Asia CrossFit Championship Goes HAM

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Today’s edition is brought to you by Kettlebell Kitchen.

Every goal starts with a plan. Whether you’re looking to slim down or bulk up, Kettlebell Kitchen has a meal plan that can help you get there. And right now they’re offering their best deal of the year. Sign up for a meal plan between now and January 23rd and you’ll lock in savings for all of 2019. Click here to learn more.

“There are only two days of the year that nothing can be done. One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow, so today is the day to LOVE, BELIEVE, DO, and mostly LIVE.” — CrossFit Florian Teen Girls Program

Here’s How You Get 100 Teen Girls Into the Gym

Some backstory.

Tia Sapienza is a coach at CrossFit Florian in Norwood, MA. She also coaches softball locally, and three years ago she had an idea. She wanted to get her softball girls into CrossFit Florian for some strength and conditioning. So, she brought ten or so girls in to train with her.

They loved it.

So much so that they came back. And they brought their friends. Now, Tia runs the CrossFit Florian teen program with more than 100 girls from seventh to twelfth grade, three to four times a week based on the sports season.

And the teen program is still growing.

“Every session, as new girls join, watching the transformation unfold is incredible,” Tia wrote in an email. “They are nervous to walk in the doors, nervous for what the whiteboard says, nervous to partner with someone they don’t know, and nervous to even speak in front of others. A few short weeks later, they are the ones encouraging the next group of new athletes to do the same.”

More than just a fitness class.

Tia makes sure she gets the girls to see how the strength and discipline of CrossFit transfer to other areas of their life. She brings in her sister to teach them Yoga and also a friend who teaches Zumba. They host paint nights for the girls to paint inspirational messages and taken them on field trips to Boston to run the stairs at Harvard. “I try really hard to expose them to all sorts of fitness, not only Crossfit! Our most wonderful night is their goal setting night, that we do around New Years each year and focus on goal setting activities and strategies and determining their individual core values.”

The program is still growing, and Tia has the full support of the staff at CrossFit Florian. She says this whole experience has been more than she ever anticipated. “This program has been a dream come true in the making. I set this as a goal years ago and never expected this is what it would turn out to be, but here we are!”

SANCTIONALS.

Programming Power Move: Asia Goes HAM

The story.

Shortly before Christmas, the Asia CrossFit Championships announced on Instagram that they would enlist the help of veteran athletes and coaches Spencer Hendel, James Hobart and Austin Malleolo, also known as the HAM Plan, to program for the event.

“Team @hamplan (@spencer_hendel @jameshobart & myself) finished it all up! The @asiacrossfitchampionship is shaping up to be an amazing competition! With our combined 3 decades of @crossfitgames experience our goal is to NOT reinvent the wheel – but keep the wheel moving in that same direction that has been a proven model to get the fittest individuals and teams to the Games!” — Austin Malleolo on Instagram

Who is Team HAM?

Hendel, Hobart and Malleolo have traveled the globe teaching others the fundamentals of CrossFit on the Level 1 Seminar Staff, and have multiple Individual and Team appearances as athletes at the CrossFit Games. Hobart is a three-time individual games qualifier and the only athlete to win multiple Affiliate Cup titles on different teams as a former member of both CrossFit New England, and Rich Froning’s championship Mayhem squad. Malleolo is a five-time individual games qualifier and Hendel is a six-time individual qualifier and both are two-time team athletes.

About the Asia CrossFit Championship

The Asia CrossFit Championship is set to kick off with an online qualifier with the finals at the end of April in Shanghai, but little else is known at this point. The event is a lesser-known competition in a still-developing region of the “CrossFit world” competitively speaking. As of 2018, China was home to around 150 affiliates, 12th worldwide for locations. However, China has never qualified an individual athlete or team to the CrossFit Games.

Austin Malleolo and James Hobart of the HAM plan triumvirate took time to answer some of our questions and share what they plan on bringing to the table at the 2019 Asia CrossFit Championships.

