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“Be who you needed when you were younger.” — Unknown

HOW THE ASHVILLE, NC CROSSFIT COMMUNITY IS COMING TOGETHER AFTER BLUE RIDGE

Remind me?

Last week, we and several other news outlets reported on Blue Ridge CrossFit owner Tom Tomlo’s inappropriate Instagram post objectifying female athletes and his subsequent behavior that went viral.

Besides Blue Ridge CrossFit itself, nowhere were the negative implications of those actions felt harder than in the South Asheville CrossFit community.

So what’s happening now?

With all the negativity going on around town, Daniel Muto, owner and head coach of CrossFit Pisgah decided it was time to do something positive in the community. “I felt like we, as a greater CrossFit community, not just each individual box, had been given an opportunity to prove that the actions of one individual do not speak for our entire community,” he said. “In the end we want all people, and especially the women within our community, to feel comfortable and empowered by fitness.”

So he reached out to other local affiliates with an idea and SuMMit CrossFit, Beer City CrossFit, CrossFit Asheville and South Slope CrossFit all said “amen to that.”

The event.

On February 10, each affiliate will host separate WODs to raise money for “Our Voice,” a local non-profit crisis intervention and prevention center serving victims of sexual assault. Afterwards, they’re all getting together at Hillman Beer to throw a few back and $1 is being donated for every beer poured. How’s that for incentive?

COFFEE BREAK CONVERSATIONS

What to tell your friend who’s wondering when the next installment of Fittest on Earth is coming out…

Set your calendar for March 27. According to Amazon, the new documentary titled “The Redeemed and The Dominant: Fittest On Earth” is available for pre-order in both DVD and Blu-Ray and has a run time of 102 minutes, which is about 25 minutes shorter than last years. And just in case it gets taken down before you open today’s edition, we did that little screenshot thingy for posterity. Of course, there’s a chance this is totally a coincidence and not related to CrossFit
whatsoever, but what convinced us was the fact that the name of the studio is nearly identical in both years.

2017 Studio: Gravitas Ventures. 

2018 Studio: Gravitas. 

What to tell your friend who needs emotional counseling after double under fails…

“I CAN’T DO DOUBLE UNDERS,” said 99.9% of us who weren’t one of the lucky ones that just “clicked” one day. In this therapy session parody, Justin Woodford takes to the couch and comically confesses all our greatest jump rope frustrations. 

What to tell your friend who always gets a little too excited…

Settle it down. We got a lot of emails Wednesday morning after our little keyboard snafu reported the dumbbell weights for the CrossFit Open as 30 pounds for the women instead of 35 pounds. We read everything from actual hate mail to some kindly worded corrections. However, one email in particular left us utterly speechless.

“I almost pooped when I saw 30lbs instead of 35lbs.”

That. Literally. Is. A. First. For. Us. 

THINGS TO…

HEAR: Spartan Up with Katrin Davidsdottir

While Katrin Davidsdottir was back in Iceland tackling her first Spartan Race, she sat down with the Spartan Up podcast to share about her race experience, and drop some knowledge on how she plans to reclaim her title of Fittest Woman on Earth. 

SPARTAN UP. 

DOWNLOAD: The New CrossFit Games App 

Launched yesterday, the new CrossFit Games iOS app allows you to log and track your Open WODs, view workout standards, and access the global leaderboard throughout the CrossFit Open. 

GET THE APP.

BUY: Stock Up on Tape

Cause the 2018 CrossFit Open is less than three weeks away and you don’t wanna show up on game day without your thumb armor. Goat Tape is offering 10% off from now till Feb 22 with code “CFOPEN.”

TAPE UP.

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

CHALK UP COMMUNITY

• IT’S NOT YOU, IT’S ME — When your big box gym won’t let you call it quits without writing a formal letter, this is how you let them down gently. 
• GARAGE GYM OPEN — Don’t belong to an affiliate but you still wanna compete in the Open? Believe it or not, in the beginning CrossFit was performed mostly in makeshift garage gyms. So if you’re still one of the OGs, here are a few tips if you’re doing the Open this year. 
• ALMOST HEAVEN — The tiny rural town of Buckhannon, WV is getting their first CrossFit affiliate. Almost Heaven CrossFit is renovating an old gym and plans to open in March. 

