Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. Today’s edition is sponsored by Prospera Supplements.

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“Things that are not holding you back: Family, job, location, income, coaching, friends, commute, education. Things that are: You.” — Dr. Sean Pastuch

The Number One Athlete in Italy Dropped Out

What happened?

Yesterday, Joe Scali announced on Instagram that he won’t be submitting a score for 19.5, essentially handing over the National Championship to second place in Italy, Stefano Migliorini.

OK, why?

Because Scali intends to compete on a team at the CrossFit Games.

The new CrossFit Games rules states that “If a National Champion declines to compete in the Games, CrossFit Inc. will not backfill the spot to the second-place athlete.”

Scali is currently first in Italy and in a very strong position to win the national championship. Winning and competing on a team would deny Italy the chance to send an individual athlete to the Games in August.

What a stand-up guy.

Seriously though. It’s the move of a true sportsman to ensure that his country is able to send an athlete to compete at the Games.

Especially considering that Scali’s team, Team Pro1, hasn’t qualified for the Games yet or even competed at a Sanctional.

GAMES NEWS.

Five National Champion Races You Should be Watching

Only one week remains in the 2019 CrossFit Open and the races for the National Champion qualifying spots are in the home stretch.

Some of the higher profile races in countries like the United States, Canada and Iceland have fairly tame implications beyond who gets the qualifying spot.

There are some national champion races with much more on the line though, and here are the five races you should be watching going in the final week of the Open.

Read on for all five.

Coffee Break Conversations

The next time someone says they can’t afford your services…

Read between the lines… of your budget with these surprising places to buy healthy food on the cheap. And, it might even help you when you’re on the road. 7-11 stop anyone?

Things To…

WATCH: The Night Before 19.5 in Ireland
Armen Hammer sits down with Sean Sweeney and Travis Williams in Dublin, Ireland as they prepared to go head-to-head for the live announcement. The three discuss how they felt going into the event, what it’s like to be in Ireland and what they had hoped for in 19.5.
WELCOME TO IRELAND.

HEAR: Team Richey on the Work For Change Podcast
Craig and Jas of Team Richey are guests on the Work For Change podcast. The two discuss how they started CrossFit, how they met, and the decisions behind going full-time in their ventures.
GOING ALL IN. 

GET: $15 Off Every SmoothieBox For Life
Congratulations! You did it. Maybe this was your first CrossFit Open or maybe it was your fifth. Either way, treat yo’ self. Sign up for a SmoothieBox subscription this weekend after you wrap up 19.5 and get $15 off every SmoothieBox for the life of your subscription. 
ORGANIC AND DELICIOUS.

EAT: Breakfast Blondies
Forget breakfast bars or muffins. This grab-and-go breakfast blondie is like a healthyish muffin, but in bar form. Made with almond butter and flaxseed meal, they’re grain-free and packed full of protein.
BROWNIES FOR BREAKFAST.

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

Chalk Up Community

• FREE WEEK — Granite City CrossFit in St. Cloud, MN is offering a week membership for free, March 25 – 30, with no strings attached. Open to the public to see that CrossFit is for everyone and for anyone to check out Granite City CrossFit.
• DONATION TO POLICE FORCE — CrossFit Drums in Butler Township, PA helped raise enough money to donate three ballistic rifle vests to the Hazleton Police Department.
• HONORING A FIREFIGHTER — Iron Tide CrossFit in Morehead City, NC is hosting a fundraiser Saturday, March 23 for fire Chief Adam Snyder. This workout will be open to the public free of charge, and there will be scaling options for all participants. Firefighters will be allowed to wear their turnout gear if they wish. All proceeds will go directly to the Snyder family.
• JUMP ROPE COURSE –CrossFit Jump Rope official workshop will be at Sumner CrossFit in Sumner, WA on Sunday, April 14.

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

K. Lee gets her first bar muscle-up • Congrats to Landon on getting rope climbs • Krista Nix does Grace and PRs her time • Stefi Cohen deadlifts 486 pounds for six • EZ Muhammad clean and jerks 330 pounds • Riki Tyminski
cleans 220 pounds • Alex Anderson jerks 345 pounds.

…and say a little prayer for your Open performance tomorrow.

