Always stay positive

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“Always stay positive. Even ‘Impossible’ spells ‘I’m Possible.'” — Unknown

CHALK UP IN 2 MINUTES

Roundup — 16-year-old Taylor Babb took gold at the Youth Pan Ams for Team USA. Hafthor Bjornsson squats 970 pounds, which is the heaviest squat in Iceland’s history. Miranda Chivers celebrates 10 years of CrossFit. Looks like CrossFit Mayhem is considering putting two teams together to compete. 

Sara Sigmundsdottir on her condition during the Invitational — “I felt great when I arrived but then on the second night I caught some kind of a bug and after that a good fever kicked in. I did not get out of bed that whole day…On competition day I felt reasonably fresh. I thought to myself that the worst was over and the adrenaline rush of competing would do the trick…I was feeling ok in the first event but after that I just completely crashed. Nauseous, dizzy and shaking so much. I tried to push trough it but I was WAY OFF and my team suffered because of it. I am devastated to have let them down.”

6 OBSERVATIONS FROM THE INVITATIONAL YOU SHOULDN’T IGNORE.

Dave Csatro uses every competition as a test. Not just a test of fitness but new ideas, programming, locations, etc. No CrossFit event has proved more insightful into the mind of Dave Castro than the invitational. 

1. Location: Melbourne — The 2015 CrossFit Invitational was hosted at the Caja Magica in Madrid, Spain. In 2016, the Meridian Regional was moved from Copenhagen, Denmark to the Caja Magica in Madrid. 
2. Odd Objects — The 2017 Regionals introduced athletes to odd objects for the first time. The two person tire flip AMRAP showed that other odd objects could be implemented at the individual and team levels at Regionals. 
3. Limited Barbells — The barbell was brought out for only one event. Don’t believe this was an accident. 
4. Handstand Obstacle Course — Dave said this isn’t the last time we’d see a handstand walk obstacle course.
5. Synchro Is Standard — Dave likes to expose weaknesses and by requiring synchro, teams will have to shore up weaknesses to advance. Three of five Invitational events involved synchronized movements. 
6. Weighted Scoring — For the past three years, the final event was scored higher which could potentially provide an upset and also an incentive for the leading team not to sandbag. It certainly can make for better spectating. The Games and Regionals have never incorporated this type of scoring before but it’s worth noting. 

THINGS TO…

DO: Open Prep with Margaux Alvarez

The 2018 CrossFit Open is just around the corner. If you want to make the most of the Open next year you need to start preparing today. Anyone who signs up this week will get a free t-shirt plus coaching, mobility, warm-ups and WODs from Margaux Alvarez.

GET READY FOR THE OPEN.

HEAR: The Morning Chalk Up

No, not our own podcast! Our Founder Justin LoFranco was interviewed by Blair Morrison and Stephanie Alderman of Beyond the Barbell where he shared about his history in politics and how this whole thing got started. 

TUNE IN. 

EAT: Slow Cooker Roast Chicken with Paleo Gravy

This Nom Nom Paleo Recipe is the perfect kind of pre-Thanksgiving practice for cooking a whole bird. You can easily sub out chicken for Turkey for a bunch more leftovers. 

TASTES LIKE CHICKEN.

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

CHALK UP AFFILIATES

• Over the weekend, CrossFit HammerMill in Webster, MA honored Officer Michael Lee, who died in an off duty car crash last month. 
• CrossFit Miners Town in Park City, UT changed hands recently after the original owner wanted a career change. Deacon Andrews, the founder of SISU Strong and also a member of the affiliate, is taking over as owner. 
• This weekend, BoomBOX CrossFit in Temecula, CA is hosting BoomBOX vs Cancer, a fundraising WOD where 100% of the proceeds will be donated to a recipient of their choice. 

“I Didn’t Want to Try Because I Didn’t Want to Fail” by Shane Kingery

I have been doing CrossFit at Synergy CrossFit in Suwanee, GA for a month now. I want to give you a clear picture of where I’ve been at in my life so you understand the last four weeks.

I have been fat. Always. My whole life. Ever since I can remember, I have been overweight. I loved food. I was a quirky, weird little kid who happened to find solace in eating. And making people laugh. And when you can make fun of yourself for being overweight, it’s a win-win. And as much as I joked though, I was not happy—you can’t be an odd, obese, effeminate, brilliant kid without leaving adolescence with a few scars.

I took those scars into adulthood, eating more, honing my comedic craft, and acquiescing to the fact that I was always going to be overweight. There were short blips on the radar where I lost weight. There was a low-carb craze a number of years back and as much as I didn’t want to get on the bandwagon, I couldn’t resist eating chicken wings, light beer and cheese and still losing weight. Oddly enough, that lifestyle didn’t last long and I got fat again. Shocking.

Somewhere along the way, I decided I was NEVER going to try and lose weight again.

Brought to You By Chris Spealler — Don’t have enough GHD machines or perhaps you’re not ready to take on GHDs RX? Chris Spealler demonstrates a great way to scale GHDs so any athlete can still hit the WOD hard. 

11/8: WOD for Warriors (Nationwide)

11/11: Rush Club 012 (Phoenix, AZ)

11/11: Beach Assault (Gulf Shores CrossFit, Gulf Shores, AL)

11/11: Emerald Coast Honor Games (Destin, FL)

11/11: Battle for the Badges (UnCharted CrossFit, St. Charles, MO)

11/18: New WODs On The Block (Various Locations in US)

11/18: Downtown Throwdown (Prattville, AL)

11/30: CrossFit Liftoff (Online)

12/1 – 3: Atlas Games (Montreal, Canada)

12/2 – 3: Rogue Winter Classic (Cleveland, OH)

12/2: Anthem CrossFit’s Reindeer Games (Pensacola, FL)

12/2: Vekter Games IV (CrossFit ReVamped, Columbia, MD)

12/9 – 10: WOD GODZ 2017 (Shreveport, LA)

1/27/18: Winter Chiller (Fairmont, WV)