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🏆 Team North America vs. Team World — Who Takes the 2025 TYR Cup?

September 11th, 2025

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

  •  🌴 TYR WZA SoCal: Vellner, Brandon, Toomey-Orr & Garard lead Team North America vs. Team World in Huntington Beach.

  • 💵 Hobby or Business? One missing coach can push your affiliate to burnout.

  • 🩺 Exercise = Medicine: HIIT and resistance training boost cancer-fighting proteins.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
❝

It means a lot to think that other people think that I was like him in some way.”

Pat Vellner on receiving the first-ever Lazar Ðukić MVP Award at the 2024 TYR Cup.
COMPETITIONS

2025 TYR Wodapalooza SoCal — TYR Cup: Roster Breakdown

Credit: Scott Freymond

Although TYR Wodapalooza has a long history in Miami, FL, the TYR WZA team expanded its reach last fall. It launched a new competition and pro athlete exhibition in Huntington Beach, CA, for the first TYR Wodapalooza SoCal.

  • Back by popular demand, this exciting event, now in its second edition, is packed with trash talk, team bonding, and drama. 

The three-day competition/exhibition will occur from September 19 to 21, 2025, against the beautiful Pacific Ocean backdrop.

How it works: The TYR Cup is a head-to-head competition between two teams: “World” and “North America.” 

  • Each team has eight members — four men and four women. As mentioned on the TYR Wodapalooza website, each team is “anchored by one male and one female captain.” The community was encouraged to vote for the captains of each team.

Three of the four captains are returning from last year: Patrick Vellner and Danielle Brandon for Team North America, and Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr for Team World.

  • Continue reading for the full team rosters, format, scoring rules, and how $210K in prize money will be earned.

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SPEED READS

🔨🌎 HWPO Ambassadors: HWPO Training is recruiting global hard workers to rep the brand—show up, work hard, and earn perks like merch, credits, and early access. Applications open through Sept. 17.

🏋️‍♂️🔥 Life Time Enters the Arena: The LT Games debut this fall — regional qualifiers, a national championship at the HPLT Summit, and a $20K prize pool. With 179 clubs behind it, Life Time is taking direct aim at HYROX.

🌍🏋️ World Fitness Trials: Registration is open for WFP’s three-week qualifier (Oct. 6–26). Six workouts, 11 divisions, and $40K+ on the line as athletes fight for Finals spots in Copenhagen, Dec. 18–21.

🧠📋 Build or Buy Programming?: On Varied Not Random, Pat Sherwood & Adrian Bosman weigh the tradeoffs—outsourcing saves time and checks your biases, but only works if coaches stay engaged, adapt, and understand the “why.”

👵🏋️‍♂️ CrossFit for 60+: Eric O’Connor & Stephane Rochet turn Lon Kilgore’s playbook into action—start conservative, scale smart, coach the pain-vs-soreness talk, build psychological tolerance, and tap the underserved 50+ market for real, lasting transformations.

ICYMI: 💰Who’s cashing in? The WFP has paid out $780K this season; $766K still up for grabs.

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Why Most Affiliate Owners Are One Coach Away From Burnout (And How to Fix It)

Credit: @besthouroftheirday / Instagram

You're coaching 30 classes each month. Your affiliate runs 130 in total.

You think you're in good shape because you're only on the floor for about 25 percent of your classes. 

  • Then one coach moves across the country, another takes a new job, and suddenly you're back to coaching 50 percent.

This exact scenario played out recently during a coaching session I held with Martha Redinger, owner of CrossFit SPRC in Charlottesville.

Redinger lost four coaches in a year – one to cancer, with others leaving due to military moves and career shifts.

You can watch our full session to see how we worked through her staffing crisis, but here's what every affiliate owner needs to understand about building sustainable coaching structures.

POLL

🎶 What's you favorite hype music for a big lift?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Last week, we asked: What is your favorite post-WOD beverage?

  • 🫗Recovery drink all the way (FITAID, O2 Hydration, Jocko Hydrate, Remond Re-Lyte, LMNT, NOCCO etc.) (53.77%)

  • 💦 Water -- classic for a reason. (27.35%)

  • ☕️ Coffee or cold brew and chat with fit friends. (8.49%)

  • 🍺 Something from the gym's "fun fridge." (3.77%)

  • 🤔 Other (let us know in the comments). (6.6%)

Far and away the top answer was “recovery drink” with 53.77%. Water was second at 27.35%. Some of the comments you left us include Nuun, white grape, apple juice, clear whey protein, and chocolate milk🍫🥛.

RESEARCH

New Study Links High-Intensity Training to Cancer-Fighting Benefits

Credit: @welcome_to_the_mill / Instagram

High-intensity interval training and resistance exercises could be crucial in fighting cancer.

The Details

The research, conducted by PhD student Francesco Bettariga, found that a single dose of either resistance training or high-intensity interval training (HIIT) increases myokine levels, a protein our muscles produce known to have anti-cancer effects.

  • More specifically, Bettariga studied breast cancer survivors and measured their myokine levels before and immediately after a HIIT or resistance training session, as well as 30 minutes after the workout. Both showed an immediate increase in myokine levels.

Ultimately, Bettariga’s data indicates that these levels could possibly reduce cancer cell growth by 20 to 30 percent.

HIGHLIGHTS

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