“Fitness is not about being better than someone else. It's about being better than you used to be.”- Unknown
CROSSFIT GAMES
"The Crown" to Showcase Top European Teens in Unique Competition in Mallorca, Spain
Big Brother, Jersey Shore, and Love Island are all famous for their iconic settings–gigantic, lavish housing for characters to go through the troubles and turmoil of being a reality television star.
Pair this with the near-ancient series on the CrossFit Games YouTube channel “Rogue vs Again Faster,” which gave a never-before-seen, raw look into the lives of early elite athletes like Miko Salo, Camille Leblanc-Bazinet, and a mustachioed Rory McKernon, and you’ll see John Singleton’s vision for his upcoming competition “The Crown.”
What is “The Crown”?: While Singleton’s target audience for this competition is most likely too young to remember the height of Jersey Shore or Rogue vs Again Faster. The Crown, which takes place this weekend, April 6-9, will feature 10 of the best European teenage talents the sport of CrossFit has to offer in a one-of-a-kind format. Athletes will stay in a house on the island of Mallorca, Spain, participate in four days of exciting events, and have cameras following them the entire time to produce a documentary on the competition.
Singleton, the founder of The Progrm, has been passionate about giving a voice and spotlight to teen athletes for years.
He says that he saw competitions give masters, teens, and other divisions the backseat over and over and wanted to create something different.
“With the teens being the next generation, we really wanted to highlight and give them an opportunity to have a competition that was all theirs and they were the center of attention,” Singleton said.
While the perception and outlook of the teenage division have undoubtedly changed over the past few years with the rise of a few stars, the reality remains that most Games athletes that make their debut in the teens can’t make the jump to the individual division right away.
Singleton says that this competition, which he hopes to develop into an invite-only style system of an elite caliber like the Rogue Invitational, will give those athletes in the middle a tangible goal to reach.
“That jump from 17 to (the elite divisions) is huge and that’s what we want to fill a little bit. So between 17 and 21-years-old, there’s actually this focused event you really want to get to,” Singleton said. “The idea is to keep the athletes in the sport.”
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🚨🚨🚨The Team and Age Group Quarterfinal leaderboards have been updated (although not yet locked).
Built for Athletes: Congratulations to the UK’s Fittest man, Reggie Fasa, who signed with premium fitness brand Built for Athletes. The company specializes in high-quality bags, luggage, and accessories for elite and everyday athletes.
New Studies on Exercise and Depression: While it’s no surprise to CrossFitters, according to the data of three new meta-analyses, exercise: improves depressive symptoms, often works better than “usual care,” including psychological interventions and can improve the effects of anti-depressant drugs.
Seeing Double 🎟️ 🤩: Check out the new Buttery Bros episode and watch the boys learn how to train like movie stunt doubles.
PROFILE
MEMBER EXCLUSIVE
Khan Porter Discusses Decision to Sit Out 2023 Season, Looks to 2024 Comeback
“These tests were simply beyond my body’s current capabilities,” Australian CrossFit Games veteran Khan Porter posted to Instagram on March 18, referring to the 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games Quarterfinals.
“There’s so much I could say, but to put it simply, this really fucking sucks,” he concluded.
What happened: The Morning Chalk Up got a chance to talk with Porter about his decision for 2023 and the injury that forced him to make that choice.
Built to Move is the newest book released by the Godfather of mobility – Kelly Starrett and his incredible partner in crime – Juliet Starrett. This power couple were pioneers in the mobility revolution, posting free daily videos to their YouTube page since 2010.
They founded MobilityWOD (the original ‘WOD’ suffix company), and later rebranded as The Ready State, where they provide courses, personalized coaching and their virtual mobility coach app. They’ve developed innovative mobility tools to support the practices they’ve shared, helping people to resolve pain and improve their movement.
The Starretts’ work with professional athletes, Olympic gold medalists and everyday folks using the methodology detailed in their previous books: Becoming a Supple Leopard, Ready to RunandDeskbound.
The newest iteration of the leopard’s library takes a holistic and simple approach to help rewild the body, which is described as “restoring and protecting natural processes.”
In the simplest of terms, it’s a roadmap to help you live a pain-free life and get the most out of your body. Today I’ll be giving you a quick overview of what the book covers, but like most things in life, the devil is in the details. I strongly recommend snagging yourself a copy and getting the full experience.
10 Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully
Getting up and down off the floor
Breathe easy
Extend your hips
Walk this way
Future-proof your neck and shoulders
Eat like you’re going to live forever
Squat
Find your balance
Create a movement rich environment
Unleash your superpower: sleep
10 Tests + 10 Physical Practices to make your body work better
The book is organized into what the Starretts call vital signs, which are measurable assessments identifying why you may have aches, pain and fatigue.
When I was reading the book my ego naturally made me think “I do CrossFit, of course I can do these tests.”
I was quickly served a dose of humble pie by several of the tests, realizing there were cracks in my foundation that I needed to revisit.
The tests are quick and simple, but more importantly are followed by a step-by-step guide on how to improve each vital sign.
It’s not an exercise book.
This book is about movement, mobility and lifestyle habits that build a strong foundation for exercise to be built upon. Since a pyramid can only grow as tall as its base, this fundamental approach to creating wellness is a refreshing reminder not to assume one hour of daily exercise will be a fix-all for living a healthy life.
The final four pages of the book cover exercise, describing it as a “supplemental insurance plan” for your body. The motto of Never Do Nothing is introduced, reminding you not to let “perfect [be] the enemy of good.”
The bottom line: The Starretts have continued to be trailblazers in the movement and mobility space, providing simple and strategic principles that have considered the busyness of everyday life. Built to Move creates a path to help maintain a resilient and durable body. The book will be available today, April 4th, 2023.
THINGS TO...
...DO
Camille LeBlanc-Bazinet’s Lower Body Workout
Barbell workout meets booty band workout with Camille’s lower body workout for Feroce Fitness. Get the best of both worlds!
It's an epidemic, low testosterone is impacting more and more men. Testosterone in men has declined 20-50% in the last several decades. Learn how you can combat low T and feel like your younger self.
High volume deadlifts can be very taxing on your grip and forearms, but mastering these different kinds of grip options will help you save your forearms some trouble.
What if we told you that you never had to chalk your hands again on pull ups? Element 26’s IsoComp Gymnastic Hand Grips are made to stick to any surface (whether it’s a speal bar, powder coated, plain steel, or if someone’s blisters are still on there) and help you save precious time in workouts without taking a break at the chalk bucket. Use code “MCU” for 10% off!
Nutrition is not only about the food you eat, it’s also about the habits that you create around your food. Use these six elements of conscious nutrition to build a foundation of healthy habits.
🇲🇽 Congratulations to Diana Melissa Perez Robinson of Mexico on the 200 pound/90.7kg sandbag lift during last weekend’s Hell Games in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
“No [CrossFit Games] appearances, no sponsors, but just having fun in the old shred shed.”
Medeiros went on to take first place in the in-person finals.
😳 Egor Kliminov of Russia dances with 440 pounds/200kg on his shoulders.
Congratulations to Rob Thomas, owner and coach of CrossFit Hype in Boca Raton, FL, who competed in a 22-mile Coconut Cup bike race in Deerfield Beach the day after his team (CrossFit Hype – The Takover) unofficially qualified to North America East Semifinals.
If standings remain, CrossFit Hype will send two teams to Orlando next month.
Congratulations to CrossFit Games veteran Andre Houdet and No Shortcuts CrossFit who currently sit in first place on Europe’s Team Quarterfinals leaderboard, and fourth in the world, during their first year as a team.
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