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What’s the average age of a Regionals athlete?

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Today’s edition is fueled by ButcherBox, your neighborhood butcher for the modern world. Today is your last chance to get the best bacon in the world plus tender, melt-in-your-mouth filet mignons absolutely free in your first box. Oh, and take $10 off too. Now’s your chance to lock in this deal before it’s gone. Bring home the bacon!

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“To give anything less than your best, Is to sacrifice the gift.” — Steve Prefontaine

P.S. Today is the LAST DAY to pre-order a Morning Chalk Up muscle tank or tee. The pre-sale ends tonight at 5:59 PM Pacific.

HOW FIT DO YOU NEED TO BE TO QUALIFY FOR REGIONALS?

 

This is part 2 in our statistical breakdown of the CrossFit Open. You can read part 1 here.

So let’s hear it.

The short answer: you have to be pretty damn fit.

We often hear the “top 1%” stat thrown around. Turns out, it’s lower than that. There are 720 individual athletes across nine regions. With 307,540 athletes completing all six WODs (both RX and scaled) it’s more like 0.2%.

If you want to get really technical, since only athletes completing WODs RX are eligible, it’s more like 0.4%. So let’s just settle on the top 1/2 percent.

OK, but put that in terms of actual fitness.

If you click here, we’ve charted the average performance on each WOD across the 18 regions so you can see how you stack up.

The bottom line: the average finish in every region on every workout is in the top 100 regionally, male and female. Many are in the top 50.

Consistency is key. You can have an Ok WOD, and if you’re Josh Bridges you can have one bad WOD like his 337th place finish on 18.2a, but unless you plan on getting top 10 on every other workout you won’t make it, like Dakota Rager.

What about them old people?

Competing for the title of Fittest on Earth is a young person’s game, but it’s not as young as you might think.

The average age of a male qualifier from both the Canada East and Mid Atlantic Regions is 26-years-old, which is the youngest. The oldest average is 29 in the West Region.

For the women, the youngest regions are Asia, Europe North and South Central, which all tied at 27-years-old. The oldest was 31 in the West Region. As you can see though, only four years age difference separates all the region and non are under 25.

As far as the true masters are concerned, 36 Masters athletes qualified for Regionals — 8 men and 28 women. Eight female athletes were in the top 100 worldwide.

FUN FACT: The oldest qualifier is 42-year-old Helen Harding from the Australasia Region. The oldest male is 38-year-old Alexandre Jolivet from the South West Region.

COFFEE BREAK CONVERSATIONS

 

What to tell your friend who needs to stop beating themselves up over their nutrition and fitness…

Exercise is a celebration of what you can do. Not a punishment for what you did. Thanks for that reminder District CrossFit.

What to tell your PT who’s trying to tell you how to squat…

Lemme show you how it’s done. That’s what Rebecca Shingledecker did the other day when her PT tried to make her squat with her legs hip width apart. So she said ‘not happening’ and explained why. For those unaware, Rebecca just got out of brain survery to remove a tumor a couple weeks back and she’s re-learning all those little things we often take for granted like talking, walking and chalking up. Keep up the great work Rebecca. 

THINGS TO…

 

WATCH: Sara Sigmundsdottir Part 4

In the latest episode of this docu-series following Sara Sigmundsdottir, she shares how her perspective on what her body is capable of has changed from being happy with doing two push-ups to 50 ft. unbroken handstand walks. 

MUST WATCH.

 

HEAR: From Addict to Games Champion

Before Michael Cazayoux started Brute Stength, before he won the CrossFit Affiliate Cup twice, he struggled through a drug and alcohol addiction, which started at an early age. Michael joins the Modern Wisdom podcast and shares his journey from heavy drinking and drug abuse through rehab, to relapse, to sobriety then on to fitness.

TUNE IN.

 

EAT: Paleo Double Chocolate Tahini Banana Muffins

Double chocolate tahini banana muffins that are both paleo, dairy free and gluten free. These healthy chocolate muffins are the perfect treat to pack in a lunch box or share with friends!

HI, SOMEONE MAKE THESE FOR US PLEASE.

 

BUY: WAG Meal Planner

Following a macro diet and struggling to track everything in one handy place? Grab the Working Against Gravity Meal Planner, which is dry erasable BTW, and easy to hang on your fridge with a magnet. 

