5 Big Changes in the 2025 CrossFit Games Rulebook

January 14th, 2025

POWERED BY:

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

  • In case you missed it, we took a deep dive into the 2025 Crossfit Games rulebook over the weekend and laid out key changes for athletes and gym owners.

  • What is the “Strategy Gap” and is it a problem for you? Jason Ackerman and Jason Fernandez provide some insights below.

  • Matt Giordano built a thriving youth program at his gym, Crossfit Newtown. Learn about how he did it and why you might want to invest in a youth program at yours.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“There are a lot of kids who are sitting around not getting enough activity and physical education is almost absent in the school system. These are big problems that gyms like ours can help solve.” - Matt Giordano, owner of CrossFit Newtown on why focusing on youth programs at CrossFit gyms is important

CROSSFIT GAMES

Credit: Mike Halpin

2025 CrossFit Season Rulebook Released — Here’s What You Should Know

The 2025 CrossFit Season Rulebook has been released. 

  • There are some key changes for the upcoming season that athletes and Open participants should know as we head into what is shaping up to be a very busy year in the sport of CrossFit. 

Remind Me

The release of this year’s rulebook came later than last year but is generally in line with past seasons, making 2023 an anomaly.

CrossFit set its own deadline for the beginning of Open registration, which it met.

Here’s a list of when CrossFit HQ has dropped its rulebook in recent history:

  • 2025 Season: January 10, 2025

  • 2024 Season: December 21, 2023

  • 2023 Season: November 15, 2022

  • 2022 Season: December 28, 2021

  • 2021 Season: January 7, 2021 

  • 2020 Season: August 28, 2019*

    • The Open took place in October in 2020 

  • 2019 Season: January 7, 2019 

What’s New in 2025?

As with every iteration of the CrossFit Games, there are both major and minor changes to this season’s rules. 

Here are five high-level takeaways. We’ll dig deeper below:

1. New Season Structure

The first big change, which was announced previously, is that there will be no more Quarterfinals. Instead, athletes will progress from the Open directly to Semifinals and then to the Crossfit Games. 

Most athletes who qualify for Semifinals will compete online via the virtual, In-Affiliate Semifinals. 

A MESSAGE FROM BEAM

What Are You Dreaming About Tonight?

Well, if it's not pajamas, comfy socks, and a warm mug of Beam Dream, then we're probably not on the same page cause it's freezing outside, literally 🥶🥶🥶.

Beam Dream is the OG hot cocoa powder for better sleep and an A+ attitude before heading to sleep.

Here's what you need to know:

  • Helps you fall asleep and stay asleep

  • Doesn't make you groggy

  • Clinically proven to help 93% get a more restful sleep

  • Zero added sugar and 15 calories

...and you can grab a Brownie Batter bag at 40% off with code "CHALKUP."

SPEED READS

🏋️ 💪 Follow the 2025 Arnold on Barbend: The 2025 Arnold Sports Festival is a little over a month away and will feature some of the biggest bodybuilding and strongman competitions of the year. Keep up with all the latest news and event previews by subscribing to The BarBend Newsletter.

😬 🏃 AIRWAAV is HSA/FSA Eligible: AIRWAAV Performance and Recovery Mouthpieces are now eligible for purchase with Health Savings Accounts (HSA) or Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA), thanks to their partnership with Truemed.

💪 🤝 CrossFit’s Athlete Council Announced: CrossFit revealed its newly elected council, the “CrossFit Athlete Council” (CAC) is divided into three committees representing individuals and coaches, affiliates and teams, and divisional athletes.

  • “The goal of the CAC is to create an independent space where athletes, coaches, and affiliates can share their competition experience and deliver recommendations to the CrossFit team,” according to CrossFit’s announcement on Instagram.

🏃👟 HYROX x PUMA Launch Co-Branded Footwear: The PUMA x HYROX collab, the SS25 collection, launched yesterday and features the first-ever HYROX co-branded footwear, including the Deviate NITRO 3, Deviate NITRO Elite 3, and Velocity NITRO 3. Check out the collection and gear up!

  • According to a press release: “Built with HYROX athletes in mind, the specially curated performance and lifestyle gear is designed to help athletes excel at their next HYROX race and will be worn by HYROX Elite 15 athletes, including 2024 Women’s World Champion Meg Jacoby and Men’s Pro World Record holder, Hunter McIntyre.”

ICYMI: We now have dates and locations for the World Fitness Tour’s two North American Tour Events and the European World Fitness Finals.

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Credit: @besthouroftheirday / Instagram

Bridging the Strategy Gap: 3 Key Questions for Affiliate Owners

As an affiliate owner, it's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day grind of operations. 

  • You're busy coaching classes, managing staff, handling member issues, and keeping the lights on. But are you taking the time to step back and assess your overarching business strategy?

Many affiliate owners fall into the "strategy gap" trap—they're so focused on tactics and execution that they lose sight of the bigger picture. But even if you're good at solving the execution gap, if you haven't solved the strategy gap, it doesn't matter how well you execute. 

You might survive, but you won't thrive.

  • Over the past nine months, we've developed a three-part framework to help affiliate owners overcome this strategy gap.

It boils down to answering three key questions:

  1. What business are you in?

  2. What game are you playing?

  3. What do you do?

Let's explore each one to help you develop actionable strategies.

AFFILIATE COMMUNITY

Credit: @crossfitnewtown / Instagram

How Matt Giordano Built a 100-Member Youth Program Inside CrossFit Newtown

It all started during the first wave of the global pandemic in 2020. 

When schools shut down, Matt Giordano and his wife began offering a place for kids to do their homework with a teacher on-site at the dental practice where his wife works.

  • “The owner of the dental practice was a member of my gym at the time and saw that the online options for physical education were less than optimal for the children,” Giordano said in an interview with the Morning Chalk Up. “So she asked if we would do a kids’ class one day a week [...] We started with about 16 kids once a week until school opened again.”

But even when kids went back to school, they still wanted to go to the gym. So, not only did he keep the program — he expanded it. 

Today, nearly five years after COVID-19 hit the world, Giordano has a thriving youth program with more than 100 kids and an eight-person coaching team. Further, Giordano said about 10% of the youth are “the original kids” who started five years ago.

HIGHLIGHTS

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

  • 🙌Congratulations to Seher Kaya on this 110-kilo/242-pound clean and jerk PR.

  • Well done to Dex Hopkins on this 206-kilo/455-pound back squat double.

  • Congratulations to Lucy from CrossFit Freesol in England on this 100-kilo/220-pound clean PR as well as this 75-kilo/165-pound snatch PR.

  • Amazing job to Bayley Martin on this 170-kilo/374-pound hang clean.

  • 💪Congratulations to Anna, a Kriger Training athlete, who just snagged a 175-kilo/385-pound back squat.