July Affiliate of the Month: Dreamtown CrossFit

July 4th, 2024

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

  • The Morning Chalk Up crew is celebrating Independence Day with our gym mates and families, so we revisited a couple of our favorite articles from the last few months. Enjoy the parades and parties 🇺🇸!!

  • But first, check out our July Affiliate of the Month, Dreamtown CrossFit in Truckee, CA.

Do you think your affiliate should be featured as our Affiliate of the Month for August? Send us a quick note explaining why.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I knew if I ever wanted to compete again, I needed to change things up a little bit and have a coach and not be in a training camp.” - Haley Adams on her decision to work and train with Josh and Hayley Murillo

COMMUNITY

Credit: @dreamtowncrossfit / Instagram

Affiliate of the Month: Dreamtown CrossFit Owner Jason Berger Chooses Happiness and Health Over Wealth

Jason Berger had a financially lucrative job. 

But it came at a cost.

As the owner of a transportation company, he found himself working 12 to 14 hours a day, and he soon grew to weigh 300 pounds.

And then, as the story goes for many, Berger found CrossFit at age 40 and made a serious lifestyle change.

  • “I had my appendix removed, and I was just laying in the hospital and I knew all the nurses there because my wife works there [as a nurse],” Berger told the Morning Chalk Up in an interview. “I was just pretty embarrassed at the shape I was in. My son was four or five years old at the time, and I had this moment of clarity of needing to get myself into shape.” 

Today, at 53, the six-year owner of Dreamtown CrossFit in Truckee, CA, is down to 225 pounds and 10 percent body fat.

The tradeoff — the days of making lots of money are gone.

The Dreamtown CrossFit Story

Truckee is a small resort and mountain town near Lake Tahoe, and most of Berger’s 120 members are mountain bikers, skiers, and outdoor enthusiasts.

This means it’s hard to keep his members coming to the gym for 12 months of the year, as once the snow hits in the winter, they all head to the mountains.

A MESSAGE FROM JOCKO

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  • Four week body recomposition training program with fully guided video workouts crafted by CrossFit champ Jason Khalipa.

  • Five exclusive video lessons on the "Mindsets of Victory" from Jocko Willink and Dave Burke.

  • All housed on their brand new, free DEF Reset App so you can track your progress and stay accountable.

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SPEED READS

🥇🚨 TYR Wodapalooza SoCal Update: Planning your TYR WZA SoCal trip? No hotel hunting is needed—get a jump start on securing your SoCal stay using their exclusive list of nearby hotels. Get more info and book now.

✂🗓️ 2024 CrossFit Games Cut Schedule: The CrossFit Games team revealed the cut schedule for the 2024 Games.

  • On the individual side, all athletes will compete on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday morning. The field will be cut to 30 for Saturday afternoon and 20 for Sunday.

  • On the team side, the full field of 30 teams will compete on Thursday and Friday. The field will be cut to 20 for Saturday and 10 for Sunday.

💪 METCON Rush Incoming: This mid-Atlantic event has been gaining momentum every year, and later this month, elite athletes will burn it down in Hagerstown, MD. Find out more about this up-and-coming event and check it out on July 20-21.

🎟️📈 Known and Knowable Games Ticket Tracker: Mike Halpin, the mind behind Known & Knowable, is keeping an eye on the 2024 CrossFit Games ticket resale prices on StubHub, Vivid Seats, and Ticketmaster. If you are still hoping to get your hands on a couple, find the best available deals here.  

ICYMI: What you do before your workout matters. A good warm-up will set you up for success, while a poor one could lead you down a path of injury. Check out Ben Bergeron’s four steps for a kick-ass warm-up.

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Credit: @KarlyKreative / Instagram

How Many Years Does It Take to Make the CrossFit Games?

(Originally published May 22, 2024)

In 2010, Rich Froning Jr. entered his first year of competitive CrossFit. 

He won the Alabama Sectional and the South East Regional before finishing second at the CrossFit Games that same year. 

Other greats, like Mat Fraser and Tia-Clair Toomey, couldn’t replicate Froning’s early success. 

  • Fraser finished fifth in his first Regional in 2013 and didn’t qualify for the Games. 

  • Toomey finished 18th at the 2014 Australia Regional before she made her first CrossFit Games in 2015.

More recently, Laura Horvath finished second on the podium in her first CrossFit Games in 2018. 

  • However, it took her three tries to qualify for the Games. She competed in Regionals in 2016 and 2017 before breaking out in 2018.

Seven rookies qualified to go to Fort Worth from the Europe Semifinal last week, so we wanted to explore the question: How many years does it take for an elite athlete to break through to a CrossFit Games qualification? 

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PROFILE

Credit: Josh Murillo

Interview: Haley Adams Talks About Her Year Away From CrossFit Competition

(Originally Published February 25, 2024)

Almost exactly one year ago, Haley Adams took to Instagram to announce that she was stepping away from CrossFit for the 2023 season. 

In her social media post, she stated that she had been doing CrossFit since she was 14 years old, and it was time to put herself first. She wanted to work on herself, both mentally and physically.

She also said that the 2024 comeback was going to be big.

And it starts this week. Adams is back and participating in the 2024 CrossFit Games season.

“I’m planning on competing,” Adams said on a recent episode of the Made for More podcast hosted by Reagan Davis. “I’m very excited to give it a run again, and this time in a different mindset.” 

This isn’t the same Haley; she’s older, wiser, and more in tune with herself than she has ever been. And she got to this point with a bit of help from her friends.

Early Successes Lead to a Crossroads

In an interview with the Morning Chalk Up, Adams and new friends/training partners/coaches Hayley and Josh Murillo talked to us about Adams’ early career.

It began when Adams left her home in North Carolina in 2017 to move to Cookeville, TN, to train with the Mayhem crew. She treasured her time there.

  • “It definitely helped me to get to where I am at. There were people there pushing me every day, extremely like-minded people,” Adams says.

HIGHLIGHTS

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

  • 🎂Happy birthday to Andrea Nisler.

  • Congratulations to Emily from 12 Labors CrossFit in Howard County, MD, on her first bar muscle-up.

  • Congratulations to everyone who competed at CFHK Txapelketa in Barakaldo, Spain, last weekend.

  • Happy anniversary to CrossFit Mexicali in Mexico.

  • 🙌Congratulations to Colt from CrossFit Camden Frontier in Camden, MI, on his first ring muscle-up.