Even Walmart is Going Whole30

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. 

“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” — Vince Lombardi

Even Walmart is Trying the Whole30 Diet

They’re doing what now?

Great news for all the Whole30 folks out there, Walmart now carries Whole30 approved meals in their freezer aisle.

Gotta love The ‘Mart.

That’s right, you can now get Whole30 approved meals at your local Walmart for less than $8 each. The mega-retailer now carries eight varieties of frozen meals like Chicken Coconut Curry, Harvest Chicken, Mediterranean Chicken, and Barbecue Chicken.

Well those sound delicious.

And, made with American Humane Certified protein and plenty of vegetables, these frozen meals are great for fast weeknight meals, and dinners on the road.

Much like the boom of the “Paleo Approved” label,  lots of snacks and convenience foods have popped up as Whole30 friendly. But these can sometimes be pricey. So, by offering the Whole30 meals through Walmart’s Great Value brand, the cost is reasonable enough for almost anyone.

“A big part of our ongoing diversity and inclusion efforts involves making the Whole30 easier and more accessible for our entire community,” Whole30 posted on Facebook.

So, find a Walmart near you and stock up on some Whole30 frozen goodness.

GAMES UPDATE.

California Gets Their Sanctioned Event.

The story.

Loud & Live sports, who also owns the Wodapalooza CrossFit Festival, announced this morning a second sanctioned event to take place in March 2020 in Del Mar, CA.

The 3-day West Coast Classic will be California and the West Coast’s first sanctioned event, but unfortunately not until the 2020 season. No specific venue was announced but the most obvious choice for host venue would be the Del Mar Fairgrounds, which has hosted regional competitions for the past several years.

Reading between the lines. 

The announcement of Loud & Live’s second sanctioned event comes at an important time. Just this week, Wodapalooza struck up an informal partnership to grant the 2nd and 3rd place finishers automatic invitations to compete in Cape Town. It’s likely the West Coast Classic would somehow be included in this coalition come 2020.

An international affair.

The addition of the West Coast Classic brings the grand total to 18 sanctioned events, 15 of which are for the 2019 CrossFit Games season. The number of events outside of the U.S. by 2020 sits at 13, solidifying founder Greg Glassman’s desire for the Games to appeal to a broader international audience.

Given the timing of the announcement it seems less likely that more sanctioned events will be announced for the 2019 season. It also means that for the first time since it’s inception in 2007, the CrossFit Games will not be hosting an event inside it’s home state of California.

Coffee Break Conversations

What to tell that person in your gym who doesn’t squat because of “doctors orders”…

You need a new doctor. Like, maybe Dr. Dani Urcuyo, the same doctor that sees more than twenty plus CrossFit athletes like Mat Fraser, Lindsey Valenzuela, Bethany Shadburne, Josh Bridges and Cole Sager. Head on over to SteadyMD, the healthcare company that “gets” CrossFitters. They even have family plans!

Things To…

WATCH: Newly Announced CrossFit Classic

Armen sits down to discuss the most recently announced CrossFit Qualifying event, the CrossFit Classic. Scheduled for March of 2020, it will send athletes to the 2020 CrossFit Games, making 2019 the first season with no events in CrossFit’s home state of California. 

IT’S ARMEN HAMMERTIME.

HEAR: Travis Mayer on the AMRAP Podcast

Four-time Games athlete Travis Mayer sits down with Will Edmonds to talk about his disappointing finish to the 2018 CrossFit Games season, his interesting relationship with foe-turned-training-partner Noah Ohlsen and his thoughts on the changes to the Games format, including how he feels it could open the door to increased cheating in the Open.

BEST FRENEMIES.

DO: Adrian Conway Brute Strengh Live Chat

Join Adrian on Tuesday, November 20th to talk about setting intentions that align with your goals, your mindset and how to improve it, and the legacy you want to leave in your life. With only 50 spots available, make sure you claim yours fast. 

DON’T MISS THIS. 

EAT: Sundried Sweet Potato Hash

Here’s a modern paleo take on a classic diner staple, hash. You can make this hearty breakfast recipe with or without eggs and you can add extra veggies for an even more nutrient-packed breakfast.

HASH FOR THE WIN.

Chalk Up Community

• KILOS FOR KENNETH — Active Fitness Center CrossFit in Oak Hill, WV is having a Kilos for Kenneth hero workout on Wednesday, November 14 to benefit Traci Carroll, a member who lost her son after a hard fought battle with a brain tumor.
• FREE DROP-INS — CrossFit Aviator in the Los Angeles area will offer free drop-ins to those affected by the California fires. And they are open on Thanksgiving!

