Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Today’s edition is powered by VersaLifts.
VersaLifts adjustable heel lift inserts can significantly improve your squat positioning without inhibiting your plyometric and agility movements. Transition with ease from overhead squats to double-unders, pistols to box jumps, or thrusters to burpees. Affiliate owners, be sure to ask about our distributor program!
|
QUOTE OF THE DAY
|
“You’re allowed to be disappointed when it feels like life’s benched you. What you aren’t allowed to do is miss your opportunity to lead from the bench.” — Abby Wambach
|
Holy get your s**t together moly.
|
What now?
Another hidden camera was found inside a CrossFit affiliate. This time in a unisex bathroom at Rockingham CrossFit in Londonderry, NH.
This time it was a member and not the owner who placed the device.
That’s just disgusting on all levels.
A member discovered the device and brought it to the owners attention. He then asked members who the device belonged to and Yanai Liberman stepped forward.
The device was then turned over to Londonberry Police and a months-long investigation ensued and police found nine videos and five separate victims on the camera.
Liberman has been charged with five accounts of invasion of privacy.
Anything else?
Actually, yes. As of yesterday for CrossFit Kids coach Paul Villarreal from Jacksonville, FL pleaded guilty to child abuse. In August, the state charged Villarreal with child abuse and lewd or lascivious battery after the victim shared with her mother what had been happening in the gym. On Wednesday, Villarreal pleaded guilty to the child abuse charge and was sentenced to 24 months minus 280 days of jail time.
Can this please stop?
It can and it should, which is why we’re writing about it. As there are more than 5,000 individual affiliates reading our newsletter, please share this article with others so they know what to look for and hopefully would-be peeping Toms will think twice too.
|
Greg Glassman Testifies Against Soda Industry
|
What’s the story?
Greg Glassman traveled to Rhode Island yesterday to testify against the soda industry after Donna Nesselbush, a Democratic senator and co-owner of CrossFit Industrial Revolution in Pawtucket, RI proposed a bill that would create a tiered system that taxes drinks based on sugar content.
Oh really?
Yep, and if the bill passes, this new system would require the drinks containing the highest amount of sugar carry a tax of two cents per ounce. Senator Nesselbush is hoping the tax will sway consumers away from sugary drinks.
That’s crazy.
Not everyone thinks so. Glassman has recently made it his mission to take down the soda industry after discovering that PepsiCo funds the National Strength and Conditioning Association, using CrossFit and the roughly 14,000 affiliated gyms around the world to help.
|
Things To…
|
WATCH: Counting Macros for Beginners
When he first met his wife, Adee, Michael Cazayoux didn’t even know how to track macros. Now the power couple runs Working Against Gravity and Michael shares his story of starting to count macros.
TELL ME MORE.
|
|
HEAR: Stefi Cohen and Hybrid Performance
World Record holder Stefi Cohen — who has a 518 pound deadlift at only 123 pounds — talks tips for training on a tight schedule, improving the mental aspect of lifting, and persistence through plateaus.
TUNE IN.
|
|
KNOW: Top Keto Diet-Friendly Cities
The high-fat, low-carb eating plan is trending across the US. Here’s a list of cities that have embraced the latest food trend.
GOOD TO KNOW.
|
|
TRY: At Home Cold Brew
Temperatures in the US are rising as summer temps start to assail us. Save your money and impress your boo with this step-by-step guide to ice brewed goodness.
BREW A BATCH.
|
|
FOLLOW: 2018 CrossFit Games Athletes on Social Media
We made a complete roster of individual CrossFit Games athletes and how to follow them on Instagram. P.S. Someone please tell Dean Linder-Leighton it’s time to get with the program. He’s literally the only athlete without an Instagram account.
ON THE GRAM.
|
|
EAT: Carbless Breakfast Pizza
All good diets should include pizza, right?! Here’s a carbless version of pizza you can make this weekend to serve up with that cold brew.
