Who Turned Our Heads at TYR WZA?

February 3rd, 2025

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

  • TYR Wodapalooza is an annual platform for athletes to make a statement early in the year. Check out who it was this year.

  • Learn about four gyms providing daytime health and fitness classes to homeschooled kids and providing revenue for gym owners.

  • Invictus launched a new Total Strength Program under the guidance of Games podium athletes Holden Rethwill and Sam Dancer. Learn more below.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Sam and I have been friends for years now and have always been interested in collaborating on something together. Having both played collegiate football, we realized that our strength development came from a similar path.” - Holden Rethwill, Head Coach, Invictus San Diego, on creating the Invictus Total Strength Program with Sam Dancer.

COMPETITIONS

Credit: Scott Freymond

Three Athletes Who Turned Heads at TYR Wodapalooza

Every year, TYR Wodapalooza seems to be a coming-out party for at least a couple of athletes. 

Last week’s fitness festival in Miami Beach, FL, was no exception.

  • After sitting out both the 2023 and 2024 seasons due to a wrist injury, Lucy Campbell surprised the entire community (and herself) by taking the women’s title over the 2023 CrossFit Games champion and heavy favorite Laura Horvath.

Beyond Campbell, a handful of performances turned heads and are worth noting as we head into the 2025 CrossFit Games season.

Astrid Tind (12th, Women’s Elite Division)

If you watched the live feed last weekend, the name Astrid Tind was one you likely had to Google after Day 1.

  • The 5-foot-11, 30-year-old Danish giant surprised everyone when she took an event win in the opening test in Miami. And then she went ahead and followed that up with a third-place finish in event two.

Tind, who has competed at the CrossFit Games on a team twice, went on to finish 12th overall in a competitive field and followed that up with a podium finish with her team, Team NUSA (second place).

Though she did show some weak points in her game along the way, Tind was impressive on all four days of competition and is definitely someone to keep an eye on as this season unfolds.

A MESSAGE FROM VELITES

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SPEED READS

💪🥇Compete With/At The Pit in 2025: In case you missed it, there are two events this summer for young athletes to compete at the Pit Fitness Ranch or with the Pit Fitness team, learn more and register here:

  • Pit Fest, June 25-29, 2025 — This is a five-day fitness festival with multiple events throughout, including:

    • Blue Racer Pit Challenge 5k

    • Pit Teen Throwdown, Individuals

    • Pit Collegiate Throwdown, Individuals

    • Pit Training League Championship

    • Independence Games

  • Teen CrossFit Games by Pit Teen Throwdown, August 21-24, 2025

    • This event will also include the Pit Collegiate Teen Throwndown for teams of four.

🌎🏆 2025 World Fitness Tour Roster: The highly anticipated competitive fitness tour has now announced 19 men and 19 women, including young guns Austin Hatfield and Olivia Kerstetter. Who will get the remaining two pro cards for the 2025 World Fitness Tour’s inaugural season?

🚨🚨 The CrossFit Open is Coming: The 2025 CrossFit Open will take place February 27-March 17, so get signed up now!

  • Bundle and save on 2025 CrossFit Open shirts and Judges course registration here.

ICYMI: Which CrossFit Games vets are set up for success in 2025’s new season structure? And who might struggle?

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Credit: @cfgratitude / Instagram

Meet Four Gyms Generating New Clients, More Revenue Through CrossFit Classes for Homeschooled Kids

Being a mother to homeschooled children, Veronica Short was very familiar with the challenges it can pose to parents when it comes to physical education.

  • “While homeschooling is becoming more common, the resources for homeschoolers are still limited,” said Short, a coach at CrossFit Gratitude in Kearney, MO.

In a nutshell, it can be difficult for parents to find affordable physical education and activities that accommodate a variety of ages “so that parents aren’t juggling different class times,” Short explained.

  • She added that it’s especially hard to find classes in the middle of the day during school hours, as most kids' programs are before or after traditional school hours. 

So last fall, she pitched the idea to begin offering classes to homeschooled children to the owners of her gym, Julie and Dustin Williams.

Today, just a few months in, the program—which runs in the middle of the day when the gym is quiet—has 11 children between the ages of 5 and 12.

Not only is it helping homeschooled kids and parents, but it’s also bringing in some easy revenue to the gym during a time of day when the gym often sat empty, Julie explained. 

  • “It also gets more people in the door to see what CrossFit is all about,” she added. 

CrossFit Gratitude isn’t the only affiliate benefiting from the growing community of homeschooled children in the United States. 

  • CrossFit Glynco in Brunswick, GA, CrossFit Unforgiven in Ada, OK, and CrossFit Kinesis in Gretna, NE, have all hopped on board, as well, with great success.

INDUSTRY

Credit: Invictus

Invictus Launches New Total Strength Program, Created by Games Podium Athletes Sam Dancer and Holden Rethwill

It is a new year and an excellent chance to switch up your training. Invictus has you covered! 

  • Launching February 3, the Invictus Total Strength Program is designed to help you improve the core strength movements that are the basis of weightlifting: the squat, bench press, and deadlift. 

This program was created to push your limits, maximize your gains, and elevate your performance, whether you are a seasoned lifter or just starting with weights.

The program is the brainchild of Invictus athletes and coaches Sam Dancer and Holden Rethwill.

  • Dancer is a five-time Games athlete across multiple divisions and winner of the 2023 Fittest Man title in the 35-39 Men’s Division.

  • Rethwill is the head coach at Invictus San Diego and a five-time team Games athlete, including both first- and second-place finishes on Team CrossFit Invictus.

Origins

“Sam and I have been friends for years now and have always been interested in collaborating on something together,” Rethwill told the Morning Chalk Up in an interview. “Having both played collegiate football, we realized that our strength development came from a similar path.”

The two men are combining their experiences to build “one of the best and most comprehensive strength programs on the market,” he continued.

  • The squat, bench, and deadlift are the cornerstones of any serious strength routine, but Invictus Strength is doing it differently. Rethwill and the team at Invictus saw a void in athlete programming that they could fill.

HIGHLIGHTS

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

  • 🙌Congratulations to Semifinal athlete Esther Jansen on this 110-kilo/242-pound clean and jerk PR.

  • Check out this Guinness World Record jump from Jared Pagila at 1.55 meters/5 feet, 1.02 inches.

  • Well done to Bayley Martin on this 200-kilo/440-pound front squat.

  • Phil Clapp set a new world record on a 1-kilometer row, with a time of 2:38.2.

  • 🏈Check out this throwback to Saquon Barkley power cleaning 149 kilos/330 pounds as a freshman at Penn State.