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

FNX wants to see if you can do 1000 push-ups in an hour • ButcherBox is giving away free bacon for life all new subscriptions in November • Christmas Abbott is back in the gym after her son’s birth six weeks ago • Spencer Murphy does a 655 pounds yolk walk • Sonny Webster snatches 155 pounds
with one hand • You can win dinner on a yacht in Miami with Mat Fraser and Sammy Moniz. 

Forget What Your P.E. Teacher Told You — Anna Kessel, author of Eat, Sweat, Play and co-founder of Women in Football, sat down with Roanna Day to talk about the stereotypes often found in sports programs.

— “I started like you, I bunked PE lessons, I didn’t play sport. I believed there were sporty people and not sporty people. Somehow, I was categorised as a ‘not sporty’ person and I have no idea how that decision was made. I remember going to a secondary school parent’s evening and I went to put my name down for the PE teachers chat and they said ‘Really, you don’t need to be here’ and I felt so rejected, at just eight or nine.”

— “It’s so frustrating that so much of that rhetoric still exists today. There have been so many successes and so much has improved for women and girls in sport but still there is such a long way to go. ‘You can’t play football, girls don’t play football’ is just a standard line that girls hear at school. Some people say that we don’t need to talk about it anymore, that there are equal opportunities now for women in sport but that is a lie. It’s just not true.”

“Bad Training Days,” by Pete Tarling, Ascension Strength

Bad training days happen. For my own training, they are maybe a weekly occurrence on average, as a guess. That doesn’t mean I always have one bad day a week, sometimes I have a run of great days. Sometimes though, I have a run of bad days. Sometimes a bad week. The session or a few sessions just suck.

Maybe I will be slow, tight, unable to demonstrate the technique I am capable off, miss lifts at easy or light weights, I will feel flat, fatigued, or maybe I will just feel banged up after the session.  Bad days are normal and something that comes with the territory of training.

I know a few people that get into training, whatever the type of training is, because they have an idea in their head that it is going to be a wonderful and enjoyable experience. Maybe they do one session and get a sudden rush of endorphins, expecting this feeling to continue every time they train. Maybe they have a New Year’s Resolution and find themselves full of enthusiasm to make some real positive change in their life.

Just look to social media to see some Instagram model eating some random “health” food or doing some random exercise and telling you how great they feel because of it. They are energised, happy, or some other positive feeling.

Maybe you buy into it and don’t feel the same way every day. Maybe you think it’s you, that you it’s your fault, or some other negative feeling. I actually love social media, but it is full of a lot bullshit too.

11/15: Push Pull for Pancreatic Cancer @ Hybrid Athletics Bridgport (Bridgeport, CT)

11/16: Panhandle Strong Fundraiser (Santa Rosa Beach, FL)

11/16 – 11/17: Veterans Day Bash at CrossFit Wild West (Lubbock,TX)

11/17: MetCon Mashups CrossFit Lubbock (Lubbock,TX)

11/17: CrossFit TIG Turf Wars (Brighton, MI)

11/17: 2018 Energy Games (Houston, TX)

11/17: MetCon Mashups (Tulsa, OK) 

11/17: Green Valley Clash of the Fittest (Green Valley, AZ)

11/17: Push Pull for Pancreatic Cancer @ Invictus Boston (Boston, MA)

11/17: North County Fall Brawl (Watertown, NY)

11/17: BCF for Homeless Kids Kettlebells4Kids Fundraiser (Derry, NH)

11/17: Team SuperFit Charlotte (Charlotte, NC)

11/17: 2nd Annual Well Seasoned Masters Competition (Burlington, MA) 

11/17: Guardian Games National Championship (Ashland, VA)

11/17: Femme Royale (Raleigh, NC)

11/20: Ben Marconi Memorial WOD (San Antonio, TX)

11/25: Carpathian Games II (Kosice, Slovakia)

11/30 – 12/16: Naughty or Nice Toy Drive (Online)

11/30 – 12/2: Rogue Winter Classic (Cleveland, OH)

12/1: Rock It CrossFitMas Classic (Fort Worth, TX) 

12/1: Barbells For Bootstraps (Beverly, MA)

12/1: Bro Down Throw Down for Cancer Awareness (Bridgeport, PA)

12/1: Push/Pull for Pancreatic Cancer at CrossFit Pawling (Pawling, NY)

12/1: Winter Throwdown 2018 (New York, NY)

12/8: Fittest Alive in the 845 (Poughkeepsie, NY)

12/8: The 2018 Reindeer Games Finale (Del Mar, CA)

12/8 – 12/9: WOD Godz (Shreveport, LA) 

12/8: Rampage Christmas Throwdown (Murfreesboro, TN)

12/8: A Very Krampus Kilofest (Hickory, NC)