What to do About All the New Members at Your Gym

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Today’s edition is brought to you by Kettlebell Kitchen.

No matter your goal, Kettlebell Kitchen has a meal plan to help you achieve it. Choose from options like keto, vegetarian, paleo, and many more. All plans come with a free 30-minute consultation with one of KBK’s in-house nutritionists. Plus, if you sign up for a plan now, you’ll lock in savings for all of 2019. Learn more about their best deal of the year here.

“Every single year, we’re a different person. I don’t think we’re the same person all of our lives. ”– Steven Spielberg 

Eight Ways to Help Newcomers Feel Welcome

Happy New Year, friends. With the new year comes new members, armed with resolutions and hungry for some fitness. Here are eight ways to help them feel more comfortable in your beloved CrossFit box.

1. Say hello. It can be scary going to a new place, period. Now imagine walking into a new place and everyone has their shirt off, music is blaring, barbells are dropping and a packed room of athletes are using a barbell in ways you never knew existed. Intimidation city, population one. So when you see a fresh face at the gym, say hello, introduce yourself and make a new friend.

2. Save the weight loss advice. Maybe wait until a little later before offering unsolicited weight loss advice. Yeah it’s the new year and lots of athletes are focused on the scale, but the in-shape athlete telling the new out-of-shape athlete how to shed and shred might not be the most encouraging.

3. Offer help. Bands, barbells, PVC pipes, ab mats, you name it.  They’re not always easy to find. Don’t wait for them to ask for it. Pick one up and bring it over.

4. Don’t coach. Unless you are the actual coach leading the class, don’t coach a newcomer. You don’t know their background, if they have any injuries, or if they’ve been onramped yet. That is not your job. Let the coach do the coaching.

5. Partner up. No one likes being the last one picked on a team. Do a solid and partner up with the newcomer. It doesn’t matter if you’re the fittest in class and you’ll need a second barbell; lead by example. 

6. High fives abound. Fist bumps, high-fives, knuckles. Whatever. Make a point to find that athlete and congratulate them on a great workout. There’s no better way to encourage a new athlete to return than offering some praise. 

7. Encourage them to return. Walking through the door was the hard part. Help make their decision to return easier by encouraging them to come back. “Will I see you again tomorrow” will show athletes that CrossFit isn’t like any other gym they’ve ever been to. 

8. Remember your first time. Remember, unless you were born with a double body weight backsquat and a 400 pound deadlift, someone had to help you get to where you are. Return that favor. 

Coffee Break Conversations

Thank you, next…

Swipe right on finding a new gym bae this year. A new dating app for fitness enthusiasts is out. Called Slindir (cute, cute) the app is meant for singles that live an active lifestyle and want someone to always be their partner in partner WODs. Start swiping.

And when you have them over…

Make dinner for two. ButcherBox just added wild Alaskan salmon to their product line and to celebrate they are offering two pounds of free salmon to all new customers through January. Save some money and impress your date. Winner winner, salmon dinner. 

Things To…

WATCH: From Football Player to Affiliate Owner

From football player to affiliate owner and now a father of three, James Townsend has shifted his focus to coaching. Growing up in the gym, his five-year-old daughter, Princess P, has become a social media superstar. “She has so many fans and followers,” Townsend says. “This is bigger than her. This is about raising awareness of childhood obesity, and this is about empowerment in young girls.”

WE’RE ROOTING FOR PRINCESS P.

HEAR: Body Positivity For the New Year

Preslie Hirsch has on the founder of BloomFit Training, Shelby Lawson, In this episode of the Hey Preslie podcast. They talk about what body positivity is and isn’t, how being body positive differs from other movements, and the importance of talking about body image in the fitness space specifically.

START THE NEW YEAR RIGHT.

DOWNLOAD: Beyond Macros’ Macro Calculator Worksheet

This calorie and macronutrient calculator worksheet is designed by Beyond Macros to help you jumpstart your New Year’s nutrition planning so you can focus on your 2019 health, fitness and performance goals.

GET THE GUIDE.

EAT: Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Hello and welcome to 2019. You’ve got a house of tired, hungry humans. May we present to you the best cinnamon rolls in the world. Big, fluffy, soft and absolutely delicious. You’ll never go back to any other recipe once you try this one.

WHO WANTS ONE?

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

Chalk Up Community

• SOBER CROSSFIT — The Phoenix, a sober active community based in Denver, with more than 26,000 recovering participants in chapters all over North America, will start meeting weekly at 10:30 AM Saturdays at CrossFit Steamboat in Steamboat Springs, CO. The first session will be held January 12.
• GRAND OPENING — CrossFit Fairview in Fairview, TN is holding their grand opening today at 12:30 PM CT.
• NEW BOX IN AMSTERDAM — Charlotte Maris is opening Kracht Amsterdam in the Houthavens of Amsterdam on February 1.

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

Alex Anderson’s little brother (translated junior in high school), Isaac, back squats 510 pounds • Congratulations to newlyweds Lisa Krupka and Caulin Harmon who still got a WOD in at CrossFit Bahia on their wedding day • Cody Anderson is trying something new on Instagram • Fifteen-year-old Morgan McCullough back squats 572 pounds • Congrats to Kelley on her 120 pound snatch PR • Stefi Cohen pulls a 500 pound deadlift for three • Nathan Clifton
gets a 227 pound for 2 snatch PR • Erik Jacobs gets a 450 pound deadlift • Teresa Trojanowski hits a 180
pound pause snatch PR.

