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Too Much Volume or Not Enough?

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Today’s edition was chalked up while designing this Katrin Davidsdottir poster cause we’re pumped for Regionals to kick off in 15 days.

P.S. We want to hear how CrossFit has helped you achieve a goal. Share your story and you could be featured in an upcoming edition of the Morning Chalk Up.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“It’s easy to work hard and give it all you got when you feel good. How hard will you work when you are tired and your body is sore?” — Katrin Davidsdottir

CHALK UP IN 2 MINUTES

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE YOU HIT THE BOX

How are Regionals athletes training for the unknown with their weight vests? Meet Alyssa Ritchey, the smallest and strongest lifter you’ve never heard of. If you’re into side ponies or just people that rock them and rock wearing them, then Carly Fuhrer could use your support getting to Regionals by buying this t-shirt. Dani Horan does 30 burpee muscle-ups with a weight vest for time. Becca Voigt and Stacie Tovar are heading down to Atlanta to train with Emily Bridgers. Jared Fleming will be returning to weightlifting at Nationals next week after tearing his ACL 19 months ago. Brooke Ence gives Dave Castro a little snatch coaching. Maddy Myers hits a 260 pound clean.

From a paper in New Zealand…”But to cut our CrossFitters some slack it is important to realize they are making some big improvements to their health, fitness and enjoying doing so…So perhaps next time someone turns to you and asks if you do CrossFit…congratulate them on committing to something positive.

PUT ON YOUR HEADPHONES…cause you probably don’t want this coming out of your phone or computer at work. Carleen Mathews shows you what it’s like for a Games athlete to go full scorched Earth at a barbell during Regionals training.

Attention Parents...USA Weightlifting announced dates for 2017 – 2019 development camps for junior athletes interested in competing in the sport of weightlifting.

THINGS TO…

WATCH: Geezers Rule

Step inside Coach Mike Burgener’s gym for the fitness after 55 class. Coach Burgener, 70, brings this group of old geezers together, developing a camaraderie and bond through fitness that’s keeping these guys fit.
PRESS PLAY.

HEAR: Finding Your Fit

Chyna Cho and Freddy Camacho join Mark Bell’s PowerCast for an episode dedicated to finding your “fit” and what that means. Chyna and Freddy also update fans on training for the CrossFit Games.
LISTEN.

EAT: Meatball Casserole with Spaghetti Squash

If you’re like us and love the meatballs but not so much the spaghetti (for dietary reasons obviously) this is the perfect mid-week quick fix that’s going to leave you with leftovers.
NOM NOM.

BUY: Lululemon Racerbacks

This Lululemon racerback comes in three colors and is 30% off right now, no code necessary.
I’LL TAKE 3.

CHALK UP AFFILIATES

Congratulations to Dennis Cole, owner of CrossFit Raw Appeal in Las Vegas, NV, for qualifying for the CrossFit Games for his fourth year.
Baton Rouge, LA based Red Stick CrossFit’s Regionals-bound team is made up of medical and health care professionals, an engineer and a PE teacher at a local elementary school.

CHALK UP READS

“Too Much Volume or Not Enough” by Russel Greene, CrossFit

It seems like whenever a CrossFit.com workout appears with more than 50 repetitions of a single movement, the Facebook physiologists show up. They’re the ones commenting “Too much volume,” “Excessive,” etc.

For example, CrossFit.com recently programmed “Annie” and posted a video of Dave Castro performing it with GHD sit-ups as the WOD demo. On Facebook, Dominic Munnelly expressed concerns about “that volume of GHD sit ups.”

To be sure, performing 150 GHD sit-ups might be excessive volume for some people. But are the CrossFit.com workouts written for the masses to perform them all as written? The correct answer clearly is “no.”

“This Gym Was No Longer a Safe Space” by Morning Chalk Up

I remember my first CrossFit class. A girl in the class before me fell off the pull up bar and dislocated her elbow. I awkwardly stretched as I watched the ambulance pull up and take her to the hospital. Terrified, I stepped outside to call my husband, who had already been “drinking the Kool-Aid” for several months. “It’ll be fine,” he reassured me. “That’s not a ‘normal’ thing to happen. Just try it.” I had been doing sudo-CrossFit workouts at a nearby rec center to help transition me from purely running, so I wouldn’t feel completely out of my element. But the truth is, even before arriving, I was totally intimidated.

Now I’m standing here, two years later, staring at a space I never thought I could love so much. The whiteboard is still scribbled with our excited PRs, the chalk beaten into the mats mark hours of pain, the couch invites flashbacks of conversations, literal tears, laughter and sweat (a bit gross, but whatever). I don’t know about you, but I LOVE my CrossFit gym. It’s where I go every single day after work to decompress, it’s where I let myself be completely real, it’s where I’ve formed my very best friendships. Simply put, it’s my second home. And now, as everything seems to be changing, I have to let it go. I can’t bear to leave this season behind me. But even still, sometimes we have to.

The truth is, as obvious as it may sound, I am learning that the gym is not perfect. The people are flawed. And sometimes because of that, the space can be tainted.

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