I’ve got a bad feeling about this, bro

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Today’s edition is fueled by Brute Strength, the Official Online Training Sponsor of the Morning Chalk Up. To compete at your best you’ve got to spend time training the most powerful “muscle” in your body — your brain. Brute Strength’s Mental Strength Warm-Up is a 10-minute exercise that’ll help you kill it in each Open workout. Namaslay.

“The comeback is always stronger than the setback.” — Unknown, but motivating AF

CROSSFIT OPEN FAST FACTS

Welcome to the 2018 CrossFit Open. In exactly 15 hours we’ll know exactly what Dave Castro has in store for us. Will it be a repeat? Will it include a movement we’ve never seen before? Will there be thrusters (everyone immediately knock on wood)? Honestly, we have no idea, but we know a lot about past Open WODs so here are some fun facts and noteworthy patterns we’ve noticed to help you pass the next 15 hours.

Fun Facts

• 14.5 was the first task priority Open WOD (Translation: Go until you finish). There has been one task priority WOD every year since and it came in week 5 (14.5, 15.5, 16.5, and 17.5)
• Only in 2014 was the opening workout a repeat. It was 11.1.
• No workouts from 2013 or 2015 have been repeated yet.

Predicting the Open: honestly there is no predicting the Open, but when you lay out all the past WODs some patterns emerge.

• The following movements have been in all seven years of the Open: chest to bar pull-ups, double unders, snatches, thrusters, toes to bar, and wall balls. There were no burpees in 2015.
• Every single thruster workout has been a couplet and it’s always been the final workout.
• Since 2014, once a movement is introduced it usually sticks around. (Examples: row in 2014, handstand push-ups in 2015, bar muscle-ups in 2016. The only exception to this is the overhead lunge in 2016, which was not repeated).
• As we noted above, Dave also has repeated a test-priority WOD in each year since it was introduced in 2014.
• In 2017, the new movements introduced were dumbbell cleans, front rack dumbbell walking lunges and dumbbell snatch.
• Out of six possible repeats, Dave chose to hold the repeat during the same week it was introduced every single year except in 2013.

Our Own Thoughts

1. The repeat will be 17.1. It retests a completely new movement with the new burpee and snatch standard laid out in 18.0. People have been sharing this photo a lot, showing a rig in the background. That means absolutely nothing. Patrick Vellner and Brent Fikowski had the same looking rig in the background while performing 17.1 last year.
2. Thrusters will be in week 5 again.
3. For the firs ttime, Dave will include two gymnastics movements in the same WOD. Our definition of gymnastics is bar muscle-ups, chest to bar, and any form of muscle-up. We’ve seen a ton of athletes practicing chest to bar into muscle-ups. The combination of snatches, pull-ups, chest to bar, and bar muscle-ups was also a WOD from the 2014 CrossFit Games. 

Here’s our data for Open movements and Open WOD repeats in case you want to dive deeper. 

COFFEE BREAK CONVERSATIONS

Things to think about with your second cup of coffee…

• Why do the Crossfit Open and Girl Scout cookie season have to be at the same time?
• São Paolo, Brazil, Greenland and Iceland share the same time zone. 

What to tell your friend who never misses a happy hour…

There must be something in those suds. A new 15 year-long study led by a University of California neurologist discoved that subjects who drank about two glasses of beer or wine a day were 18 percent less likely to experience a premature death. Meanwhile, participants who exercised 15 to 45 minutes a day, cut the same risk by 11 percent. No conclusion however on what happens when you combine both. Regardless, cheers to life and making it past 90. 

THINGS TO…

WATCH: The Live 18.1 Announcement

Things kick off in São Paolo, Brazil starting at 5PM Pacific/10PM Brazil, as Kristin Holte and Sam Briggs square off for the first workout of the 2018 CrossFit Open.

WATCH IT LIVE.

BONUS WATCH: Open Prep with Brooke Ence

Brooke and Haley Adams head to Salt Lake City, Utah to train before the Open with Nick Fowler and the rest of the Brute crew. 

FINISHING TOUCHES.

HEAR: Developing A Competitive Mindset with Emily Abbott

Four-time CrossFit Games athlete Emily Abbott joins the Brute Strength podcast for an in-depth episode looking into Emily’s life and finding your divine flow, goals vs. intentions, and training less to gain more. 

TUNE IN.

EAT: Paleo Curried Meat Pies

These paleo curried meat pies from Nom Nom Paleo are the perfect grab and go snack so you can bake now and take later. 

GET THE RECIPE.

