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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Today’s edition is fueled by FitAid, fueling your passion with our clean and refreshing nutritional blends. Can you say the same about those other one-dimensional products whose “blend” is a bunch of additives, sugar, & added caffeine?
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“No matter what happens, no matter how bad it may at first seem, I promise you that everything comes with an opportunity. You may have to focus and open your mind in order to recognize the opportunity, especially when the situation seems to be bad, but is nonetheless a truth that every situation brings with it opportunity.” — Zig Ziglar
CHALK UP IN 2 MINUTES
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE YOU HIT THE BOX
Transformation Thursday…Emily Bridgers.
Pec injuries of Regionals athletes up to 25 male competitors. Here’s your chance to win a CrossFit Mayhem t-shirt signed by the entire Mayhem team and Sara Sigmundsdottir. Bjorgvin Gudmundsson ate a sheep’s head as hi s last meal before heading to Madrid, Spain. Brooke Ence on the set of Wonder Woman. Alison Scudds joins the Exo Sleeve team. It’s official, Margaux Alvarez’s winery is now legally able to sell wine.
10 Rounds of Murph in a Day…while most of us were suffering through one grueling round of Murph, Shaun Gardner of CrossFit Raeford in Raeford, NC awoke before dawn to start doing 10 rounds of Murph. The ultra endurance athlete completed all 20 miles, 1,000 pull-ups, 2,000 push-ups and 3,000 squats by the end of the day.
REGIONALS REFLECTIONS
Val Voboril on Returning to the Games…“Wow! This was by far my favorite California Regionals yet!…It’s crazy how much this sport has grown and changed (as well as the faces), yet at its heart has stayed the same – an unbelievably supportive community of people (athletes, judges, fans, volunteers, loved ones, gym members). I felt so much love and encouragement from everyone.”
FUN FACT: At 38-years-old, Voboril is the oldest athlete to qualify for the Games as an individual under the new Regionals format. #AgeIsJustANumber
Jamie Hagiya on Not Qualifying…“I TRULY believe there’s no such thing as ‘Failure’. I believe if you gave it everything you had and can walk away with some lessons learned, then when one door shuts, another one will open…there’s no way in hell I’d let this past weekend and placing define me. CrossFit is what I do, but it’s not who I am…One of the biggest lessons I took away from the weekend is how to handle adversity. When things weren’t going my way, to smile anyways. To enjoy it anyways….Until next year, I love you all!”
THINGS TO…
WATCH: Making of A Champion, Part 7
Part 7 in this documentary series following Mat Fraser as he trains to repeat as champion of the CrossFit Games focuses on trusting the process, and overcoming the mental and physical hurdles getting in the way of progress.
WATCH.
WATCH.
HEAR: Mind Pump
If you have 2.5 hours to kill today then this episode of Girls Gone WOD Podcast is definitely for you. They sit down with the Mind Pump Media trio to discuss everything from the evolution of CrossFit, to the mindset behind bodybuilding, to life balance, entrepreneurship, marriage hacks, and childhood trauma.
TUNE IN.
TUNE IN.
ATTEND: CrossFit’s Health Sciences Conference
If you’re plane flight to Madison is arriving a little early, consider attending CrossFit’s Sports and Health Sciences Conference featuring Greg Glassman and a handful of other leading healthcare professionals. PS if you’ve got Games tickets then entry is free.
ADD TO CALENDAR.
ADD TO CALENDAR.
EAT: Almond Flour Strawberry Short Cake
Looking for a beautiful grain free dessert to make for summer? Try this gorgeous almond flour strawberry shortcake cake made with a mix of almond & coconut flour and Almond Breeze almond milk.
CAKE FOR TWO.
CAKE FOR TWO.
CHALK UP AFFILIATES
On Monday, a man walked into Yulee CrossFit in Yulee, FL wearing a t-shirt with “Believe in Heroes” imprinted on the front. It was Memorial Day and like thousands of affiliates across the world, Yulee CrossFit was doing Murph.
Even though he’d never done CrossFit before, Matt Schwartz is no stranger to pain and suffering. The former New York State Trooper lost his left leg in a near-fatal car accident in 2004. Schwartz took the next year to rehabilitate and became the agency’s first trooper to serve full duty despite an amputated limb.
At the end of the class, he’d completed both one mile runs and a majority of the push-ups and pull-ups.
“Everyone was very welcoming. My first time ever walking into a CrossFit facility not to mention my first time trying a challenge – so why not start with the Murph!?!?!” Schwartz said in a Facebook post. “The other people made me feel like I was part of the family and helped me every way possible to complete the challenge and the honor and memory it represents.”
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A San Antonio firefighter lost his life on May 18th while battling a fire at a strip mall. Scott Deem was one of the first to join the San Antonio Fire Department’s CrossFit affiliate when it opened. The Department will be hosting a fundraiser and WOD this Saturday at the station.
CHALK UP READS
“Grandma Betty is Watching” by Andréa Maria Cecil, CrossFit Games
Ask Kirsten Pedri about her grandmother and watch her face light up.
“I would love to talk to you about my grandma,” she said excitedly before she prepared for Event 1 on Friday afternoon at the California Regional in Del Mar. Roughly nine months ago, Pedri began training her grandmother, now-97-year-old Betty Anderson.
“I was getting older and I got to the point where I had to use a cane to walk,” Anderson explained on Saturday night from her home in Davis. “I mentioned to Kirsten that I wished I could do her exercises and get strong again.” Anderson added: “She got very serious about it.”
Pedri began picking up Anderson from her home at 10:15 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. At her affiliate, CrossFit Davis, Pedri started simply with Grandma Betty, as she’s come to be known on social media. The 34-year-old first considered Anderson’s daily activities. “She needs to walk around the house, sit down, lay down, grab things, walk around the house with them,” Pedri started. “It’s real-life functional fitness to the core.”
“How a Mirror Helps This CrossFit Athlete Stay Motivated” by Pop Sugar
Finding motivation to stay on the healthy path can be tough, but CrossFit star Christmas Abbott, author of the new book The Badass Life: 30 Amazing Days to a Lifetime of Great Habits — Body, Mind, and Spirit, has a tip that she uses to stay motivated every day, reminding her when she wakes up and again before she goes to bed.
Christmas told us in an email interview, “Create a MANTRA! And write it down on your mirror so you can see it every day and say it out loud. You can’t just know your mantra; you have to speak it, breathe it, live it. It will help reinforce your efforts and help keep you on track.”
Aside from a mantra to keep her inspired, Christmas says, “Another great tool I use is writing down my goals (small and GREAT) on the bathroom mirror underneath my mantra. This reminds me every day that I have work to do and a goal to achieve. When I reach a goal on the list, I don’t erase it. I cross a line through it and put the date next to it. That helps me see that I did accomplish something on my list and that the others are possible. It creates a meaningful, daily motivation!”