Glassman Clarifies Teams and Age Group Divisions

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Today’s edition is fueled by O2 natural recovery drink, a healthier, non-carbonated recovery drink with more than twice the electrolytes as Gatorade but 1/16th the sugar. 

Never tried O2 before? It’s the drink of choice for James Hobart, Hillary Froning and Saxon Panchik, so grab yourself a 4 pack sampler + free shipping for 50% off with code “CHALKUP50”.

“Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.” — Niccolo Machiavelli

Buddy Lee Wants to Rope You In

When the average CrossFit athlete thinks of a jump rope, they think of the elusive double-under. But CrossFit subject matter expert and Olympian Buddy Lee, whose book Greg Glassman just wrote a forward to, wants to change that. There are, he says, more than 2000 variations on the use of a jump rope.

Sounds more like 2000 ways to smack the back of my legs, but OK, I’ll bite. Tell me more.

Yes, and double and triple-unders are just scratching the surface he says. “If you want to be called one of the fittest in the world, then you need to be proficient in all training modalities, and jump rope has been left out of that,” Buddy Lee said in a phone interview.

So Buddy, who used to train jump roping in every L1 CrossFit Class in 2007, is returning to the CrossFit community to change the way we view jump roping. He’s written and is teaching a new CrossFit jump rope specialty course because he is 100% positive that being better at jumping rope will make you a better CrossFitter.

But I can already do double-unders so I’m good.

Pump the brakes. You can do double-unders, great. But can you do 200 unbroken double-unders? Jump high knee steps? A skier’s jump? Can you jump backward? These are just a few of what Buddy Lee calls the CrossFit 15, a list of skills that every CrossFitter should have on a jump rope.

Remember back when Sara Sigmundsdottir forgot how to do single-unders? That’s what Buddy Lee is talking about. 

That actually sounds cool.

That’s the point. Buddy wants to completely redefine how jump-rope is used and perceived in the community of CrossFit.

“We’re gonna add to what’s already there, to your regular routine. We’re gonna make that real fun. It’s gonna be cool.”

And if you want to get in on the training, the workshop is jam packed with dates over the next six months. 

CROSSFIT GAMES

New Details for Masters, Teens and Teams at the CrossFit Games

In a phone interview with ArmenHammerTV, Greg Glassman shared more details about the upcoming 2019 CrossFit Games format. Fans who have eagerly been awaiting details regarding the age group divisions and team competition finally have an answer.

The age groups divisions will be at the CrossFit Games.

“Not much will change,”  Glassman said in the interview. “Same Open participation, same Online Age Group Qualifier, competing at the Games in person, but probably a smaller field of competitors.”

Team Competition

The biggest change has to do with who can be on a team and how they qualify.

According to the interview, team members will no longer be required to workout at the same affiliate. They can select any two male and female athletes from anywhere in the world. However, teams will no longer qualify for the Games through the CrossFit Open, a fact which was revealed on Wednesday in a separate interview. Teams will only be able to qualify through sanctioned events.

“We’re not playing the game of where do you live, how long have you lived there,” Glassman said.

Coffee Break Conversations

What to tell your brother who says he has no time for fitness thanks to his new work schedule…

Oh yeah? You think you’re the only one that has a tight work schedule? Kelsea Drzewiecki, a nurse from Flint, MI, had the same problem and she made a way. Every day, she makes it a point to head to the hospital gym on her lunch break, get in a workout, and get back to work. She’s even started an Instagram account to inspire other nurses to do the same, even if it’s at 3:00 AM. If they can get a WOD in during the middle of the night, you can too. Get to it. 

Things To…

WATCH: A Brent Fikowski Documentary, Part 4

In Episode 4 of All In: A Brent Fikowski Documentary, Brent discusses how he prepared for the 2018 CrossFit Games, his travels to Madison, and how he felt at the end of Day One. Also, he pretends to be a talk show host, which is worth every second.

ALL THE JOKES. 

HEAR: Coconuts and Kettlebells 

Joy and Claire from Girls Gone WOD sit down with Noelle Tarr from the Well Fed Women Podcast about her new cookbook, “Coconuts and Kettlebells” and the idea that better health comes from focusing on quality, not the quantity.

SOUNDS GOOD.

EAT: Peanut Butter and Jelly Oatmeal Bake

Easy to make peanut butter and jelly oatmeal bake that’s naturally gluten and dairy free. The perfect way to enjoy a childhood favorite for breakfast with plenty of protein and carbs to keep you full all morning. 

