Travel Conflicts Force Toomey to Withdraw from Australia Sanctioned Event

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Today’s edition is powered by Rx Smart Gear, crafting the the best fitness gear on the planet.

Hold a broomstick against your pockets with thumbs out is the second best cue when teaching double unders. A lot of athletes don’t equate hand position with rope clearance at the feet. But anchoring your hands outside your pockets creates consistent spacing between the rope and your toes. You can learn more cues to help with double-unders with Rx Smart Gear’s Online Coaching. 

“The people we surround ourselves with either raise or lower our standards. They either help us to become the best version of ourselves or encourage us to become lesser versions of ourselves. We become like our friends. No man becomes great on his own. No woman becomes great on her own. The people around them help to make them great. We all need people in our lives who raise our standards, remind us of our essential purpose, and challenge us to become the best version of ourselves.” — Matthew Kelly

24 Hours of Rowing for the Reveille Project

Some background.

A 24-hour long rowing fundraiser to be held January 12-13 at Kitsap CrossFit in Poulsbo, WA of row intervals to raise awareness and money for the Reveille Project, a nonprofit organization run by Kevin Ogar and Ryan Foster. Their mission is to help veterans restore their lives post-Active Duty.

The Reveille Project provides access to tools that aid veterans in their ability to integrate socially, emotionally, physically and spiritually back into civilian life.

That’s a cause we can get on board with.

The event is a row for max cals, where participants will row as hard as they can for 10 minutes and then recover for 50 minutes. They will complete 24 rounds, a legit full day of rowing.

Their goal is to have 100 people rowing. With 25 rowers set up and four heats per hour, they’re hoping to raise between $15,000 to $20,000 for the Reveille Project. And don’t worry, if you can’t make it to the event you can row on your own with their remote registration process. Just make sure you register by New Year’s Day.

That’s so much rowing.

But there will be food, a DJ, coffee round the clock, and lots of camaraderie. Kevin Ogar, Ryan Foster, Nicole Carroll, Brian Chontosh, Pat Sherwood, Kathy Glassman and Cole Sager will all be there too. “It’s gonna be a great time. We really want to celebrate all the great things that the Reveille Project is doing,” Dan Hollingsworth, owner of Kitsap CrossFit said.

And, as the time ticks on during that 24 hour of rowing, Dan has prizes to pass out from sponsors like NOBULL  for the top male and female rowers for all sorts of things, including most cals, best consistency, and greatest spirit.

And, as if that’s not enough, there’s an after party down the street at a local brewery. But don’t worry. They give you a few hours to take a nap first.

GAMES UPDATE

Travel Conflicts Force Tia Toomey to Withdraw from Australia Sanctioned Event

What happened?

Tia-Clair Toomey, the two-time reigning CrossFit Games champion, has decided to withdraw her commitment to compete at the Australian CrossFit Championship. Toomey, who moved to the U.S. from Australia for the 2019 season, cited timing as the reason for the decision.

“I would finish competing at Wodapalooza on (Sunday) the 20th of January, and then we would need to fly from Miami to Brisbane on the 21st and we would arrive into Brisbane Wednesday,” revealed Toomey. “The Aussie Championship however starts on Thursday leaving me minimal time to adjust or recover from the travel and competing days prior.”

The decision sheds light on the difficulty with which athletes will have to navigate the landscape of the new season. “As much as I would love to compete in Australia during Australia day (26th of January),” said Toomey. “I need to prioritize my goals.”

So what will happen to her spot?

Toomey, along with 2013 CrossFit Games Champion Samantha Briggs, originally received a special invite from the event to compete at the ACC finals alongside 30 other women from the event’s online qualifier. Her spot will now be awarded to the next athlete in line from online qualifier which wrapped up this past Wednesday.

Coffee Break Conversations

What to do the next time you drop-in somewhere new and don’t know their running path…

Just trust those legs and go. High school freshman Morgan Dalton, whose parents own CrossFit Wytheville in VA, just won the 1A Cross Country State Championship, despite not knowing the route. Her first time racing at this track, she came out fast, took the lead, and held it to finish at 19:07.

