Your Coffee is ready.
Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Today’s edition was chalked up while driving up the mountains to our cabin in Big Bear, CA. Hello Stellar CrossFit. See you soon!
Today is your FINAL DAY to pick up the official Chalk Up Before You Walk Up tank and tee. Tonight at midnight, they’re going away. OH AND BY THE WAY…anyone we see wearing one at the CrossFit Games is gonna get a reward so act accordingly.
NOW PLAYING on Spotify…Road to the Games: Alessandra Pichelli
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“You don’t have to be great to get started, but you do have to get started to be great.” — Lee J. Colan
CHALK UP IN 2 MINUTES
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE YOU HIT THE BOX
Single-day CrossFit Games tickets are now on sale. Is your Reebok Nano collection more ridiculous than Lindy Barber’s…doubtful? Candice Wagner hits a 370 pound 5RM deadlift PR. While Americans are enjoying the sun, wayyyy down under it’s winter time and Alethea Boon is freezing. Christmas Abbott walks through Big Brother’s front door. Pretty soon, you’re going to start seeing Rogue Fitness equipment on stage at USA Weightlifting events. Spencer Panchik hits a 370 pound clean PR. Training highlights from CrossFit Invictus.
SNEAK PEAK — Rory McKernan delivering opening lines for the 2017 CrossFit Games.
What to watch with your second cup of coffee…half bumper plate, half hanging human back squat.
From 2015, Jason Khalipa on Steroids and Drug Testing…”Every time you qualify for the Games at Regionals you get tested…If you podium, you always get tested at the Games. I’ve been drug tested probably 15 times.”
THINGS TO…
WATCH: A Day in the Life of Lindy Barber
Follow the 2x CrossFit Games individual athlete and 2x Affiliate Cup champ Lindy Barber as she trains, coaches and eats her way through a regular day. P.S. No one has more Reebok Nano’s than this girl.
WATCH.
WATCH.
HEAR: Sorting Life and Such
How does Girls Gone WOD Podcast balance their marriages while spending all their free time on their podcast? What does it really look like to live a life where food and exercise are not a transaction, and how can you get there? These and more of life’s critical questions on Episode 208.
EAT: Hard Cider Brats
Brats are the perfect pairing for summer BBQs and post WOD park picnics. The suns out, so grab a few friends, beers, and brats and head outside.
THE RECIPE.
THE RECIPE.
BUY: Pants for People Who Squat
You worked hard for your legs. Don’t you think you deserve a pair of jeans that fit right and you look good in? We do, obviously! And so does Barbell Apparel, which is why they’re offering 10% off your entire order with code “CHALKUP.”
ADD TO CART.
ADD TO CART.
CHALK UP AFFILIATES
STORY SERIES — How has CrossFit helped you achieve a goal?
“CrossFit helped me to love my body again. After years of bodybuilding, I was left with nothing but negative thoughts about how ‘imperfect’ and not beautiful I thought my body was. In the short 4 months I’ve been CrossFitting, the image of myself has drastically changed. From the years of strength work, I am already able to do extremely skilled things like ring muscle ups, handstand pushups and bar muscle ups. My body is so strong and beautiful, and it took CrossFit to let me see that.” — Shaina Smith of CrossFit Mariner Square in Alameda, CA
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Special Olympics Illinois has teamed up with 20 CrossFit affiliates around the state for a statewide fundraiser called Row Raiser that challenges teams of 10 to pull a distance of a marathon (26.2 miles) on a row machine in the shortest amount of time. The event was first started by Sam Dancer in 2015 and raised $10,000. Their goal this year is to raise $100,000.
CHALK UP READS
“A Plus-Size Girl Fitting in a CrossFit World” by Jessica Solomon, Morning Chalk Up
My name is Jessica Solomon, and I’m a plus-size CrossFit athlete. Even at my fittest in high school — while I was involved in basketball, softball, track, the dance team, swimming, rock climbing, hiking, and whatever else I could do to be active — I was still considered “plus-size.”
My journey with CrossFit started in the fall of 2015 when my husband and I decided to try to get in “good enough shape to join CrossFit” at our local YMCA. Getting in “good enough shape to join CrossFit” is not a thing, by the way. I have seen some pretty fit people get stomped by CrossFit WODs right along with me. That’s when I found out that one of my Facebook friends was moving back to my town and opening up a CrossFit box. We joined CrossFit Bayou Bluffs the first week it opened, and we haven’t looked back since.
I felt out of place at first. I would see pictures from other CrossFit boxes, and their members all looked pretty fit. I began to feel like I may be doing nothing but embarrassing my coach and the owners of my box by being there. I didn’t want them to feel ashamed of the fact that I was wearing the gym t-shirts and promoting our box, while being plus-size. Over time I’ve gained confidence in myself and my body, and I am learning that these thoughts are a lie. Sometimes insecure feelings sneak in still, but I just have to remind myself that progress does not happen overnight.