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

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Just two more days until Wodapalooza kicks off. 

“We are all fighting the same battle. All of us are torn between comfort and performance, between settling for mediocrity or being willing to suffer in order to become our best self, all the damn time.” — David Goggins

Wolf Critton Uses CrossFit to Battle PTSD

Some background.

Brian “Wolf” Critton served for ten years in the United States Army as an E-4 Infantryman. It was in the Army that Wolf learned to play the guitar.  In 2008, he left the Army but the guitar playing stuck.

Wolf went home to New York, and kept playing the guitar. Before he knew it, Wolf was playing to packed rooms, had a deal with Luna Guitars and Shure. “When I started doing music it was really just for me. It was definitely a form of therapy…There were actually never any goals with it at first really. I was in the military, I was a soldier and I left it at that. Tomorrow was never promised.”

Then something changed.

Ten years later, Wolf would need another type of therapy.

Eventually, Wolf needed to come to terms with an elephant in the room. After speaking to his doctor and a psychiatrist, Wolf was officially diagnosed with PTSD. “You come from a war zone and you’re used to being in a constant state of adrenaline. And then it all stops,” Wolf said. The doctor put him on a prescription that was “absolutely numbing.”

In 2017, Wolf attempted suicide. There in the hospital, recovering, a nurse told him he should take his aggression out on weights. This gave Wolf an idea. He went home and found the closest CrossFit gym.

It happens to be CrossFit New Windsor.

From day one, like all the other things in his life, Wolf was all in. He loved it. It gave him something to do, a goal to set and meet, and it kept his mind busy and his body spent. In short, CrossFit used up all the extra noise Wolf had constantly spinning around in his head.

Wolf was just sponsored by the War Horse Games, a competition that sends 100% of its proceeds to Warhorses for Veterans, a therapy program that supports Veterans. He went on to get certified as a personal trainer and CrossFit New Windsor brought him onto their coaching
staff.

He knows what it’s like to feel desperate and seek the help of others, and that drives him to make a difference. “I’ve seen brothers killed… I’ve literally watched a baby die in an Iraq hospital. My advice is this. Keep your mind busy! Take up a hobby, find something you love and put your energy there. I found my darkest days were the ones I spent doing nothing and alone in my thoughts.”

GAMES NEWS.

Dave Still Programming Open and Games Events

What happened?

On a phone call with Greg Glassman Friday, he confirmed again that Dave Castro will be programming the workouts for the 2019 CrossFit Games as well as the five weeks of the CrossFit Open.

“He is,” said Glassman when asked if Castro would be programming the upcoming Open workouts.

“That being said, he knows my biases and where I’m taking things,” Glassman continued. “And we’re working a little more closely this year.”

How we got here.

Since the summer layoffs and changes to the CrossFit Games season were announced, Castro has been noticeably silent. His silence and recent decision to remove “Director of the CrossFit Games” from his Instagram bio, has given rise to the speculation that Castro was on his way out.

“If anyone’s betting against Dave’s future with CrossFit, you’re throwing your money away,” Glassman said.

Glassman also dismissed Castro’s silence during the skakeup: “[Dave] was reluctant to offer anything when so much was in flux. The whole thing’s in the shop right now and it’s easiest and best to say nothing.”

Anything else?

Fans shouldn’t expect large scale live Open announcements like in years past. Glassman hinted at some plans in the works for announcing the events each week of the Open, but made it clear nothing on that scale would be produced this year.

Coffee Break Conversations

Weather got you day dreaming about spring break 2019?

Let us help you. Outside Magazine has a list of must-see places for those that crave adventure. Sure, shots in Mexico or Miami are fine, but have you ever hiked to a hot spring? 2019 is your year to try new things. 

Things To…

WATCH: Nathan Smith Chose Life

By the age of 21, Nathan Smith weighed 400 pounds and woke up every morning with chest pains. He told his mom he didn’t think he’d make it to 30. One night he realized he’d had enough and made changes. He lost 40 pounds on his own before finding CrossFit and saw major results, very quickly.

I JUST WANTED TO BE NORMAL.

HEAR: Jenny Labaw on Her New Normal

Diagnosed with epilepsy at a young age, Jenny Labaw has battled all sorts of social and physical challenges related to her disease, but has still been crowned the 6th fittest woman, played collegiate soccer, and ran across the entire state of Colorado in a month. She joined the My New Normal podcast to discuss why she eventually went public with her disease, how she found CrossFit, and why sharing your own story is important.

