Jelle Hoste's New "All-In" Approach Is Paying Off

June 14th, 2024

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

  • The Semifinals are done and dusted. Today, we are looking ahead to Fort Worth this August for some way too early predictions “educated hunches” about what might go down.

  • Belgium’s Jelle Hoste burst onto the scene during the 2023 Semifinals and followed that with strong performances at his rookie CrossFit Games and so far in the 2024 season. Learn more about the towering IT specialist and what’s made all the difference in his training below.

  • Allison Lamay struggled after her high school and collegiate athletic career ended, but finding CrossFit helped her lose nearly 150 pounds and recapture her life.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I didn’t change things dramatically…it just started to pay off.” - Jelle Hoste on his stellar performances through the 2023 and 2024 seasons

CROSSFIT GAMES

Photo credit: @crossfitgames / Instagram

8 Way Too Early 2024 CrossFit Games Predictions

With three weeks of intense Semifinals action behind us, we can take a breath. 

Ok, breath taken. 

Now bring on the 2024 CrossFit Games! 

With less than two months until the big show, let’s take a look at some early predictions. 

These eight predictions are based on 2024 results, and, well, let’s call them “educated hunches.” 

1. Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr will win her seventh title. But not by much. 

After a dominant performance at the North America East Semifinal, it is easy to think Toomey-Orr will run away with the win in Fort Worth. But Laura Horvath will not give up her crown easily.

  • Out of the five comparable Semifinals events this year, Horvath beat Toomey on two of them, while setting the worldwide event records. These two incredible athletes will provide the races that everyone wants to see in August. 

2. Abbie Domit will continue her upward trajectory.

Domit’s first CrossFit Open was just three years ago. Since then, she has climbed the ranks quickly, placing 26th as a rookie at the 2023 Games. 

  • With a year of Games experience under her belt and a win at the 2024 West Coast Classic, a top-15 finish is in the cards for her sophomore season.

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SPEED READS

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🎟️ 🎫 CrossFit Games Ticket Drop: After a fast sellout the first time around, CrossFit will release another batch of tickets today, June 14, at noon CT.

🎙️👂Constantly Varied Conversations: John Wooley, the creator behind the WooleyMemeth (formerly known as Make WODs Great Again), dropped a new podcast, “Constantly Varied Conversations.” 

📋📋 Unofficial 2024 CrossFit Games Rosters: Although the final leaderboards are pending until the completion of drug testing and any backfills, check the full Individual and Team CrossFit Games fields now.

🥇🏃New HYROX World Champions: Congratulations to Alex Roncevic and Megan Jacoby, who are the 2024 HYROX World Champs, taking the men’s and women’s elite medals.

  • According to a press release, this was HYROX’s “most successful season ever with a landmark event [the World Championships] welcoming 4,200 athletes and 6,000 spectators to the Palais Des Expositions” in Nice, France. Check out the full live stream now.

⬆️🏋️‍♀️ UPLIFT Challenge: UPLIFT is an annual fundraiser workout initiative created and organized by Mark Moss to help bring awareness to suicide and suicide prevention.

  • Every month, UPLIFT runs a challenge with great prizes — this month, WODZombie and Hero Barbell. Check it out and learn more.

📸🎥 Dylan and Susana's Lost Gear Recovery: At the North America West Semifinal by West Coast Classic, two friends of the Morning Chalk Up, Dylan Shoemaker and Susana Rodriguez Mata, who are photographers/creators in CrossFit media, had some of their valuable camera equipment stolen.

  • Heber Cannon of the Buttery Bros arranged a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to replace the lens and the camera. Check it out and help if you are able.

🔥💙 Geaux CrossFit x Working with Larger Bodies: Later this summer, Geaux CrossFit in Baton Rouge, LA, will host the Working with Larger Bodies seminar. The seminar will provide members and the broader community with access to expertise and resources about fitness, nutrition, and working with athletes with varying needs for movement adjustments. Register now!

