Dear 17-year-old Julie

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Today’s edition is powered by Fitbot, the #1 coaching platform trusted by over 3,000 coaches and gym owners worldwide. Still training your 1-on-1 clients using email, spreadsheets, and paper forms? Save time, train more clients, and grow your business with Fitbot, the world’s #1 online platform built for coaches and gym owners.

“If you want to be a lion, you need to train with lions.” — Unknown

THE 2018 CROSSFIT OPEN: BY THE NUMBERS

The big numbers.

Across all age divisions, 625,981 athletes completed at least one WOD; 448,655 athletes completed all six scored events (remember that 18.2a thingy?).

Stop and think about that for a second: nearly half a million people completed all five weeks. That should blow your mind.

FUN FACT #1: The largest drop off occurred between weeks 4 and 5. Whether it was fatigue or the thought of Fran, 161,544 athletes decided to stay home for the final workout.

FUN FACT #2: Among athletes who completed all six WODs regardless of RX or scaled, 47.8% were female.

RX v. Scaled

If you recall, last Friday we shared an article from INOV-8, where they made the case that the RX division is now inaccessible for the average athlete.

Statistically speaking, that’s not exactly accurate. For academic purposes, we’ve separated athletes into RX or scaled based on whether they completed all WODs in that workout type.

• 231,543 (or 64%) completed all six RX, whereas 126,278 performed them scaled.

However, examining RX v. Scaled by division and gender shows a much different picture.

• Except in the 14-15 girls division, more than 50% of female athletes across all divisions including Individual Women scaled all six WODs compared to RXing all six.
• 55% of Masters Athletes completed all six WODs RX.
• Only 12% of Individual Men completed all six WODs scaled.

Masters v. Teens

• Masters athletes completing all six WODs either scaled or RX account for one-third of all athletes in the Open.
• There were 7,305 total athletes across teenage divisions who completed all six WODs.

COFFEE BREAK CONVERSATIONS

What to tell your friend who won’t do CrossFit, but wants all those gains you’re getting…

Hidden somewhere between the endless rows of treadmills and ellipticals, sits this 10-foot long object with a handle attached to a chain. That ‘thing’ is commonly referred to as a ‘rower,’ and once upon a time people used those for transportation. Today, CrossFitters all across the globe use these rowers to finely tune their fitness from head-to-toe. Reebok and Rowfficient want to make sure all your fitness friends know how to get the most out the rower at their gym so they put together this handy
one-pager.

THINGS TO…

WATCH: Road to the Games EP. 1

The Road to the Games docu-series is back. Episode 1 follows CrossFit’s three Dottirs: Annie, Katrin and Sara as they train for that top podium spot. 

GOING FOR GOLD.

HEAR: The Open is Over, What Now?

The CrossFit Open represents so many different things for athletes, but it’s over now so what are you going to do for the next 46 weeks? The Misfit coaching staff sits down to disucss how you can use the next year to improve.

FITNESS IS A JOURNEY.

EAT: Jalapeño Sweet Potato Black Bean Tacos with Avocado-Lime Crema

Sweet potato black bean tacos with an addicting avocado lime crema. These easy to make tacos are perfect for vegetarians or a meatless weeknight dinner, and literally sound like they’re the bomb.

WE’LL BE OVER IN FIVE.

BUY: TFF Tee or Tank to Support Carleen Mathews

Available for pre-order only, all proceeds of These Fists Fly tees and tanks go to support Carleen Mathews and her trip to compete at the West Regionals.

GO CARLEEN.

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

CHALK UP COMMUNITY

• GRAND OPENING — Marine Corps veteran JP Skelley opened CrossFit Excursion in his hometown of Johnstown, PA yesterday. 
• DR. DOUG IS BACK — After a difficult battle with skin cancer and chemo-induced Crohn’s where he lost nearly 60 pounds, Dr. Doug DeVore has made it back to CrossFit Bloomington in Bloomington, IN. His coach has helped prescribe a specialized diet, adding 45 pounds back to his bodyweight and exercising again. 
• WE WANT TO KNOW — CrossFit Regionals Week 1 kicks off in six weeks and we’d love to know what questions you’d like answered, stories to read, or random factoids we can provide before and during Regionals. Weigh in here.

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

Morning Chalk Up tees and muscle tanks are on sale for another 10 days, then they go bye bye • Lydia Valentin won her fourth European championship title • Lasha Talaxadze’s 220kg/485 pound World Record snatch won’t last long. He
nearly beat it by 1kg/2 pounds last weekend in a near miss.

Arnold Schwarzenegger on his minor heart surgery…“It’s true: I’m back! I went to sleep expecting to wake up with a small incision and woke up with a big one – but guess what? I woke up, and that’s something to be thankful for. Thank you to the doctors & nurses. And I’m truly filled with gratitude for all of the kind messages from all of you.”

“Learning from CrossFit” by Cassandra, Fitness is a Feminist Issue

CrossFit has always seemed like one of those ‘too intense for me’ things, even though I have been secretly envious of the limits to which the athletes can push themselves. Having got that out in the open, I’m in fact finally exploring CrossFit as a fitness option and finding it to be the psychological and physical challenge that I need in my life.

