Haley Adams Talks 2024 Comeback Season, Part 2

February 27th, 2024

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

  • In part two of our exclusive interview, Haley Adams talks about what she learned during her break and her plans for a 2024 comeback

  • Get to know Australia’s Julia Hannaford

  • A new study with a large sample size has shown that women reap greater training benefits, with less effort, than men

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“The most recognizable change will probably be my face. I actually enjoy what I'm doing now. I would get the comment that I looked miserable when I was competing, and I was. Now I’m looking like I'm enjoying it because I am. I just love being out there and doing it for myself.” - Haley Adams on her 2024 return to competition

PROFILE

Photo Credit: Instagram / @crispydudes

Interview: Haley Adams on Finding the Joy In CrossFit Again After Her Year Away

(Editor’s Note: In part 1 of this two-part interview, Haley Adams talked about her mindset in late 2022 and why she stepped away from the competition floor in 2023. Check out part one here.)

For Haley Adams, returning to CrossFit after a year-long hiatus required a change in mindset. It required her to view the sport — and herself — from a different angle. It also required her to learn to have fun again.

“When I took my break [in 2023], initially, I thought I was done,” Adams shares. 

“I didn't think I was going to go back. I never wanted to do that again, and I didn’t ever want to feel like that again. I was going to Planet Fitness with my mom, walking on the treadmill, and doing a bunch of random bodybuilding exercises. That was all I did for fitness,” Adams said.

  • “I was having a great time going and walking and listening to my headphones, and I did not want to set foot inside a CrossFit gym or touch a barbell.”

Things have changed.

  • “Honestly, now training is like therapy — I enjoy it so much,” she says joyfully. 

“Having [coaches Hayley and Josh Murillo] here is wonderful; they make it so fun every day. It’s nice just to have people to rely on and know that they care about you and make the call to shut it down if necessary.”

  • “We just have so much fun. And I mean, of course, you have bad days, but it's nice to have them around when there are bad days. It is a night and day difference for me.”

Communication and trust have played the most significant part in the evolution of Adams. It started with the simple idea of breaking it down into its simple parts to build it — and her — back up.

  • Her coach, Josh Murillo, describes it: “I think that’s kind of where we started — let’s go to the gym and have as much fun as we can possibly have. And then go from there.”

Adams elaborates: “I think I'm very protective of my head right now just because I know what triggers me and gets me into that headspace. So, making sure we eliminate all those external factors or things that would send me back into that kind of headspace is the biggest thing, at least for me. Because I just don't ever want to feel like that again.”

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SPEED READS

Bethany Flores is “UNBROKEN”: Check out the first episode of a two-part series giving a behind-the-scenes look into Bethany Flores’ Semifinals run in 2023, which culminated in her return to the CrossFit Games.

✍️ 💪  The Pit Fitness Ranch, host of the 2024 Teen CrossFit Games and the Professional Fitness Athletes' Association unveiled their new mentor program for the 120 teenagers who will compete this summer.

  • These CrossFit Games athletes will work with 2024 CrossFit Games teens starting in June through their championship event Aug. 29-Sept. 1 in Southwest Michigan. The mentors will guide cohorts of six to eight athletes, offering advice, movement and workout evaluations, and more.

  • From Pit Coach Brock Yost: “The program will provide athletes with plenty of learning and leadership opportunities as well as the chance to lean on some pros with high-level experience in the CrossFit Games.”

  • Experienced CrossFit Games athletes may apply to be mentors by contacting Adam Paulsen, 2024 Pit Crew Athlete Development Coordinator, or send them a DM and they'll provide a link to apply.

🎟️ 🎟️ Semifinals Spectator Tickets Available Now: Want to check out the top 40 men and women, and top 30 teams in the North America West and Europe regions early this summer? Early Bird tickets are available now for both the French Throwdown and North America West.

Working with Larger Bodies Seminar and PRVN Fitness: Athena Perez and Scaled Nation will be joining PRVN Fitness at their new headquarters in Nashville, TN to present the "Working with Larger Bodies" seminar. The event will occur on April 21, 2024, beginning at 9 AM. Register now!

ICYMI: What are the most commonly paired movements in the CrossFit Open?

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Credit: @jeffreywjonesphotos / Instagram

From Barefoot Lifting to Cowgirl Hats: Australia’s Julia Hannaford Breaks the Mold

Written by: Sarah Appleby

Julia Hannaford is a two-time Semifinal athlete who’s been turning heads with her elegant snatching, impressive gymnastics, barefoot shoes, and signature cowgirl hat. 

The 22-year-old Australian has been busy over the off-season, competing at the Down Under Championship in December and then making the journey over to Miami last month to compete at Wodapalooza for the first time. It was here where her epic snatch complex during the first event catapulted her into the limelight. 

DATA/STATS

Photo Credit: Instagram / @crossfit

Girl Power: Women Get More Health Benefits From Regular Exercise Than Men, New Research Suggests

New research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology suggests women reap greater health benefits from exercise with less effort than men.

The details: The research was conducted by a team from China and the United States, and they analyzed data from 412,413 adults aged 27 to 61 without underlying health issues between 1997 and 2017. By 2019, 39,935 of the participants had died, and 11,670 deaths were due to cardiovascular causes.

  • The research suggests men tend to do more physical activity than women, however, women don’t have to do as much work to experience the same return on investment, so to speak.

Specifically: 

According to the study, 140 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise each week gave women a 24-percent decreased risk of premature death from any cause compared to inactive women. In comparison, men needed to log five hours of exercise a week, or 300 minutes, to experience the same benefit.

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HIGHLIGHTS

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

  • 💪Congratulations to Rynn of Rose Barbell Club in NH, on the 40-kilo/88-pound clean and jerk.

  • Congratulations to Teo of CrossFit Oslo in Norway on the 115-kilo/253-pound snatch. 

  • Congratulations to Guiliano of CrossFit 401 in Smithfield, RI, on the 300-pound/136-kilo clean. 

  • Congratulations to Eren of Thailand who on the two hang cleans at 160 kilos/352 pounds.

  • 🎂Happy belated birthday on Sunday to Lucile Phelouzat.