Toomey’s Road to the Winter Olympics

November 24   |   POWERED BY

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. As tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the U.S., we will be at home hanging with the fam, stuffing our faces with Turkey. We will see you again on Black Friday.

In today’s edition:

• GolfFit…Yes, it’s a thing.
• Andrew Tracey’s 24 Hero WODs and an ultra-marathon total rep count is pretty ridiculous.
• 12 Labours CrossFit is teaming up with the Special Olympics to bring CrossFit to athletes.
• 🎁 We just added more exclusive Black Friday deals to our shopping guide.

“Don't bunt. Aim out of the ballpark. Aim for the company of immortals.” - David Ogilvy

GolfFit? Blending CrossFit and Golf to Extend Life of the Game

Since the age of six, it’s likely you’d spot Thor Parrish with a golf club in his hand. But now, it’s about a 50/50 shot he’s holding a golf club or lifting a barbell. Lucky for Parrish he doesn’t need to choose between the two, in fact, he encourages people to do both — and that’s exactly what he plans on doing with his new CrossFit affiliate opening in early 2022.

“I really love the whole methodology and culture of CrossFit and that’s why I want to affiliate but we’re really blending CrossFit and golf together because I’ve seen the impact it’s made on myself and those I train,” said Parrish.

Just 25-years-old, Parrish is a CrossFit Level 1 coach, certified personal trainer and PGA teaching professional in Naples, Florida. Although golf is his primary sport, CrossFit quickly became a passion for him over the last ten years once his dad introduced him to the sport.

“I started to see how he used it (CrossFit) for hockey because he was still a club hockey player and he’s like, ‘I keep doing CrossFit because I want to keep doing this forever’ and that’s really cool because I really like golf so I’m going to keep doing CrossFit so I can play golf for forever,” continued Parrish.

And it wasn’t long before he saw similar results.

“I don’t get tired compared to other golfers. They play 18 holes and they’re exhausted afterward or they do a one-hour lesson and they’re tired afterward and I’m like, ‘let’s go play 36 holes, let’s go hit 1,000 more golf balls.’ I just have so much more capacity to practice compared to those who don’t do CrossFit,” said Parrish.

After graduating from the Golf Management Program at Florida Gulf Coast University, Parrish pursued teaching and coaching golf to juniors and seniors as well as becoming the co-owner of the Junior Golf Performance Academy training between 150 to 200 kids — focusing on long-term development by implementing CrossFit into their golf program.

“They’ll learn overhead squats with a golf club, I’ll teach them how to deadlift and hinge. I’m Papa Protein is what they call me because I talk about eating meat and vegetables,” Parrish joked.

As for his soon-to-be affiliate, he plans to have a full golf studio within the CrossFit box, Thunder Performance, where he can work with his golf clients while continuing to implement the CrossFit methodology.

But five to ten years from now — he hopes to bring his CrossFit gym straight to the golf course.

“I want to take this concept gym, prove that it works, and then go to a golf course and say, ‘hey, let me open this up here.’ What I really want is a golf course that will let me run a CrossFit gmy out of it,” Parrish concluded.

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STATS DU JOUR: Last weekend, Men’s Health Fitness Editor Andrew Tracey took on 24 Hero WODs in 24 hours + an ultra marathon. Here’s his total accumulated rep breakdown (via Men’s Health UK):

• Accumulate weight lifted: 102,801 pounds/46,630kgs
• Total distance covered: 40.3 miles/65km
• Total reps: 3,357
• Total squats: 1172
• Total cleans: 287
• Total muscle-ups and pull-ups (combined): 356

Brent Fikowski raised $2685 CAD for 92 Hands and The Phoenix auctioning off several game-worn jerseys.

Evie Hollis received a backfill invite to compete at the Dubai CrossFit Championship.

• Here’s the full roster.

What the road to the Winter Olympics looks like for Tia-Clair Toomey, who spent a lot of the off season up in Lake Placid, NY training with the Australian Women’s bobsleigh team preparing or the World Cup, which is also a Beijing 2022 qualifier.

• Toomey will compete in eight races (See two-woman results) in Northern Europe from now until January, and will find out
• Toomey: “We are feeling really good about it, we just have to execute and focus on the things we can control.”
• Toomey: “With bobsleigh everything you do affects the team. So on those hard days when you don’t want to go to the gym, you have to go in there because you are doing it not just for yourself but for other people too.”

MUST WATCH: “Rooting for the Underdogs,” a mini-documentary diving into the unique team dynamic forming in Las Vegas, NV that’s quietly been amassing some of the fittest athletes on Earth.

Kelsey Kiel joins the Brute Strength team.

As a running coach, I’m frequently asked, “What should my weekly mileage goal be?” and “How many times a week should I run?”

To which I usually respond, “Well, that’s a really complex question.” Yet regardless of their complexity, I honestly like hearing these questions. Nine times out of ten, it demonstrates the athlete is already intrinsically motivated (they want to get better at running because they enjoy it), which is sometimes the toughest barrier to overcome when it comes to commitment.

Why do you want to run? How does your body respond to training?

Runners who ask “how” instead of “why,” usually have a strong desire to lock a system into place to optimize their performance. My job as a coach is to help design and make that system actionable.

