So we got banned on Instagram

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Today’s edition is fueled by FITAID, the official beverage sponsor of the Morning Chalk Up. 

Happy Halloween from FITAID! As you head to the gym today in your Halloween costume (because OF COURSE you’re going to train today in a Werewolf mask), remember to post your best FITAID photos and videos to Instagram, Facebook and Twitter with the hashtags #FITAID and #FITAIDRX for your chance to be featured on the FITAID channels – users who are featured will receive a free 12-pack of FITAID!

“Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.” — Robert Louis Stevenson

“I Want to Shimmy Down an Airplane Aisle”

The story.

Mike Crespo usually keeps the front door open all day at CrossFit Novato, where he coaches. But on one particular July day in Novato, he had a lot of work to do and wanted some silence to do it in. So he closed the door and got to work.

But then there was a knock at the door. One person stopped by; two people stopped by. Mike gave up and opened the doors.

And in wheels 73-year-old Rebecca Suggs.

Wheels?

Suggs has been wheelchair bound for twenty years. She loved to run and to travel, but one day she woke up and couldn’t feel her legs. Her initial diagnosis was Gillian-Barre Syndrome, which she beat. However, it has resurfaced now as Multiple Sclerosis.

Mike had been coaching Rebecca’s 14-year-old grandson, Greyson, for 14 months when she finally caved and decided she would listen to her grandson and try CrossFit.

Mike sat down with Rebecca for an intake meeting and asked her what her goals are.

“I want to shimmy down an airplane aisle again,” she told him.

She sounds awesome already.

Crespo knew that to get to shimmying, they’d have to get to walking first. And to even get to walking they’d have to cover standing. He told her, “I don’t know if I can help you. But I am willing to try if you are.”

She agreed instantly. “Okay. Let’s try it.”

Twice a week every week since that day in July, Rebecca has shown up and done the work. Together, the two started with leg extensions. Then they moved to standing up, using the GHD handles as leverage. From there, they stood up and did alternating hand taps, using only one hand to support her body at a time.

Now, she can do rope stand-ups, using her arms to pull her weight up a rope, standing on her own while stabilizing on the rope.

That’s legit.

After years of even sleeping sitting up and spending days in her chair, Rebecca can now open her hips to full extension when she does modified sit-ups with a 20-inch box.

“Rebecca is doing all kinds of things she’s never done before,” Crespo said. “Everything I throw at her, she’s into it.”

When she first started at CrossFit Novato, ten seconds on the Airdyne left her winded. Last Friday, Rebecca made it to 1:42 on an Airdyne.

They’ve covered standing. They’re working on walking.

We’re rooting for shimmying.

Coffee Break Conversations

What to tell your friend who was just broken up with over text message…

Guess it wasn’t meant to be. Yesterday, we found out that Josh Bridges banned us on Instagram, presumably for pointing out that his training program endorsed some questionable body shaming language — things like: “This program is built to make you a lean and mean female machine. No more pooch belly, lunch-lady arms, or cottage cheese legs.” The language has since been updated, Bridges has walked the language back in Instagram comments, you can read the backstory here, but we
don’t think we’ll be getting back together.  

What to tell your friend who wasn’t invited to the all staff happy hour…

I’ll throw my own damn party, and for that we recommend wine, lots and lots of steeply discounted wine. 

Things To…

WATCH: Wrestling With Change 

Mikey Witous didn’t let dwarfism stop him from playing football and wrestling through school. But, when an MRI revealed spinal stenosis, wrestling was out of the picture. No longer able to compete athletically, he was at a breaking point when he found CrossFit. “Hell yes. This is what I’ve been missing,” he says, recalling his first CrossFit workout.

FOUND IT AGAIN.

HEAR: Six Steps to Personal Development

Adee Cazayoux, founder of Working Against Gravity, joins the Brute Strength Podcast to discuss how to build courage, maintain accountability and what it means to develop yourself from within. She closes with six questions to make you think, break out of the ordinary cycle and reach the next level in life.

SOME HARD THINKING.

DO: The Wodapalooza Online Team Challenge [AD]

Grab two swolemates and get ready to take on Wodapalooza’s online team challenge, which kicks off this Friday with 10 workouts over 10 days. Teams are made up of three males or three females and you don’t have to be in the same location to compete. Shave 20% off your registration with code “WZATEAMCHALKUP18”.

3, 2, 1…GO.

EAT: Cheesy Kale and Mushroom Strata

Mushrooms and kale in layers of cheese and bread make this one pan strata an easy to make meal that will leave you wanting more. And that’s great because rumor has it, it’s even better the next day.

CHEESY GOODNESS. 

