“How could I have forgotten the simplest principle we teach?”

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Today’s edition was chalked up while giving thanks to the many brave men and women — past, present and future — serving their country at home and abroad. 

“Lead me, follow me, or get the hell out of my way.” — George S. Patton Jr.

Four Things to Do This Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day. And while we know it’s tempting to take the day off, take it easy, take a rest day, we want to remind you of one thing: Veterans.

So, here are four WODs to get out there and get after while you enjoy this National Holiday.

1. VETWOD 2018 — Compete in VETWOD, the first annual online-only functional fitness competition to benefit Mission 22, an organization that fights against veteran suicide. Workouts will take place over three weeks, starting today with WOD #1, programmed by Street Parking. Even though they’re all online WODS, there’s still prizes and tons of awesome sponsors like Alpha Brew Coffee, FNX, and
   RXBAR.
2. WOD FOR WARRIORS — You’ve got until tomorrow to do “Armistice” for WOD for Warriors, a workout held on Veterans Day all across the country. This event is an opportunity to support veterans through functional fitness, compete for more than $2,000 in prizes, and raise funds for America’s veterans. One hundred percent of the proceeds from this event go directly to support Team RWB’s mission to enrich the lives of America’s veterans by connecting them to their community through physical and social activity.
3. CHALK UP FOR BURPEES — Hoping to draw attention to the high levels of Veteran Suicide due to loneliness and isolation, Chalk Up For Burpees is running an online campaign open to all; a solid seven minutes of burpees. You can post your burpees on Instagram and let Chalk Up for Burpees know who you honored with your seven minutes.
4. CATCH A LIFT — You can also do CrossFit’s Coffland Hero WOD Challenge for Catch A Lift.  Register as an individual, complete the workout and submit your score by the 12th. All proceeds go to Catch A Lift, a foundation that helps post 9/11 combat wounded veterans regain their mental and physical health through gym memberships, in home gym equipment, personalized fitness and nutrition programs, and peer support network. Catch A Lift was founded by Lynn Coffland, sister of Army Cpl. Chris Coffland, who lost his life in November of 2009 in Afghanistan while serving in Operation Enduring Freedom. Coffland believed that through fitness, one can reach their highest potential both mentally and physically.

How to Fix Anything, Part Three: “I Know This”

This is part three in a three-part series by Dr. Sean Pastuch, founder and owner of Active Life Rx. Dr. Sean examines his own nagging injury incurred while training with Rich Froning in Cookeville six months earlier. Still in pain and making no improvement despite trying everything he could, Dr. Sean begins to take a different approach to healing his injury. You can read part one here and part two here.

I was sitting back, enjoying Dr. Ray’s lecture titled “How Injuries Occur” when I realized I was missing the simplest thing. My solution was right in front of my face and I had been prescribing it to dozens of my clients every day. About halfway through his lecture, Ray nonchalantly made the statement that turned this entire thing around for me.

“Pain is an emotion. We can’t depend on the pain experience of our clients as a reliable piece of data to determine what exercises they need to do and what exercises they need to avoid.” I’m paraphrasing Dr. Ray. “Soft tissues need load if they are going to change. The amount of load, the vector of load, and the duration for which load is experienced will all depend on the type of injury and the reaction to the load. The only way we are going to know what we need to do is to assess, act, and pivot based on the body’s response.”

Holy shit. How could I have forgotten the simplest principle we teach?

I was in it. I was too deep. I couldn’t see the forest because I was just staring at trees. I forgot my basics. And that’s where I found myself very much in your shoes.

Continue reading…

Things To…

WATCH: The Professor Speaks

This past year has been a year of changes for Canada’s Brent Fikowski. Armen Hammer got to chat with him about the documentary series, “All In,” his decision to become a full-time athlete, change coaches, and launch the Professor Project. 

THINK LIKE HE DOES.

HEAR: From Fittest Teen to Liver Transplant

Julie Foucher has on gues Sydney Sullivan who, at the 2015 CrossFit Games, was crowned the Fittest Teen on Earth in the Girls 14-15 Division. She was also struggling with a serious chronic disease: Type 2 juvenile autoimmune hepatitis. As the  2016 CrossFit Games drew closer, Sydney began feeling fatigued as the symptoms of her illness worsened. She still finished in 6th place, but her family began the process of finding a donor for a liver transplant.

AN AMAZING STORY. 

WATCH: Instant Pot Black Bean Soup 

It’s finally starting to cool down in our neck of the woods, and it’s feeling like soup season. This black bean soup is spicy, creamy, and ready in a jiffy. With sauteed onions, carrot, and garlic, mixed with some chipotle chiles in adobo, cumin and salt this an incredibly well-seasoned and spicy soup, and you’re going to love it.

NO SOUP FOR YOU. 