Continue reading…

Coffee Break Conversations

What to say to your friend who just discovered CrossFit…

Yes, yes we do want to hear more about it actually. The enthusiasm of first discovering CrossFit is an ongoing joke, but the ongoing results aren’t. Just look at Cathy Hall, who fell in love with CrossFit four years ago because it was something she could still do with MS. “It may sound like nothing to most people who are doing real box jumps, but I can now jump on a box 6 inches tall without holding onto anything. That’s a big deal for me,” she said.

Things To…

WATCH: Killing the Fat Man, Again 

In 2012, Gary Roberts lost more than 70 pounds. Nearly six years later, Roberts has fallen off the wagon. He hasn’t been to an affiliate in more than two years, his diet is terrible and his personal life is a mess. Watch as Roberts fights to regain his health and fitness, reshape his outlook on life, and let go of past relationships that are detrimental to his overall well-being.

He’s starting all over again.

HEAR: Girls Gone WOD on Mamaste

Joy and Claire joined the Mamaste podcast for an episode all about the history of Girls Gone WOD, what to do if your kids only want to eat junk food (or just butter), learning how to mold your passions into actionable tasks.

PODCAST TO PODCAST. 

BUY: EPIC Deals on Paleo Bites

Don’t go hungry during long days back at the office. Instead grab 20% off EPIC’s entire line of high quality protein and paleo-friendly staples like grass-fed protein bars, beef jerky and performance bar with code “EPICYEAR,” so you can stay on track even when you can’t get out of the office.

STOCK UP AND SAVE.

EAT: Veggie Packed Freezer-Friendly Breakfast Burritos

Freezer friendly breakfast burritos that are both packed with nutritious veggies and protein for the ultimate on the go breakfast. The best part is that you can make them ahead and reheat later.

GRAB EM AND GO.

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

Chalk Up Community

• NEW BOX IN NEW YORK — A new box is opening in Hudson, NY. CrossFit Luke at Lumberjack Athletics opens February 2. 
• 24 HEROES IN 24 HOURS — Unyoked CrossFit in Champaign, IL hosted “24 Heroes in 24 Hours” December 30th and 31st as a fundraiser for Mission 22, a non-profit organization that combats the ever-rising veteran suicide rate. Member Michael Sandone participated in all 24 hours, raising more than $4,000. 
• ORPHAN AID — Orphan Aid Liberia has LOVE hoodies on pre-order through January 14. Each hoody sold provides 36 meals for orphans in Liberia. 
• ROW FOR REVEILLE — The New Year’s Eve Row For Reveille at CrossFit Hogback was a major success. All ten registered athletes rowed for the entire 24 hours and the gym raised over $3,500. 
• THE TITAN GAMES — Games athlete Jessica Griffith competed on Dwayne the Rock Johnson’s new show, Titan Games. You can watch her compete on the show
  tonight on NBC at 5:00 PM PT.

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

Margaux Alvarez hopes to be on American Ninja Warrior and she shared her audition tape • Active Life RX has a free program preview for coaches available through January • Emmily Butz hit a 205 pound split jerk PR • Happy three year anniversary to CrossFit Omaha • Ben Bergeron just announced two more coach immersion seminars • Nick Urankar did three 255 pound snatch singles in under 45 seconds • Team Soul is hosting a seminar in Guanajuato, Mexico in April • Kate Nye gets a 251 pound power clean PR from the blocks.

Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Challenge Online Qualifier Begins — The first two WODs of the Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Challenge online qualifier were released today. Registered athletes have until Monday at 5:00 PM PT to submit their scores and you still have time to register.

— WOD 19.1: “CLUBBER LANG”

For time:

75 Wall balls (20/14 pounds)

100 Calorie row

75 Wall balls (20/14 pounds)

— WOD 19.2 a:

For heaviest weight:

0:00 – 10:00

Snatch + 2 Overhead squats

— WOD 19.2 b: “PREFONTAINE”

For time from 10:00 – Finish

40 Calorie Assault bike

20 Bar facing burpees

15 Squat snatches (155/105 pounds)

20 Bar facing burpees

40 Calorie assaut bike 

“Dr. George Mann Says Low Cholesterol Diets Are Useless, but the ‘Heart Mafia’ Disagrees,” by Kent Demaret and Judith Weinraub, People Magazine

Disputes over treatment of disease are often bitter, involving politics, personalities and multiple vested interests in addition to honest differences of opinion. When a plausible minority viewpoint disagrees with a medical-establishment theory, the public is faced with opposite notions about a subject that literally can mean life or death. Such is the case with the relationship of diet to cholesterol and heart attacks.