BUY: Fuel up for the Open with FNX

Your body is going to be working extra hard over the next five weeks to make every rep count. Recover with 30% off the entire FNX store using code “FNX18.1.”

FUEL YOUR RECOVERY.

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

CHALK UP COMMUNITY

• KINGS OF GRIT — This is one of our absolute fave local missions. James Lancaster, a Regionals athlete and coach at CrossFit Hit and Run in Memphis, TN, started visiting the local jail every Thursday to bring CrossFit to inmates; it’s now grown into a really special and impactful program. James is collecting donations to help support this mission and after watching this video you’ll wanna help too. 

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

Here’s a handy dandy time zone chart so you know what time the Open announcement is in your area • Mathew Fraser kicked off the Open by using a flame thrower to set some pallets on fire • Margaux Alvarez will be live streaming all her Open WODs on Instagram, the first one is going down Friday • Aaron Hanna and his wife welcomed their new baby girl into the world last night.

No Matter What Your Scary Goal Is…“I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis 17 years ago, and when I walked into my box a year ago I barely jumped on a 1” plate. That picture on the top has also been on my refrigerator for 5 years now. I deemed it impossible for me to accomplish. Well holy crap, I hit a 24” box jump last week! Three of them! No matter what your scary goal is do the work, surround yourself with people who believe in your goals and before you know it you are doing the things you once thought impossible!!! With precise determination and grit our potential is limitless.” Follow Laura’s journey kicking MSs butt on her Instagram.

“Open Perspective: Celebrate Your Fitness” by Tammy Valentine, Morning Chalk Up

The Sport of Fitness begins its official season with the CrossFit Open in just a few short days. For Games athletes, this means one thing…It’s time to throw down and show off the training you’ve been working on during the off-season. For the rest of the world, it’s five weeks of being put to the test to rise up and attempt new movements or weights that go beyond the perceived limits of the comfort zone.

If you’re like me, you might be feeling unprepared, nervous, and a tiny bit excited. When registration for the open came around, I almost threw in the towel. Then the reasonable part of my brain kicked in and said, “Why in the hell would you NOT sign up when great things ALWAYS happen during the Open?”

The Open is tough – mentally and physically. Thursday Nights constitute coming together to stand in line like sheep waiting for Dave Castro to slaughter us with his latest concoction. During the course of the four days (Thursday-Monday) athletes will continue with the slaughter in hopes of beating their previous score before the submission deadline.

2/22: CrossFit Open 18.1 (Worldwide)2/23 – 3/26: Garage Games Junior Open (Worldwide)3/1: CrossFit Open 18.2 (Worldwide)

3/8: CrossFit Open 18.3 (Worldwide)

3/10: Women Who WOD (Barbados)

3/15: CrossFit Open 18.4 (Worldwide)

3/22: CrossFit Open 18.5 (Worldwide)

3/23: The Redeemed and the Dominant: Fittest on Earth is released (iTunes)

3/24: 4th Annual St. Paddy’s Day Competition (Norwood, MA)

4/7: Battle of the Badges (Anaheim, CA)

4/7: The Revolution (San Antonio, TX)

4/7: GenX Masters Comp (Salem, MA)

4/14: Battle for the Mountain (Dawsonville, GA)

4/14: Appalachian Games (Asheville, NC)

4/14: Deuces Wild by Warrior Affiliate League (Baldwin Park, CA)

4/14 – 4/15: Mid-Atlantic Affiliate Challenge (Columbia, MD)

4/14 – 4/15: WOD Wars Fitfest (Dunedin, FL)

4/20 – 4/22: Athens Throwdown (Athens, Greece)

4/21: Festivus Games (Nationwide)

4/21: Mayhem for MSR (Cookeville, TN)

4/21: Loganville Lockdown (Loganville, GA)

4/28: Battleground SoCal (Wimington, CA)

4/28: Girls Gone Rx (Cincinnati, OH)

4/28: Salem Slaughterfest (Salem, OR)

4/28: 3rd Annual Appletown Throwdown (Cornelia, GA)

4/28 – 4/29: Walter’s Cup Throwdown (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

5/4 – 5/6: European Masters Throwdown (Budapest, Hungary)

5/5 – 5/6: Tribal Clash (Quarteira, Portugal)

5/5: Cinco de Mayo Classic (San Antonio, TX)

5/5: The Locomotive Games III (Youngstown, OH)

5/11 – 5/12: Beast Mode Games (Greenville, SC)

5/19: Raising the Bar for Recovery (Medina, OH)

5/19: East Coast Battle (Hanover, MD)

5/26: Beauty is a Beast 2 (Indian Rocks Beach, FL)