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Why Are You Still Using RX?

Good morning and welcome to the weekend edition of the Morning Chalk Up. This is Justin LoFranco, your Editor-in-Chief, to bring you a quick wrap-up of the major news items throughout the week. Today’s edition is brought to you by the Wodapalooza Online Challenge & Qualifier.

The 2019 WZAOC has officially kicked off! Join in on all the fun before registration closes Monday. Sign me up!

Get ready for three weeks of fun, community-building workouts where top athletes earn a spot to compete on the floor at Wodapalooza Miami in February.

And the fun doesn’t stop there. December 6th the WZAOC kicks off again, this time, team style. Teams of 4 (MMFF) face 10 workouts over 10 days.

The Road to Miami begins with the WZAOC. Join the celebration today!

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me.” — Carol Burnett

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Why Are You Still Using RX?

By Alyssa Rose

Do you know why you are still using RX? 

When I ask that in coaching workshops, I usually get a gym full of people looking at me as if I were eating kittens, then a bunch of tilted heads, then shrugged shoulders. Then the rueful admission that they have no idea why they are still using RX. Just, well, isn’t that what CrossFit is? That’s what we’ve always done. 

Sure, when we opened Rocket CrossFit, we used RX just like everyone else. After about three years, we realized that RX wasn’t a useful tool for building community, so we started shying away. About a year after that we realized (embarrassingly late, really) that RX isn’t useful in training either. 

Why? Because we are a GPP gym. Our mission as a gym is to help the largest number of people be the fittest they want to be. But those people are all different, they’re all starting in different places, and they all have different goals. 

As it turns out “one size fits all” actually fits almost no one. Not only does it’s one-sizeness make it meaningless, it also undermines community, which is what most CrossFit gyms claim to be about. 

If RX weights were a good training goal, other strength-based sports would use them. But can you imagine a world-class weightlifter getting a program that says “5 back squats at 95 pounds” rather than “5 back squats at 85%?” It would never happen. Because the goal of training is to find an intensity at which strength is increased and risk is decreased, for that athlete. Training requires individualized targets, competition requires standardized targets. What we do in the gym is training, not competing.

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TOP STORIES
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CrossFit CEO Resigns
Justin LoFranco

Jeff Cain, the CEO of CrossFIt, Inc. submitted his letter of resignation and will be stepping down from his position on September 1. Cain took over the position from Greg Glassman in 2017, and is the most recent in a string of top brass to exit the company in recent months including the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer.

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For One Health Coach, Her Advice Cost Her Freedom of Speech
Jessica Danger

Heather Del Castillo was living in Florida, coaching CrossFit and running her own health coaching business when she received a cease-and-desist order, was fined $750, and threatened with jail time if she continued providing nutritional advice.

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Sprints Cutting to the Core of CrossFit
Brittney Kleyn

Cutting the field to ten after Saturday’s sprint was arguably the talking point of the Games, and many athletes and critics discussed whether sprints were the best way to test for such a significant cut. Names like Ben Smith, Pat Vellner and Julie Foucher weigh-in on the sprint event as a defining moment.

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10 Ways to Develop Mental Toughness
John Klessinger

Physical toughness is the ability to keep working when you are tired, dealing with pain, or being challenged. You get physically tougher by working each day to get bigger, faster, and stronger. Physical toughness affects mental toughness. So how do we improve mental toughness?

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Twenty-Three Surgeries Later, this Teen Gets to WOD with her Mom
Jessica Danger

At ten-years-old, Sadie Shipp was helping her mom move into their new home when she was hit by a car, breaking both legs and requiring twenty-three surgeries in total. Sadie went from learning how to walk again to attending Emerald Coast CrossFit in Panama City, FL every day after school.

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Today’s edition is brought to you by the Wodapalooza Online Challenge & Qualifier
COMMUNITY

This was a week of big things, big weights and big announcements. Here’s everything you need to get caught up and a few things to do this weekend. 

1. Katrin Davidsdottir and Annie Torisdottir are competing as Team Rogue Dottirs this weekend at the Butchers Classic.

2. Alec Smith shared his coming out story.

3. James Townsend did the One Ton Challenge in 37 seconds while his daughters cheered him on.

4. Adam Klink and Ben Smith did some dad stuff too, like heavy deadlifts.

5. Joe Scali went so hard on the Ski Erg that he broke it.

6. Tal Short and Reebok tested a new version of the Nano.

7. You have until Monday at 5:00 PM PT to get your scores in for WOD 1 and WOD 2 for the International Online Qualifier.

…and here’s to your love of Chipotle. Make your own at home with free ground beef and this recipe for copycat Chipotle Burrito Bowls. 

Oh and let’s not forget…

It’s Still Dark, Yet You Open Your Doors (Russ Greene/Medium)

Why Whole-Fat Milk and Yogurt Are Healthier Than You Think (Jamie Ducharme/Time)

Top Two Triathletes Disqualified for Crossing Finish Line Holding Hands at Olympics Test Event (Cindy Boren/Washington Post)

Weight Watchers’ New App for Kids Is a Bad Idea (Brad Stulberg/Outside Online)

CrossFit Kids Research Brief: Bone Density (John Gary/CrossFit)

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