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What’s Up With the Dubai and Wodapalooza Qualifiers? 

 
Morning Chalk Up

September 21   |   POWERED BY

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

  • Kentucky state trooper and CrossFit Inevitable owner Robert Hartley does 31 Hero WODs in 31 hours
  • David Shorunke details his tough journey away, and back to CrossFit
  • What is the deal with the qualifiers for Dubai and Wodapalooza?
  • CrossFit gym opens mental health clinic inside of box
 
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PROFILE
  CrossFit Community Member Robert Hartley Completes 31 Hero WODs in 31 Hours  

CrossFit Community Member Robert Hartley Completes 31 Hero WODs in 31 Hours

A member of the CrossFit community has just taken on a major test. Robert Hartley, a Kentucky State Trooper and co-owner of CrossFit Inevitable, completed 31 Hero WODs in 31 hours.

The backstory: The specific 31 Hero WODs come courtesy of Thin Gray Line CrossFit, the official CrossFit Affiliate of the Kentucky State Police Academy. These workouts honor KSP troopers who died in the line of duty, dating back to Trooper Harold Toll, whose End of Watch date was November 14, 1948.

  • The workouts take into account the respective badge numbers, ages, and End of Watch dates. Each cadet of the Kentucky State Police must complete all 31 workouts over a six-month period while they are in the academy.
  • The first example, “Toll,” consists of four rounds of 11 burpees, 121 single-unders, 14 air squats, 121 single-unders, and 48 sit-ups (butterfly).
  • Another example is “Cunningham,” a workout that honors Trooper Clinton E. Cunningham. This two-round workout consists of 24 back squats (95/65), 24 lunges (95/65), 24 push-press (95/65), 24 sit-ups, 24 burpees, 24 Supermans, 24 sit-ups, 24 push-press (95/65), 24 lunges (95/65), and 24 back squats (95/65).

The process: According to Hartley’s workout board, he started with Toll, the first of the 31 Hero WODs. He then moved on to McNeely and Childs, which must be done together. McNeely features two 100-foot bear crawls, nine front squats (115/85), and seven push-press. Childs takes place after a three-minute rest and consists of four rounds of four power cleans (115/85) and eight thrusters.

  • The grueling schedule, which began at 8:30 a.m. on September 12, continued with Barrett, Huffman, and Miller. Hartley then took on Leonard, Harris, and Brady before hitting workout number 10, McCoun.
  • This process continued until Hartley hit the final Hero WOD, Cam. This final test was a 31-minute AMRAP consisting of nine thrusters (95/65), five push-ups, and four pull-ups with a 100-meter sprint between each round. This workout took Hartley right to the edge of his time cap.

“I went to war with my mind, my body slowly broke down, and I went beyond exhaustion,” Hartley wrote on Instagram. “Halfway in I was beginning to fall behind my planned pace, and didn’t think I would finish. With the help of my team of family, friends, gym community, and some coworkers around me, I somehow managed to complete the last and final workout at 1529 hours on Tuesday, September 13th (the EOW date for the last Trooper to be killed in the line of duty). I had 1 minute to spare.”

The purpose: Hartley explained that this process started with a feeling that he needed to do something to push himself and prove that people don’t have to set limits on themselves. Taking on the 31 Hero WODs felt like the perfect option considering that he could honor those who served the people of Kentucky before him.

 
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SPEED READS

In case you missed it: Lauren Kalil, the host of The Bottom Line, spoke to Chris Hinshaw, the founder of Aerobic Capacity and Strongman Rob Kearney, programmer of the STRONG track for HWPO, to break down how athletes can be working on both endurance and strength in the off season.

Kid fit: RX Smart Gear, a global leader in fitness equipment and training methodology is partnering with FITGMR, a performance and player development company in the esports and video game industry to support healthy gaming in high schools across the US. 🕹

Leaderboard update: Here are the top athletes after the first week of the online qualifier for 2023 TYR Wodapalooza:

  1. Sydney Wells 19 | Fabian Beneito Selles 6
  2. Katelin Van Zyl 34 | Damian Martinex Satorres 37
  3. Olivia Sulek 38 | Travon Benton 40
  4. Mary Helen Saunders 39 | Phillip Muscarella 43
  5. Lexi Neely 41 | John Wood 49
  6. Madeline Helms 44 | Samuel Paquin 58
  7. Valentina Magalotti 47 | Josh Gervais 60
  8. Brittany Weiss 51 | Jack Rozema 67
  9. Valentina Rangel 58 | Vitor Caetano Marques 83
  10. Becca Merritt 58 | Leonel Franco 85

Kings crowned: Congrats to Andrea Solberg and Marius Pettersen for winning the prestigious Kings Cup in Norway.

 
PROFILE
  David Shorunke On Returning to CrossFit: “By the time I got to the Games, I didn’t even want to do it”  

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

David Shorunke On Returning to CrossFit: “By the time I got to the Games, I didn’t even want to do it”

Years of hard work were coming to fruition for David Shorunke when he qualified for the 2020 CrossFit Games. He earned his spot via a third place finish at the 2019 Strength in Depth. He was elated to perform so well in his hometown London.

