The Heaviest Snatch in History

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Today’s edition is sponsored by Ragnar Relay, running relays in some of the most breathtaking locations around the world like Napa Valley and the Northwest Passage. “I don’t have that many runner friends”. Yeah, we’ve heard that one before. We bet that you have at least one or two friends that run. We’re even willing to bet they have a few friends that run, or maybe a sister, or a co-worker? What about that guy at your CrossFit gym that also crushes those running WODs? It only takes five steps to build your Ragnar Relay team and you’re off to the races.

P.S. We just released our feature story on Jenn and Sam Dancer’s love of adaptive athletes that’s quickly growing into a $100,000+ fundraiser for the Special Olympics. 

“If there’s someone that’s overweight in your gym or someone that doesn’t have the mobility, what do you do with that athlete? You literally treat these adaptive athletes the same way that you do them; you scale and modify and assess their weaknesses – start simple, there’s no script on how to do that, you just need to fall in love with them, and have a passion for them, and if you do that then everything else is super easy, because they just want to be a part of the gym and learn like everyone else.” — Jenn Dancer

CHALK UP IN 2 MINUTES

Ragnar Relay Countdown…one day until we fly to Tampa. Two days until we leave everyone else in the dust. 

2017 IWF World Championships — 

— Sarah Robles closed competition out for the USA sweeping gold with a 126kg/277 pound snatch and a 158kg/348 pound clean and jerk. 

— Lasha Talakhade set a new World Record with a 220kg/485 pounds snatch. With a 257kg/566 pounds clean and jerk, Lasha went on to set a new World Record in the total with 477kg/1051 pounds total. 

With your second cup of coffee…read the five stages of a CrossFit athlete. This one will hit close to home. 

Brooke Ence reflects on getting a job in Hollywood — “Honestly I never thought there would be a place for me in Hollywood. So I was very excited, and it also made sense, the movie I was doing [Wonder Woman] was a natural fit for the way I looked. I definitely had a more intense physique, a more ‘hard’ physique…I was bullied growing up for always being a ‘strong girl, and what I had to tell myself during the movie was that I wouldn’t be there if they didn’t want me. So regardless of what other actresses or what people might think, about the way that I look, I’m still here. They still hired me just like
they hired everyone else.”

COFFEE BREAK CONVERSATIONS

What to tell your coworker who’s already making a cocktail…

On the rocks please. True story: “A guy in my office is shaking his protein shake and this woman poked her head around the corner and said ‘do I hear margaritasssss?’… no Janet, it’s 10 am.” #SurvivingTheHolidays #LOL

THINGS TO…

HEAR: The Pat and Ro Show

A couple of weeks back, Rory McKernan and Pat Sherwood snuck the inaugural episode of their new podcast out under our noses. For their first episode, they sit down with the Fourth Fittest Man on Earth, golden retreiver owner and new resident of Atlanta, GA, Noah Ohlsen. 

TUNE IN.

EAT: 24 Comfort Soup and Stew Recipes

Whether you’ve got a half dozen veggies about to go bad, leftover turkey, or you just need something easy to warm up for the next few days, Ambitious Kitchen’s list of soups and stews is guaranteed to have something you need.

CUP OR A BOWL?

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

CHALK UP AFFILIATES

• DOORS OPEN — Madison, WI just got one affiliate larger as Great State CrossFit opens their doors. They are now the closest CrossFit affiliate — 0.8 miles to be exact — to the Alliant Energy Center, home of the 2018-19 CrossFit Games.
• NO EXCUSES — CrossFit Goliath coach Steph Hammerman is the world’s first CrossFit L2 coach with cerebtral palsy and she’s competing in a half marathon this Saturday. It’s also her one year anniversary of being cancer free. 
• CROSSFIT IS BACK IN TOWN — Keene, NH was left without a CrossFit affiliate for more than a year after CrossFit Keene shut down. But in a garage on the other side of town, Michelle Gaffney decided to go legit and apply for an affiliation and in comes CrossFit Monadnock to make Keene fit again. 

“Pull Together with Sam Dancer for Special Olympics” by Jessica Danger, Morning Chalk Up

Ask any athlete at QTown CrossFit who James is, and they’ll know. Sam Dancer and James Foster are best friends. When Sam spoke about his travel schedule preparing for the 2016 CrossFit Games, he cried when he thought of leaving James behind.

“I haven’t seen him in a while. I miss him,” Dancer said. “Down Syndrome is the most radical thing. They don’t screw anything up. They just love. They don’t know anything else. They’re my best friends.”

It’s this same passion for relationships that brought Sam to James in the first place.

When Jennifer and Sam Dancer planned their first Row Raiser, it was 2014, and they raised only a few hundred dollars. They were living in Cincinnati and had a friend, Heather Davis, who worked for the Special Olympics. Davis brought some athletes over to spend some time in the gym.

“It started as just a little thing, like ‘hey can we bring some athletes over and just spend an hour with them, getting them to move a little bit?’” Jennifer said.

Brought to You By Jared Enderton — Are you struggling with your front rack mobility? Does it feel like your wrists are going to snap off (literally) when going deep into a front squat? Let us go ahead and kill this thought going on in your head right now: you don’t need more flexible wrists. Jared Enderton walks through three things you can do on a regular basis to get a stronger front rack. 

12/9: Ho Ho Ho CrossFit Kids Competition (Riverside, CA)

12/9: The 2017 Reindeer Games (Del Mar, CA)

12/9 – 10: WOD GODZ 2017 (Shreveport, LA)

12/18 – 20: 6th Annual CrossFit Invictus Online Competition (Online)

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

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

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

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

1/27: Winter Chiller (Fairmont, WV)

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

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

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

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