Two days until Regionals

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Today’s edition is fueled by FNX, the Official Supplement Sponsor of the Morning Chalk Up.

Summer is here, and the travel and vacation season is upon us. Here is a guide from FNX and Adrian Conway that outlines the best ways to keep your gains on the go no matter your destination!

2 days until Regionals starts.

“You don’t have to close the book to start a new chapter. Just turn the page.” — Billy Cox

REGIONALS: A PRIMER

Let’s review.

First, there are three Regional competitions starting on Friday morning through Sunday: Europe, East and South.

Next weekend, there will be three more, then three more after that until all nine Regional competitions are complete.

Regionals started in 2009 as a way to separate the wheat from the chaff.

How many athletes are competing?

Each Regional is made up of the top 40 men, women and teams. Only one athlete from the Latin America Regional and four athletes from the Meridian Regional will advance to the CrossFit Games. In all other Regions, the top five advance for a total of 40 athletes in each division.

Gotcha, so how do I watch?

Everything will be streamed live on Facebook, but it’s a lot easier to just go to the CrossFit Games website and select the regional you want to watch from there. You can find everything you need here.

In Europe, the action kicks off at 12:00 AM Pacific Friday, just FYI.

As for individual heats and when your favorite athletes and teams are competing, as soon as we get that, we’ll update you.

THINGS TO…

HEAR: Fighting Chronic Disease with Community-Based Healthcare

James Maskell has spent the past decade encouraging a shift away from conventional western medicine and toward a wellness-centered, functional medicine model. To that end, he created Functional Forum, the world’s largest integrative medicine conference. He joins Julie Foucher’s Pursuing Health podcast to talk about the 40+ city tour they’re embarking on. 

TUNE IN.

KNOW: How to Meal Prep Without Actually Cooking

Cause on Sundays when you’re already just trying to chill and you want to do as little work as possible but wake up on Monday with everything completely in order and done.

THIS GUIDE’S FOR YOU.

DOWNLOAD: WAG’s Summer Getaway Guide

Working Against Gravity put together this free guide packed with everything you need to know to stay on track with your nutrition and fitness during the sunny summer months. 

GET THE GUIDE.

BUY: Ultra Soft, Athletic Men’s Fit Tees

Grab one of five new Barbell Apparel fitted athletic tees for 10% off using code “CHALKUP”. 

GET FITTED.

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

CHALK UP COMMUNITY

• TIP: HANDSTAND PUSH-UPS SCALING — If you’re stacking 2+ ab mats under your head then you’re not getting the full range of motion of a handstand push-up. Here’s CrossFit Invictus with six ways to modify your HSPUs with full range of motion. 
• WORLD RECORD — On Memorial Day, Eric O’Connor from FTX CrossFit in Wheaton, IL is attempting to run 31 miles with a 20 pound weight vest in under eight hours to raise money for the National Blood Clot Alliance. He’ll be completing the whole 31 miles running the 200m track at FTX CrossFit. 
• EX-ADDICT — Nate Hamilton is a recovering alcoholic. And every week he volunteers to teach other addicts CrossFit at the Charlotte Rescue Mission, helpng to teach these athletes life lessons through the Sport of Fitness.

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

Annie Sakamoto declines her invitation to compete at the CrossFit Games as a Masters athlete • Christmas Abbott is 19 weeks pregnant and doing CrossFit • Jacob Heppner did Regionals events 3 and 5 with only a five minute break in between • Armen Amirian says goodbye to FloElite.

…and this is what you do when your team captain has to be at the fire station but you need to run through day 3 of Regionals. 

Jamie Hagiya on learning to handstand walk up a ramp…“I thought Dave Castro was crazy at first for programming Handstand walks up and down a ramp. But the more I’ve done it, the more I’ve changed my mind about it. I’m actually super thankful he’s pushing our boundaries as athletes. I would have never (in a million years) taken the time to learn how to do this, if I didn’t have to next weekend at Regionals. Pretty cool at 33 I’m still learning what my body is capable of as an athlete.”

Regionals Preview — 

— Alyssa Lafont…the 24-year-old ER nurse was the fittest woman in Louisiana. She’s heading to the South Regional for the third year. 

2018 Senior Pan Ams — Day two started with a disappointing performance from Derrick Johnson in the 62kg category. But things quickly shifted as Caitlin Hogan scooped up three medals, then CJ Cummings set new American Records in the snatch and total.

— Derrick Johnson: Missed his first and third snatch attempts, but landed 116kg/255 pounds on his second attempt. Unfortunately, he missed all three clean and jerk attempts and did not post a total. 