PIZZA FOR BREAKFAST.
|
|
Today’s edition of the Morning Chalk Up is powered by
|
Chalk Up Community
|
-
THANKS TEACH — Aaron Bean in Lakewood, CA got this keychain as thank you gift from a student. “It’s good to know my love and desire for fitness and health can pay it forward.”
-
FOUR CROSSFIT BOXES IN PHILADELPHIA TO HOLD FUNDRAISER — At just two months, Levi Asia passed away from complications resulting from a rare variation of mitochondrial disease. To help honor Levi and bring awareness to the disease, four Phildephia gyms are coming together to host “Levi’s WOD” this Saturday, June 9. WOD for Levi at CrossFit Rittenhouse or at OpenBox Athletics. You can also donate through the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
-
MAN DOES 18.5 ROUNDS OF MURPH IN 24 HOURS FOR SPECIAL OLYMPICS — And this isn’t even his first time. Shaun Gardner, a member of CrossFit Raeford in Raeford, NC completed 18.5 rounds of Murph in 24 hours, raising over $7,000 for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.
CHALK UP IN 2 MINUTES (a highlight reel around social media of CrossFit pros and average joes)
James Townsend jumps over a fence • Kate Vibert gets a 275 pound clean and jerk PR off the blocks • Jessica Buettner gets in a 480 pound deadlift after a tough night managing her diabetes • Cesar Flores returns to Mike’s Gym in Bonsall, CA and hits a 385 pound clean and jerk in a polo shirt.
…and the next time you don’t feel like working out, try flossing instead.
LIFEAID Beverage Company Does Some Innovating — The company CrossFitters depend on for everything from recovery to focusing gives a sneak peek at new products to come after some innovating in their lab.
Online Qualifier for USA Functional Fitness — The Online Qualifier test for USA Functional Fitness have been released Registration is still open but scores are due June 18th.
Russell Berger Defends His Tweets — In a statement sent to AL.com, Russell Berger said: “Until my termination yesterday, I was CrossFit’s Chief Knowledge Officer. My comments where imprudent, and I drug my company in a difficult position, which I deeply regret, especially considering I was not directly asked to weigh in on the subject that inspired my comments. I am particularly saddened for my employer and coworkers, who do incredible and life-changing work for millions of people, and are now forced to respond
with their time and resources to this ordeal.
“That being said, my beliefs and intentions have been misrepresented, both intentionally and unintentionally. As a Christian, I believe everyone, myself included, is guilty of breaking our moral obligations to God and deserves punishment. But by turning from our sin and trusting fully in Jesus Christ, we can be forgiven and reconciled to our creator. I love those who the LGBTQ community represents, and want them to know Christ, and reveling in sin is a heartbreaking obstacle to that. I use the word ‘sin’ to describe pride events, and the sexual lifestyles associated with them, because that’s what God’s Word calls it, and I believe that God’s Word is true. The same theology that leads me to this view leads me to the knowledge that all humans are created in God’s image, and are therefore inherently valuable and deserve to hear this offer of God’s grace. From the Christian perspective, the
most hateful thing I could do for someone would be to lie to him or her about sin and our need for Christ, as unpopular as this may be in our culture today.”
|
|

CHALK UP READS
|
“Diabetic and Deluded No Longer” by Emily Beers, CrossFit
“We would go to lunch and split a foot-long turkey sub from Subway and have a Diet Coke, and we’d get the baked chips,” Jason said. “They were baked, we thought we were being healthy.” Jason went to a globo gym three days a week and regularly attended spin classes. He drank diet soda, often consuming 32 oz. a day, thinking it to be a healthy choice because it had no calories.
Jason discovered CrossFit in 2008 when a friend from spin class took him to County Line CrossFit in Fort Worth, Texas. “I remember doing banded pull-ups in (the thickest) band you can use, and we did some box jumps and push-ups, and it destroyed me,” he said…but he stuck with it. He had a feeling CrossFit would help him more than spin classes had. He lost 34 lb. in six weeks.
