A quick scheduling update: The Morning Chalk Up team is taking a much-needed vacation next week so there will be no newsletter. We’ll be back in action Monday, December 27.
In today’s edition:
Weightlifting gets removed from the Olympics?
What happened during day 1 of competition in Dubai?
Dubai’s minimum work requirement explained.
Is CrossFit’s Precision Health a major opportunity to become a career coach?
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”- Aristotle
DUBAI CROSSFIT CHAMPIONSHIP
Day 1 of competition has already concluded in Dubai. Athletes spent the entire day at Ski Dubai playing in the snow. They’ll now return to the Dubai Tennis Stadium for the next two days of competition.
Two scored events are down, with seven and seven hundred points more to go.
Catch-up quick:
Go inside athlete check-in with Sara Sigmundsdottir, Kristin Holte, Sam Briggs and a few others.
What’s the situation with the minimum work requirement? We explain more down below.
Scheduling reminder: Because of the time change and schedule of events, competition does not resume until Friday at 4:00 AM PT.
To make keeping track easier, our schedule of events automatically updates to your local time zone.
Friday’s Schedule:
Event 2: 4:00 AM PT/12:00 PM GMT/4:00 PM Dubai
1RM Clean and Jerk
Event 3: 6:05 AM PT/2:05 PM GMT/6:05 PM Dubai
50 cal row
40 A-Jumps with weight vest (20lb/14lb)
30 Sandbag Cleans (150lb/100lb)
20 Bar Muscle Ups
10 Paralette Handstand Push-Ups
20 Bar Muscle-Ups
30 Sandbag Cleans (150lb/100lb)
40 A-Jumps with weight vest (20lb/14lb)
50 cal row
Time Cap: 23 min (male) / 25 min (female)
Event 4: 8:21 AM PT/4:21 PM GMT/8:21 Dubai
4 Rounds, each round for time:
20 cal bike erg
15m unbroken handstand walk
10 overhead squats (85kg / 60kg)
Time Cap: 3 min per round
Notes:
Uldis Upenieks withdrew from competition before event 1 citing travel-related issues.
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Weightlifting will be removed from the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, the first time the sport will miss the big stage since 1896. However, the IOC did say there is still a chance that it could be included and will be discussed again at the 2023 IOC Session.
Mattie Rogers(76kg A): 107kg🥈, 136kg🥈, 243kg total 🥈
Upcoming:
Ian Wilson (109kg A) Today at 6:00 AM ET
Laura Alexander (87kg A) Today at 9:00 AM ET
Juliana Riotto (87kg A) Today at 9:00 AM ET
Keiser Witte (+109kg B) Friday at 12:00 AM ET
Sarah Robles (+87kg A) Friday at 3:00 AM ET
COMPETITION
MEMBER EXCLUSIVE
Dubai’s Minimum Work Requirement Explained: What You Need to Know
During an athlete briefing today, Dubai CrossFit Championship organizers notified competitors that there will be a minimum work requirement for all events, and the penalty for not meeting the requirement will be an automatic disqualification as well as forfeiting any prize money earned from previous events.
The minimum work requirement details: All nine workouts at this year’s Dubai CrossFit Championship will have a minimum work requirement.
The minimum work requirement is listed as 50% for each workout.
Failure to meet the minimum will result in disqualification and forfeit any prize money earned.
It’s worth noting that a representative for Dubai CrossFit Championship stressed that this is all subject to change at any point.
The big picture: For the most part, this really shouldn’t be an issue, however, there are three workouts for which this could be a major factor.
Event 2: The 1RM Max Clean and Jerk
2 lifts per athlete
Athletes pick their weight
Women’s bar: 70-75-80-85-90-95-100-102.5-105-107.5-110-102.5-115-117.5-120 (kgs)
Men’s bar: 100-110-120-130-140-145-150-155-160-165-170-175-180-185-190 (kgs)
Min work required: 1 successful lift
Competition directors have structured this event so that each athlete only gets two lifts, and have said that a minimum of 70kg (or 154 pounds) for the women and 100kg (or 220 pounds) for the men must be lifted. Given the 50% work requirement, an athlete must complete one successful lift.
None of these athletes should have any problem meeting the minimum barbell weight (70kg/100kg), but a potential unintended consequence could be athletes selecting very safe opening lifts and overall weightlifting totals being drastically lower from what we’d see in a different setting.
