“Life isn’t a matter of milestones, but of moments.”- Rose Kennedy
PROFILE
The Unstoppable Women of CrossFit: 14 Masters Athletes to Watch in 2021
As the sport of CrossFit has aged, so have the original athletes who once dominated the field at the CrossFit Games. However, perhaps one of the more unique elements of the sport of fitness, is its prominent and active community of masters competitors, giving athletes the ability to continue competing in the sport as they age.
One big thing: In the past three years, one of the most exciting developments in the masters division, is the return of popular Games athletes from the early days of CrossFit to the competition floor.
Most notably, however, seems to be the women who have proven over the years that age is just a number.
As they’ve aged out of their individual careers and moved on to other ventures in their life, many have still returned each year to the competition floor to prove their fitness once again in their age division. This year is no exception.
A quick glance at the list of athletes registered for the Age Group Online Qualifier (AGOQ) reveals several former top level Games competitors ready to make their mark in the masters division.
That tangled mess at the bottom of your gym bag? That used to be a speed rope. Keep your rope spinning smoothly by following these three simple steps
Keep the cable straight when packing – folding the cables is the biggest killer of performance.
Use the right cable length – ensure the rope you’re using is the right length for you with Kuhlwhip’s proprietary sizing formula. All you need to do is select your height!
Stop the ball bearings from grinding – use a rope with a sealed bearing to limit this issue.
Leading personal care company Gillette makes its next foray into the CrossFit space with a new deodorant aimed specifically at CrossFit athletes. The campaign is fronted by six-time CrossFit Games athlete Travis Mayer and is offering all CrossFitters a free stick for their gym bag with any Invisible Solid Deodorant purchase. No code necessary.
AGOQ and Occupational Games Update:
All five workouts will be released Thursday, May 6 at 12 PM PT.
Score submissions are due in three separate blocks. The first score submission deadline, for events 1 and 2 are due by 12:00 PM PT on Friday, May 7; the second score submission deadline, for events 3 and 4 are due by 12:00 PM PT on Saturday, May 8, the final score submission is due by 12:00 PM PT on Sunday, May 9.
Here are the floor plans for all five workouts and the updated equipment list.
Early bird ticket sales for the Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Challenge will end on May 10, after that, only single-day tickets will be available.
The Army Warrior Fitness Team will be taking on Murph at CrossFit RSP in Carterville, IL on May 31. The event will serve as a fundraiser for This Able Veteran.
CrossFit and Addiction Recovery: A new observational study by a Texas A&M social and behavioral scientist suggests that the social networks and community within CrossFit gyms can aid in addiction recovery.
Lead researcher, Meg Patterson on the next phase of her study: “We are launching a study with a CrossFit gym specifically tailored for addiction recovery…I want to see what the social environment looks like in these gyms as compared to the general population CrossFit gyms and see how it supports people in recovery.”
Help needed: Riley Martin, a 22-year-old coach at CrossFit Schenectady, is in desperate need of a blood stem cell or bone marrow transplant to save his life. In February, he was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, an aggressive type of blood cancer rare in young people. Chemotherapy treatment is not working and he now needs the community’s help to find his perfect match that could save his life.
Riley’s family is working with Gift of Life Marrow Registry, which has mounted an urgent campaign, calling on those who are 18 to 35 and in good health to join the registry as soon as possible. Order a swab kit or visit CrossFit Schenectady which is serving as a local registration hub where community members can fill out a donor card and complete a cheek swab kit that will be mailed out by the gym.
LIFESTYLE
MEMBER EXCLUSIVE
Gym Closures Have Devastated Mental Health, Say Affiliates Owners, Members and New Study
New research out of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario discovered that pandemic-related anxiety and stress, as well as a lack of access to the gym and gym equipment in the last year has made it difficult for people to stick to an exercise routine, which has damaged their mental health.
The details: The study looked at 1,669 participants, mostly female Canadians between the ages of 18 and 29. Each was asked a number of questions to gauge their past and current physical activity levels, as well as their stress, anxiety and depression levels.
CrossFit Coach Helps Greg Upchurch Shed 140 Pounds, Put Diabetes into Remission During COVID
It was March 2020. Greg Upchurch was tired. Tired of being “morbidly obese and and unattractive person all round,“ he said. Tired of living his life feeling angry and bitter all the time.
Upchurch, a Type-2 diabetic at the time, wasn’t sure who to turn to, but he knew his neighbor Bubba Brocard owned a gym, so he decided to see if Brocard could help him get healthy. “Turns out, he could,” Upchurch said.
The details: Upchurch joined Brocard’s gym, CrossFit 120 in Marietta, GA, the day before his birthday last March. A day later, on his birthday, the gym closed due to COVID-19. At the time, he weighed 375 pounds at 6-foot-2.
“I wanted to spend my 49th year getting back into shape…I just had to make a lifestyle change, a dramatic one,” he said of his mentality at the time. And he wasn’t going to let a pandemic and a closed gym stop him.
Upchurch immediately joined a 24-week nutrition challenge Brocard was running and started doing daily CrossFit workouts. It helped that Georgia never really went into a total lockdown, so the gym opened back up fairly quickly, he explained.
Build your quads, stabilize your joints, increase your range of motion. Lunges are like a superfood for your lower body. Target all muscle groups by changing up your lunges with these variations.
Save 40% on Lemon Lime O2 today, and celebrate Cinco de Mayo with an oxygenated margarita. Add 6 oz. ice-cold Lemon Lime O2 to 2 oz. blanco tequila, 1/4 oz. Triple Sec, and 1/2 oz. lime juice in a salted glass with ice. Enjoy responsibly today with faster recovery tomorrow. Win-win.
A rounded upper back and shoulders is a position that many desk-bound individuals find themselves in and can cause pain and weakness in overhead movements. Use these four stretches to bring your shoulders forward and fix that unwanted rotation.
Struggling to string together pull-ups? Or struggling to get your first one? Simply commit 30 minutes, three times a week to Train Your Weakness's new course and conquer one of CrossFit's fundamental movements.
Packed with protein with a huge boost of colorful veggies, this recipe is perfect after a heavy WOD. Check out the extra options if you like a kick of heat.
Chalk Up Highlights is our section dedicated to celebrating our community’s wins in the gym. Follow @ChalkUpHighlights and submit your highlight to [email protected] to be featured.
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