— Caitlin Hogan went four for six, snatching 86kg/189 pounds for the silver medal and clean and jerked 107kg/235 pounds for silver. She narrowly missed her 111kg/244 pound attempt which would have given her the American Record. She ended with a bronze medal overall. 

— CJ Cummings went six for six, snatching 144kg/317 pounds for a new American snatch record and the silver medal. CJ clean and jerked 180kg/396 pounds for gold and a new American Record in total. He got silver overall. 

— Up Next: Mattie Sasser (63kg) lifts at 3:30 PM ET and Mattie Rogers (69kg) lifts at 6:00 PM ET. Link to live stream.

“I Can’t Even: How to Keep Your Head in the Game Despite the Circunstances” by Josh Littauer, CrossFit Invictus

It seems on a weekly, or even daily basis I hear this phrase. “I can’t even.” In many ways it’s simple way of putting aside thoughts or feelings toward a situation; but it doesn’t actually deal with the situation itself. This can be anything from hearing some gossip, dealing with someone else’s ignorance, or just feeling kinda “bleh”. These things happen. They happen mentally, emotionally and physically. But does this “I can’t even” attitude mean that you don’t continue on? I think not; in fact I think it’s the start of seeking a solution.

So let’s take a minute and figure out what to do when you just can’t even.

Framing it up: It’s Monday, you’re groggy from late nights on the weekend and quite honestly, you’re just not that into it. It being whatever you have to do that day. You got up early to go to the gym but your sore body wasn’t feeling it. You get to work and that nagging coworker keeps distracting you from work, and you’re behind on a deadline. It’s really just not lining up to be your best day.

In regards to fitness, sometimes you just have a rough day at the gym. You wanted to come in and get a good lifting session, move quickly, crush a metcon, etc. But your body just didn’t have it. Perhaps the workout had pull-ups in it and you were thinking it was right up your alley, then you tore a callus and had to scale to ring rows. Maybe your back was tight from travelling over the weekend and you had to scale deadlifts that you would normally never have an issue with. Regardless, some days just shape up to be different than expected.

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: Warriors Hope 2018 (Greenwood, IN)

5/19: T-Town Throwdown (Tifton, GA)

5/19: Murph for Muts (Peachtree Corners, GA)

5/19: Firehawks Scorch Trials (Rio Rancho, NM)

5/19: Denton Fitness Festival (Denton, TX)

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

5/20: Europe Regional After Party Sponsored by FITAID (Berlin, Germany)

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)

5/26: Strong AF Against MF (East Windsor, CT)

5/27 – 5/28: 24 Heroes in 24 Hours (Southborough, MA)

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)

6/2: Kegs and Kilos (Manhattan, KS)

6/2: Long Island Masters (Hauppauge, NY)

6/2: Texas WOD Fest (Houston, TX)

6/2: Tacos and Tequila Throwdown (Highlands Ranch, CO)

6/2: Meshugge CrossFit Summer Melee (Overland Park, KS)

6/3: Summer Sizzler Individual Masters Competition (Burlington, MA)

6/8 – 6/9: Bricktown Throwdown (Bricktown, OKC)

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

6/9: Gulf Coast Games (Mandeville, LA)

6/9: WOD Wars 6 (Humble, TX)

6/9: Big Orange Brawl (Knoxville, TN)

6/9: Heroes of the Platform (Meridian, ID)

6/9: Triple Crown Fitness Event (Greenville, NC)

6/9 – 6/10: The Heartland Games 2018 (Chicago, IL)

6/9 – 6/10: Alaka’i SUPER Summer Slam (Kapolei, HI)

6/16: Battle on the Creek (Johns Creek, GA)

6/16: Full Battle Rattle (Robinson, IL)

6/16: East Coast War (Wilmington, NC)

6/19: Gauntlett VIII – River Rumble (Portsmouth, OH)

6/23: Garage Girls CrossFit Grit (St. Simons Island, GA)

6/23: 2018 Summer Swolestice (Gresham, OR)

6/23: HAMCO Heat (McLeansboro, IL)

6/23: The Greenville Games (Greenville, SC)

6/23: The Burn Out (New Bern, NC)

6/23: Battle of the Border (Phenix City, AL)

6/23 – 6/24: Asbury Park Summer Games (Asbury Park, NJ)

6/23 – 6/24: The Dakota Games (Fargo, ND)

6/30: Summer Stampede (Bethlehem, PA)