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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Today’s edition was chalked up while listening to Margaux Alvarez’s Road to the Games Spotify playlist. These are some of the tunes she’s listening to while training for the 2017 CrossFit Games. Turn this up next time you’re in the box or in the garage for a WOD.
Spotify just passed 140 million users making it the leading media platform for music, fans, and brands. Signup for your free account today and starts streaming your favorite songs. Life needs some color, color it with music.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The commitment that I have made is greater than the feelings that I have in this moment.” — Unattributed
CHALK UP IN 2 MINUTES
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE YOU HIT THE BOX
Dave Castro announced that one individual event will be a 1 rep max snatch and one team event will be a 1 rep max clean and jerk. FLASHBACK to 2015…Team Event 7 and 8 were a combined total of weight clean and jerked by each individual on the team. FLASHBACK to 2011…the last time we saw a 1RM snatch at the CrossFit Games. P.S. Happy Birthday Dave.
For what it’s worth…here are Dave Castro’s (mostly random) picks for the top male, female and team athletes for Reebok’s CrossFit Games Pick ‘Em contest: Men — 1. Wesley Rethwill, 2. Mathew Fraser, 3. Brent Fikowski, 4. Michael Polomba, 5. Jeff Patzer, 6. Travis Mayer, 7. Elijah Muhammad, 8. Zeke Grove, 9. Alex Anderson, 10. Josh Bridges. Women — 1. Dani Horan, 2. Madeline Sturt, 3. Valerie Voboril, 4. Samantha Briggs, 5. Emily Abbott, 6. Kristen Pedri, 7. Stacie Tovar, 8. Camille Leblanc-Bazinet, 9. Brooke Wells, 10. Sara Sigmundsdottir. Team — 1. CrossFit Mayhem, 2. Wasatch CrossFit, 3. Reebok CrossFit Back Bay, 3. CrossFit Milford, 5. Bigg CrossFit Recoleta.
Everything you need to know about how to watch the 2017 CrossFit Games. Bring your pick-up truck, Rogue Fitness is selling used CrossFit Games gear at their booth after events. Get 20% off RxBars with code “RXBARcamille.”
Ben Smith reflects on his health status the week before Regionals…“Regionals was tough this year…I’m not sure what I really had going on. So I did Murph on that Monday before Regionals…I didn’t feel right after that. I didn’t know what I had. It felt like some sort of heat related something…Something was wrong with me that whole entire week. I wasn’t able to train, I really wasn’t doing anything…I had those same symptoms come back on Friday [of Regionals]. I didn’t train, I didn’t do anything all week, I tried to rest and recover, drink and hydrate and do everything I could…I just wasn’t myself. I didn’t feel like I could push my body, my body just wasn’t responding to what I wanted it to do.”
WHAT TO TELL YOUR FRIEND WHO HAD AN UNFORTUNATE ACCIDENT…
Pour her a glass of wine. That’s what one of the ladies in the Big Brother house did for Christmas Abbott after she returned from surgery. One contestant was giving Christmas a piggy back ride when he slipped and she broke her foot and was taken to the hospital. Instead of quitting, she decided to tough it out. Got surgery and returned to the Big Brother house. Keep being a badass Christmas.
THINGS TO…
WATCH: 2017 CrossFit Foundation Academic Conference — Beyond Calories
The CrossFit Foundation Sports and Health Sciences Institute’s single-day conference discussing moving beyond calories as the only measurement of a healthful diet is going on today in San Francisco, but you can catch it live on YouTube.
LIVE @ 8AM PT.
LIVE @ 8AM PT.
HEAR: A Family Affair with Ben Smith
Ben Smith joins the Big Red Express Podcast to talk about his status physically going into Regionals and the near-scare of missing the Games, The Ben Smith Blueprint, and what it’s like to head to Madison with his little brother Alec.
TUNE IN.
TUNE IN.
EAT: Healthier Blueberry Greek Yogurt Muffins
It’s baked goods Friday (that’s a thing right). Healthy Blueberry Greek Yogurt Muffins made with whole wheat flour, greek yogurt, naturally sweetened with maple syrup and just a touch of heart healthy avocado oil (or coconut oil!).
OVEN’S READY.
OVEN’S READY.
CHALK UP AFFILIATES
STORY SERIES: How has CrossFit helped you achieve a goal?
“When I was 13-years-old, I was diagnosed with an eating disorder, depression and anxiety. CrossFit has helped me overcome all of these things plus some. Some goals I made and hit since I’ve started CrossFit is don’t skip meals, don’t binge, don’t skip multiple days in a row, and don’t be scared to ask for help.” — Maddie Bowlin, QC Strength & Conditioning in Muscle Shoals, AL
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“…when I looked to my left and saw Jacinto (78-years-old) giving his all, I had to keep on.”
Jacinto Bonilla is 78-years-old. The grandfather of 12 has been doing a birthday WOD since he was 69, adding one rep each year to a workout dubbed the “Jacinto Storm.”
Bonilla discovered CrossFit back in 2006. He’d just battled prostate cancer a year earlier. While walking through Central Park in New York City, he saw two guys working out “and they weren’t taking no breaks.” He asked if he could join and the rest is history.
Oh yeah, and he said he’s training to make it to the CrossFit Games for his third time when he turns 80 in two years.
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Saying goodbye…tomorrow at Project Fitness in Las Vegas, NV, members of the Las Vegas CrossFit community are coming together to do a tribute WOD and fundraiser on behalf of Karen Jackson and her son who where killed in a murder-suicide by her boyfriend. All funds raised are going to fund a trust in the surviving 11-year-old daughter’s name. Karen’s 35th birthday would have been last Saturday.
Welcome to the neighborhood…North Charleston, SC is getting a new affiliate. Park Circle CrossFit is celebrating their grand opening on August 12th with BBQ, local craft beers, and workout.
CHALK UP READS
“As Prescribed: Madison, Wisconsin” by Brittney Saline, CrossFit Journal
After 10 years in the Golden State, the CrossFit Games are going to the Midwest. On Aug. 3, the 2017 Reebok CrossFit Games kick off in Madison, Wisconsin, home to the Wisconsin State Capitol, the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW), and more beers and cheeses than your macros will allow.
Known interchangeably to locals as Madtown, Mad City, The People’s Republic of Madison and The Berkeley of the Midwest, Madison is Wisconsin’s second-largest city after Milwaukee, with a population of just more than 250,000. The 94-square-mile city features five swim- and sail-worthy lakes—Mendota, Monona, Wingra, Waubesa and Kegonsa—and is one of just two cities in the U.S. built on an isthmus (Seattle, Washington, is the other).
Already mourning the California heat? Don’t pack away your crop tops and booty shorts just yet; although chilly in winter, Madison typically sees summer temps in the upper 70s to the mid-80s F (25-30 C)—which feels a lot more intense when you factor in average humidity of 70 percent.