Your Coffee is ready.

Dropping In Just Got Super Easy

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Today’s edition was chalked up while braving the Arctic cold that’s been hitting the East Coast for the last week. We’re ready to hop on a plane tonight back to California to trade 7 degrees for seventy and sunny. Ya hear?!

BTW, we just launched a new Facebook group just for y’all to share your life-lights (that’s life highlights). Think PRs, transformations, goals, good vibes, and basically anything you’d give your bestie a high five for. The long and short of it is we wanna start celebrating your accomplishments a little bit more so sign
up
already.

P.S. Sorry for the delay on today’s email. Apparently we grew a little too fast and it popped a red flag with our email service providor. We’ll work hard to ensure this doesn’t happen again. 

QUOTE OF THE DAY

We often become consumed by our goals because we focus way too much on the outcome. Goals should be set not only on winning, but on the process of winning. Once you take your mind off your score, and focus all of your energy on improving yourself, you start dealing with things you can control; like how many times per week you train, who you train with, how much sleep you get, etc. That is because attainment and accomplishment aren’t the same: accomplishment is all about outcome, like the score you got and what place you got. Attainment is the total of accomplishment and what you’ve become as a person. Winning is more than just a way to measure outcome, it reflects who you’ve become as a result of your efforts. Focus on the process and the
results will come.
” — Stefi Cohen

DROPPING IN JUST GOT HELLA EASY.

 

What’s up?

How do you find the right CrossFit class to drop into when you’re traveling? Google: “CrossFit Gyms in Atlanta”. Compile a list of gyms. Search for their schedules online. Try to find a class time that fits. Track down their contact info to message or call the box owner.

Well, not anymore. The Highfive App just made your life A LOT easier.

What is it?

Highfive is a free app that connects athletes with CrossFit gyms in the area. When you open the app, you’ll see a drop down menu of available classes. You can reserve your spot in the app and even take care of your drop-in fee ahead of time.

Highfive takes a percentage cut from each transaction so it’s completely free for you.

That’s awesome.

Yes, it totally is — and it’s already live in more than 400 cities in the U.S. and a few dozen internationally. If you want to get your box involved, all you need to do is ask.

But seriously: how did it take this long for someone to build it?

COFFEE BREAK CONVERSATIONS

 

What to tell your friend who’s not feeling very motivated to get out of bed…

You and about 70 million other people who are dealing with a severe weather alert, the kind where ignoring it results in frost bite. Just imagine grabbing that cold barbell at the 5:30 AM class. Yuck. But as CrossFitters, we’re all about that shared suffering so at least you know you’re not alone. Like Jenny Sugar, Editor for POPSUGAR Fitness, who still made it into the box even though it was a whopping -11 degrees in Essex Junction, VT. Unless you can beat that you really have
no excuse.

What to tell your friend who just heard that a 71-year-old set the fastest senior mile time…

He must run a lot to run a 5:29 mile. Turns out he only laces up his running shoes once every three days. Days two and three he’s doing “a lot of squats, push-ups and burpees.” Translation: strength and cross training. “The fact that I mix up my training is why I don’t get injured…Fifteen miles a week or so is easy on the legs.” Sure is, and since Gary Patton is only 72, he’s got many more years to keep breaking records. 

THINGS TO…

 

WATCH: The Best Warm Up Ever

That’s a bold statement, but Brooke Ence is the one making it and she has a tendency to back up her claims. So here are her 10 go-to warm ups to ensure a solid training session.

WARM UPS FOR DUMMIES.

 

HEAR: Preventing and Recovering from Knee Injuries

Cause we’re not made of steel and 22-years-young any longer, there’s a halfway decent chance that this might happen to you sometime in your life — if it hasn’t already. Dr. Theresa Larson and Anders Varner, co-creators of The Low Back Fix and The Knee Fix join Barbell Shrugged for an episode on how to stay healthy and pain free. 

TUNE IN.

