The battle for your kitchen

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Today’s edition is powered by Fitbot, the #1 coaching platform trusted by over 3,000 coaches and gym owners worldwide. Still training your 1-on-1 clients using email, spreadsheets, and paper forms? Try Fitbot free for 14 days!

“By persisting in your path, though you forfeit the little, you gain the great.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

THE BATTLE FOR YOUR KITCHEN IN THE WAR OF THE GROCERY GIANTS

You are, Top Chef.

A popular service that many of us have taken advantage of in the last few years is the meal delivery kit. You know the one where you get all the ingredients and instructions to make a gourmet meal delivered right to your door. No waste and no racking your brain meal planning and creating extensive grocery lists. You just open your package and stand around your kitchen talking to an invisible camera yelling “Bam!” while channeling your inner Emeril…Wait, just us?

The news.

Not to be left out of the loop, last year AmazonFresh rolled out their own line of meal kits rivaling those of Blue Apron, HelloFresh, and Plated. What could be easier and as widespread as Amazon?

Walmart. And they just clapped back.

Deets.

They announced earlier this month that they’re releasing their own brand of pre-portioned kits designed to feed two people and priced at $8 – $15 each. You can buy them individually without the need for a subscription service. These meals will initially be available at 250 stores nationwide, but will roll out an additional 2,000 stores this year.

Will convenience win?

Honestly if you combine this perk with their grocery pickup option, the only thing you’re missing is your own private chef. It’s important to shop small, but with services like this getting even harder to ignore, will convenience win in the long run?

COFFEE BREAK CONVERSATIONS

What to tell your friend who just heard that eBay is holding a Spring Black Friday sale and KitchenAid mixers are half off right now…

Going once. Going twice. Sold. Remember a few weeks ago when we told you that partnering with Rich Froning, Josh Bridges and Mathew Fraser for a competition was up for auction? We were so busy doing fitnessy stuff that we forgot to tell you how much these once-in-a-lifetime opportunities went for: $5400 for Mathew Fraser, $5000 for Josh Bridges, and $4100 for Rich Froning. That’s $14,500 total that will be going to benefit Mustard Seed Ranch. 

THINGS TO…

WATCH: China’s Running and CrossFit Boom

In this docu-short, CrossFit HQ examines the Chinese running boom as more emphasis is being put on health and fitness. CrossFit is now filling in the gaps, providing runners strength training to help ensure longevity and less injuries.

GET OUTSIDE.

HEAR: Exploring Rejection and Intimacy in Dating

No, not everything we post is about CrossFit per se. The Nasty Girls Podcast takes on the topic of dating in your 20’s and 30’s, empathy, rejection, social pressures and swiping right. 

TUNE IN.

DO: Go Wild

Join Jenny LaBaw and a bunch of ladies for three days camping out in the beautiful Northern California Sierra Buttes wild, hiking some of the Pacific Coast Trail, unplugging (literally) and LOLing (also literally).

GET OUTSIDE.

EAT: Sweet Potato Toast

For when avocado prices spike through the roof, you need a backup plan to keep breakfast, errr ummm interesting. 

POTATO TOAST.

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

CHALK UP COMMUNITY

• FOOD PREP TIP — Does it feel like you spend all day doing meal prep? Chicken doesn’t actually take three hours to cook but somehow it always seems to take at least that long. Fuel Your Fitness has a few tips for keeping your food prep under an hour.
• PRISCILLA PROJECT — SuMMit CrossFit in Asheville, NC expands to start offering classes for adult athletes with developmental disabilities. Called the Priscilla Project, a group meets twice a week for a WOD. “There’s a lot of other gyms across the country that have idle time in the middle of the day and we hope to get this project in other gyms, get them set up as non-profits and get them replicating and just giving back to the communities.”
• AGE OF EMPIRES — A couple months ago, the Fittest 60+-year-old, Patty Failla, didn’t think she’d be able to compete in the 2018 CrossFit Open due to some chronic muscle pain. She decided to give it a go and see how it went. And then she won her division cause that’s what badass grandmas do. 

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

Margaux Alvarez hits a 410 pound deadlift • Wodapalooza 2019 dates are announced: January 17 – 20 • Only nine days left to snag one of these super sweet Morning Chalk Up tees and muscle tanks.

…and everyone else is being super quiet right now. Send us something cool to look at. 

“Letter to My Younger Self” by Julie Foucher

Dear Seventeen-Year-Old Julie,

I know what word you’re thinking — Perfection.

An A isn’t good enough, Julie. Why couldn’t you get an A+?

Getting into medical school isn’t good enough. You need to get into the best medical school.

Stay tight on your rebound and set more before your full twist.

These are all the things you’re telling yourself right now, working to control everything around you. It doesn’t matter that you think your friends don’t like you anymore. You know what it’s going to take.