Event 3: Chipper
50 cal row
40 A-jumps with weight vest (20lb/14lb)
30 sandbag cleans (150lb/100lb)
20 bar muscle-ups
10 parallette handstand push-ups
20 bar muscle-ups
30 sandbag cleans (150lb/100lb)
40 A-jumps with weight vest (20lb /14lb)
50 cal row
Time cap: 25 min
Min work required: 145 reps, which is through 5 parallette handstand push-ups
Right in the middle of the chipper is a set of 10 parallette handstand push-ups. Depending on the depth of the parallettes, and whether or not athletes are permitted to kip, we could potentially see several women, in particular, fail to meet that standard and lose their opportunity to cash in at this competition.
Notably, Laura Horvath, who is amongst the competition favorites, would be among the women dreading this. For the sake of everyone, let’s hope the athletes are permitted to kip.
Event 4: Cutoff
20 cal bike erg
15m unbroken handstand walk
10 overhead squats (85kg/60kg)
Time cap: 3 min
*5 rounds in repeat cutting the field down (10,10 – 8,8 – 6,6 – 8 – 4)
Min work required: Not entirely sure, but presumably half of one round?
It’s not the matter of being eliminated in round one that’s the issue here. Instead, it’s the 15 meters of unbroken handstand walking required. Now, one would hope this isn’t a problem for these athletes, but there is a three-minute time cap per round on this event, and the buy-in is 20 calories on the bike erg. If an athlete fails their first attempt at that unbroken handstand walk segment suddenly they could have a problem. As time is dwindling down fast, and fatigue from one failed attempt coupled with the anxiety of not meeting the imposed minimum work requirement, it’s not impossible to imagine this happening to someone.
For what it’s worth: This is a similar distance to what we saw in Second Cut at the 2019 CrossFit Games, and many athletes were coming up just a couple of steps short that year.
The big picture: It’s risky to impose a minimum work requirement rule at a competition that is already lacking in both size and general caliber of elite athletes due to the global COVID-related travel issues. Losing one of the big names early in the competition who fail to make a lift or struggle with an inverted movement would be quite devastating to the overall excitement of competition. However, it’s part of the programming, and therefore the athletes and coaches must account for it in both preparation and execution. Hopefully, it doesn’t come into play, but in case it does, now you know what to be looking for.
INDUSTRY
MEMBER EXCLUSIVE
Becoming a CrossFit Precision Care Health Coach: An Opportunity to Become a Professional Coach?
In October, CrossFit LLC announced their new CrossFit Precision Care service, a telehealth primary care service aimed at providing an individualized and proactive, data-driven approach to lifelong health.
Since then, CrossFit has been seeking, hiring, and introducing Precision Care Health Coaches to the community via social media, coaches who will “assist patients in putting their precision medical care plans into practice,” explained a CrossFit LLC representative to the Morning Chalk Up about the position.
Digging a little deeper into the role, and it becomes clear that becoming a Health Coach might just be the ticket for a Level 1 coach—who has been coaching part-time at three different gyms—to finally become a full-time, professional coach.
When you're starting to feel stiff from lack of workouts and recovery this Holiday season, do yourself a favor and just take two minutes each morning and night to perform this stretch. Your body will thank you for it.
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Short answer, yes. Longer answer, yeeeeees. Listen to Chris Hinshaw's take on nasal breathing, why you should try it out, and how it's something that takes a lot of practice to master.
Worried you're going to fall off during the Holidays? Grab this free Holiday Survival Guide to get instant access to expert nutrition guidelines and advice, as well as ten bodyweight workouts you can do at home, on the road, or...at the in-laws.
Does switching to a high-protein diet impair running performance? It turns out it very well may, but there are some very important caveats to consider. Check out this research and get some important factors to consider in your diet.
Chagrin Falls CrossFit in Chagrin Falls, OHis now working with the Geauga County Board of Developmental Disabilities to offer specialty classes to adults with disabilities. The gym is also working alongside Dr. Tom mcCoy, a CrossFit Precision Care physician.
Liz Kentner, owner: “I’m excited to share my passion for fitness and helping others. CrossFit has done so much good to help people attain their fitness goals. Everyone, regardless of his or her skill level, should feel empowered to improve their physical fitness.”
P.S. This isn’t the first time Chagrin Falls CrossFit has been in the news. Back in February, we shared the story of how six pandemic nurses leaned on one another through fitness.
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