“The most worth-while thing is to try to put happiness into the lives of others.”- Robert Baden-Powell
COMPETITION
Why Did a Bunch of Zelos Games Athletes Hit Snatch PRs? Diving into the Science Behind the Phenomenon
The 2022 Zelos Games have come to a close, but we’re still talking about one event in particular. Event 1.3: a combination of double-unders and snatches in an EMOM-style lifting event.
A notable number of athletes hit a personal best in their snatch and we were curious if this was just by chance or if there was any reasoning behind it. After speaking with Mike Giardina, the senior manager of health education at CrossFit, and weightlifting specialist Beau Burgener, it seems pretty clear there was some science to back up these massive lifts.
The CrossFit licensed event was a mix of both live in-person competition and online participation and consisted of four workouts. Just under 300 people were registered to compete, including 11 men and 12 women who competed at Camp Rhino in Las Vegas. Of those, 7 elite athletes hit lifetime PRs, according to analysis done by Morning Chalk Up. And a sizable number of online competitors also hit major PRs. In total we found 36 athletes had hit a personal best.
Some of the most noteworthy lifts were Tudor Magda and Ellia Miller. Magda hit a 322 pound snatch, which was a 22 pound PR. While Miller hit a massive 215 snatch, which was a 15 pound PR for her. Both athletes participated in the live event.
Thuri Returns to Her Roots and Joins Team Relentless
After four years in Switzerland, seven-time Games athlete Thuri Helgadottir packed her bags and moved back to Iceland. In her pocket: Relentless Trainer, the app that is changing the entire fitness industry.
“Show up. Do the work. Get the results”, says the 31-year old as she starts another session with the Trainer.
The app is unique in it’s ability to adjust any workout to the user, whether it’s a world class athlete like Thuri, or an Average Joe.
Time
Readiness
Location
Fitness level
Soreness
All factors are taken into account when the Relentless Trainer creates your workouts and plan.
In case you missed it: Morning Chalk Up’s Lauren Kalil caught up with Rory McKernan to chat about what goes into planning the 2022 Legends Championship for the masters athletes and even gives us a look into programming for the division.
Get some: Looking for some last minute gifts for your fit fam? Here are 12 gift ideas for the CrossFit lover in your life!
CrossFit HQ update: The Adaptive Competition Eligibility Forms are now available for athletes who have registered or plan to register in the adaptive athlete division for the 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games Open.
Multisport star: Former CrossFit athlete Bianca Belair took first place in a New Jersey WBFF fitness competition (bodybuilding) this past weekend, which is a shift from her current WWE stardom.
International love: Great story out of India about the Hornbill International Strongman and Crossfit event which took place in the Nagaland region of the country, which is a mountainous state in the northeast portion of the country. 🇮🇳
More international love: Great story in The Grantham Journal about CrossFit Grantham, which just opened up in central England.
CROSSFIT GAMES
MEMBER EXCLUSIVE
Things to Do Now to Help You Crush the 2023 CrossFit Open
Less than 100 days till the Open. The Open is the start of the competitive CrossFit season. Whether this is your first year competing or you are a Games veteran, it currently begins with three weeks of workouts in the middle of February and early March of 2023.
In this article, we will cover a large range of areas of opportunity to improve on with regards to your nutrition, training, and recovery to help you crush the 2023 Open. We will get into more details about nutrition advice, but for the training and recovery tips, I had to reach out to the pros. Two experienced, renowned, and successful CrossFit coaches, Kyle Ruth and Adam Rogers from Training Think Tank..
When asked I Kyle Ruth what is some advice you would give to your athletes to start implementing now that will give them the best ability to crush the Open, he responded with:
How Athletes Decide Which Off-Season Competitions They Compete at
With numerous off-season competitions to choose from all around the globe, how does an athlete narrow down which one might help inch them closer to their overall goal? Morning Chalk Up’s Lauren Kalil catches up with seven women and seven men to see what drives them to compete and if there’s a common theme amongst the athletes.
The Progrm’s John Singleton: “I think we like to look at it as an artist”
For over a decade now, John Singleton, founder of The Progrm, has been helping CrossFit athletes reach their athletic potential. We caught up with him in the UAE during the Dubai Fitness Championship, where he was supporting Mortiz Fiebig, who finished the competition in 2nd place overall.