I am by no means a CrossFit athlete but I have been doing CrossFit workouts and challenges, such as pullups and powerlifting, for the past year. I take it at my own pace and I push myself when I feel like it. I don’t want this post to be specifically about CrossFit, rather I want to share the reimagining of fitness that it has allowed me.

Now 36 years old, I started going to the gym over a decade ago in an attempt to address body image and self-esteem issues. I got hooked and have been working out, weightlifting, and cross training, ever since. I have learned a lot from reading about different training techniques, mostly from fitness magazines, so-called ‘experts’, and blogs, but mostly I have based my workout routines on what my body is telling me any given day or week. Having followed different routines and 30-day workout programs, I feel like I’ve seen a lot.

4/7: Battle of the Badges (Anaheim, CA)4/7: The Revolution (San Antonio, TX)

4/7: GenX Masters Comp (Salem, MA)

4/7: Lt Col William “Wild Bill” Schroeder Memorial Competition (San Antonio, TX)

4/7: Burpees for Bellies (Williamston, MI)

4/13 – 4/15: The Railyard Games (Albuquerque, NM)

4/14: Battle for the Mountain (Dawsonville, GA)

4/14: Appalachian Games (Asheville, NC)

4/14: Deuces Wild by Warrior Affiliate League (Baldwin Park, CA)

4/14: Atlas Blarney Stone Competition (Denver, CO)

4/14: RISE of the Masters (Statesboro, GA)

4/14: CrossFit Forte FORCE For Families (Nashville, TN)

4/14 – 4/15: Mid-Atlantic Affiliate Challenge (Columbia, MD)

4/14 – 4/15: WOD Wars Fitfest (Dunedin, FL)

4/14 – 4/15: Funky Town Throwdown (Ft. Worth, TX)

4/19: Teens and Masters Qualifier (Invitation Only)

4/20 – 4/22: Athens Throwdown (Athens, Greece)

4/21: Festivus Games (Nationwide)

4/21: Mayhem for MSR (Cookeville, TN)

4/21: Loganville Lockdown (Loganville, GA)

4/21: FoxWOD (Panama City Beach, FL)

4/21: Swamp Challenge (Gainesville, FL)

4/21: Mucctown Throwdown (Winnemucca, NV)

4/21: Famously Hot Showdown (Columbia, SC)

4/28: Battleground SoCal (Wimington, CA)

4/28: Girls Gone Rx (Cincinnati, OH)

4/28: Salem Slaughterfest (Salem, OR)

4/28: 3rd Annual Appletown Throwdown (Cornelia, GA)

4/28: Beastette Bash at CrossFit Ananda (Arlington, TX)

4/28: Brew-N-Brawl 2018 (Lenoir, NC)

4/28 – 4/29: Walter’s Cup Throwdown (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

4/28 – 4/29: Battle of the Bluffs (Council Bluffs, IA)

4/28 – 4/29: King City Throwdown (Tupelo, MS)

5/4 – 5/5: Tough As Nails (Lubbock, TX)

5/4 – 5/5: No Gutz No Glory (Denver, CO)

5/4 – 5/5: Throwdown in Joe Town (St. Joseph, MO)

5/4 – 5/6: European Masters Throwdown (Budapest, Hungary)

5/5 – 5/6: Tribal Clash (Quarteira, Portugal)

5/5 – 5/6: Barbell de Mayo (Woodbridge, VA)

5/5: Cinco de Mayo Classic (San Antonio, TX)

5/5: The Locomotive Games III (Youngstown, OH)

5/5: Granite Games Throwdown (Southaven,  MS)

5/5: Battle of the Boro (Goldsboro, NC)

5/5: New WODs on the Block (Grand Rapids, MI)

5/5: The Crawfish Challenge (Columbia, SC)

5/11 – 5/12: Beast Mode Games (Greenville, SC)

5/11 – 5/12: Midwest Monster (Joplin, MO)

5/11 – 5/12: Reebok’s Ready for Action – Fittest in Israel (Israel)

5/12: Barbells for Bullies (Danbury, CT)

5/12: The Mountain Meltdown (Park City, UT)

5/12: The 5th Element (Bedford, NH)

5/18 – 5/20: East Regional (Albany, NY)

5/18 – 5/20: Europe Regional (Berlin, Germany)

5/18 – 5/20: South Regional (Salt Lake City, UT)

5/19: Raising the Bar for Recovery (Medina, OH)

5/19: East Coast Battle (Hanover, MD)

5/19: Barbells in the Burbs (Carol Stream, IL)

5/19: Gladiator Games (Concord, NC)

5/19: The Pillage of Palm Harbor (Palm Harbor, FL)

5/19: Spring Fling Partner Throwdown (San Anselmo, CA)

5/19: SilverFox Masters Competition (San Clemente, CA)

5/19 – 5/20: GameDay Mankato (Mankato, MN)

5/25 – 5/27: West Regional (Del Mar, CA)

5/25 – 5/27: Central Regional (Nashville, TN)

5/25 – 5/27: Latin America Regional (Rio de Janiero, Brazil)

5/26: Beauty is a Beast 2 (Indian Rocks Beach, FL)

6/1 – 6/3: Atlantic Regional (West Palm Beach, FL)

6/1 – 6/3: Meridian Regional (Madrid, Spain)

6/1 – 6/3: Pacific Regional (Sydney, Australia)