Cholesterol is a fatty substance that is part of every cell and the raw material for important hormones. Conventional medical wisdom holds that it also contributes to the buildup of deposits within arteries, thus leading to heart attacks. The main prescription has been the low-cholesterol diet, limiting the intake of such foods as eggs, meat, milk, butter and cheese.

But Dr. George V. Mann, 60, a Johns Hopkins-educated biochemist and physician now on the faculty of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, disagrees. He contends a “heart Mafia” is misinforming the American public. “When we find the real cause and prevention of the cholesterol problem,” he says, “it will seem to many that there was an unwholesome conspiracy.”

1/5: Barbell Classic 2019 (Plymouth, MI)

1/5 – 1/5: KO in the OK (Tulsa, OK)

1/10 – 2/4: Row’d Royalty (Online)

1/10 – 1/13: Feats of Strength Online Meet (Online)

1/11 – 1/13: CrossFit Fort Vancouver Championships (Vancouver, WA)

1/12: Granite Games Throwdown at New Ulm CrossFit (New Ulm, MN)

1/12: The BrickYard Brawl (South Windsor, CT)

1/12: Hometown Throwdown 4 at CrossFit 534 (Poplarville, MS)

1/12: Granite Games Winter Throwdown (Waite Park, MN)

1/12: Granite Games Throwdown (Snyder, TX) 

1/12 – 1/13: Scaled Flames (Amsterdam)

1/12 – 1/13: Row for Reveille at CrossFit Kitsap (Poulsbo, OR)

1/17 – 1/20: Wodapalooza (Miami, FL)

1/19: New Year New Throwdown Event (El Mirage, AZ)

1/19: Battle For The Axe (Baxter, MN)

1/19: Warrior Affiliate League Fantastic Four (La Puente, CA)

1/19: Battle for the Axe (Baxter, MN)

1/19: Great Lakes Games 2018 (Detroit, MI)

1/19 – 1/20: Chiang Mai Throwdown (Chiang Mai, Thailand)

1/21: Helen for Hounds at CrossFit Pretoria (Pretoria, South Africa)

1/26: The Force Wars 2 (Pembroke Pines, FL)

1/26: Lost River Rumble (Bowling Green, KY)

1/26: The Blizzard Bowl (Little Canada, MN)

1/26: 2019 IceBreather Classic (Springfield, IL)

1/26: ATCF Cancer Crackdown: Revival of The Fittest (Pasco, WA)

1/26: Hung Like Coff at PFC CrossFit (Las Vegas, NV)

1/26: Steel Rail Shootout 2019 (McComb, MS)

1/26: Woid Beast Fitness Challenge (Cham, Germany)

1/26: Brick NY Midtown Throwdown (New York, NY)

1/26: Fifth Annual Cold Steel Classic (Oswego, IL) 

1/26: New Year’s Revolution (Seminole, FL)

1/26: Three Rivers Throwdown (Rome, GA)

1/26 – 1/27: Game Day Eau Claire (Eau Claire, WI)

1/26 – 1/27: NorCal Masters (San Rafael, CA)

1/27: Big Dawgs Athlete Development Camp (Letchworth, England)

1/29 – 2/2: Fittest in Cape Town (Cape Town, South Africa)

2/1 – 2/2: Battle of the Brave III (North Kansas City, MO)

2/2: Golden State Games (Stockton, CA)

2/2: Left Coast Classic Competition (Laguna Niguel, CA)

2/2: Golden State Games (Stockton, CA)

2/2: A League of Their Own (San Antonio, TX)

2/9: Valentine’s Day Crush (North Hollywood, CA)

2/9: The Garage Games Master of the Masters (Suwanee, GA)

2/9: Cupid’s Roar Partner Competition (Melbourne, Australia)

2/9: 3rd Annual Black Ops Partner Competition (Wheaton, IL)

2/16: Valentine’s Day Massacre (Kilgore, TX)