A CLASSIC COMBO. 

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

Chalk Up Community

• PRO-TIP: SCOOP AND PULL — Greg Glassman explains how the second pull in the clean and jerk is important in keeping the bar close and upward. 
• HAMMER DRIVEN FITNESS — Steph Hammerman, the world’s first Level 2 CrossFit trainer with cerebral palsy, officially opened the doors of her new CrossFit gym, Hammer Driven Fitness, in Knightdale, NC. “I really, truly, want people to feel like an athlete. I don’t care if you come in and you feel the most unfit. When you leave my class, I want you to feel empowered.”
• NEW CROSSFIT IN TOWN — Tony Licari, owner of CrossFit PSE, just held a ribbon cutting ceremony to announce the opening in Little Falls, NY. 

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

Jeff Rother gets a 496 pound back squat PR • 82-year-old Mercedes is probably faster than you at burpees • Mindi gets a two rope climb PR • Christy Adkins and husband Tim get their ittle boy started early in the pool • Kari Pearce will be coaching at Camp TimeOut in October • Two long-time members got married at CrossFit Terminus last weekend, then afterwards two other members got engaged • Happy 30th birthday Jared Enderton.

…and our CrossFit L2 trainers can put functional fitness to the test with breakdancing. 

Food for Thought: Dubai is Not That Expensive — For most athletes, Dubai is a fairly expensive trip halfway around the world, but it’s not quite as expensive as we originally thought. Consider this, we did a quick flight + hotel vacation package search on AMEXtravel.com from Los Angeles and found a deal for about $2200 at the five-star venue hotel for the competition dates. 

If an athlete were to place 37th in the online qualifier ($500) — the lowest possible position to qualify for the DCC — and also took 37th  overall at the competition ($1000), that athlete would walk away with $1500 in payouts. If that same athlete were to win just one event at the DCC, they’d walk away with $4500. 

Scenario 1 leaves you with a -$700 difference and scenario 2 is +$2300. That’s all very quick rough math but with a guaranteed payout it’s about as expensive to compete at Granite Games. 

Announcement Coming — Word on the street is that Hillary Froning will be announcing her first athlete-esque sponsorship later today on Instagram. Coincidentally, it’s with O2 Natural Recovery, the sponsor this week. 

Granite Games Round Up — Four days, 10 events and about 70 male and female pros descended on St. Cloud, MN for a little fitness fun. Here are your podium finishers:

— Men: 1.) Travis Mayer, 2.) Streat Hoerner, 3.) Jeff Evans. 

— Women: 1.) Colleen Fotsch, 2.) Hayley Murillo, 3.) Chantelle Loehner.

Alyssa Ritchey on Being a Muscular Woman — “We are strong. We are beautiful. We are enough. This is us. As a muscular defined strong powerful woman the world is still getting used to that body image. But I have loved it since day one. I love my big biceps, my mountainous traps, my thick quads, my jacked back & every little bitty part of me, I love. However my body image doesn’t define my being. My personality, kindness towards others, hard work, dedication, and love for life is truly who I am. Those muscles will disappear someday but my being won’t. So I want people to
remember me for what truly matters not just for my body but rather for who I am as a human being.”

“It Literally Saved My Life,” by Emily Beers, CrossFit Journal 

If it weren’t for CrossFit, Charlie Edmondson said, he’d be dead.

It was a routine Tuesday morning in February 2016. While Edmondson was shaving, he felt a lump on his jawline, near his ear.

“I thought it might just be a swollen gland, but it seemed a little bigger than that,” he said.

When he began CrossFit in April 2015, overworked and stressed out in his job as an investment banker, he weighed nearly 200 lb. at 5 foot 11 and had a 37-inch waist. A few months into CrossFit and after cutting out beer and adopting a Paleo-style diet of meat and vegetables, Edmondson had dropped to a lean 175 lb. and taken three inches off his waist. His chronic knee pain, the result of multiple repairs to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee, also disappeared after just a couple of months of CrossFit.

The transformation might have saved his life.

Had he not lost the weight, Edmondson said, he might never have discovered the lump in his neck, which turned out to be a serious form of invasive cancer: Stage 2 carcinoma ex pleomorphic adenoma, which is a cancer of the parotid, or salivary, gland. The 3-by-2-centimeter tumor would have been impossible to feel with the extra 25 lb. padding his frame.