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

All 1800 of CrossFit Open 18.1 Live Announcement tickets in São Paolo, Brazil sold out in less than 24 hours. That’s a pretty strong indicator of interest for the new Latin America Regional. OUR TAKE: See you May 25 Brazil • Dave
Castro visited his old high school to speak at career day • Colleen Fotsch’s iPhone is sending her the wrong kind of recommendations.

And this video of Japanese sport Bo-taoshi is all you need to forget about the CrossFit Open and make it through Friday. 

The four conversations every CrossFitter has with their body during a run…

Brain: Why are you going so slow?

Lungs: I currently hate you.

Feet: I’m gonna turn into 10 pound weights now.

Leg Muscles: I am going to start hurting in random places, kay?

Courtesy of WOD Nation.

“Finding Solace” by Heather Hartmann, Box Pro Magazine

It was at a beach house on the Jersey Shore that Jim Loperfido was first introduced to the idea of intense functional training.

And by none other than Lieutenant Michael Murphy.

“Mike was engaged to my cousin Heather when he was killed in Operation Red Wing in 2005,” explained Loperfido. “Mike put me through SEAL workouts at a family beach house on the Jersey Shore, and that is when I learned what a true physical challenge felt like. Since then I have craved the intensity, but discovered CrossFit formally when I was working in Los Angeles in 2010.”

At 11,000 square feet of space, the Box rests only a few blocks from the Empire State Building. While Solace opened in 2014, it had a long road to get the business where it is today.

Eventually, that little “bug” would spawn into a giant, jeweled beetle — Solace New York.

For starters, neither knew the other was thinking about opening a gym at first. However, eventually the stars aligned. And after they did, Loperfido, Keeffe and Chad McDonald — the third original founder of Solace — would run full speed ahead with their idea.

2/3: No Weak Links “V” (Whitesboro, NY)

2/3: Caution Grounds 7 (Hialeah Gardens, FL)

2/3: Output Fitness Trials (Miramar, FL)

2/3: 6th Annual Women’s WOD Jam (Broomfield, CO)

2/3: 5th Annual Golden State Games (Stockton, CA)

2/3: Garage Girls Tour (Milton, GA)

2/10: Costa Rica w/ VoyEdge RX (Puerto Viejo, Costa Rice)2/10: Strength Is (Moorpark, CA)

2/10: Mirror Image CrossFit’s Cupid’s Clash (Panama City, FL)

2/10: New WODs On the Block – The Third Wheel (Nationwide)

2/10: Tuff Love (Boulder, CO)

2/10: A League of Their Own: A Women’s Only Challenge (San Antonio, TX)

2/10: Mayhem Showdown 2018 (Cookeville, TN) 

2/16 – 2/18: Iron Sharpens Iron (Miami, FL)

2/17: Lovers and Lifters (Springfield, KY)

2/17: Steel Rail Shootout 2018 (McComb, MS)

2/17: Wynwood Throwdown (Miami, FL)

2/17 – 2/18: The Shred Fest (Orlando, FL)

2/22: CrossFit Open 18.1 (Worldwide)

3/1: CrossFit Open 18.2 (Worldwide)

3/8: CrossFit Open 18.3 (Worldwide)

3/10: Women Who WOD (Barbados)

3/15: CrossFit Open 18.4 (Worldwide)

3/22: CrossFit Open 18.5 (Worldwide)

4/7: Battle of the Badges (Anaheim, CA)

4/7: The Revolution (San Antonio, TX)

4/14: Battle for the Mountain (Dawsonville, GA)

4/14 – 4/15: Mid-Atlantic Affiliate Challenge (Columbia, MD)

4/21: Festivus Games (Nationwide)

4/28: Battleground SoCal (Wimington, CA)

4/28: Girls Gone Rx (Cincinnati, OH)

4/28 – 4/29: Walter’s Cup Throwdown (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

5/4 – 5/6: European Masters Throwdown (Budapest, Hungary)

5/11 – 5/12: Beast Mode Games (Greenville, SC)

5/19: Raising the Bar for Recovery (Medina, OH)

5/19: East Coast Battle (Hanover, MD)