“The most powerful weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another, train your mind to see the good in this day.”- William James
CROSSFIT GAMES
Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Challenge Semifinal Features Star-Studded Line-Up, Past Champions
The first of four North America Semifinal events kick-off this weekend, as the Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Challenge hosts 60 individual and 20 team hopefuls looking to secure their invitations to the 2021 NOBULL CrossFit Games. The home of the University of Tennessee basketball teams, Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville will be the battleground for what could be the most star-studded and competitive field in the Semifinal stage.
What’s on the line: Along with a Games invite, the top-five finishers in each division will take home prize money from a total prize purse of $45,000. Male individual athletes who finish 6-8 earn a spot to the Last Chance Qualifier that will be held online June 28-July 4. The women’s division at the MACC received an extra Last Chance Qualifier spot due the backfill process that resulted in Tia-Clair Toomey, Emma Chapman and Carla Henriet competing at the event due to travel restrictions.
The CrossFit Games announced the total Semifinals Prize Purse this week. The ten events will award $400,000 to top placing athletes, distributed as follows:
For the North American and European events: Individuals (Men/Women)
First Place: $5,000
Second Place: $4,000
Third Place: $3,000
Fourth Place: $2,000
Fifth Place: $1,000 Teams First Place: $5,000
Second Place: $4,000
Third Place: $3,000
Fourth Place: $2,000
Fifth Place: $1,000
For the Oceania, Asia, South America and Africa events: Individuals (Men/Women)
First Place: $5,000
Second Place: $4,000
Third Place: $3,000 Teams First Place: $5,000
Second Place: $4,000
Third Place: $3,000
The Fittest in Cape Town Semifinal event, which will be held in Cape Town, South Africa on June 4-6, released its second individual event yesterday. The workout is “Friday Night Lights“:
All other events will be released on Thursday, May 27.
CrossFit LLC reached out to the affiliate and athlete community on behalf of the Community Gyms Coalition today asking them to email or tweet their representatives in Congress to support the GYMS Act. They wrote “The GYMS Act would provide direct grants to help boxes and small gyms pay their bills and stay in business.”
From the email: “Momentum is building, as the GYMS Act was recently introduced in the Senate by the bipartisan team of Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS), who have joined more than 120 House members from both parties in supporting the legislation. Despite that progress, the GYMS Act won’t become law without your help. Please take two minutes to send an email or tweet to your senators and members of Congress to tell them to support the GYMS Act.”
WIT Fitness Military Discount: To celebrate Memorial Day, WIT Fitness is offering a 25% discount to all members of the US Military on every order through June 1. https://us.wit-fitness.com
Tickets for the Granite Games, one of the in-person North American Semifinal events, are available now.
CROSSFIT GAMES
How to Watch: The Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Challenge
The road to the 2021 NOBULL CrossFit Games continues this weekend May 28-30 with the start of the Semifinal stage. The Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Challenge kicks-off the first of four North America Semifinals, and is one of three live, in-person competitions on the continent.
Coverage:Sean Woodland and Tommy Marquez return to call the action with Niki Brazier providing coverage from the floor for the MACC, this time on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville inside the home of the Volunteers basketball teams, Thompson-Boling Arena. The Fitness Media Collective will produce the live-stream.
Live video coverage will be available on the Games homepage as well as on their official YouTube and Facebook pages.
The Morning Chalk Up will be onsite providing coverage of the competition with exclusive athlete interviews, in-depth coverage, highlights, analysis, images and daily recaps on our website, and on our official YouTube and Instagram pages. Subscribe and sign-up for alerts and updates on the latest content as it’s posted.
CrossFit will provide the leaderboard for the MACC.
Schedule: The three-day competition will feature six events, two on each day for both the individual and team divisions.
Three Reasons to Get Excited for the Granite Games
The Granite Games take place June 4-6 in Eagan, MN, pitting athletes against each other at Viking Lakes. The Semifinal event offers several reasons for the fans to get excited, a list that includes visiting an NFL facility and meeting a five-time CrossFit Games champion. However, the nighttime events under the lights serve as a big draw.
Remind me: The Granite Games spent multiple years at St. Cloud, MN, before making the move to the heart of the Twin Cities. The reason for the switch had nothing to do with issues at the original host site. Instead, Loud and Live Sports wanted to focus on giving athletes and fans easier access to a major airport, and the company used the opportunity to lock up a future at the Minnesota Vikings training facility.
“There’s a huge legacy that’s been developed in St. Cloud,” said Dylan Malitsky, vice president of Loud and Live Sports. “I’ve been there many, many years. And it is a really great, great city. It’s a great venue.”
“The fact that we’re able to bring it right in the heart of the city in a brand new venue, world-class, that still had some semblance of what St. Cloud brought. The football field, even though it’s not a college campus, it is an NFL campus they use throughout the year. We thought it was very fitting, and it was almost like graduating to the next stage — going from community college to now this professional venue.”
Sleep, Carbs, WHOOP and Rich Froning: How Haley Adams Prepared for the MACC
Since placing fourth overall at the CrossFit Games last summer as a 19 year-old, Haley Adams is heading into this weekend’s Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Challenge Semifinals in Knoxville, TN stronger and fitter than ever.
Training wise, she has been following a “super consistent strength cycle” for the past few months. This has translated into some major growth, such as performing front squat triples for 10 sets at loads she used to do just one set. “Overall everything has gotten better from last year,” Adams said of her improvement.
Adam’s day-in-the-life of details: In recent months, Adams has been waking up each day at the same time — 7:30 AM.
She eats a piece of toast with banana and honey for breakfast, a notable addition to her morning routine this year, as last year, Adams said she rarely ate before her first workout of the day.
Then Adams heads to the gym for her first of two three-hour daily training sessions with her mentor and training partner, four-time CrossFit Games champion Rich Froning. Generally, they hit all of the same workouts together each session.
On a good day, it’s a seamless experience, but on the days when Adams is feeling particularly “hard-headed,” sometimes they start acting more like brother and sister, she explained. “We fight. We do argue a lot,” Adams said, laughing.
With a 1% Chance of Living, John Breslawski Survives Cardiac Arrest and Gets Back to the Gym
On July 16, 2019, after finishing a workout at Wayfarer Crossfit in Irwin, PA, John Breslawski collapsed.
“We finished the WOD — I was so hot, Oh My God —it was running [and] muscle-ups (modified for me),” he says. “After it was over, I remember sitting in front of the fan with friends and just laughing and cooling off like always.”
“I said goodbye to one of my friends, she said bye to me, and she heard a thud. I was the thud.”
Breslawski, 44 at the time, suffered sudden cardiac arrest.
Our new "Fueled By Coffee and Chalk" shirt is made from a tri-blend fabric so soft you'll never want to take it off. Well, you know, except washing it after the WOD, obviously.
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Protect your hands, and become more efficient, by learning the three different hand positions for muscle-ups. Whether you're performing them Rx or scaled using the right grip at the right time could be the difference between no reps and PRs.
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We thought there was only one P in HSPU, but apparently, the key to getting better is knowing there are three. Check out this guide from Misfit Athletics to improve your posture, patience, and programming and start crushing your HSPU.
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