🌴 2026 Gymreapers Wodapalooza Kicks Off Today!

March 12th, 2026

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

  • 🏖️ Four Days in Miami: The 2026 Gymreapers Wodapalooza begins today with elite individuals kicking off the action under the Florida sun.

  • 📈 The numbers don’t lie; comparing 12.4 to 26.2 shows just how far the CrossFit community has come.

  • 👟 From Chuck Taylors to carbon plates — we tested 25+ modern training shoes — and the evolution is wild.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
❝

Every CrossFit gym feels like a home.”

Lucy Campbell, 2025 Second Fittest Woman and unofficial winner of CrossFit Open 26.2.
COMPETITIONS

2026 Gymreapers Wodapalooza Preview

Credit: Scott Freymond

Today marks the first day of the 2026 Gymreapers Wodapalooza competition on Ocean Drive in Miami Beach, FL, for the second year.  

  • The four-day fitness festival will once again start with Elite Individuals competing on Thursday and Friday, followed by Elite Teams of Three on Saturday and Sunday. The competition for community members will also kick off on Friday.

Now in its 14th year, with a new title sponsor and fresh ownership, Gymreapers WZA welcomes over 2,000 athletes competing in 55 divisions. This year, the Gymreapers WZA stage will host CrossFit Open workout 26.3, which will be announced live from the venue, and anyone on site is invited to try it right then and there.

Gear Up for WZA With the Reebok Nano X5 Edge

Reebok took an award winning shoe, and made it even better. The Reebok Nano X5 Edge is built for your training grind.

A DualResponse EVA midsole cushions every jump while the Lift-and-Run chassis gives you stability during heavy lifts. A FlexWeave upper locks you in and flexes as you move. Translation: this shoe is a game-changer.

Available in both bold colors, perfect for your Wodapalooza fit.

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SPEED READS

👟🌴 Free Shoes at WZA? If you’re at Wodapalooza in Miami Beach this weekend, keep an eye out for the Reebok Nano X5 Edge fleet — they’ll be cruising around Ocean Drive handing out swag and possibly even free shoes.

📬🏋️ CrossFit Athlete Council Opens Direct Feedback Channel: The CAC has launched a dedicated email address (here) for athletes and community members to share questions, feedback, or concerns about the season directly with the council.

🙋‍♂️🏋️ ATHX Needs Volunteers: The ATHX Games are recruiting judges and volunteers for their first U.S. event next weekend in Miami Beach. Want to help run the floor? Sign up now.

⏱️📊 The Open Is Over Soon — Now What? The leaderboard is set, but the real value of the CrossFit Open is the data it gives you: where you improved, where you struggled, and what to focus on before next year.

ICYMI: Mattie Rogers hits lifetime PR at the Arnold. (Rx article)

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

From 12.4 to 26.2: A Snapshot of the CrossFit Community’s Muscle-Up Progress in the Open

Credit: @aimee_cringle / Instagram

One of the most compelling aspects of the CrossFit Open is witnessing the community at large become increasingly fit each year.

That’s what makes repeat workouts so valuable.

And while 26.2 wasn’t a repeat, it’s a perfect opportunity to look at ring muscle-up proficiency and how much it has improved since ring muscle-ups appeared in the Open in 2012.

  • Ring muscle-ups were actually first programmed in the Open in 2011, but the CrossFit Games leaderboard isn’t configured to isolate individual workout rankings from that year, so we’re comparing it to 2012, as the data was much easier to collect.

INDUSTRY

We Tested 25-Plus Training Shoes: Here are the Standouts

Credit: Ralph Steele

If I’ve learned one thing in nearly twenty years of being part of the CrossFit community, it’s that CrossFit fans are passionate about their shoes. 

  • Fortunately, there are now many options for training shoes, but that hasn’t always been the case.

When I started CrossFit in 2008, I showed up in my old-school Asics running shoes, and the coach told me to take them off and squat barefoot. Others at my gym wore Converse Chuck Taylors. At the time, even finding Olympic lifting shoes wasn’t that easy.

  • After that, I tried the then-popular Vibram Five Fingers, and we quickly learned you couldn’t get the stench out after just a few wears.

Finally, in 2011, Reebok entered the scene and quickly gained a monopoly over the entire CrossFit community’s footwear.

Such is not the case today. From major players like Reebok, Adidas, Puma, and TYR to newer grassroots brands like NOBULL, Born Primitive, and RAD, the shoe market is constantly growing and continually offering more and more valuable options to both CrossFit and now HYROX enthusiasts. 

Recently, my husband Ryan — a longtime shoe aficionado with strong opinions — and I had the opportunity to test more than 25 different training shoes (we're currently building a new shoe shelf to house them all).

Here are our thoughts on some of our favorite training and hybrid shoes.

HIGHLIGHTS

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