YOU’LL NEVER REMEMBER EVERYTHING YOU EAT. DON’T TRY.

 

Today’s edition of the Morning Chalk Up is fueled by

CHALK UP COMMUNITY

 

CHALK UP IN 2 MINUTES (a highlight reel around social media of CrossFit pros and average joes)

Sara Sigmundsdottir joins the Fat Gripz teamNon-profits inside the CrossFit industry descended on Santa Cruz to spend a few days with the CrossFit Foundation, visiting with Greg Glassman at his house • Michael Cazayoux and Jacob Heppner will be getting in the ring tonight to wrestle for charityHafthor Bjornsson wins Europe’s
Strongest Man title
for the fourth time and calls it a warm-up • CrossFit Andalusia members Karen Pugh and Renee Bullard placed second and ninth in the 2018 USA National Masters Weightlifting Championship in Buffalo, NY. 

…and literally this photo of Arnold Schwarzenegger will blow your mind. #Perspective

Status Update: Regionals — Check out the CrossFit Games leaderboard. It’s updating athletes’ Regionals status’ after they accept, decline or go Team. 

Confirmed — Malachi Bennett, the controversial West Region athlete who posted the number two score worldwide on 18.1 after using a Xebex rower has received and accepted his invitation to the West Regionals. Whatever your position on the rower is, there will be no hiding out on the competition floor. 

Reads

CHALK UP READS

“The Stock Market of Fitness” by Josh Littauer, CrossFit Invictus

I may be a little nerdy, but I am really fascinated by watching the Stock Market. I enjoy watching trends, seeing who is moving in what industry, and tracking the outside influences that govern how a day of trading will end. It’s really all a numbers game, and for those who know me, I like tracking the numbers.

I was listening the the Increase Your Impact podcast with Justin Su’a this morning and he made the reference that life is very much like the Stock Market. For those invested, the everyday high and lows can be very different and come throughout the day. Tuesday morning (4/3/18), the Dow Jones opened about 400 pts lower than its previous close (that’s a huge drop), and through the course of the day had climbed 800 pts to finish with a record single day growth! If you have been tracking the market at all over the past few years you would note that it has been incredibly optimistic with 18 months of recorded gains, all until January of 2018. The market hit a correction (loss of 10% or more) in late February and has been highly volatile since.

With that said, this is just how life and fitness are. Life is not always going to hand you gains, and sometimes it hands you many losses in a row, but it is not those who take the hits who get hurt. Those who take hits and decide to get out, or stop investing at all are the ones who get burned. Tony Robbins is a very popular financial expert right now and one of his big principles lies in just being invested. You can’t make progress if you are not in the market. Now I understand some of you reading this are recalling to a time when you were invested and the market crashed and you sold out, leaving you with less money than you started. But what if you had stayed in the market? Would you not have already gained back you losses from 10 years ago?

Reads

CHALK UP CALENDAR

4/13 – 4/15: The Railyard Games (Albuquerque, NM)4/14: Battle for the Mountain (Dawsonville, GA)

4/14: Appalachian Games (Asheville, NC)

4/14: Deuces Wild by Warrior Affiliate League (Baldwin Park, CA)

4/14: Atlas Blarney Stone Competition (Denver, CO)

4/14: RISE of the Masters (Statesboro, GA)

4/14: CrossFit Forte FORCE For Families (Nashville, TN)

4/14 – 4/15: Mid-Atlantic Affiliate Challenge (Columbia, MD)

4/14 – 4/15: WOD Wars Fitfest (Dunedin, FL)

4/14 – 4/15: Funky Town Throwdown (Ft. Worth, TX)

4/15: The last day to sign up for Croatia with VoyEdge RX

4/19: Teens and Masters Qualifier (Invitation Only)

4/20 – 4/22: Athens Throwdown (Athens, Greece)

4/21: Festivus Games (Nationwide)

4/21: Mayhem for MSR (Cookeville, TN)

4/21: Loganville Lockdown (Loganville, GA)

4/21: FoxWOD (Panama City Beach, FL)

4/21: Swamp Challenge (Gainesville, FL)

4/21: Mucctown Throwdown (Winnemucca, NV)

4/21: Famously Hot Showdown (Columbia, SC)

4/28: Battleground SoCal (Wimington, CA)

4/28: Girls Gone Rx (Cincinnati, OH)

4/28: Salem Slaughterfest (Salem, OR)

