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Breaking Down the Quarterfinals Workouts

 
Morning Chalk Up

March 17   |   POWERED BY

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

  • Recapping CrossFit’s press conference with Mal O’Brien, Jeffrey Adler, Adrian Bozman and Justin Bergh
  • Morning Chalk Up’s Teaganne Finn and Joey Adduci break down the Quarterfinals workouts
  • Reggie Fasa’s Workout of the Week
  • Individual Quarterfinals test descriptions
 
CROSSFIT GAMES
  Jeffrey Adler, Mal O’Brien “Nowhere near their peak” as Quarterfinals Kick Off  

Jeffrey Adler, Mal O’Brien “Nowhere near their peak” as Quarterfinals Kick Off

“I’m absolutely not ready for CrossFit at this moment. I’m not at any peak.”

Those were the words of 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Open winner Jeff Adler, who is coming off his second career Open win, at a virtual press conference hosted by CrossFit LLC on Thursday.

Also at the press conference, female winner Mal O’Brien had a similar take about her win.

“It’s been really exciting to be able to win the Open and not be in shape for it or preparing for it, (but) just kind of using it as training…It’s really exciting for what we can accomplish in the next couple months,” O’Brien said.

And despite being happy about their wins, neither one spent a whole lot of time celebrating.

“Yeah, it happened and I’m super happy it happened, but it’s also important to stay on track with training and just use it as a little test,” O’Brien said.

Adler added: “I don’t focus on the competitions when they’re done. When they’re done, we’re going to the next one and the scoreboard is at zero…It makes me feel good, for sure, but it doesn’t make me feel like I’m going to win Quarterfinals or any other stage. I have to work hard to get my name at the top of the leaderboard.”

Three Other Press Conference Takeaways

O’Brien on the Pressure to Win this Season

With six-time CrossFit Games champion Tia-Clair Toomey sitting out the season because she’s pregnant, O’Brien has been widely touted as the heir apparent to the crown. The 19-year-old admitted she does feel pressure, but that this feeling is nothing new to her.

“I kind of always feel that (pressure). It’s just part of our daily routine to feel some sort of pressure around training,” O’Brien said.

As for how she handles it, O’Brien said she just does her best to make sure she’s “staying in my own lane,” focusing on what she knows, keeping open communication with her team and “getting the help when I need it.”

Bozman Explains Starting the Open with a Repeat Workout

Although CrossFit’s Competition Director Adrian Bozman has been involved in Open programming for years, this was his first time leading the charge, and he chose to begin the whole competition with a legacy workout, one that Dave Castro first programmed in 2014.

Bozman explained at the press conference that the 23.1 workout was originally going to come later in the Open, but that CrossFit’s competition team recommended kickstarting the Open with the repeat, and Bozman took their advice.

That being said, Bozman also said he loves “the repeat element,” so it was important to him to ensure the Open featured a repeat workout as it has long been a tradition. Further, he particularly loves 23.1 because “it’s such a great classic test” that’s “got something for everybody.”

And finally, Bozman thought it was important to honor the Castro legacy.

“It represents one of the awesome, old school tests from the Dave Castro era, and that’s a bit part of our history,” he added.

Bozman Explains why CrossFit Dropped the Occupational Games

After running an online Occupational Games for the last two seasons, CrossFit decided to drop it from its roster this season.

Remind me: The Occupational Games crowned the fittest athletes in various occupations, including active-duty military, military veterans, law enforcement officers, firefighters, first responders, medical professionals, educators and college students.

Bozman explained: “There wasn’t as much interest (in the Occupational Games) as maybe we had hoped for, and ultimately there were so many things on the calendar that we already had committed with the Quarterfinals and taking over the Semis again that we felt that we wouldn’t be able to give it the attention that (it needed) to do it right, and sometimes you have to make those hard decisions,” Bozman said.

“There are only so many things we can support, and we want to be able to support the things that we can do correctly,” he continued.

CrossFit’s General Manager of Sport Justin Bergh mimicked this sentiment saying they’re hyper focused on delivering a great experience for the individuals, teams, masters and adaptive athletes this season, “as well as really delivering a top shelf experience for the Semifinals stage, which has gone through a lot of changes this season. It has been front and center for us.”

Bozman added: “That doesn’t mean that the door is closed (on the Occupational Games) forever.”