A few months later, his wife Cheri started CrossFit, losing 20 lb. in addition to six inches from her bust in her first six weeks. Now she says she’s “1,000 percent better,” Cheri said. “I was not a happy mom, or person, at that weight. I was an active fat person, but I wasn’t healthy.”
After a decade of CrossFit, Cheri Miyashiro has lost more than 160 lbs and reversed her Type 2 Diabetes. Jason, now 219 lb., also has normal blood pressure and is no longer considered prediabetic. Both say they’re still getting fitter in their mid-40s and agree that their lives have improved significantly.
|
|

CHALK UP CALENDAR
|
6/8 – 6/9: Bricktown Throwdown (Bricktown, OKC)
6/9: Beastette Bash at CrossFit Ananda (Arlington, TX)
6/9: Gulf Coast Games (Mandeville, LA)
6/9: WOD Wars 6 (Humble, TX)
6/9: Big Orange Brawl (Knoxville, TN)
6/9: Heroes of the Platform (Meridian, ID)
6/9: Triple Crown Fitness Event (Greenville, NC)
6/9: 3rd Annual Masters Main Event (North Ridgeville, OH)
6/9 – 6/10: The Heartland Games 2018 (Chicago, IL)
6/9 – 6/10: Alaka’i SUPER Summer Slam (Kapolei, HI)
6/9 – 6/10: The Battle of Amsterdam (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
6/10: Contra Costa Throwdown (Concord, CA)
6/13: Granite Games Qualifier (Online)
6/16: Mayhem in Medford (Medford, NJ)
6/16: Battle on the Creek (Johns Creek, GA)
6/16: Full Battle Rattle (Robinson, IL)
6/16: East Coast War (Wilmington, NC)
6/19: Gauntlett VIII – River Rumble (Portsmouth, OH)
6/22 – 6/23: Urban Street Games (Rock Island, IL)
6/22 – 6/24: The Bacon Beatdown (Daytona Beach, FL)
6/23: Garage Girls CrossFit Grit (St. Simons Island, GA)
6/23: 2018 Summer Swolestice (Gresham, OR)
6/23: HAMCO Heat (McLeansboro, IL)
6/23: The Greenville Games (Greenville, SC)
6/23: The Burn Out (New Bern, NC)
6/23: Battle of the Border (Phenix City, AL)
6/23: Battle of a Beauty with a Beast (South Hadley, MA)
6/23: Clash for Cash (Wilkes-Barre, PA)
6/23: SuperFit Games (Lorton, VA)
6/23: Clash on the Concrete (Miamisburg, OH)
6/23 – 6/24: Asbury Park Summer Games (Asbury Park, NJ)
6/23 – 6/24: The Dakota Games (Fargo, ND)
6/30: Summer Stampede (Bethlehem, PA)
6/30: Battle of the Ballpark (Seattle, WA)
7/1: Strong As A Bear VI (San Rafael, CA)
7/4: 4th of July Throwdown Team Competition (Cullman, AL)
7/5: Barbellas (Anaheim, CA)
7/6 – 7/8: The Garage Games Junior Champion’s Invitational 2018 (Roswell, GA)
7/7: CrossFit Elgin Beach Brawl 2018 (Port Stanley, ON)
7/7: Capitol Takeover 2018 (Springfield, IL)
7/7 – 7/8: Railyard Riot (Lincoln, NE)
7/14: Mischief Revolution: Battle of the Brewery (Chicago, IL)
7/14: Mountain Town Summer Throwdown (Breckenridge, CO)
7/14: Espirit De Corps 2018 (Vancouver, WA)
7/14: Belmar Beat Down (Belmar, NJ)
7/14: Atomic Throwdown (Kennewick, WA)
7/15: The Buckeye Games (Akron, OH)
|
+ Send us an event
|
|