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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Today’s edition was chalked up while wishing everyone who’s competing at the Festivus Games this weekend GOOD LUCK!
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Do you know how dangerous CrossFit is?
Yes ma’am, and it’s not near as deadly as your couch.”
— A patient responding to his doctor
Yes ma’am, and it’s not near as deadly as your couch.”
— A patient responding to his doctor
CHALK UP IN 2 MINUTES
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE YOU HIT THE BOX
The Online Qualifier Workouts are LIVE. This is the first years teenagers have been required to complete the Online Qualifier in order to qualify for the Games. This is also the first year that every age division in both genders is required to do ring muscle-ups. Watch Tommy Marquez, Pat Sherwood and Sean Woodland do a full analysis of the four workouts.
Eleiko unveils a new logo and barbell for their 60th anniversary. You’ll think you’re good a bar muscle-ups until you see Bjork Odinsdottirdoing them with a med ball. Sam Briggs yoke carries 3.5 times her body weight. Who is 4 foot 11, can clean and jerk double bodyweight and box jump more than half her height? … Alyssa Ritchey. Jenn Jones declines her individual invitation to compete on Teams. Here’s a 60-second highlight reel of Kari Pearce from the CrossFit Open.
SOMETHING TO READ WHILE YOU’RE IN YOUR FIRST MEETING…
THINGS TO…
WATCH: Road to the Games Ep. 1
The Road to the Games series is back with episode 1 following compatriots Patrick Vellner and Brent Fikowski, the third and fourth Fittest Men on Earth, as they prepare to return to the CrossFit Games.
IT’S GAMES TIME.
IT’S GAMES TIME.
HEAR: How to Be Superman with Kevin Ogar
Y’all remember Kevin Ogar, right? The perennial Regionals athlete who injured himself snatching back in 2014. He’s now a member of USA Disabled Powerlifting Team, affiliate owner in Colorado, and all around inspiring athlete who hasn’t given up pursuing his dreams. In this episode of the Art of Fitness he shares some updates on what’s going on in his world.
TUNE IN.
TUNE IN.
BUY: 3 New RxBars Free
So RxBar just released three new flavors: Mixed Berry. Chocolate Chip and Peanut Butter Chocolate. Well, every order placed from now until Sunday will include one of each for free (no code necessary).
I WANNA TRY.
I WANNA TRY.
CHALK UP AFFILIATES
Cliff, a reader who is competing this weekend at the Festivus Games wrote to us yesterday, saying:
“I really enjoyed reading the article about the gal who was overweight and wasn’t sure about CrossFit. It hit home a bit for me since I’m still quite a bit overweight…My goal was 100 pounds lost. I just wanted to let you know that I’m already down 25 pounds since starting CrossFit in February. I feel better than I can remember, and I’m absolutely hooked. 100 pounds is no longer a question, but rather just a question of time. I’m even competing Saturday in The Festivus Games in the novice category. I can’t wait.”
Good luck Cliff!!
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Today, there will be a memorial service for the Gilley family who tragically died in a car accident last Thursday. Wife and mother Christine Gilley was a member of CrossFit Vitality in Concord, NC.
CHALK UP READS
“Reflections on Anxiety” by Khan Porter
I don’t enjoy competing. I don’t mind it physically, I like the outcome and sense of achievement I get from it, but the process is a nightmare for me. I suffer severely from anxiety disorder. I’ve been diagnosed with both it and bipolar and these things combined with the pressure (which probably only exists in my anxious mind) make the process of preparing to compete torturous at times.
Instagram is a highlight reel of an athlete’s journey. What goes on for me between PR posts and #AlwaysTryNewBeers is manic episodes, panic attacks, sleepless nights, breakdowns, days I can’t even get out of bed let alone into the gym, wild mood swings and worst of all is the constant anxious voice in my head which plays on loop, telling me all the worst possible outcomes for everything I do and all the reasons I’m not good enough and shouldn’t compete.
Unfortunately, the medications I’ve tried mess with my energy levels and so I don’t take them during the season. Towards the end of the open I began to question if I wanted to endure another year of this and if so why? I have a thriving business, am enjoying my studies immensely and have made the Games three times now. Competing again will likely have no effect on my life for better or worse and takes considerable time away from my work, study and social life.
So why put myself through the process? The answer seems pretty clear cut, don’t. However despite trying to talk myself out of it I can’t muster up the courage to pull out and have spent the last couple of weeks trying to figure out why. Then it struck me. For me competing is one way of telling that anxious voice in my head that it doesn’t have complete control over me or my life just yet and win or lose that’s a massive victory to me every year I take the regionals floor.
By facing my own demons maybe one day I’ll better be able to help others face theirs, which is exactly why I chose to go back at school and study psychology. So this year when I compete I am competing for anyone, anywhere who shares the same voices in their head as I do. That tells them over and over all the reasons – rational or irrational – that they can’t, shouldn’t, won’t or aren’t good enough.