📋 World Fitness Project Finals Roster Chaos Continues

November 26th, 2025

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

  • 🏁 WFP Finals shake-up continues — with less than a month to go, the Finals roster looks very different from what it did even two weeks ago.

  • 🧠 Feeling stuck in your training? The problem might not be effort; it could be the questions you’re asking yourself.

  • ❤️ A chance U-turn into CrossFit Kamloops became the fresh start, 47-year-old firefighter Erin Bruzzese needed, and it changed everything.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
❝

My only regret is how much time I wasted driving by thinking I wasn’t the right fit, or I won’t fit in, or I wasn’t good enough.”

Erin Bruzzese on her decision to walk into and join CrossFit Kamloops.
COMPETITIONS

World Fitness Project Finals Roster Continues to Shift as Top Athletes Withdraw

Credit: World Fitness Project

The World Fitness Project Finals are less than a month away, and the roster has continued to shift as more athletes withdraw for various reasons. 

While each withdrawal raises concerns, it also opens the door for up-and-coming athletes to fight for a 2026 Pro Card. 

  • In case you missed it, the WFP announced Pro Card payouts for 2026 last week, with a guaranteed $80,000 going to the athlete ranked first at the end of 2025. All 20 athletes in the Pro Division will receive a salary if they accept a Pro Card. 

One of the latest withdrawals was Austin Hatfield, who won Tour Stop I in Indianapolis. 

  • He is currently ranked third with 910 points. Matt Gilpin will replace him; he is currently ranked 34th and has not competed in the Pro Division this season, but instead as a Challenger.

Jay Crouch also announced his withdrawal last week, and he is currently ranked sixth on the overall leaderboard. His spot will be filled by Troy Clay, who is ranked 35th. Like Gilpin, Clay has competed at both Tour Stops in the Challenger Division.

  • After the most demanding year of competition in the sport’s history, athletes are making difficult choices, since dropping out of the Finals essentially shuts down any chance of earning a Pro Card next season.

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SPEED READS

🔥🛍️ Black Friday Home-Gym Equipment Deals: Garage Gym Reviews dropped a massive roundup of the year’s best Black Friday fitness sales — and it’s basically a cheat code for upgrading your setup. If you’re eyeing some sweet new equipment, this guide shows you the biggest discounts and tells you exactly where to strike before inventory disappears.

⏱️🔥 The Art of Pacing, CrossFit-Style: CrossFit’s senior content writer, Stephane Rochet, CF-L3, breaks down when to push, when to hold, and when to throw pacing out the window entirely — teaching athletes how to balance smart strategy with the occasional all-out, crash-and-burn effort that builds real capacity.

⚠️🧪 Protein Powder Concerns: Consumer Reports says most tested powders exceed its lead “level of concern,” sparking expert pushback and major questions about supplement safety. What’s actually safe—and what should athletes do now?

🪢⚡ Double-Under Fix, Fast: The biggest jump-rope mistake? Bad sizing. This video shows how to set the right rope length for your height, clean up your posture, and unlock smoother, faster reps.

ICYMI: 📈 CrossFit gets its own wearable — HWPO Training teams up with WurQ, the first tracker built for barbell cycling, burpees, and brutal WOD variability.

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Stop Asking Why You're Stuck. Do This Instead.

Credit: @benbergeron / Instagram

It happens in the car on the way to the gym, in the shower before work, and right before you fall asleep.

  • The questions loop: "Why can't my training stay consistent? What's wrong with me that I can't just push through like other people? Should I switch gyms? Get a coach? Maybe I'm just not cut out for CrossFit."

Fast. Relentless. Taking up massive mental space.

And here's the problem: they're not actually helping you get unstuck. They're keeping you there.

In a recent episode of Chasing Excellence, mindset coach Mark England —co-founder of Enlifted — introduced us to something called “Kidlin's Law.” It's a principle that explains exactly why those looping questions create so much chaos, and what to do about it.

  • Kidlin's Law states: "Any question sufficiently worded and written down is half answered."

Which means that if your questions stay vague, swirling in mental loops at high speed, they'll rarely – if ever – get answered well.

COMMUNITY

A Messy Divorce, a Chance Decision, and the Gym that Changed Erin Bruzzese’s Life

Courtesy of: @boldphotosbyshelly / Instagram

Erin Bruzzese used to walk past CrossFit Kamloops (TCSC Kamloops) in British Columbia every day on her way home from Gold’s Gym. But she didn’t think CrossFit was for her.

  • “I thought I wanted to work out on my own, and I didn’t think I wanted to do what everyone else was doing,” said Bruzzese about her reservations.

But then one summer day in 2023, she experienced what she called a “Jim Carrey moment.”

  • “You know that movie where Jim Carrey has to start saying yes to everything? It was one of those moments. I was on my way to my mom and dad’s after the gym to go for a coffee, and I drove by the gym, and I was like, ‘ Screw it,’ and I literally turned the wheel around and pulled into the gym,” Bruzzese, a firefighter in Kamloops, remembered.

The real reason Bruzzese decided to make a U-turn that day was that she wanted a fresh start.

At that time, the now 47-year-old was going through a messy and completely unexpected separation from her now ex-husband.

HIGHLIGHTS

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