EVERYONE HAS A STORY.

TRY: Simple and Healthy SmoothieBox

Each SmoothieBox comes with 20 smoothie packs filled with frozen organic fruits and vegetables, nuts, 20g of grass-fed collagen protein, and no added sugar and artificial ingredients. And, new customers who sign up for SmoothieBox in January will $60 off and free shipping with code “NEWYEAR”. 

A GREAT START TO ANY DAY.

EAT: Black Bean Pumpkin Turkey Chili

This healthy slow cooker black bean pumpkin turkey chili is bursting with sweet and spicy flavors thanks to hints of maple, cinnamon, chili powder and cayenne. The best part of this slow cooker recipe is getting to smell it all day long as it cooks. 

A HEARTY MEAL.

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

Chalk Up Community

• POLICE OFFICER FUNDRAISER — This Saturday, CrossFit Davis will hold fundraiser WODs at 8:30 and 9:30 AM PT for 22-year-old officer Natalie Corona, who was killed in the line of duty last week. All donations will go to the Corona family. 
• NEW BOX OPENING — Graviton CrossFit in Arlington, MA is opening their doors to the community on Thursday, January 17. 
• GETTING PEOPLE IN THE GYM FOR FREE — Volunteers in Medicine Berkshires, a non-profit in Great Barrington, MA, has a three-month, three-day-per-week program with CrossFit Great Barrington. The program has about 20 patients from a free health and dental grant-funded program to keep a higher-risk population moving.
• RED H NUTRITION RIBBON CUTTING — Katie Danger, owner of Red H Nutrition, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on January 5th at her new brick and mortar location in Omaha, NE.
• BROCK GROH FUNDRAISER — Right before Christmas a member of Kato CrossFit was given news that his son Brock would have to have a bone marrow transplant and undergo chemotherapy for a genetic disease called ALD. Februrary 9th from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM Kato CrossFit will hold a fundraiser WOD and silent auction to benefit Brock and his family.

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

Happy belated birthday Colleen Fotsch • Kristin Pope gets a 220 pound clean triple • Kill Cliff is releasing a mini-documentary • Sean Hutchinson gets a 145 pound touch and go hang muscle snatch for five • Jessica Lucero jerks 231 pounds for three • Ray Regno did Grace with muscle cleans and strict presses and no dropping the bar • Congratulations to CrossFIt Games athlete Emily Friedman who just
became a San Francisco Firefighter • If you’re a CrossFitter with a rescue dog then Reps For Rescues wants to hear from you.

…and Jason Carroll might be taking the phrase “chalk up before you walk up” a bit too far. 

FINAL ROSTER: Wodapalooza — Athletes are starting to descend on Miami, FL for Wodapalooza, which officially kicks off on Friday. The official roster is set and we’re getting excited.

— The updated schedule and events for individual Elite athletes so far.

— BOOKMARK THIS: Our new page housing our expanded Wodapalooza coverage and content.

— Who to watch: 

Men: Alex Anderson, Dakota Rager, Elliott Simmonds, Ethan Helbig, John Coltey, Justin Medeiros (Fun fact: at just 19-years-old, he’s the youngest Elite Male on the roster), Lukas Esslinger, Noah Olsen, Patrick Vellner, Travis Mayer, Pablo Chalfun (Fun Fact again: he won the Latin America Regional in 2018).

Women: Carol-Ann Reason-Thibault, Colleen Fotsch, Dani Speegle (Fun fact: Dani took first in two online qualifiers and took third in Dubai CrossFit Championship, and is the unofficial champ of Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Championship), Ehea Schuerch, Gabriela Migala, Kari Pearce, Kristin Holte, Sara Sigmundsdottir, and the reigning Fittest Woman in the World, Tia-Clair Toomey.

Just Launched…Heber Canon and Marston Sawyers just launched their first VLOG episode. The dynamic duo behind some of CrossFit’s most creative storytelling are back publishing on a brand new YouTube channel. 

On the Minute — And, if you need a quick refresher on all things Wodapalooza, make sure to tune into On the Minute with our Editor-in-Chief Justin LoFranco and Armen Amirian of ArmerHammerTV tonight at 5:00 PM PT on our Facebook page. 