Today’s edition of the Morning Chalk Up is fueled by

Chalk Up Community

• DONATIONS DRIVE — For the month of November Emily Bridgers and CrossFit Terminus will be collecting items to gift to those living without shelter in Atlanta. All donated and purchased items will go into individual backpacks to be handed out to those in need: blankets, gloves, scarves, hand warmers, thermal socks, winter hats, granola bars, crackers, toiletries, etc. or you can donate via their Go Fund Me page. 
• WEIGHTLIFTING SEMINAR — This weekend, CrossFit Raeford is hosting a weightlifting seminar with USAW Hall of Fame member and Head Coach of East Coast Gold Weightlifting Team, Leo Totten. Over the course of the two days, Leo will cover the snatch and clean and jerk, as well as variations of these movements.

CHALK UP IN 2 MINUTES (a highlight reel around social media of CrossFit pros and average joes)

Thor Bjornsson throws a new plot twist spoiler for the new Game of Thrones season • Cody Anderson got a custom barbell from PRx Performance with his mustache on it • Ascent Protein is now the official performance nutrition
partner of USA Weightlifting • St. Louis Cardinal’s hitting coach Jeff Albert incorporates CrossFit into training • Happy 8th wedding anniversary Lindsey Valenzuela • Seventeen-year-old Dallin Pepper got a 300 pound push jerk and split jerk PR • James Townsend’s The Brave One officially begins weightlifting classes today • Kaysha
Collins gets a 130 pound snatch PR • Team USA is en route to Turkmenistan for World Championships • Tamara Gray and Jared Enderton got to ride some camels in Qatar.

…and no one rings that PR bell better than Miles Taylor, who has cerebral palsy, after he goes 9/9 and gets a deadlift PR at his first weightlifting meet. 

Coming in Hot: CrossFit Fittest in Cape Town — FiCT kicks off tomorrow and consists of three scored workouts. WOD 1 will be released Thursday, WOD 2 on Friday, and WOD 3 on Saturday. All WODs will be released at 3:00 AM PT/12:00 PM South Africa Time on FittestInCapeTown.com. Athletes will have until 1:59 PM
PT/23:59 PM SA time on Sunday, November 11 to submit their scores to the leaderboard.

— Updated List of Elite athletes registered so far…Khan Porter, James Newbury, Carol-Ann Reason Thibault, Lindsey Valenzuela, Jamie Greene, Khan Porter, Jeff Evans, Roman Khrennikov, and Mitchell Stevenson.

— How to get in: Athletes need to end up in the top 20 in the online qualifiers to receive an invitation to the sanctioned event in January of 2019. FiCT will also be doling out four spots in both the male and female division at their discretion. Athletes that qualify will have 72 hours to accept or decline their invitation.

Dubai By the Map — Now that the roster is complete for the Dubai CrossFit Championship, here’s a breakdown of athlets by countries represented: America (28), France (1), Australia (9), Greece (3), South Africa (2), Denmark (2), Latvia (1), Russia (1), Canada (7), Iceland (1), Sweden (4), Poland (2), Hungary, UAE (4), Slovakia (1), Beligum (1), and UK (2). 

On Our Radar: The Runner to Keep an Eye On — Allie Kieffer, who uses CrossFit in her marathon training (yes, really!) is one of the best American women running the New York marathon this year, despite her modest runners upbringing. She started running with friends in Central Park and discovered she is really really fast. “Last year, Kieffer ran the New York City Marathon and finished, astonishingly, in fifth place. She was the second American woman, and she logged her best time by nearly 15 minutes in one of the
world’s most competitive footraces. Barely anyone knew who the unsponsored 30-year-old American with the topknot sprinting past Olympians in the final miles of Central Park was.

“Suddenly, Kieffer wasn’t just trying to be one of the hundreds of elite runners in the country. She had become one of the best runners in the world.

“In doing so, Kieffer has given us a powerful example of what can happen when we stop trying to force ourselves to meet preconceived notions of how to achieve success — especially unhealthy, untrue ideas — and go after our goals on our own terms.

“Not that being underestimated can’t serve as motivation. ‘I’ve always gotten a lot of satisfaction by being the big girl everyone thought they were going to beat,’ says Kieffer.”

“Loneliness costs the US almost $7 billion extra each year,” by Corinne Purtill, Quartz

Social isolation takes a heavy toll on those who suffer from it, both in health and overall well-being. An effort to quantify the cost of loneliness in the US also found that among Americans aged 65 or older, social isolation costs the US government nearly $7 billion in additional health care costs per year.

People of any age can be socially isolated, of course, but the risk of losing contact with friends, family, and community members becomes greater as a person ages. For some in later life, social networks can shrink after losses and life changes: retirement, the death of friends and loved ones, the loss of mobility or other disability that makes previous social habits more difficult.In the US, government-funded Medicare health coverage is the primary payer of health care costs for people aged 65 or older.