📊📈 Rogue Invitational Qualifying System: The Rogue Invitational announced a new qualifying system for its annual event, which is moving to Aberdeen, Scotland, in 2024.

  • From the announcement: “Over the past few years, we have been working on the method to select the best CrossFit athletes in the sport. This system takes into account the most recent event performance along with the last five years. There is a predictive component to replace missing scores due to various life events.”

  • The post clarified that Rogue “reserve[s] the right to invite anyone but plan on using this to choose a MIN of 10 along with 5 MIN from the Q.”

  • Check out more details on the qualifying system and search for athletes here.

ICYMI: First-time Games qualifier Chris Ibarra moved to Kansas City, MO, in the off-season; his first call was to Games veteran Jacob Heppner. Fast forward to Semifinals, and the youngster, now training in Heppner’s barn, secured his spot in Fort Worth this summer.  

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Credit: @wongsdottir, @lifeofmalm / Instagram

Jelle Hoste Puts Job On Hold to be “All In, Tunnel-Visioned,” Takes Second at Stacked Europe Semifinal

After finishing 10th as a rookie at the CrossFit Games last summer, Belgium’s Jelle Hoste sat down with his coach to discuss what they needed to do to improve upon his performance.

When he put everything into perspective, he felt like his biggest limiting factor was time or lack thereof. 

Hoste was working for an IT consulting company then, which prevented him from giving as much attention as he wanted to his training and recovery. 

  • “I was doing everything I could, but I was spending eight hours at a desk every day,” the 29-year-old told the Morning Chalk Up in an interview “and was fitting all the training and recovery around it. I [had] to give up some recovery and sleep time.”

Sometimes, he’d find himself choosing to give up an hour of sleep to get to the gym before work, resulting in Hoste only logging about six hours of sleep a night.

Going All In 

Ultimately, the “next logical step” was to put his career on hold, at least for a year so that he could be “all in, tunnel-visioned for CrossFit,” he said. 

So far, so good.

  • Hoste finished second at the recent Europe Semifinal by French Throwdown, easily qualifying for his second CrossFit Games this summer.

He credits this to the fact that has been able to devote all his attention to the sport. 

Not only has he been able to spend more time at the gym, and has been able to train at the times that are optimal for him, but he has also been getting closer to 10 hours of sleep nightly and has had the time for other recovery protocols like time in the sauna and deep massages. 

Further, it has been easier for Joste, a former national Judo athlete in Belgium, to keep his nutrition dialed in this season than when he was working a full-time job.

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COMMUNITY

Credit: @barbells_and_bad_decisions / Instagram

How CrossFit Helped Allison Lamay Lose Nearly 150 Pounds and Recapture Her Life

At 26 years old, Allison Lamay weighed over 300 pounds. 

Lamay played softball and basketball in high school and college, but when daily practices and strength and conditioning were no more, the usual post-college weight gain that so many former athletes experience came on quickly. 

Lamay started drinking after work, eating fast food, and moving less—the recipe for weight gain, especially in your twenties. She decided to try personal training to try to solve the problem.

  • “My trainer set me on the right path. We had the initial consult,” Lamey told the Morning Chalk Up in an interview, “and she asked me what I wanted to get out of it. She said she was concerned that if I didn’t change my lifestyle or my path, I was going to die young and have a host of health problems.”

Lamay sat quietly, taking it all in. 

She started to cry as she realized that this was the slap in the face she needed. Lamay signed up for personal training and did well with it, but it did not fit her life financially.

Enter CrossFit

About six months later a friend, herself a CrossFit newbie, invited Lamay to join her in a workout. 

  • “It was 2011,” Lamay remembered, “and if you googled CrossFit, you saw these pictures of Rich Froning, Annie Thorisdottir, and tons of incredibly fit people. I knew that wasn’t going to be me.”

Despite her fear, Lamay emailed a local affiliate, and they told her to observe a class.

HIGHLIGHTS

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