Once you’ve defined your “why,” whether it’s an upcoming race, or maybe just a desire to run pain free, your next step is to learn how your body responds to training. How your body responds to training allows you to determine how to progress in training. Every training plan is unique. Not all feet strike the same. Not all runners have the same pace.

Most runners think the more they run, the easier it gets. And while mileage is undoubtedly important, the volume of the miles run doesn’t matter nearly as much as the quality of them.

Running is really demanding. Honestly, I’m slightly offended by how much running has literally “run me into the ground” at times, both mentally and physically. Luckily, in 2019 I discovered WHOOP, which changed my entire outlook on running, personally and professionally.

Training based on how you feel can be misleading

For so long, I had based my workouts on “how I felt” that day. I thought, “I’m good at pushing myself, I have great form (which has been years in the making), and I have a general understanding of the importance of sleep.” And yet, some days It was like I was throwing the dice before workouts. Maybe I’d puke, maybe I’d PR.

In March 2019, I signed up for my first ultra marathon attempt. The race was called Last Man Standing, with the premise being you run 4 miles every hour on the hour until you can’t. Both the style and distance of this race were new to me, which meant training for it was also going to be new.

Since I’d run multiple marathons prior to this, I also knew there was an increased risk of injury associated with high-volume training (check out my previous post on how to prevent common running injuries).

I needed a tool to provide me deeper insight into my personal metrics–hard data to provide immediate feedback based on my performance, in both sleep and training. I wasn’t about to go off “feel” when attempting to run 100 miles.

12 Labours CrossFit Teams Up with Special Olympics Maryland

In January of 2022, the 12 Labours CrossFit community will launch a partnership with Special Olympics Maryland, offering a 12-week, free CrossFit course to about 30 athletes part of the organization.

The program: 2022 is the second year that the 12 Labours CrossFit community will work with Special Olympics Maryland. In 2019, the program was held only at 12 Labours CrossFit Columbia; this time, it will expand to the affiliate’s second location, 12 Labours CrossFit Annapolis.

• “We were in a position… pre-COVID, to give up our time and our energy to give back to the community,” said Wilson Pak, General Manager of 12 Labours CrossFit. “We felt a big calling to the Special Olympics.”
• He continued: “I literally walked in with this dream, the director shook my hand, and believed in something he knew nothing about.”

How it works: Most athletes, Pak explains, use these CrossFit classes as training for other sports they’re involved with in the Special Olympics.

Before the class begins, Pak meets personally with each athlete and their parents, completing a movement screening and learning their behaviors.

• “I [get] them to touch every single machine that we have, in addition to doing basic movements like sitting on a box and standing up, doing slam balls and ring rows…. just trying to understand what we’re working with,” Pak says.

A typical class begins with a game or obstacle course. The focus stays on coordination for each athlete, Pak explains, using bands and general movements, before building load with dumbbells. “We always end with a ‘CrossFit’ chant!” he adds.

In 2022: The next 12 Labours CrossFit and Special Olympics partnership will begin the first week of January, with the movement screenings. After the assessments, they will jump right into the 12-week program, holding two sessions a week at each location.

Pak says there are some returning athletes, noting that during open registration for Special Olympics programs, the CrossFit course sold out within an hour.

• The goal is to keep expanding, eventually hosting two cohorts of athletes at each location, training 30 athletes per week in each district.

The way Pak looks at it, “there’s no reason why this program shouldn’t be adopted into every single Crossfit gym in the U.S.”

The bottom line: Time and again, CrossFit has proved to be beneficial for athletes with intellectual disabilities, for more than just fitness. This program is no different. Aside from changes in energy levels and fitness, Pak says he  saw a noticeable difference in the athletes’ social abilities. In the environment of a CrossFit gym, these athletes were able to come out of their shells, gifting every class with their “smiles and positive attitudes.”

Taylor Jordan, a coach and volunteer for the program, reflected on her experience in a blog post, calling the partnership “the true essence of what CrossFit is about.”

• “The encouragement they gave each other, the positivity that showed when they walked through the door, the anticipation of seeing the day’s workout written on the board, it all boils down to why we show up and do the things we do,” she wrote.
• “It’s about the community banding together through adversity to celebrate the small victories and encourage others to be healthy, happy, and able to live their life to the fullest.”

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Celebrating a PR, hosting a fundraiser, this, that, or otherwise. Send us a tip.

• 🎂 Happy birthday Ari Hurst, partnerships manager at CrossFit and one of 14 women making waves in CrossFit.
• 🎂 Happy birthday Syn Martinez.
• Congratulations to CrossFit HSP in Holly Springs, NC who officially opened their doors on November 9.
• Roman Khrennikov hits five push jerks at 330 pounds/150kg.
• Laura Horvath back squats 275 pounds/125kg for a double.
• Congratulations Tristan Meredith from CrossFit Clash in McDonough, GA on the 315 pound/143kg power clean PR.

100km Row: Mike Sanborn from CrossFit Taranis in Victoria, Canada will be rowing 100km in honor of his friend Quentin, who died in 2020 from glioblastoma, an incurable and aggressive brain cancer.

• What started as an individual effort, has now expanded to the entire gym with 12 teams participating.
• They have raised $36,430 so far towards their $50,000 goal.

See all upcoming events