Things To…

WATCH: Brooke Ence Explores Denver

Brooke Ence spent some time exploring Denver, CO with Pure Spectrum. She does some touristy things like running the Red Rock Amphitheater, trains and coaches in a few local boxes, and learns how to choke people out from UFC fighter James Krause. No big deal. 

THE AIR IS SO THIN IN DENVER.

HEAR: Matt Chan on Muscle Mind Podcast

CrossFit Games athlete Matt Chan has been around since nearly the beginning of CrossFit. He sat down with the guys of the Muscle Mind Podcast to share why he thinks CrossFit will always be the best program above all other methods of fitness. 

PROGRAM FOR THE BEST.

EAT: Chicken and Rice Soup with Green Chiles and Ginger 

A stick to your bones kind of soup, this is one meal that will fit all of our your macros and keep you full and warm. That’s a win  all around in our book. The chiles and ginger add tons of flavor to a classic chicken and rice staple.

MAKING THIS TONIGHT.  

HELP: CrossFit Membership Prices Around the World

We need your help mapping the world of CrossFit affiliates and what each one charges for a membership. Here’s a fun map based on the average prices in each country, based on more than 400 gyms.

ADD YOUR AFFILIATE.

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Chalk Up Community

• PRO-TIP: RUNNING IN A WARM-UP — Severin Romanov of the CrossFit Running Workshop demonstrates an easy warm-up for a large class while focusing on drilling proper running technique. “You teach everybody lifts. We teach them all these other things. Running is no different,” he says.
• PUSH PULL FOR CANCER — 410 CrossFit had a Push Pull for Pancreatic Cancer event on November 3rd that raised over $8000. Red Island CrossFit, CrossFit Conation and CrossFit Redzone have all raised over $3000. Project Purple proceeds go to the early detection of prostate cancer. 
• WATERBOY WOD — Conquering Kili is an annual campaign created by Philadelphia Eagle Chris Long’s Waterboys organization. Chris joins veterans and athletes on the challenge to embark for the Kili summit, a walk that represents the miles that many African women journey on a daily basis to fetch water for their families. While training for the climb, each team member works to raise funds and transform communities through the gift of clean water. Main Line CrossFit is hosting a fundraiser WOD December 1st and
  2nd to help raise money for the project. 
• STEADY MD AND THE DANCERS — Jenn and Sam Dancer have joined the SteadyMD team. The Dancers and more than 20 other CrossFitters, including Mat Fraser, all use SteadyMD and Dr. Dani Urcuyo. 

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

Saturday is the last day to sign-up for VoyEdge Rx’s trip to Costa Rica • ZA Anderson does a 300 pound axle bar power clean and four jerks • Travis Williams clean and jerks 355 pounds • Rachel Garibay does 16 205 pound squat cleans in five minutes • Thuri Helgadottir is leaving Iceland and moving to Switzerland (chasing the Open perhaps)? • Hayley Murillo jerks 255 pounds ahead of Dubai CrossFit Championship • Jessica Griffith hits a 255 pound clean PR • Jacob Heppner hits a low hang clean and full clean at 330 pounds • Coming soon to an audiobook near you…Jason Khalipa’s book “AMRAP Mentality” • Margaux Alvarez will be in Columbus, OH teaching a rowing seminar and hanging out at the Rogue Winter Classic. Remember, she won the marathon row event y’all. 

CONFIRMED: Laura Horvath — The Rogue Invitational confirmed yesterday that Laura Horvath has accepted her invitation to compete in May. The Rogue Invitational will have 20 male and 20 female athletes, with 10 teams competing in Columbus, OH. The roster, which also includes Mat Fraser, Cole Sager, Josh Bridges, and Kristin Holte, is still growing.

