“New Year's resolution gym members are coming soon and before we begin hating, whining and talking about how they won't last, let's remember at one point you were a new person at the gym, excited to learn and change your life. Maybe the gym will be busier, but it's full of positive vibes -- don't kill'em”- Anthony Perez
SPEED READS
BOMBSHELL: If you only listen to one thing, five-time fittest on earth, Mathew Fraser gets intimate in episode two of this two-part podcast with The Darren Woodson Show.
“I’ve lived in Cookeville for three years and Rich [Froning] hasn’t spoken to me in about two-and-a-half.”
“It’s been really odd…this season we’ve had two online competitions and we (Tia-Clair Toomey and Fraser) were not allowed to do them at Mayhem.”
Amanda Barnhart, the two-time seventh fittest woman on earth, is moving to Boston to train directly with Ben Bergeron and CompTrain. “By moving there I’m going to have the environment of training with other [Games] athletes which…you can’t recreate in a gym by yourself.” Barnhart joins the the second fittest on earth from 2020 Katrin Davidsdottir and Samuel Kwant, the second fittest man in 2020, who also recently made the move East.
In honor of WWE wrestler Brodie Lee, Josh Gallegos and Seth Rollins of Deadboys Fitness created this workout in honor of their friend and CrossFitter:
Brodie 4 Rounds
12 Deadlifts
26 Push Ups
20 (men) / 15 (women) Calories on a bike.
*After all four rounds, complete the workout with one burpee (Brodie Lee hated burpees).
CrossFit’s king of memes, John Wooley, has tested positive for COVID-19. He’s posting a daily diary on Make WODs Great Again’s Instagram stories.
Positive news worth five minutes: In 2008, Rick Fox suffered an injury that left him in a wheelchair permanently. After years of inactivity, he heard about CrossFit and saw the Games on tv, sp he phoned up a bunch of gyms and said “Hey, I’m in a wheelchair. I’m interested. Can I come check it out?’” He’s now coaching at Wayfarer CrossFit in Irwin, PA.
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Philadelphia Gym Suffers Fire on New Year’s Eve, Community Raises $28,302 in 24 hours
At 11:30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, Dave Garonzik was fast asleep, stoked that his gym, OpenBox Athletics in Philadelphia, PA was going to reopen on Monday, January 4. Unbeknownst to him, at that very moment his gym was on fire, en route to tens of thousands of dollars in damages. Needless to say, his gym will not reopen today.
“We were so excited to be able to reopen on Monday. We believed, and still believe, there’s going to be a potential COVID-related resolution rush to gyms in January, and we were really excited to be a part of that…excited to help people see the benefits of what a healthy lifestyle can bring. So to get that phone call at 11:45 pm and see that vision and opportunity was literally going up in flames, was heartbreaking,” said Garonzik, who got dressed just before midnight and ran down to the gym as it was burning.
“By the time I walked out of my house, I could smell the fire,” he said.
The details: The Philadelphia Fire Department responded quickly to the fire and nobody was injured, nor were any other buildings affected.
“Take What you Learned and Apply it to 2021” Encourages Michelle Blaylock Who Lost 50 Pounds in 2020
On January 1 at midnight, the world breathed a collective sigh that 2020 had come to a close. Michlle Blaylock didn’t. For her, 2020 was the year she found out who she wanted to be.
“I found CrossFit. First off, I had no idea I could be this passionate about it, but also it helped me discover who I am and continue to build on the person I was,” said the 49-year-old member of P6 CrossFit in Lafayette, GA.
Blaylock’s journey: Blaylock took the plunge and signed up for a No Sweat introductory session at P6 CrossFit at the end of 2019. Weighing 241 pounds at 5-foot-8 at the time, she was “literally miserable” and skeptical that CrossFit was appropriate for her, she explained.
McIntyre, Weeks Win HYROX World Championships of Fitness
On Dec. 12, ten world-class athletes gathered in Hamburg, Germany to compete in the 2020 HYROX World Championships of Fitness. The results of that competition were unknown until New Years Day when HYROX streamed the event across their social media platforms. The United States were represented atop the podium in the end as Hunter McIntyre and Lauren Weeks won their divisions.
The Workout: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic HYROX had to cancel their 2020 World Championships, in its place they created the Elite 12 where they invited the top five HYROX athletes in each division through previous competitions and online qualifiers, filling the two remaining spots with wild card selections in CrossFit athletes Adam Klink and 2013 CrossFit Games champion Samantha Briggs.
The crux of the event was for athletes to complete an 8K run on an air runner but after the completion of each 1K they must stop and complete a prescribed workout.
The prescribed workouts include a 1K ski erg, 50-meter sled push, 50-meter sled pull, 80-meter burpee broad jumps, a 1K row, 200-meter farmers carry, 100-meter weighted lunges and 75 wall balls.
If you want to squat and deadlift heavier weight, you have to take care of your hamstrings. Learn these four accessory exercises from T-Nation that will help make you a stronger, more resilient lifter.
How To Re-engage Clients and Capture New Leads Virtually
Gym owners take note: virtual nutrition talks were voted the #1 way to increase engagement virtually in 2020. HSN Mentoring is giving gym owners everything they need to host a virtual nutrition seminar for free.
When the bar crashes into your shoulders in the clean, it can cause you to lose your balance and make it very difficult to create an efficient squat recovery. In this video, Dave Spitz from California Strength explains how tension and timing affect the crash and shows you some drills and exercises to fix it.
Starting today, the annual Healthyish "Feel Good Food Plan" is back with eight great dinner recipes -- from tamarind chicken thighs to shrimp curry. To make things easier, they even include a shopping list with all the ingredients for all eight meals in one place.
Chalk Up Highlights is our section dedicated to celebrating our community’s wins in the gym. Follow @ChalkUpHighlights and submit your highlight to [email protected] to be featured.
Kristi O’Connell back squats 305 pounds for a no-belt PR.
COMMUNITY
Burpees for Bryant: In December, Bryant Bruce, the son of CrossFit Games Masters athlete, Donna Bruce, tragically passed away. As a memorial, the CrossFit Great Barrington community in Great Barrington, MA is holding a 50-day burpee challenge to raise money for The Railroad Street Youth Project in Donna and Bryant’s honor. Learn more and donate.
OUTAthletics South Florida: On January 17th, OUTAthletics will hold its next fundraiser workout at four gym locations in South Florida and virtually. The fundraiser supports programs run by The OUT Foundation whose mission is “to remove the barriers that block LGBTQ+ individuals’ access and participation in fitness, health and wellness, ensuring their success.” Learn more and get registered.
Wolf Valley Performance Helps Athletes with New Year’s Goals: Despite the pandemic, Donnie Ochampaugh, the co-owner of Wolf Valley Performance in Reno, NV wants to help athletes achieve their performance goals. The key thing, he says is changing habits over time, not trying to make a huge dramatic change overnight.
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