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💪 Inside Chandler Smith’s New Role With Marchon Training

December 24th, 2025

In partnership with

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

  • 🏆 Fresh off a dominant ATHX Games performance, Chandler Smith is stepping into a new role with UK-based Marchon Training.

  • 🧡 Before we turn the page to 2026, here are the CrossFit moments from 2025 we won’t forget.

  • đź‘ź Inside Adidas’ Innovation Lab — HYROX world champs and elite CrossFitters head to HQ to help build the next generation of hybrid footwear.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
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I’ve programmed for myself for most of my career since I love to learn about training and need the flexibility to change stuff rapidly.”

Chandler Smith on joining Marchon Training.
PROFILE

Chandler Smith Partners With Marchon Training Following ATHX Championship Run

Credit: ATHX

CrossFit Games veteran and 2025 ATHX Games Champion in two separate divisions, Chandler Smith, recently announced that he’s stepping into a new role at Marchon Training.

  • Marchon Training, founded by former pro rugby player Ollie Marchon, offers plans for goals such as functional fitness, running, bodybuilding, and specific events like HYROX. They’re all designed by elite coaches for fitness levels ranging from beginners to competitive athletes.

On December 7, Marchon launched a 12-week ATHX program, designed and coached by Smith. The plan has no set start date, as athletes can purchase the program and jump in at any time. Everything is streamlined in the Marchon app, including direct access to Smith and other coaches, who are there to help answer specific questions. 

Smith was first introduced to ATHX several years ago in London by his friend, Josh Al-chamaa, and they had the opportunity to train at one of the Marchon gyms. This is where he met Marchon and his team. 

  • “They’re a big part of the brains behind ATHX. I’d known about it for a while, and it seemed like a training style and was really aligned with what I was already doing,” Smith told Morning Chalk Up.

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SPEED READS

🏋️‍♂️💪 Why the Bench Press Still Matters in CrossFit: CrossFit doesn’t program the bench press as often as traditional gyms, but it still earns its place — not as the centerpiece, but as a complementary strength builder that increases raw upper-body pressing power and can support performance in presses, push-ups, and more when done properly.

🏙️📊 Why Whoop’s Dubai Move Matters: Whoop is partnering with Dubai real-estate giant Wasl Group to embed its screen-free wearable health tech across residential communities, offering residents, employees, and partners around-the-clock biometric insights to support recovery, stress, and daily wellness. This is all part of a broader push to make data-driven health a built-in part of everyday life.

💪🛡️ CrossFit as a Shield: Becky Johnson explains how CrossFit goes beyond workouts — helping build strength, balance, and confidence that matter most when life throws real challenges your way, including Parkinson’s disease. The takeaway: training isn’t just about performance, it’s about preserving independence, resilience, and quality of life.

🎞️🥹 Brooke’s Last Dance: After a decade on the CrossFit Games floor, Brooke Wells takes one final lap in an intimate, behind-the-scenes documentary that captures the grind, the quiet moments, and the weight of closing a legendary chapter. More than a recap, it’s a reflection on resilience, longevity, and what it means to give everything to the sport — one last time.

ICYMI: 🌎🥇 James Sprague and Laura Horvath win inaugural World Fitness Project Tour. (Rx article)

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Our Favorite CrossFit Moments of 2025

Credit: Fabio Prado

We started 2025 with more questions than answers.

  • How will the new World Fitness Project (WFP) fit into the bigger picture of the sport? 

  • How many athletes will boycott the 2025 Games season because they were unhappy with CrossFit HQ? 

  • Will Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr compete at the Games to go for an eighth title?

And then in March, another big question arose when CrossFit announced that the company was for sale: 

  • Who will the new buyers be, and when will a deal get done?

Twelve months later, we still don’t know the answer to the latter question. Still, from TYR Wodapalooza to the Rogue Invitational, the WFP, and the CrossFit Games, 2025 delivered many entertaining, exciting, and heartwarming performances. Before we fully jump into 2026, let’s take a moment to remember some of them.

Here are five of our favorites.

INDUSTRY

Behind the Scenes at Adidas: The Road to Stockholm

Credit: HYROX

In June 2025, at the HYROX World Championships in Chicago, IL, Germany’s Tim Wenisch completed his 100th wall ball, crossed the finish line in 53:53, and stood on the podium as a World Champion. He beat second-place Hunter McIntyre by just five seconds. 

Fast forward to the present: the 2026 season is fully underway, with athletes seeking to qualify at the HYROX majors held worldwide for the 2026 World Championship, which takes place in Stockholm, Sweden, June 18-21. 

  • This year, Wenisch is representing the three Adidas stripes alongside fellow hybrid athletes Graham Halliday, Jana Lebenstedt, and Fabi Eisenlauer. 

Recently, those four athletes, along with CrossFitters Jen Muir and Ella Wilkinson, traveled to Adidas Headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany, to participate in performance testing for a new hybrid training shoe that has yet to be released.

HIGHLIGHTS

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