Wodapalooza Memory Lane — Heading into their eighth year, Wodapalooza is one of the longest running, largest and well know competitions out there. Co-founder and former event director, Guido Trinidad is sharing some of his favorite memories year-by-year as they grew to become the hit off-season competition:

— Year 3, 2014…“Ever asked yourself – ‘What am I doing?’ With a variety of directions we could have taken this event – we chose to focus on what our main objective would be moving forward.”

— “Discovering my why was pivotal; it changed everything and became the foundation for my passion and the ethos of our brand.  CrossFit had done so much for my life – I viewed this event as an opportunity to express gratitude. It was a ‘thanksgiving’ of sorts for me…Through our competitive culture we would celebrate what Fitness has done for our lives, the supportive community that has been forged locally in boxes & globally, and celebrate this one and only life we are blessed with.

— “The highlight of year 3 Steph Hammerman. She presented the idea of competing with such conviction and excitement it was a no-brainer. It provided us the opportunity to Celebrate Inclusivity and equality and the beginning of something that would change lives.

Progenex and Reebok came on board. They saw the potential and believed in our mission. Without their support I don’t think WZA would be where it is today; I am eternally grateful for them.” Read More.

CrossFit with Asthma — Joel Sheridan, who has had severe asthma since the age of 13, shared how CrossFit has helped his health. “About three months in I started to notice I could push it a little harder, specifically with just my breathing. I was getting physically stronger but in the past that never changed my endurance when it came to cardio. The last three to four months I started to notice a big change and I could really start to push myself longer and harder in those same workouts. I was doing WODs quicker with more reps and less scaling but I was also not needing to take my rescue inhaler
after a workout.

— “I visited my doctor last week for a checkup seven months after my initial visit. My asthma doctor told me that … I have never had lungs functioning this well. My ability to take in oxygen and my lung capacity had improved to the point where my previous symptoms were almost gone.”

“How Much Chalk is Too Much Chalk?” by Lon Kilgore, CrossFit Journal

Gyms have a love-hate relationship with chalk.

Trainees love to use it, but the people responsible for cleaning gyms hate it because a widespread dusting of white powder extends well beyond lifting areas even if a concerted effort is made to restrict its use to a portion of the gym. It takes time to sweep and mop it up.

Everyone “knows” chalk is used to improve their grip on barbells, pull-up bars and other equipment. Go to any CrossFit, weightlifting-friendly or powerlifting-friendly gym and you’ll see people applying chalk (aka, magnesium carbonate, magnesium alba, gym chalk and gymnastics chalk, among others) to their hands, thighs, shoulders, T-shirts at the front of the shoulders or the back, the backside of their shorts and so on. Frequently, liberalness of application approaches a bath of chalk.

We’ve all been told that using chalk increases the friction between bar and hand, thus making the grip more secure and slippage less likely. But do we actually know chalk does what we think it does? No research has been performed on chalk use and gripping a barbell. Actually, fewer than a dozen papers address chalk, and the majority relate to rock climbing. A new paper by Bacon and co-workers is also focused on rock climbing, but it does examine a very common gym exercise: the pull-up.

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)

12/1: Heroes Challenge (Dallas, TX)

12/1: Vekter Games (Columbia, MD)

12/1: New England Co-Ed Classic (Bedford, NH)

12/1: VoyEdge RX Costa Rica (Costa Rica)

12/1 – 12/12: Swan Strong 12 Days of Fitness (Online)

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: CrossFIt Raeford 3rd annual WOD for Dogs (Raeford, NC)

12/8: Reindeer Games at CrossFit 321 (Topsham, ME)

12/8: Candor Power Hour Reindeer Games (Tuscaloosa, AL)

12/8 – 12/9: The Fall Series Throwdown 2018 (Monza, Italy)

12/12 – 12/15: Dubai CrossFit Championship (Dubai, UAE)

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

12/15 – 12/16: Nightmare Before Christmas CrossFit Competition (Albuquerque, NM)

12/22: The Flanders Throwdown (Zedelgem, Belgium)