Given the long travel needed for some to get to the Middle East, it begs the question as to how an athlete chooses which off-season competitions to invest their time, money and energy into.
“Travel is one factor for the athletes. It’s a stress having to do so, especially coming over from the States…plus going to say, Texas, (for Rogue) is big travel. So in essence, pure quantity is a big thing,” he said. “So I think that if we’re talking about an athlete in the top 20 in the world, they can probably handle four big events a year. And you put Semi’s and the Games into that and then you’ve got two left that you can pick and choose from.”
He went on to say that if an athlete is newer and needs competition experience, they may do more, and “if an athlete’s got the experience but they need to work on something specific, then it goes less.”
And in thinking about programming in a way that helps an athlete adapt to volume, it may seem like everyone’s everyone’s doing a variation of the same thing. However, Singleton says “actually when you start looking closer and closer at it, our approach is quite unique. I think we like to look at it as an artist — there’s a certain style that you have that will resonate with one type of athlete but won’t resonate with another type of athlete.”
As a general rule of thumb, The Progrm encourages athletes to start with general programming first, and then seek individualized programming when they make a Seminfinal, so the extra eyes and custom protocol can take them to the next level: the CrossFit Games.
With a goal to become the “best training program in the world”, we’re expecting great things out of The Progrm in 2023. And, in case you’re wondering, there is a reason the “A” is missing in the name.
“Sisu is this Finnish word that means kind of hard working. And when we started The Progrm, I wanted kind of an Icelandic representation of that because we were living in Iceland, we were very focused there,” he said. He went on to share that they tried a couple different words but landed on “The Program”, but in searching for the Instagram name, found out that it wasn’t available. “So we were just like, okay, let’s just take out ‘A’, and it just stuck.”
To catch the full interview with Singleton, check out our live Coffee Break Conversation from December 2nd on YouTube here. Our weekly topic-focused chat with an industry expert is exclusive to Rx subscribers; join here for just $1 to access them all.
While every competitor has different needs, the Spain-based training camp has long embraced the “simple but effective” mindset.
“I think it’s a very good thing to keep in mind that these athletes can handle a lot of volume, but it doesn’t mean you need to give them a lot of volume,” he said.
COMPETITION
2022 Dubai Fitness Championship Payouts
The biggest showcase in the UAE concluded last weekend and the tallies are in for athlete payouts. The 2022 Dubai Fitness Championship ran eight workouts across three days, and we broke down all the action on our website and on YouTube if you missed it. Competitors achieved a cash prize (USD) based on their overall placing, as well as for achieving top three in any workout.
You must be on the nice list because Fitness Santa is here to bring you 12 straight days of festive fitness giveaways. Just enter below and from December 1st until December 12th one lucky winner will be drawn each day to receive a huge prize from one of your favorite brands.
Unbroken is optimized to enhance muscle recovery by speeding up repair in the critical post-workout period. It naturally eases the absorption of all-important aminos, so your body wastes little to no energy on digestion and your recovery starts within minutes. Just ask the 2nd Fittest Man on Earth.
When you are first starting at a box, everything can be overwhelming. From the acronyms to barbell math, there are a lot of things to learn. But here are two important things every new CrossFitter should know!
Get ready to shop because Reebok is having a flash sale starting today! You can get up to 70% off some of your favorite workout gear. What are you waiting for? Go shopping before it’s too late!
If you are wanting to get a strict ring muscle up or to improve/ get your first ring muscle up, then learning a false grip can be key to your success! Watch a gymnastics pro discuss the importance and how to do it.
Congratulations to Christine Middleton from Ocean State CrossFit in Cranston, RI on the 200 pound/91kg snatch that earned her third place in the 2022 American Open Weightlifting Finals.
Congratulations to Danielle Alewine and Zach Durkee from AAYMCA CrossFit in Anderson, SC on their second place finish in the Rx division at CrossFit Epoch’s Tacos and Tequlia competition on December 3rd,
Congratulations to Chris from CrossFit Texas in Hutto, TX on getting his first bar muscle-up.
Forging Youth Resilience (FYR) Flagstaff is a nonprofit organization that provides free CrossFit classes to underserved and at-risk youth in Flagstaff, Arizona. Now through December 20th, FYR is hosting a Holiday Silent Auction Fundraiser to prepare for 2023.
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