19.5 + Strategy Guides:

For Time:

33-27-21-15-9

Thrusters (95/65 pounds)
Chest to bar pull-ups

Time Cap: 20 minutes

— Submitting 19.5 Scores: Scores for 19.5 must be submitted by Monday 5:00 PM PT.

…and if you missed our live coverage from CrossFit Bua in Dublin, Ireland you can catch up on our 19.5 Live Blog.

SIDE NOTE…anyone else notice that 19.5 was sponsored by FITAID ZERO, a new beverage being launched by LIFEAID. Reading into the name a little bit and from the new website teaser, it wouldn’t surprise us if this is a zero sugar alternative to FITAID and FITAID RX.

Early Leaderboarding…Unofficial as of 9:00 PM PT last night:

1. Mat Fraser – 6:53 | Tia-Clair Toomey – 7:48
2. Travis Williams – 8:13 | Emma McQuaid – 8:55
3. Sean Sweeney – 9:11 | Brenda Castro – 9:55
4. Khan Porter – 11:10 | Jessica Coughlan – 10:30
5. Michael Smith – 11:38 | Lea Schmidt – 10:38
6. Darren Marks – 11:49 | Aoife Burke – 12:22
7. David Syvertsen – 11:51 | Winter Nicolette Rodriguez – 12:43
8. Justin Roy – 11:54 | Allison McKail – 12:59
9. Niall McCarthy – 14:24 | Tara Philion – 18:42
10. Mark Fuselier – 15:34 | Jasey Olsen – 19:26

Leaderboard Spotlight — Tommy Marquez has a new edition of Leaderboard Spotlight out. He covers the Games athletes currently on the bubble of qualifying for the Games and what they need to get back above the cut line.

Mat Fraser on What Motivates Him — Fittest on Earth Mat Fraser sat down with Coffee or Die in their first installment of 11 Questions and a Cup of Coffee. One of those 11 questions was what motivates him.

— “That changes day to day. Every day going to the gym, I try to pick one thing to focus on. Whether that’s thinking how do I want to reflect back on my day of training at the end of the day, or how are my today goals going to affect tomorrows? Making myself proud, making my family proud … some days you gotta remind yourself, okay, this is work. If I want to make my living exercising, I need to be good at it. So you kind of think of the financial side of it on the days where you’re really struggling.

— “But the one that comes up the most is thinking about the stories I want to tell my kids and my grandkids. I don’t want to tell the story of ‘I was there one time, I participated.’ No, I want to tell them, ‘I fuckin’ won, that was me.’ So yeah, I wanna have good stories to tell and set up a good life for when I’m done.”

“Lifting Heavy is a Great Stimulus, But not for Everyone,” by Zak Roser, Invictus Blog

Most of us who have been doing CrossFit or lifting weights for any amount of time get excited when it’s time to test our new 1RM on any lift. Some of us even sneak in PR attempts in the middle of a cycle because we just can’t wait to check on our gains.

Many lifting programs, including the Invictus Performance Programming, work on cycles that begin and end with testing a 1RM for that lift and likely include sub-maximal lifting efforts to failure as well, like when we work up to a heavy back squat for the day then ask you to drop the weight down to 80% and squat to for max reps (i.e. to failure).

It’s true, people see many gains in strength and stamina from these types of programs but some do not, or if they do, those gains are taken from other areas of their lives as there is only so much adrenaline to go around and central fatigue occurs. What does this mean?

Lifting heavy is a great stimulus, but not for everyone. Let’s examine this more, what it means, and who should consider a training program with goals other than PR’ing and finding 1RMs on the regular.

