⍰ Think you wanna open this email

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Today’s edition is powered by nuyu sleep, a personal sleep system that helps your body cool off, so you can relax, go to sleep fast, stay asleep, and wake up more refreshed. They don’t help you sleep longer, just better so you recover faster and perform better. Find out how to set your perfect sleep temperature.

“When all is said and done, no one will remember what your record was, how many points you scored, or how many games you won.  But they’ll never forget how you made them feel…These are the people and relationships that will last far longer than your playing career.” — Jamie Hagiya

A BURPEE WORLD RECORD

What happened?

Police officers in Dubai recently broke the Guinness World Record for the most people participating in mass exercise.

Some background.

The Dubai Fitness Challenge — not to be confused with the Dubai Fitness Championship — is an effort to help Dubai become the most active city in the world — with burpees, no less.

The challenge consists of 30 minutes of exercise for 30 days and is a city-wide initiative. Government workers, schools, and citizens participate in the challenge every year.

The record.

As they say, go big or go home and this year the Dubai PD went big. They gathered nearly 1,500 people, including many Dubai police officers, to do burpees for two minutes.

In doing so, they broke the Guinness World Record for the most people performing burpees. The previous record was 689 set in the U.K last year.

CHALK UP IN 2 MINUTES

Roundup — Jessica Lucero snatches 205 pounds ahead of IWF Worlds. Vanessa Benavides from CrossFit Soul does 30 strict handstand push-ups in 48 seconds. Mia
Akerlund hits a 211 pound snatch and a 253 pound clean and jerk. Christy Adkins is seven weeks pregnant and due in May, so maybe no CrossFit Games this season? Noah Ohlsen does Grace in 1:16. It’s 12 weeks post operation and Camille Leblanc-Bazinet gets back to doing strict pull-ups. Emily Bridgers works out with WWE’s Seth Rollins. 

Sneak Peak — The new NOBULL all black trainers, coming Black Friday.

With your second cup of coffee…what the ab workout?

Stefi Cohen Breaks Two World Records — Over the weekend, Stefi Cohen set a lifetime squat and bench PR and two world records at 122 pound bodyweight: 1 for her 495 pound deadlift and the other for her 1112 pound total: 407 pound squat, 210 pound bench press, 495 deadlift. “Not the meet I was hoping for but can’t be upset
with the results…I think I’m in shape to put up a lot bigger numbers in deadlift so I feel like I underperformed a little bit. All meets are a learning experience and I’m just gonna use this as motivation to train harder and smarter next time!”

COFFEE BREAK CONVERSATIONS

What to tell your friend with all those extra toiletries…

Let’s find a home for those. Samantha Fullem from York, PA is using CrossFit York to setup a pop-up shop for homeless and anyone in the community that could use some used clothing, cleaning supplies, personal hygiene or anything else that gets donated. Not a CrossFitter herself but her dad THE Joe is, Sam got the idea after traveling to Florida to support Hurricane Irma victims. She had so many extra donations the Red Cross wasn’t taking any longer she didn’t want them to go to waste. 

What to tell your friend who’s having problems fitting into their jeans…

Squat much? Developing your glutes might be the single most effective way to improve your lifts and require you to buy a new pair of jeans — in a good way of course. So Brute Strength developed the Brute Booty guide detailing 24 different lifts to fire off those glutes and it costs all of ZERO dollars. 

THINGS TO…

WATCH: Poaching Eggs with Chef Brooke Ence

When a video starts off with Brooke swallowing down two raw eggs you know it’s going to be a special one. Brooke and her bestie Jeanna are back in the kitchen, this time to make eggs benedict, or more importantly learning how to poach an egg. 

HOLLEN DAYZ.

EAT: Sweet and Spicy Bacon Wrapped Plantains

Bacon wrapped plantains with a hint of sweetness from pure maple syrup and a little spicy thanks to a kick of cayenne pepper. Everyone will be raving over this unique, easy appetizer. They’re so good Monique from Ambitious Kitchen is serving them at her wedding. 

EVERYTHING IS GREAT WITH BACON.

BUY: Reebok Men’s Sale

Sorry ladies, this one’s just for the guys. Grab 25% off all of Reebok’s holiday deals with code “FORHIM” at checkout. 

TIME TO SHOP.

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

CHALK UP AFFILIATES

Quick Hits —

• College and Careers — Phillips, a junior and exercise science major at Taylor University recently got her L1 certification because she wants to use CrossFit to help athletes with special needs. Inspired by her sister who has down syndrome, Christiana became frustrated that no one was willing to spend time teaching her sister to exercise. 
• SEAL WODs — Hurricane CrossFit in Lake Charles, LA celebrated Veterans Day weekend with the 24-hour SEAL Team challenge, one Hero WOD named after a Navy SEAL every hour for 24 hours.
• Veterans — CrossFit Final Call Robinson, IL opened their doors on Veterans Day. Owner Matt Van Schoyck, himself a veteran who fought in Iraq and struggled after coming home, is making it his mission to reach other veterans by offering free memberships. 

“Letter to My Younger Self” by Jamie Hagiya, Morning Chalk Up

Dear 17-year-old Jamie,

What a journey it’s been with your first love, basketball, playing since the age of four. Being 5’3″ and Japanese American proved to set some major hurdles once you realized you wanted to play in college.  But I’m proud of you for never giving up and never giving in to others who said, “You’re too small.  You’re not good enough. You’ll never play Division 1 College Basketball.” The derogatory comments about your ethnicity were harsh as well, but in the end, it only made you tougher and prouder of who you are and where you’ve come from.  

You spent endless hours in the gym working on your game. When it came time to practice, you were always the first to arrive and last to leave. Then, you’d head over to practice with the boy’s Varsity team for the extra time. So when that final buzzer went off, and you had zero offers from colleges, I know how badly your heart ached.  But, because you believed in yourself and understood that success is when preparation meets opportunity, you pressed on.

11/18: New WODs On The Block (Various Locations in US)

11/18: Downtown Throwdown (Prattville, AL)

11/30: CrossFit Liftoff (Online)

12/1 – 3: Atlas Games (Montreal, Canada)

12/2 – 3: Rogue Winter Classic (Cleveland, OH)

12/2: Anthem CrossFit’s Reindeer Games (Pensacola, FL)

12/2: Vekter Games IV (CrossFit ReVamped, Columbia, MD)

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

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

1/27/18: Winter Chiller (Fairmont, WV)