9/15: Box Bash 2018 (Broomfield, CO)

9/15: Warrior Affiliate League Three Amigos (Pomona,CA)

9/15: No Mans Land 4 (Painesville, OH)

9/15: Average Joes (Troy, MI) 

9/15: Stateline Throwdown 2018 (McHenry, IL)

9/15: Project Uplift (Fort Collins, CO)

9/15: Barbells for Bullies (Lexington, SC)

9/15: Barbell Brawl IV (Kennett Square, PA)

9/15: Double Date Got Twisted (Bowling Green, KY)

9/15: Doomsday CrossFit Team Competition (Beachwood, OH)

9/15: Unravel Pediatric Cancer WOD/Fundraiser (Gilroy, CA)

9/16: 2018 Battle at the Rock (Castle Rock, CO)

​9/16: 5th Annual North East Masters Classic (Plainville, MA)

9/16: The Brazen Cup 2018 (Fairfield, NJ) 

9/22: Shatter the Stigma III (Boyertown, PA)

9/22: New Kids on the 321 Block 2018 (Topsham, ME)

9/22: Femme Royale at Eagle Wing CrossFit (Orange, CA)9/22: 2nd Annual CrossFit TUFF Charity Row-A-Thon (Nashua, NH) 

9/22: Girls Gone RX Denver (Denver, CO) 

9/22: Legends of the WOD (Grapevine, TX)

9/22: Beers and Burpees (Charlotte, NC)

9/22: Burpees 4 Autism at Lucky’s (Roswell, GA)

9/22: Lt. Nathan Flynn Memorial WOD (Columbia, MD) 

9/23 – 9/23: Field of Teams (Cedar Falls, IA)

9/22 – 9/23:The D-Town Throwdown (Decatur, Illinois)

9/22 – 9/23: The Cascade Classic (Seattle, WA)

9/22 – 9/23: Heartland Havoc 3 (Davenport, ID) 

9/23: Games of the Ages Masters Team Competition (Hanson, MA)

9/23: Cadre Crucible Team Competition (Hudson, OH)

9/23: Detroit Red Wings WOD (Detroit, MI) 

9/23: IronWorkz Gauntlet (Medina, OH)

9/24: CrossFit New England 3rd Annual Fundraising Golf Tournament (Hudson, MA)

9/28 – 9/29: Pensacola Beach Brawl (Pensacola Beach, FL)9/28 – 9/29: The Primal Games (Savannah, GA)

9/29: Kilo Crush Fest (Hampton, VA) 

9/29: Barcode Team Competition (Leander, TX)

9/29: Long Island Masters Team Competition (Hauppauge, NY)

9/29: Fallout Powered by Battleground Events (Long Beach, CA)

9/29: Battle for Boise (Meridian, ID)

9/29: 5th Annual WOD for a Cause (Murrietta, CA) 

9/29: K-9 Pursuit (Bristol, CT)

9/29: Swolemates (Cincinnati, OH)

​9/29: CrossFit Be Someone Charity WODathon (Houston, TX) 

9/29: Garage Girls (Pousbo, WA) 

9/29: Adoption Fundraiser WOD (Millcreek, UT)

10/5: The Hopper (Asheville, NC)

10/6: Beer City Beatdown (Asheville, NC) 

10/6: Gallant Gauntlet 2 (Bedford, TX)

10/6: WOD for Water Troy (Troy, AL)

10/6: Cactus Games (Phoenix, AZ)

10/6: Pound-4-Pound Competition (Denver, CO)

10/6: Invictus Boston Barbells for Boobs (Boston, MA)

10/6: Girls Gone RX @ Old Line Crossfit (Millersville, MD)

10/6: The Battle To Benefit Badge (Utica NY)

10/6: Iron Eagle Challenge (Cookeville, TN)

10/6: The Grit Games (Jacksonville, FL)

10/6: Fit For Freedom (St. Peters, MO)

10/6 – 10/7: The Iron Clash (Fayetteville, NC)

10/6- 10/7: 307 Throwdown (Casper, WY)

10/12: 10/14: Faith RX’d (Denver, CO) 

​10/13: C4 CrossFit Co-Ed Classic (Brunswick, NJ)

10/13: 2018 War in the Woods (Norton, MA)

10/20 – 10/21: The Independence Games (Florence, SC)