Today’s edition of the Morning Chalk Up is powered by men and women like these who sacrifice every day for our freedom (Photo Credit: U.S Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Juan A. Soto-Delgado)

Chalk Up Community

• FARMERS MARKET IN CROSSFIT — Manitowoc CrossFit in Manitowoc, WI is hosting a Winter’s farmers market the second and fourth Saturday mornings in November, December, January and February.
• CPR TRAINING — Last week CrossFit Ft. Wright closed for a few hours for an all staff training. Each member of the gym reneewd their CPR certification. “Our coaches are always learning and improving themselves for the better. Owner Kyle Stark makes safety one of his top priorities for his gym,” said Karla Allison. 
• NOW HIRING — Supplement brand Blonyx, who’s current sales team includes Games athletes, coaches and gym owners, is hiring part time sales managers across the US, Canada and the EU. They are also looking for a Director of Marketing and sales and marketing managers in their Vancouver office.

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

Assault Air Bike is the official bike and running partner of the Dubai CrossFit Championship • Congratulations to Dave Glueck on completing his first CrossFit competition • Mike Palomba did WOD #3 of the Fittest in Cape Town Online Qualifiers for fun and ended with a 275 pound snatch • Happy birthday Brian Gillette who spent it at CrossFit with his kid • Jessica Griffith, who’s also an ER nurse, joins the SteadyMD team • Andrew Ponce equals his deadlift PR of 441 pounds while CrossFit Ethos cheers him
on • Happy birthday Chelsea Hoang • Austin Tylor O’Neal got a 360 pound clean PR.

Tia-Clair Toomey Receives Australian CrossFit Championship Invite — Tia-Clair Toomey will be competing at the Australian CrossFit Championship on the Gold Coast in January. She is currently the only confirmed invited athlete so far.

Fittest in Cape Town Online Qualifiers Done — The Fittest in Cape Town Online Qualifiers officially wrapped up Sunday. While the leaderboard will most likely shift the next few days, here are the previous individual Games athletes in a qualifying spot:

— Women: Carol-Ann Reason-Thibault, Chelsey Hughes, Lindsey Valenzuela, Alessandra Pichelli, and Courtney Haley.

— Men: Streat Hoerner, Tim Paulson, Jason Smith, Jacob Heppner, James Newbury, Mitchel Stevenson, Sean Sweeney, and Khan Porter.

— Athletes on the cusp:

Women: 21). Vicky Polydorou, 22). Elin Rova, 23). Nadine Roos, and 24). Rachel Davis.

Men: 21). AJ Visser, 22). Lucas Parker, 23). Luke McMahon, and 24). Anderon Primo de Souza.

— Remind me: Athletes need to end up in the top 20 in the online qualifier to receive an invitation to the sanctioned event in January. FiCT will also be doling out four spots in both the male and female division at their discretion. Athletes who qualify will have 72 hours to accept or decline their invitation once they’d extended.

2018 IWF World Championships Wraps Up — Sarah Robles was the final Team USA lifter, taking the platform Saturday. She went 6/6 on her lifts, hit a 128kg/282 pound snatch PR, a 162kg/357 pound clean and jerk PR. She finsihed with a 290kg/639 pound total, a new record for her total, and two Pan Am records for her clean and jerk.

“Changing the Games Doesn’t Change a Thing,” by Chyna Cho, Morning Chalk Up

I was devastated when I heard CrossFit was getting rid of Regionals. I love Regionals—it’s my favorite and also most hated competition on the planet.

I hated it because everything rode on those three days. It was the most stressful time ever. But the feeling of being at Regionals is unlike any other. I don’t even think the Games can compare to it. The Games are just such a big show, and I never get to see my family, I never get to see my friends.

Ever since they put the teams in the morning at Regionals, the individuals only had to be there for three to four hours each day. I got to eat dinner with my friends, have breakfast with my coaches, and see people at the arena. You get to be a part of the community and still compete, and at the Games you are in a briefing, you have the workout, you have to do interviews. The big show is great, but you don’t get the same feeling you get at Regionals, so when they announced there were no more Regionals I was really sad.

However, you just have to roll with the punches. I’ve dealt with changes before. First the Regionals changed from NorCal and SoCal into California, and we went from six spots to five spots—at the time I was terrified of that. Then we went from the California Regional to the West Regional, and we went from 10 spots down to five spots.

In the end, though, how you feel doesn’t really matter. If I’m angry, that doesn’t give me more opportunities, if I’m sad about it, it doesn’t make me any more fit or any better. You just have to be like, “Well, I hope my fitness is good enough.” And keep doing what you’re doing. I don’t think anything changes just because there are fewer spots.

Some days I’m like, “I’m totally fine. This will be great.”

The next day I’m like, “Oh shoot, I’m never going to make it back to the Games ever in my whole life,” and then the next day I’m like, “No I’m wonderful, this is not a big deal.”

It’s always a rollercoaster. It comes and goes. I cry once a week. It’s no big deal.

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

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)

12/8: 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)