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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Today’s edition was chalked up while eating all you can eat BBQ at Austin’s famous Salt Lick Barbecue.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“There are so so so many ways that It can go wrong, but in your head there can only be one way, and it’s all the way! You have to give it 110% and know that you’re going to do it….You have to know that you will succeed, and once you have that, you’ll be unstoppable.” — Demi Bagby, 15-year-old CF athlete
A LOOK INSIDE THE INVITATIONAL
WHAT’S THE INVITATIONAL?In case you forgot, the CrossFit Invitational is this weekend and it’s in Toronto, Canada. For those who are unfamiliar, the Invitational is basically the CrossFit All Stars game.
HOW’D IT GET STARTED?
It’s one of the most fundamental curiosities in any competitive sport: “What would happen if we took Shaq, Kobe, D Wade and put them on a team together? They’d dominate.” In 2012, CrossFit got curious and they teamed up with Reebok to introduce the first CrossFit Invitational in London, England — 2 teams of 6 athletes, U.S. vs. the World (Europe, Australia and Canada), competing for the title of Champion.
A NEW TESTING GROUND FOR WORKOUTS
Justin Bergh, the General Manager of the CrossFit Games, describes it: “We had wanted to continue doing new and different things in the off-season…and glean some good input on what we do for the Open and Regionals and the Games.”
The most obvious example is the 2015 debut of a Fran-style couplet of thrusters and legless rope climbs which was chosen to conclude the 2016 Regionals.
But perhaps the most interesting thing CrossFit experimented with was allowing the athletes to collaborate with Dave Castro on the workouts.
WAIT…BACK UP
Yep, you read that right. At the inaugural Invitational, Dave Castro actually gave the athletes a chance to collaborate on the individual workouts and their format. But for those of you secretly hoping Dave will ring you up to ask your advice on whether to put muscle-ups in the 2017 Open, I wouldn’t hold your breath. As Justin Bergh recalls: “We were never doing that again. Programming by committee is really hard.”
But like anything in life, the CrossFit Invitational was about testing things out and seeing what worked.
WHAT’S NEXT?
This year marks the 5th CrossFit Invitational. We know a few things — CrossFit is looking to host events like the CrossFit Games and the Invitational in new cities. An Invitational in Australia perhaps?
But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. The Invitational is this Sunday and here’s how you can watch it live.
CHALK UP IN 2 MINUTES
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE YOU HIT THE BOX
Mattie Rogers takes the stage at 1PM Central (GMT-6) at the 2016 World University Weightlifting Championships down in Mexico. You can access the scoreboard and livestream here. She wrapped up her last training session yesterday. PS featured on the front page in Mexico is USAW lifter Caitlin Hogan.
Dimitry Klokov does a tabata WOD with 205 pound muscle snatches, 405 pound snatch grip deadlifts, and 315 pound thrusters. Four fitness vacations that will make you stronger. Prepping for the American Open, Alyssa Ritchey snatches 165 for a double. Camille Leblanc-Bazinet dropped into a high school PE class. Lindsey Valenzuela hits a post partum 220 pound clean PR.
CHALK UP READS
“Kids in CrossFit: Is it dangerous?” by 13WMAZ
CrossFit — it’s the fitness phenomenon popping up everywhere for adults wanting to get in shape. Now, kids are getting involved, but how does that training affect their development?McKenna Johnson has been doing CrossFit for a little over a month now. She said at first she was intimidated by the workouts. Now she loves it. She’s only 17 years old, but kids her age and even younger are getting pumped up about it. McKenna’s mom Brandy does CrossFit too, but she says when her daughter first brought up trying it, she was excited for her daughter to try it at the gym she goes to.
CHALK UP AFFILIATES
PHOTO: The very first WOD at the new CrossFit Mayhem 3.0.
This weekend, T2 CrossFit in Bridgeville, PA raised more than $3,000 for Team RWB, a charity that helps veterans get reintroduced into a community.
More than 60 people turned out at Aliso CrossFit Saturday to pack up their bags with 15 to 20 pounds of food and hike 5 miles to drop off the donated goods at the Laguna Food Pantry. They estimated nearly 1,000 pounds of food was collected .
CHALK UP TIPS
Brought to You by Athlete Daily — They sat down with a handful of elite CrossFit and weightlifting athletes to talk competition strategy. Everything from your mental game, to what to pack an eat before your next throwdown.
CHALK UP DEALS
Icon Athlete, AKA Chris Spealler’s online coaching and programming, is offering a free 2 week all access trial. You can signup for free access starting this Friday.
The CrossFit store has any two Reebok women’s workout capris or shorts for $60 by using code “SHE60.”