The high was followed by an immense slog, as Covid-19, the Greg Glassman controversy around George Floyd and Covid-19 conspiracy theories, and injuries. It sucked the joy from the sport, and Shorunke was ready to quit.

“Instead of a smooth preparation, we weren’t sure if it was going to happen, and if it did happen, if I’d go,” Shorunke said.

“That added to a lot of the stress, and also dealing with some injuries at the time. The stress, the training and the injuries compounded.”

Continue Reading...
 
CROSSFIT GAMES
  David Shorunke On Returning to CrossFit: “By the time I got to the Games, I didn’t even want to do it”  

What's Happening With Dubai and WZA Online Qualifiers?

The Dubai CrossFit Championship and TYR Wodapalooza are two of the most notable off-season competitions and right now, their online qualifiers are taking place simultaneously. Morning Chalk Up’s Lauren Kalil and Brian Friend discuss some of the notable athletes registered, how you can and can’t follow along through the leaderboards and some ways to improve the online qualifying process in the future.

Watch Now...
 
GOOD
  EHP Performance Opens Mental Health Clinic Inside the Gym  

EHP Performance Opens Mental Health Clinic Inside the Gym

Last April, we reported on Karla Wolford’s facility—EHP Performance in Moorhead, MN—and how she has turned her gym into a hybrid fitness and medical facility that includes CrossFit coaches and nutritionists, as well as a chiropractor and a physical therapist.

Most recently, Wolford, a Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician and CrossFit Level 2 coach, has added a mental health clinic to her facility, headed by Melanie Fierstine—a social work professor at Minnesota State University with 24 years of experience, and the owner of Mindfit Mental Health and Wellness.

Adding Fierstine is but a piece of the growing plan, as the long-term vision for EHP Performance is to add a primary care physician and registered nurse to the roster, as well.

The details: Fierstine offers the full gamut of mental health services at EHP Performance, from mindset and sports performance coaching for lifestyle and elite athletes, to support for conditions like PTSD, anxiety or substance abuse.

  • “I’ll work with anyone who wants to improve some kind of mental health, either for their sport, or whatever they need to take care of their mindset or barriers that are getting in the way of them being a better athlete or human,” Fierstine explained.
  • She added: “It could be they’re looking for help with performance, or they need emotional or social support. I tailor what I do based on what they need. That might be mindset and goal setting or it might be some kind of clinical mental health support.”
  • It all starts with an overall assessment, where she assesses the client’s health and their psychology, how things are going for them, what’s going on in their lives, and then she devises a personal plan for each client.

One big thing: One of Fierstine’s main goals is to keep her services affordable to reduce barriers to access to people who need them.

  • “I’m in a position in my life now where I can keep the cost really low because I don’t want to be a barrier to access,” she said.
  • Though she looked into teaming up with a medical insurance company, she realized it wasn’t the right approach, as doing the latter comes with a host of other challenges we don’t often realize, she explained.
  • “When you work with insurance companies, you have to give a diagnosis in order for them to reimburse, and some people don’t need a diagnosis for a specific condition…Also, when you deal with insurance companies, they can access your health records, so doing it this way keeps everything more private,” FIerstine said, adding that insurance companies also usually limit the number of hours a person can work with any given provider, which she also makes issue with.
  • “So instead, I’m just trying to offer services for people that are affordable,” she explained.

The big picture: Whether you’re trying to overcome PTSD, struggling with substance abuse, or you’re a Semifinals or CrossFit Games athlete looking to maximize performance, mental coaching can make a huge difference in a person’s life, and it’s something that has all too often been overlooked, Fierstine explained.

  • “As athletes, we train our muscles and we fuel our bodies and focus on nutrition, but sometimes we forget how the brain connects to everything and how our thoughts and emotions affect everything,” she said.

“Athletes aren’t robots. We’re people with lives and our brains all work differently and we have different experiences, so I try to help (my clients) connect all those dots, and we do this by providing a holistic approach to health and wellness. We’re complex human beings and it’s important to treat the whole person.”

 
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HIGHLIGHTS

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

  • Congratulations to Pam Carmel from Tolland CrossFit in Tolland, CT on getting her first official rope climb this week.
  • Congrations to Leandro from Ballston CrossFit in Arlington, VA on setting a new gym record with 39 unbroken handstand push-ups.
  • Congratulations to Sydney Smith from CrossFit Laminin in Birmingham, AL on hitting a hang snatch PR from the blocks.
  • Congratulations to Jessica Deary, co-owner of CrossFit Aspinock in Putnam, CT, on her 210 pound/95kg clean and jerk PR.
  • Teammates Jorge Fernandez and Devyn Kim of CrossFit Invictus got to test out the 2020 Corn Sack Sprint on a field trip to The Ranch in Aromas, CA— home of CrossFit Affiliates Advisor Dave Castro and the birthplace of the CrossFit Games.

CrossFit Rife in Virginia Beach, VA is hosting a Functional Life-Saver Seminar (or CrossFit-specific CPR/AED/First Aid training) by The Medic RX on Sunday, October 16th. Registration is $150.

 
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