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FitFest is Coming, Get to Know Team Europe and Team "Rest of World"

December 3rd, 2024

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

  • FitFest UK kicks off its second annual fitness celebration this week and features an elite CrossFit team-style throwdown between Team Europe and Team Rest of World. Get the details below.

  • What are the nine markers of complete fitness, and how can you assess yourself? Find out today.

  • We sat down with Chris Ibarra, a 2024 CrossFit Games rookie, to discuss his experience in Fort Worth and his plans for 2025.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“It's good and humbling because she likes to whoop my ass in most of the workouts we do together.” - 2024 CrossFit Games rookie Chris Ibarra on the dynamic he shares with training partner Olivia Kerstetter.

COMPETITIONS

Credit: @fitfest_uk / Instagram

“Team Europe” and “Team Rest of World” Go Head-to-Head at 2024 FitFest

The second annual FitFest is scheduled for December 6-8, and it will once again take place in Birmingham, UK. 

  • Among the eight competitions that will be held over the course of the weekend, the one we’re looking forward to the most is the FitFest CrossFit Invitational. 

This unique format of competition was a welcomed offseason celebration of fitness in 2023. It pitted three teams against one another, featuring elite athletes throwing down in an invitation-only, exhibition-style event.

Remind me: Last year, three teams, led by captains Emma Lawson, Danielle Brandon, and Ella Wunger, competed in nine events. In the end, Team Lawson tied Team Brandon, with Team Brandon taking the official win in a tiebreaker. 

2024 FitFest Details

Like in 2023, FitFest will feature more than just CrossFit, as eight individual competitions will take place concurrently. 

  • Strength in Depth Triple Threat, a team competition for anyone who would like to sign up with no qualifier, is also going down at FitFest. There’s also the British Indoor Rowing Championships, obstacle course racing, a powerlifting meet, and the British Weightlifting Championships. 

There will be a total of 5,000 athletes competing, with 10,000 spectators cheering them on.

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SPEED READS

🥇🥇A Legend Retires: Two-time CrossFit Games champ Katrin Davidsdottir announced her retirement over the weekend. We will have a full career retrospective later this week, but first, check out this breakdown of Davidsdottir’s career achievements from B.Friendly Fitness.

💪 🙌 Working with Larger Bodies Seminar: Athena Perez and Scaled Nation Training will be delivering the Working with Larger Bodies seminar at CrossFit ELM Turnberry in Commerce City, CO, on Saturday, February 15, 2025. Register now.

🏋️🐐 Rich Froning’s Basement Gym: Check out the first part of this video series touring Rich Froning’s Cookeville, TN, fitness compound from our friends over at Garage Gym Reviews.

😎🌴 2024 TYR WZA Miami Beach Wave 2 Ticket Sales: In case you’ve missed it, tickets for TYR WZA Miami Beach are currently in Wave 2 pricing. Get yours soon and save some $$$.

  • So far, the elite athlete roster includes “the Boys” (Noah Ohlsen, Chandler Smith, and Travis Mayer), “the Broadway Girls” (Haley Adams, Brooke Wells, and Sydney Wells), Alexis Raptis, Ricky Garard, Pat Vellner, Dani Speegle, James Sprague, and Arielle Loewen. Many more to come.

ICYMI: We sat down with Dylan Malitsky, VP of Sport for Loud & Live, to discuss TYR WZA's move to Miami Beach this winter. Get the details here.

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Credit: @benbergeron / Instagram

Assessing the 9 Markers of Complete Fitness: An Athlete’s Guide to Leveling Up

As CrossFitters, we pride ourselves on our commitment to well-rounded fitness. We don't specialize; we strive to be capable across various physical challenges.

But even within this approach, there's always room for fine-tuning and improvement.

By understanding and assessing the nine essential markers of fitness, we can improve our training and performance.

The 3 Pillars of Complete Fitness

Complete fitness rests on three main pillars, each containing three crucial markers:

  1. Strength

    • Absolute strength

    • Relative power

    • Muscular endurance

  1. Conditioning

    • Zone 2 cardio

    • VO2 max/lactate threshold

    • Anaerobic capacity

  1. Functional Range of Motion

    • Flexibility

    • Mobility

    • Stability

PROFILE

Credit: @chrisibarra5, @djfalconnn / Instagram

Rookie Reflections: Chris Ibarra’s First Year at the CrossFit Games

Every athlete competing at the 2024 CrossFit Games had a unique experience. After a grueling qualification season, the tragedy of Lazar Đukić left athletes with questions on how to process their grief and whether to continue their competitive weekend.

Rookie Chris Ibarra from Kansas was one of them.

A Rookie Move

Ibarra qualified out of the North America West Semifinal, finishing tied for fifth after a successful weekend in Carson, CA. 

  • He had a solid all-around showing at Semifinals, quietly flying under the radar and ultimately punching his first ticket to the Games. 

He was feeling good heading into that week, but the increase in training volume was rough on his body.

  • “I was getting a few back problems because I wasn’t used to training for that long,” Ibarra explained in an interview with the Morning Chalk Up. “Usually, I’m done by Semifinals, but I finally made it past that this year. My body needed the time off – it was falling apart at the end.”

Finally, making that leap to compete at the Games added six to eight weeks to his training, and Ibarra did not plan for it most efficiently.

  • “I have learned [my lesson]; I’ve gotten a sauna and am ready to buy a cold plunge,” Ibarra said. “I need to prioritize my recovery all season long, especially leading up to the Games – that will help me feel ten times better. I need to fix the small things.”

HIGHLIGHTS

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