I’m…

It sounds cheesy, but at work. I have the greatest job in the world.