3/23: Down for Donuts (Ocala, FL)
3/24: The Rockwell Championships Series Team Qualifiers (Online)
3/30: Game of Barbells (Houston, TX)
3/30: Row for a Reason 2019 (Nashville, TN)
3/30: Reps For Rescues at CrossFit Hanover (Hanover, PA)
3/30: Crossfit Redoubt Open Competition (Slovakia)
3/30: Cru’s Crusaders Fundraiser WOD (San Clemente, CA)
3/30: Burritt Built Throwdown (Port St. Lucie, FL)
⅘ – 4/7: Iron Sharpens Iron Camp (Nashville, TN)
4/1 – 4/8: Northern California Classic Online Qualifiers (Online)
4/1 – 4/11: The Liege Throwdown Online Qualifiers (Herstal, Belgium)
4/6: Feed, Clothe, Love and Lift (Amarillo, TX) 
4/6: St. Peters CrossFit Fitness Awards (Saint Peters, MO)
4/6: Powerstroke Partner Throwdown 2019 (Fallon, NV)
4/6: Metcon Meltdown (Flemington, NJ)
4/6: Two Peas in a POD Competition (Burlington, MA)
4/6: Rookie Rumble at CrossFit Diversion (Williamstown, NJ)
4/6: Rise of the Machines IV (Austin, TX)
4/6: Bay Area Beatdown 2 (Webster, TX)
4/6: Rookie Rumble at CrossFit Cornerstone (Cincinnati, OH)
4/6: WOD 4 Trent (Phoenix, AZ)
4/10 – 4/24: Granite Games Online Qualifier (Online)
4/11 – 4/14: CrossFit Lowlands Throwdown Online Qualifier (Online)
4/12 – 4/13: Capstone Caveman Clash and Cook Off (Lubbock, TX)
4/12 – 4/14: Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Challenge (Washington, D.C.)
4/12 – 4/14: Athens Throwdown (Athens, Greece)
4/13: The Craic Throwdown (Norwood, MA)
4/13: Capacidad De Dos Amigos (San Antonio, TX)
4/13: Warrior Affiliate League Deuces Wild (Chino, CA)
4/13: Battle of the Ages (Pineville, NC)
4/13: 5th Annual Battle for the Mountain (Dawsonville, GA)
4/13: The Requisite Masters Classic (Philadelphia, PA)
4/13: HandSTANDUP for Haiti (Smyrna, TN)
4/13: WOD Wars Fit Fest (Dunedin, FL)
4/13: CFL Loganville Lockdown (Loganville, GA)
4/13: CrossFit Katy Team Classic (Katy, TX)
4/13: Rescue Road: Obstacle Course Event (Alpharetta, GA)
4/13: Quad Wars at CrossFit Adversary (Williamstown, NJ)
4/13: First Annual McClaren Cup (Rio Rancho, NM)
4/13 – 4/14: Freakin Throwdown 6 (Miramar, FL)
4/14: To Hill and Back 2019 (Albemarle, NC)
4/15 – 4/27: Top Of The Box Online Qualifier (Clarksville, TN)
4/19 – 5/1: CrossFit French Throwdown Individual Online Qualifier (Online)
4/20: The Wodfather VII 2019 (Keller, TX)
4/20: Rookie Rumble at Bucktown CrossFit (Chicago, IL)
4/20: Barnyard Throwdown (Ohatchee, AL)
4/26: Rookie Rumble at CrossFit Nashua (Nashua, NH)
4/26 – 4/27: Gameday Competition (Mankato, MN) 
4/26 – 4/28: CrossFit Italian Showdown (Milan, Italy)
4/26 – 4/28: The Sun Coast Fitness Festival (Kwa-Zulu Natal, AUS)
4/27: 4th Annual Spring Fever Partner Masters Comp (Souderton PA)
4/27: Rookie Rumble at CrossFit KOA (Cranford, NJ)
4/27: The Gnardog Challenge (Reedley, CA)
4/27: Festivus Games (Worldwide)
4/27: Raising the Bar for Charlotte (Medina, OH)
4/27 – 4/29: Asia CrossFit Championship (Shanghai, China)
4/27: Autism Rocks and Rows (San Clemente, CA)
4/27: Garage Games Xs and Ys (Hiram, GA)
4/27: The Explode Individual Classic (West Chester, PA)
4/27: Fast Times at West Tech High (Las Vegas, NV)
4/27: Tyler’s Voice CrossFit Competition (Jefferson City, TN)
4/27: SWFL Sharks Semi-Pro Grid Combine (Cape Coral, FL)
4/27: Explode’s Independent Classic (West Chester, FL)
4/27: Festivus Games at Crossfit Sav-up (Petaluma, CA)
4/27: 4th annual Apple Town Throwdown (Cornelia,GA)
4/27: Kettlebells for Cojones (Montgomery, TX)
4/27: Spring Fever Partner Master Competition (Souderton, PA)
4/27: Best of the Midwest Team Series Part 1 (Westfield, IN)