Don’t drink. Study.

Don’t party. Train.

Don’t play. Practice, until it’s perfect.

You can’t always control the world around you, Julie. And you’re just about to learn that lesson in the hardest way possible.

4/7: Battle of the Badges (Anaheim, CA)4/7: The Revolution (San Antonio, TX)

4/7: GenX Masters Comp (Salem, MA)

4/7: Lt Col William “Wild Bill” Schroeder Memorial Competition (San Antonio, TX)

4/7: Burpees for Bellies (Williamston, MI)

4/13 – 4/15: The Railyard Games (Albuquerque, NM)

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

4/14: Appalachian Games (Asheville, NC)

4/14: Deuces Wild by Warrior Affiliate League (Baldwin Park, CA)

4/14: Atlas Blarney Stone Competition (Denver, CO)

4/14: RISE of the Masters (Statesboro, GA)

4/14: CrossFit Forte FORCE For Families (Nashville, TN)

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

4/14 – 4/15: WOD Wars Fitfest (Dunedin, FL)

4/14 – 4/15: Funky Town Throwdown (Ft. Worth, TX)

4/19: Teens and Masters Qualifier (Invitation Only)

4/20 – 4/22: Athens Throwdown (Athens, Greece)

4/21: Festivus Games (Nationwide)

4/21: Mayhem for MSR (Cookeville, TN)

4/21: Loganville Lockdown (Loganville, GA)

4/21: FoxWOD (Panama City Beach, FL)

4/21: Swamp Challenge (Gainesville, FL)

4/21: Mucctown Throwdown (Winnemucca, NV)

4/21: Famously Hot Showdown (Columbia, SC)

4/28: Battleground SoCal (Wimington, CA)

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

4/28: Salem Slaughterfest (Salem, OR)

4/28: 3rd Annual Appletown Throwdown (Cornelia, GA)

4/28: Brew-N-Brawl 2018 (Lenoir, NC)

4/28: CrossFit Cheltenham Throwdown (Gloucestershire, United Kingdom)

4/29: Three of A Kind (Gloucestershire, United Kingdom)

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

4/28 – 4/29: Battle of the Bluffs (Council Bluffs, IA)

4/28 – 4/29: King City Throwdown (Tupelo, MS)

5/4 – 5/5: Tough As Nails (Lubbock, TX)

5/4 – 5/5: No Gutz No Glory (Denver, CO)

5/4 – 5/5: Throwdown in Joe Town (St. Joseph, MO)

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

5/5 – 5/6: Tribal Clash (Quarteira, Portugal)

5/5 – 5/6: Barbell de Mayo (Woodbridge, VA)

5/5: Cinco de Mayo Classic (San Antonio, TX)

5/5: The Locomotive Games III (Youngstown, OH)

5/5: Granite Games Throwdown (Southaven,  MS)

5/5: Battle of the Boro (Goldsboro, NC)

5/5: New WODs on the Block (Grand Rapids, MI)

5/5: The Crawfish Challenge (Columbia, SC)

5/5: Masters of the Shed (Roxbury, NJ)

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

5/11 – 5/12: Midwest Monster (Joplin, MO)

5/11 – 5/12: Reebok’s Ready for Action – Fittest in Israel (Israel)

5/12: Barbells for Bullies (Danbury, CT)

5/12: The Mountain Meltdown (Park City, UT)

5/12: The 5th Element (Bedford, NH)

5/12: Soho Brawl (Tampa, FL)

5/18 – 5/20: East Regional (Albany, NY)

5/18 – 5/20: Europe Regional (Berlin, Germany)

5/18 – 5/20: South Regional (Salt Lake City, UT)

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

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

5/19: Barbells in the Burbs (Carol Stream, IL)

5/19: Gladiator Games (Concord, NC)

5/19: The Pillage of Palm Harbor (Palm Harbor, FL)

5/19: Spring Fling Partner Throwdown (San Anselmo, CA)

5/19: SilverFox Masters Competition (San Clemente, CA)

5/19: Ultimate Fitness Championship (Kennewick, WA)

5/19 – 5/20: GameDay Mankato (Mankato, MN)

5/25 – 5/27: West Regional (Del Mar, CA)

5/25 – 5/27: Central Regional (Nashville, TN)

5/25 – 5/27: Latin America Regional (Rio de Janiero, Brazil)

5/26: Beauty is a Beast 2 (Indian Rocks Beach, FL)

6/1 – 6/3: Atlantic Regional (West Palm Beach, FL)

6/1 – 6/3: Meridian Regional (Madrid, Spain)

6/1 – 6/3: Pacific Regional (Sydney, Australia)

6/9: Beastette Bash at CrossFit Ananda (Arlington, TX)