 
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SPEED READS

Quarterfinals are here!: The next stage of the 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Open is upon us with individual quarterfinals. Keep an eye on our siteInstagram and newsletter for all the updates. Individuals have until until Sunday, March 19 at 12 pm PT for their final workout window.

Old school: The Nano X3 – Rec Center, which is inspired by community rec centers used for a variety of fitness activities, has dropped in two different color schemes.

Podcast alert: The CrossFit Invictus Mindset podcast had Michael Easter, the author of The Comfort Crisis, on their show. Easter was previously profiled in Morning Chalk Up about how we’ve all gotten a bit soft over the years and what to do about it. 🤓

InterestingForbes, a prominent international business magazine, has an article titled: “What Is CrossFit, And Is It Right For You?

 
CROSSFIT GAMES
  Teaganne Finn Takes On the 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games Quarterfinals  

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Teaganne Finn Takes On the 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games Quarterfinals

Morning Chalk Up writer Teaganne Finn crushed the Open and has thus made the 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games Quarterfinals. She will be breaking down how she will be tackling each workout, and her thoughts on strategy. Joining her is Morning Chalk Up’s CrossFit analyst and CrossFit L3 coach Joey Adduci to share his thoughts on the Quarterfinals test.

Continue Reading...
 
WORKOUT
  Reggie Fasa’s Workout of the Week  

Reggie Fasa’s Workout of the Week

Today’s workout is programmed by the UK’s Reggie Fasa, who came 10th at last year’s Strength in Depth European Semifinal. Fasa came a very impressive ninth at the 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Open and is obviously looking to build off his Semifinal appearance this year with a ticket to Madison.

Workout

For time:

  • 30 Power Clean @100/70kg
  • 30 Bar Muscle Up
  • 30 Shoulder to Overhead @100/70kg

Time cap: 10 minutes

Scaling

If the weight is too challenging for you, scale this down to something that is around 70% of your 1RM clean and jerk. You should be able to perform around five reps unbroken for the shoulder to overhead so it doesn’t turn into clean and jerk singles! Power cleans will be performed in singles but you shouldn’t have to rest too much between reps.

If you can do bar muscle ups, but 30 is unrealistic for you in a workout, either scale down the number of reps or swap for C2B or pull ups.

Tip from Fasa:

“Pace yourself on each movement as 30 is a lot of reps in one go. Think about what numbers are realistic for you with sets for both the weightlifting and the bar muscle ups and make sure to not flirt with failure early on! Take disciplined rest between each power clean and maintain manageable sets on both the bar muscle up and shoulder to overhead that won’t lead to missed reps.”

 
CROSSFIT GAMES
  2023 NOBULL CrossFit Individual Quarterfinals Test Descriptions  

2023 NOBULL CrossFit Individual Quarterfinals Test Descriptions

The 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games quarterfinal workouts for individuals have been officially released. This stage of competition differs from the Open in that athletes have to submit their scores periodically during the window of Thursday, March 16 through Sunday, March 19.

A link to our guide to individual quarterfinals can be found here.

Score submission schedule:

  • Submission window for workouts 1 and 2: Due Friday, March 17 at 12:00 PM PT.
  • Submission window for workouts 3 and 4: Due Saturday, March 18 at 12:00 PM PT
  • Submission window for workout 5: Due Sunday, March 19 at 12:00 PM PT.

The leaderboard will be updated Monday, March 27 or earlier if the video review process has been completed, according to CrossFit HQ.

Floor plan diagrams and filming instructions.

Continue Reading...
 
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INTENTIONAL WORKOUTS.
 
HIGHLIGHTS

Celebrating a PR, hosting a fundraiser, this, that, or otherwise. Send us a tip.

  • 🎂 Happy birthday, Jacob Heppner.
  • 👖 Chelsea McKinney from Paradiso CrossFit in Venice, CA takes on the Base Blocks Pants Challenge.
  • Artem Shirokov from Russia adds a little “fun and novelty” to his calisthenics training with this legless ring ladder climb.
  • Congratulations to teen athlete Belle Headlee from Redline CrossFit in Waukee, IA on the 215 pound/97.5kg split jerk.
  • 🔥 These synchro chest-to-bar pull-ups from Team Vondelgym‘s Roman Bouwman, Ruben Rebel, Lisa Snel, and Nicholas Collins are fire in slow motion.
  • ICYMI: Rebecka Vitesson from CrossFit Butcher’s Lab in Copenhagen, Denmark put up 203 pounds/92kg in her max thruster for 142nd place in Open Workout 23.2B.
 
 
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