In an attempt to understand how much social isolation costs the system, the advocacy group AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired Persons) and Stanford University’s Center on the Demography and Economics of Health and Aging looked at data from almost 5,300 people aged 65 or over surveyed between 2006 and 2010 as part of the Health and Retirement Study, a biannual demographic study by the US National Institute on Aging and the Social Security Administration. The average respondent was 74 years old, and just over half of respondents were women.

The good news was that most people surveyed did have healthy social networks. A full 86% described themselves as or well-connected, meaning frequent contacts—in-person or otherwise—with their children, friends, and other family.

11/2: Wodapalooza Qualifier – Team (Online)

11/2: WOD League Mixed Doubles Edition (São Paulo, Brazil)

11/2 – 11/3: Women’s WOD Jam Individuals (Denver, CO)

11/2 – 11/3: Fenrir’s Mayhem at CrossFit Iron Legion (Ocala, FL)

11/3: The Battle of Port Royal Sound (Okatie, SC)

11/3: Battle for the Badges (St. Charles, MO)

11/3: PPS CrossFit Fall Throwsdown (Portland, OR)

11/3: CFT’s 2018 Strongman Classic (Carol Stream, IL)

11/3: WODamania (Riviera Beach, FL)

11/3: Barbells For Boobs at CrossFit Florian (Norwood, MA)

11/3: Bar Wars 2018  (Harker Heights, TX)

11/3: Masters Of The Midway (The Hills, IL)

11/3: Dynamic Duo Deathmatch 2018 (Southlake, TX) 

11/3: Inferno in the Forge (Lawrenceville, IL)

11/3: Perimeter Rowdown (Atlanta, GA)

11/3: Central Texas Showdown (Seguin, TX)

11/3: Rookie Rollout 3 at Troy CrossFit (San Diego, CA)

11/3: Masters of the Midwest (Greenwood IN)

11/3: Fit Wars Competition (Cedar Park, TX)

11/3: Super Awesome Fun Time Pairs Challenge (Toronta, Canada)

11/3: Justin Martin Memorial Competition (Des Moines, IA)

11/3- 11/4: Reignited Games 2018 (Wilmington, NC) 

11/3 – 11/4: Charlotte Throwdown for Mental Health Awareness (Charlotte, NC)

11/3 – 11/4: GameDay Championship (St. Paul, MN)

11/3 – 11/4: Clearwater Beach Brawl (Clearwater, FL)

11/04 – 11/05: WODNATION BR (Vinhedo, Brazil)

11/9: Veteran Games ABQ (Albuquerque, NM)

11/10: The Battle at Branded One (Las Vegas, NV)

11/10: Emerald Coast Honor Games (Destin, FL)

11/10: Patriot Games (Rochester Hills, MI) 

11/10 – 11/11: Extreme Games (Piauí, Brazil)

11/10 – 11/11: South Loop Games (Chicago, IL)

11/10- 11/11: Southie Showdown (Boston, MA)

11/10 – 11/11: Florida Grid League Championship (Fort Myers, FL)

11/10: Metcon 4 Hope (Reno, NV)

11/10: Best of the Wurst (New Braunfels, TX)

11/10: Warrior Affiliate League Delta Force (Duarte, CA)

11/10: USA Powerlifting Veterans Day Championship (Philadelphia, PA) 

11/10: Blue Cooler Throwdown (Deland, FL)

11/10: Bromageddon 2018 (Chandler, AZ)

11/10: Garage Games Masters Tour 2018 (McKinney, TX)

11/10: First Annual Sergeants Fitness Patriot Games (Caldwell, ID)

11/10: Boobs and Bells (Schaumburg, IL) 

11/11: Bonsai Brawl (Philadelphia, PA)

11/11: CFF Team Marathon Row 2018 (Metuchen, NJ)

11/15: Push Pull for Pancreatic Cancer @ Hybrid Athletics Bridgport (Bridgeport, CT)

11/16 – 11/17: Veterans Day Bash at CrossFit Wild West (Lubbock,TX)

11/17: MetCon Mashups CrossFit Lubbock (Lubbock,TX)

11/17: CrossFit TIG Turf Wars (Brighton, MI)

11/17: 2018 Energy Games (Houston, TX)

11/17: MetCon Mashups (Tulsa, OK) 

11/17: Green Valley Clash of the Fittest (Green Valley, AZ)

11/17: Push Pull for Pancreatic Cancer @ Invictus Boston (Boston, MA)

11/17: North County Fall Brawl (Watertown, NY)

11/17: BCF for Homeless Kids Kettlebells4Kids Fundraiser (Derry, NH)

11/17: Team SuperFit Charlotte (Charlotte, NC)

11/17: 2nd Annual Well Seasoned Masters Competition (Burlington, MA) 

11/17: Guardian Games National Championship (Ashland, VA)

11/20: Ben Marconi Memorial WOD (San Antonio, TX)

11/25: Carpathian Games II (Kosice, Slovakia)

11/30 – 12/2: Rogue Winter Classic (Cleveland, OH)