Addition to Strength in Depth Roster — Yesterday, Strength in Depth confirmed Haley Adams as their tenth invitational spot on their roster. 

Bill Grundler on Knowing Your Why — Bill Grundler posted a photo of him and his daughter on the floor of the 2015 CrossFit Games and it pulled all our heartstrings. “This wasn’t the worst day because I lost or the best day because I made the podium at the Games. It was the best day because of my daughter. The entire weekend I would go out to soccer stadium at the Stub Hub and find her, point to her and wave and smile. I could hear her shouting for me. I could feel how proud she was of me and excited to be part of
this thing I do. My kids are why I do what I do. I want to excel for them, I want to be better for them, I want to set things up for them, I want to teach them, I want to be there for them, I want them to know that I love them. I’m not perfect and I make mistakes but these are what I’m always trying to do.”

CrossFit Journal Will Soon Be Free –– Along with the new CrossFit website and Email of the Day comes another change. The CrossFit Journal will soon be free. A customer support agent at CrossFit wrote, “All content on the CrossFit Journal will eventually be free to access…we don’t have a timeline on when all the content will be available to everyone so premium content is still only
available to active subscriptions that have not yet expired. We appreciate your patience while we work on opening up the content to everyone.”

“EXCLUSIVE: Greg Glassman Opens Up About New CrossFit Website,” by Jessica Danger, Morning Chalk Up

On New Year’s Day, CrossFit athletes everywhere woke up to a new CrossFit.com, a site months in the making, and one that shows CrossFit’s refocused energy on what Founder Greg Glassman has planned ahead.

“CrossFitters, my trainers, are going to do interventions with mom and dad in the living room,” Glassman shared in an exclusive interview. “I had a doctor show his mom one of these living room videos and she wants to join a CrossFit gym.”

The video Glassman is referring to is of an elderly woman standing up out of a chair without using her hands. Essentially, it’s the scaled version of an air squat but filmed inside the home instead of the gym.

The new site — which is lined at the top with five key sections: Essentials, At Home, Health, Sport, and Battles — is really designed for veteran Affiliates, flowmasters, coaches, doctors and anyone looking to learn.

The new site is going “to encourage people to do the interventions,” Glassman said.

For those 10 year plus affiliates, the move is obvious.

“The affiliates and CrossFitters have not missed the point.  We are well aware of the need and the reasoning — we’ve been living it daily with our members,” said Craig Howard, owner of Diablo CrossFit, which opened in 2005. “Now that CrossFit has established itself as the best training method in the world, for the fittest athletes in the world, it is a great time to reveal its efficacy for ALL populations.”

After having spent more than a decade solidifying CrossFit’s place in the world of fitness, Glassman is going after the really big fish — the tens of millions sitting at home with ailing health and mobility.

In effect, he’s going after your parents and grandparents.

1/10 – 2/4: Row’d Royalty (Online)

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)

1/20: Det. Deidre Mengedoht Hero WOD (Louisville, KY)

1/21: Helen for Hounds at CrossFit Pretoria (Pretoria, South Africa)

1/25 – 1/27: Australian CrossFit Championships (Queensland, AUS)

1/25 – 1/27: Judgment Day Hawkes Bay (Napier, NZ)

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: Cougars and Cradle Robbers (Salem, MA)

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: Golden State Games (Stockton, CA)

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

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

2/2: A League of Their Own (San Antonio, TX)

⅔: Coffland Hero WOD (Norwalk, CT) 

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

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

2/9: Cupid’s Roar Partner Competition (Melbourne, Australia)

2/9: 3rd Annual Black Ops Partner Competition (Wheaton, IL)

2/9: Bedrock Heart Breaker (Calgary, AB)

2/9: Battle of the Ages (Jacksonville, FL) 

2/9: Battle for Bae 2019 (San Mateo, CA)

2/9: Battle of the Fittest 6: NYC Throwdown (New York, NY)

2/9: My Bloody Valentine (Vidalia, OH)

2/9: 2nd Annual Battle of the Ages (Fruitland, ID)

2/9 – 2/10: The CrossFit Circus (Des Moines, IA)

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

2/16: The Garage Games Xs & Ys (Valdosta, GA)

2/16: Couples Clash 2019 (Pensacola, FL)

2/16: Tuff Love (Boulder, CO)

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