“Strong is not the new sexy.”

Happy Friday and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. 

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.” — Mark Twain

John Orth’s Ongoing Battle for the World Pull-Up Record

The story.

Let’s face it, people like to win free stuff. So when John Orth saw some outdoor gear being given away to the person who can do the most pull-ups, he wanted in on the action. When he lost that pull-up battle, he was determined to get it the next year. So he went home and trained. For. A. Year. 

But unfortunately the store decided not to host a second one. 

Determined not to let his year of training go to waste, Orth convinced his climbing gym, Earth Trek in Golden, CO to let him host his own version: 24 hours of straight pull-ups.

A professional rivalry is born.

Andrew Shapiro, a high schooler from Virginia, held the current World Record with 7306 pull-ups. JOhn got 7600 in 19.5 hours and become the record holder.

So Andrew responded by doing 10,000.

Things are getting a little intense.

“From the minute I stopped, I regretted it. I knew I had more in me. That regret has sat with me ever since,” Orth said in an interview.

John set up in the climbing gym. No kipping, jumping, or pulling. His plan was to do five at a time, every 28 seconds. He gave himself a 90-second pee break every 2,000 pull-ups. “That interval is a pace I can maintain for a really long time,” he said.

Hours into his attempt at 10,000, nauseated and in excruciating back pain, John decided to just make it to 7,600 and beat his personal best.

At 6,800 pull-ups he took a nap, then a shower, and he got back on the bar. He plowed through his final reps, breaking his own record at 7,601 but sadly far short of Andrew’s record, which would actually be declined by Guiness, citing technique.

And now it’s become his thing.

In August of this year he attempted the world record for most pull-ups with one finger in a minute.

And in September of this year, he set out to break his own pull-up record again. He ended at 7,670. To be clear, that’s 22,871 pull-ups in three attempts. Someone get this guy a weight vest and introduce him to Murph. 

Things To…

WATCH: Glassman Says CrossFit is For Anyone

Greg Glassman addressed more than 150 affiliate owners at the 2018 China Affiliate Gathering in Hangzhou, China. On the steady growth of CrossFit abroad, he said members “can be any color, any size, any age, any deficiency, any amount of athletic capacity. But, they’ve gotta come through the door and they’ve gotta be willing.”

A CURATION OF GOOD PEOPLE.

HEAR: Nasty Girls and Ben Bergeron 

Amy, from the Nasty Girls podcast, joined Ben Bergeron in Boston last week for his seminar. She covers some takeaways from the class like how to avoid distractions on the path to your goals, the importance of maintaining passion in your career, and identifying and living core values.

REMAIN FOCUSED.

EAT: Creamy Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes 

These creamy slow cooker mashed potatoes are infused with garlic and butter, pretty much two of the world’s best foods. This healthy, lightened up version will be your family’s new favorite mashed potato recipe this Thanksgiving. 

IMPRESS YOUR GRANDMA.

Chalk Up Community

• DISCOUNTS FOR VETS — Veteran (co) owned Officium CrossFit in Brownsburg, IN now offers 50% off of an unlimited membership to active and retired military. 
• NEW CROSSFIT — CrossFit Douglas in Douglas, AZ opened last Friday. Owners Justin and Monica Embry held a ribbon cutting ceremony at their new location with representatives and members of the Douglas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

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

The Reebok Rich Froning collection is out now • Congratulations to Logan Aldridge and Emily Tysinger on their engagment • Happy sixth anniversary Red Wolf CrossFit • Jessica Griffith joins the WOD on the Waves crew • Ciaran Nugent completed his first CrossFIt competition over the weekend • EPIC Bar launched beef, chicken and pork jerkys and a collection of high-end animal collection fats and we got to sample them first. But you can snag 20% off site wide with code “CHALKUP20” • The US Army plans to form a CrossFit team • Happy birthday Aly McWherter • Congrats to Curtis on his first muscle-up • Model Meals is giving away sixty prepared meals • 

Stefi Cohen Says Strong is Not the New Sexy — “Strong is not the new sexy. Confidence is. Feeling empowered is. It’s not about how you look but about projecting how you feel. Some women are skinny. Some are muscular. Some are thicc. All of them can be sexy. The shift from thinking skinny to thinking strong is sexy changed some things but didn’t change others:

— “We’re still idealizing a body type and chastising another. We’re still comparing, and are still measuring self worth by a number or look.



— “Feeling good, enjoying your life and feeling empowered about what your body can do is sexy. Eat in a way that makes you feel good and happy. Move in a way that feels right to you. Being comfortable being you is sexy.”

“What Would a Champion Do? A Question to Live Your Life By,” by Marcus Leach, Game Plan A.

Five am and my alarm goes. I awaken to darkness. One peek behind the curtains and my worst fears are confirmed, sheets of rain lashing down, swirled back and forth by gusts of wind.

I don’t want to get out of bed and brave the bitter wet morning that awaits outside my front door in order to spend five hours on my bike when everyone around me takes shelter from the elements.

So I allow the voices in my head to coax me back to the warmth of my bed, reasoning that it doesn’t matter if I miss one session. But then comes the question. ‘What would a champion do?’

Even before the question is finished I know the answer. With no other option I begrudgingly get out of bed, leaving my wife in a blissful sleep, and begin to get dressed, preparing myself mentally for what lies ahead. Once those five words are silently spoken in my mind there’s no choice but to take action.

There’s no alternative but to do what a champion would do. It’s a question that I have lived my life by for several years now, a question that never needs answering, because I instinctively know what to do the moment it is asked.

We need to have a series of core questions that give our lives purpose and direction, questions that we can ask in times of difficulty and uncertainty.

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

11/16: Panhandle Strong Fundraiser (Santa Rosa Beach, FL)

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)

11/17: Femme Royale (Raleigh, NC)

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

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

11/30 – 12/16: Naughty or Nice Toy Drive (Online)

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

12/1: Rock It CrossFitMas Classic (Fort Worth, TX) 

12/1: Barbells For Bootstraps (Beverly, MA)

12/1: Bro Down Throw Down for Cancer Awareness (Bridgeport, PA)

12/1: Push/Pull for Pancreatic Cancer at CrossFit Pawling (Pawling, NY)

12/1: Winter Throwdown 2018 (New York, NY)

12/1: Reindeer Games 2018 (Medford, OR)

12/8: Fittest Alive in the 845 (Poughkeepsie, NY)

12/8: The 2018 Reindeer Games Finale (Del Mar, CA)

12/8 – 12/9: WOD Godz (Shreveport, LA) 

12/8: Rampage Christmas Throwdown (Murfreesboro, TN)

12/8: A Very Krampus Kilofest (Hickory, NC)

12/8: 4th Annual Mistletoe Madness Competition (Gainesville, FL)

12/15: Masters Mania (OKlahoma City, OK)