On Prioritizing Health in 2019 — While planning your budget for 2019, keep these words of wisdom from Brigitte Osborn in mind. “Most people want to pay as little as possible for their gym memberships. Yet people will pay hundreds of dollars a month on their cell phone or cable bill. The rate of chronic disease and obesity is growing. Our health care costs are growing. Why is the value of health placed so low in our culture?

— “What if we changed the perspective and viewed paying a gym membership (and using it) as an investment in our future. I believe the long-term benefits of this is priceless. Investing in your health now saves you down the line in real dollar terms of health care cost savings, as well as in experiencing greater quality of life, for a longer time. When you look at it this way, the cost we pay for a gym membership is a bargain.”

“What Exercise Science Can Learn From CrossFit,” by Nathan Jenkins, CrossFit Journal

Every fall semester, I teach a course in exercise metabolism that is geared toward students in our strength-and-conditioning and clinical exercise physiology master’s degree programs. Students entering these programs are required to have bachelor’s degrees in exercise science, and as such they have completed extensive undergraduate coursework in the sciences and usually have some background in athletics. It seems reasonable to expect these already-educated students to be able to answer a simple question: What is fitness?

Initially, students seem to think that my question is some sort of icebreaker to get the class talking about something we can all understand before we address more complex course material.

However, they soon realize that the discussion of the definition of fitness is the agenda for the day. Indeed, I dedicate an entire class to defining fitness because it is of such fundamental importance to the understanding of exercise metabolism that it is pointless to delve into the details of the physiological responses to exercise without understanding what fitness is. All biochemical and physiological responses to physical work, I explain, are governed by the relationship between the work’s demands and an individual’s fitness.

In these discussions, I’ve heard many proposed definitions that have to equal degrees amused and frightened me. Students often laugh at themselves when they are unable to provide an adequate definition or provide one I simply refuse to accept. But it’s also powerfully frightening to realize that none of these students are able to provide a useful and scientifically rigorous definition of fitness.

Why can’t these students define fitness?

1/5: Barbell Classic 2019 (Plymouth, MI)

1/5 – 1/5: KO in the OK (Tulsa, OK)

1/10 – 2/4: Row’d Royalty (Online)

1/10 – 1/13: Feats of Strength Online Meet (Online)

1/11 – 1/13: CrossFit Fort Vancouver Championships (Vancouver, WA)

1/12: Granite Games Throwdown at New Ulm CrossFit (New Ulm, MN)

1/12: The BrickYard Brawl (South Windsor, CT)

1/12: Hometown Throwdown 4 at CrossFit 534 (Poplarville, MS)

1/12: Granite Games Winter Throwdown (Waite Park, MN)

1/12: Granite Games Throwdown (Snyder, TX) 

1/12 – 1/13: Scaled Flames (Amsterdam)

1/12 – 1/13: Row for Reveille at CrossFit Kitsap (Poulsbo, OR)

1/17 – 1/20: Wodapalooza (Miami, FL)

1/19: New Year New Throwdown Event (El Mirage, AZ)

1/19: Battle For The Axe (Baxter, MN)

1/19: Warrior Affiliate League Fantastic Four (La Puente, CA)

1/19: Battle for the Axe (Baxter, MN)

1/19: Great Lakes Games 2018 (Detroit, MI)

1/19 – 1/20: Chiang Mai Throwdown (Chiang Mai, Thailand)

1/26: The Force Wars 2 (Pembroke Pines, FL)

1/26: Lost River Rumble (Bowling Green, KY)

1/26: The Blizzard Bowl (Little Canada, MN)

1/26: 2019 IceBreather Classic (Springfield, IL)

1/26: ATCF Cancer Crackdown: Revival of The Fittest (Pasco, WA)

1/26: Hung Like Coff at PFC CrossFit (Las Vegas, NV)

1/26: Steel Rail Shootout 2019 (McComb, MS)

1/26: Woid Beast Fitness Challenge (Cham, Germany)

1/26: Brick NY Midtown Throwdown (New York, NY)

1/26: Fifth Annual Cold Steel Classic (Oswego, IL) 

1/26: New Year’s Revolution (Seminole, FL)

1/26: Three Rivers Throwdown (Rome, GA)

1/26 – 1/27: Game Day Eau Claire (Eau Claire, WI)

1/26 – 1/27: NorCal Masters (San Rafael, CA)

1/27: Big Dawgs Athlete Development Camp (Letchworth, England)

1/29 – 2/2: Fittest in Cape Town (Cape Town, South Africa)

2/1 – 2/2: Battle of the Brave III (North Kansas City, MO)

2/2: Left Coast Classic Competition (Laguna Niguel, CA)

2/2: Golden State Games (Stockton, CA)

2/9: Valentine’s Day Crush (North Hollywood, CA)

2/9: The Garage Games Master of the Masters (Suwanee, GA)

2/16: Valentine’s Day Massacre (Kilgore, TX)