😤 Can You Handle the World’s Toughest Mile?

December 18th, 2025

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

  • 🏃‍♂️ One mile. Four laps. Zero shortcuts. World’s Toughest Mile has launched a new national event series built around shared suffering and real community.

  • 🌀 2025 CrossFit Trends: Scrunchies, joggers, and neutral tones shared the spotlight alongside seismic shifts in competition, footwear, and brand power across the CrossFit and hybrid spaces.

  • 🚢 HYROX sets sail. The global fitness race is launching its first-ever four-day Mediterranean cruise in October 2026.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
❝

Everyone walks away having accomplished something they were not sure they could do. I love combining bonding over discomfort with the endorphin rush that follows.”

Eric Hinman, creator of the original “Toughest Mile” workout.
COMMUNITY

One Mile, One Community, No Shortcuts: Enter the World’s Toughest Mile

Credit: World’s Toughest Mile

If you’re seeking your next fitness challenge and aren’t afraid of a bit of discomfort, the World’s Toughest Mile has officially entered the chat.

The new national event series announced its first-ever race date: February 21, 2026, in Austin, Texas. The concept is simple, gritty, and unapologetically brutal, created by three well-known figures in the fitness and wellness industry: Eric Hinman, Guido Trinidad, and Wyatt Ewing. 

  • Together, they aim to develop something that goes beyond a one-off sufferfest and instead fosters real connection through shared effort.

At the heart of the event is Hinman’s original “Toughest Mile” workout. The layout is simple: four laps on a track. 

  • Three of those laps are pure grunt work: burpee broad jumps, walking lunges, and bear crawls. Only the final lap is a run. No extras. No shortcuts. Just genuine movement and a test of mental toughness.

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SPEED READS

🏅🎨 Design the Games’ Medals: For the first time ever, CrossFit is inviting the community to design the official medals for the 2026 CrossFit Games. Champions across all divisions will wear the winning design — and the artist will take home a replica, cementing their work in Games history.

💭🏋️‍♂️ Get Out of Your Own Way: The CrossFit Podcast digs into how mindset, comparison, and self-doubt quietly limit progress — and why focusing on the process, not the outcome, is often the biggest performance cheat code.

🥗📈 Healthy Eats and Big Growth: As the wellness boom pushes consumers toward nutrition-first options, healthy-eating franchise concepts — like ready-made meals with coaching and fresh protein shake shops — are gaining real traction across the U.S.

🫁🤸‍♂️ Breathe Better, Move Better: Fan favorite Rebecca Fuselier breaks down when to brace and when to breathe during handstand push-ups and double unders — showing how proper stacking, midline tension, and relaxation can make gymnastics and jump rope far more efficient (and way less exhausting).

ICYMI: 🌎 2025 WFP Finals preview — who to watch in Copenhagen (Rx article).

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

From Big Scrunchies to the WFP to Velites and HYROX: A Look at What Trended in 2025

Credit: @easemahcaptures / Instagram

Every year, as our community gets fitter and fitter, new trends emerge that everyone collectively seems to suddenly embrace. 

  • Sometimes they stick around for a year or two before fading into the past, like the Buddy Lee skipping rope and Vibram FiveFinger shoes of 2009.  

Other times, though, they’re revolutionary and become staples in our community, as in the case of the Reebok Nanos or the butterfly pull-up Brett Marshall introduced at the 2007 CrossFit Games. 

Let’s take a look at 2025’s trends and decide whether we think they’re here for a “good time” or a “long time.”

HYROX

HYROX Sets Sail: Inside the Brand’s First Fitness Cruise

Credit: @hyroxexperiences / Instagram

The world’s most popular fitness race is moving from land to sea. 

HYROX recently announced it will host a four-day Mediterranean fitness cruise featuring training sessions, competitions, and community events. 

The race that has taken the fitness world by storm will host its first HYROX cruise from October 21-25, 2026. The event is run by HYROX Experiences, the travel-and-lifestyle arm of HYROX World, which aims to bring travel experiences into the world of fitness. 

  • “The HYROX Cruise has been designed to meet the demand of more and more travellers wanting to prioritise their health, fitness and overall wellbeing, even while on holiday,” HYROX HQ wrote in a press release. 

The cruise is currently open only to EU and UK nationals residing in the EU or the UK. The Mein Schiff 4 by TUI Cruises is the ship reserved for the event and will depart from Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

HIGHLIGHTS

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