 

EAT: Ponzu Roasted Salmon for Two

Salty-tart and just-sweet-enough ponzu sauce is a great back-pocket finisher for everything from salads to roasted vegetables, especially when you are tired of your everyday vinaigrette.

GET THE RECIPE.

 

CHALK UP COMMUNITY

 
  • TRANSFORMATIONS — Michael Moberg, coach at CrossFit Salvo in Brighton, CO, weighed more than 400 pounds when he started doing CrossFit about five years ago. Since then, he’s lost 200+ pounds and experienced a transformation encompassing more than his physical makeup.
  • GAMES BY 50 — When Gerson Castaneda moved to Abu Dhabi three years ago, he was heavy and out of shape. Now, his goal is to qualify for the CrossFit Games by age 50. He’d also be the first Middle East masters athlete to qualify. 
  • DANCE DANCE — This Indian television actor, dancer and choreographer uses CrossFit to physically and mentally train. 
Reads

CHALK UP READS

“Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder: Loving Ourselves 101” by Patti Lawson, Everyday Lifters

A few months ago I walked into a store that I had never been in before and I didn’t know my way around. As I wandered around, I saw a woman about my age who was quite fit and I said to myself and said, “I would give anything to look like that eventually.”  Moments later (yes, I need glasses) I realized I was standing in front of a mirrored display!!!

I stared and if I’m going to be honest, I started to cry a little. I realized that I was seeing myself as others would see me for the first time since going through a fairly significant change in my physical appearance (I lost 62 pounds and got in the best shape of my life; so far…).

We hear a lot about body image these days and there is what I would call a trend towards young girls being more inclined to look and feel athletic, as opposed to being skinny and wanting to look like, oh I don’t know, an underfed underwear model??

This was not the case when I was growing up and although in a perfect world we would all take the difficulties of our teen years and forget about them, some things are harder to shake off than others and they become a part of who we are as we grow into women.

Tips

CHALK UP TIPS

For your friend who doesn’t understand why you practice your high hang snatch

Building blocks, cause every building ever built was done so on a foundation. Snatching just from the ground can allow you to save sloppy technique with athleticism. Swipe right to the second video for about as ABC simple explanation as you can get. 

Reads

CHALK UP CALENDAR

1/5 – 1/7: CFV Championships (Fort Vancouver, WA)

1/6: BrickYard Brawl (South Windsor, CT)

1/6 – 1/7: KO in the OK (Tulsa, OK)

1/11 – 14: Wodapalooza Fitness Festival (Miami, FL)

1/11: Row’d Royalty (Worldwide)

1/13: Abominable Snowdown II (Orem, UT)

1/13 – 14: War of the Wods (Greensboro, NC)

1/20: Winter WOD’rland 2018 (Bend, OR)

1/20: Garage Games’ World Wide WOD (Worldwide)

1/27: Winter Chiller (Fairmont, WV)

1/27: NorCal Masters 2018 (Richmond, CA)

1/27: IceBreather Classic (Springfield, IL)

1/27 – 28: The Fittest Experience (Austin, TX)

2/3: No Weak Links “V” (Whitesboro, NY)

2/3: Caution Grounds 7 (Hialeah Gardens, FL)

2/3: Output Fitness Trials (Miramar, FL)

2/3: 6th Annual Women’s WOD Jam (Broomfield, CO)

2/3: 5th Annual Golden State Games (Stockton, CA)

2/10: Mirror Image CrossFit’s Cupid’s Clash (Panama City, FL)

2/10: New WODs On the Block – The Third Wheel (Nationwide)

2/10: Tuff Love (Boulder, CO)

2/22: CrossFit Open 18.1 (Worldwide)

3/1: CrossFit Open 18.2 (Worldwide)

3/8: CrossFit Open 18.3 (Worldwide)

3/10: Women Who WOD (Barbados)

3/15: CrossFit Open 18.4 (Worldwide)

3/22: CrossFit Open 18.5 (Worldwide)

+ Send us an event
Is there something we missed? Email us at tips@morningchalkup.com.
Your Coffee is ready.