4/28: 3rd Annual Appletown Throwdown (Cornelia, GA)

4/28: Brew-N-Brawl 2018 (Lenoir, NC)

4/28: CrossFit Cheltenham Throwdown (Gloucestershire, United Kingdom)

4/29: Three of A Kind (Gloucestershire, United Kingdom)

4/28 – 4/29: Walter’s Cup Throwdown (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

4/28 – 4/29: Battle of the Bluffs (Council Bluffs, IA)

4/28 – 4/29: King City Throwdown (Tupelo, MS)

5/4 – 5/5: Tough As Nails (Lubbock, TX)

5/4 – 5/5: No Gutz No Glory (Denver, CO)

5/4 – 5/5: Throwdown in Joe Town (St. Joseph, MO)

5/4 – 5/6: European Masters Throwdown (Budapest, Hungary)

5/5 – 5/6: Tribal Clash (Quarteira, Portugal)

5/5 – 5/6: Barbell de Mayo (Woodbridge, VA)

5/5 – 5/6: Manila Throwdown (Manila, Philippines)

5/5: Cinco de Mayo Classic (San Antonio, TX)

5/5: The Locomotive Games III (Youngstown, OH)

5/5: Granite Games Throwdown (Southaven,  MS)

5/5: Battle of the Boro (Goldsboro, NC)

5/5: New WODs on the Block (Grand Rapids, MI)

5/5: The Crawfish Challenge (Columbia, SC)

5/5: Masters of the Shed (Roxbury, NJ)

5/5: Never Forgotten Games (Redding, CA)

5/11 – 5/12: Beast Mode Games (Greenville, SC)

5/11 – 5/12: Midwest Monster (Joplin, MO)

5/11 – 5/12: Reebok’s Ready for Action – Fittest in Israel (Israel)

5/12: Barbells for Bullies (Danbury, CT)

5/12: The Mountain Meltdown (Park City, UT)

5/12: The 5th Element (Bedford, NH)

5/12: Soho Brawl (Tampa, FL)

5/12: Fallout in the Falls (Wichita Falls, TX)

5/18 – 5/20: East Regional (Albany, NY)

5/18 – 5/20: Europe Regional (Berlin, Germany)

5/18 – 5/20: South Regional (Salt Lake City, UT)

5/19: Raising the Bar for Recovery (Medina, OH)

5/19: East Coast Battle (Hanover, MD)

5/19: Barbells in the Burbs (Carol Stream, IL)

5/19: Gladiator Games (Concord, NC)

5/19: The Pillage of Palm Harbor (Palm Harbor, FL)

5/19: Spring Fling Partner Throwdown (San Anselmo, CA)

5/19: SilverFox Masters Competition (San Clemente, CA)

5/19: Ultimate Fitness Championship (Kennewick, WA)

5/19: Warriors Hope 2018 (Greenwood, IN)

5/19: T-Town Throwdown (Tifton, GA)

5/19 – 5/20: GameDay Mankato (Mankato, MN)

5/25 – 5/27: West Regional (Del Mar, CA)

5/25 – 5/27: Central Regional (Nashville, TN)

5/25 – 5/27: Latin America Regional (Rio de Janiero, Brazil)

5/26: Beauty is a Beast 2 (Indian Rocks Beach, FL)

6/1 – 6/3: Atlantic Regional (West Palm Beach, FL)

6/1 – 6/3: Meridian Regional (Madrid, Spain)

6/1 – 6/3: Pacific Regional (Sydney, Australia)

6/2: Kegs and Kilos (Manhattan, KS)

6/3: Summer Sizzler Individual Masters Competition (Burlington, MA)

6/9: Beastette Bash at CrossFit Ananda (Arlington, TX)

6/9 – 6/10: The Heartland Games 2018 (Chicago, IL)

6/9 – 6/10: Alaka’i SUPER Summer Slam (Kapolei, HI)

6/16: Battle on the Creek (
Johns Creek, GA)

6/16: Full Battle Rattle (Robinson, IL)

6/16: East Coast War (Wilmington, NC)

6/23: Garage Girls CrossFit Grit (St. Simons Island, GA)

6/23: 2018 Summer Swolestice (Gresham, OR)

6/23 – 6/24: Asbury Park Summer Games (Asbury Park, NJ)

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Is there something we missed? Email us at [email protected].
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