Tia Takes on Games Training

July 9th, 2025

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

  • Addicted to pain? Not exactly. Tia’s addicted to feeling unstoppable.

  • Starving your engine won’t torch more fat.

  • What do CrossFit legends wish they knew as rookies?

QUOTE OF THE DAY
❝

Games training is definitely way more enjoyable than throughout the year… [But] with that fun comes a lot of pain.”

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr
CROSSFIT GAMES

“You Feel like You’re Invincible:” A Day of Games Training With Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr

Credit: @evillmediasports / Instagram

After focusing on HYROX for most of the season, Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr announced last week that she will accept her CrossFit Games invite and shift her focus to earning her eighth Fittest on Earth title in Albany, NY, next month.

On Saturday, she posted a YouTube video featuring her first day of Games training.

  • With her daughter Willow in tow, Toomey-Orr started with a conditioning piece, followed by a high-volume strength session that included clean pulls, cleans, shoulder presses, and front squats.

Between sets, Toomey-Orr chatted about HYROX training and how much easier it was on her body and her recovery than training for CrossFit the entire year. 

  • “My body, from doing HYROX, has been so nice. It feels really good,” Toomey-Orr said. “I’m hitting numbers, and I’m like, ‘Oh wow,’ that’s what it feels like when you feel fresh.’”

The other day, she hit a 190-pound snatch, she said, and it felt “effortless,” she said.

How does Toomey-Orr feel now that she’s all-in on CrossFit Games training? Read on to find out.

A MESSAGE FROM VELITES

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SPEED READS

📺👀 Great Watch: If you aren’t following Mason Startup on YouTube, it’s time to check out his videos. He takes his time and digs super deep into a topic, like in his most recent episode on Noah Ohlsen’s career-long pacing woes. Check it out here.

💪🔥 Master Chest-to-Bar Pull-Ups: The chest-to-bar pull-up is a classic exercise in CrossFit, and this video breaks down the best techniques to master it. Add these drills from John Singleton and The Progrm today.

🏋️🎟️ WFP Tour Stop II Spectator Tickets: Want to attend the second World Fitness Tour Stop? Spectator tickets are available now for the Mesa, AZ, event on August 29-31. Get them here.

🤯 📚 The “Sugar Diet”?!?: Relax, no one here is advocating the new “sugar diet” protocol; instead, CrossFit’s senior content writer, Stephane Rochet, unpacks the online chatter and explains why open-mindedness and nuance matter.

🍟🌯 Games Athletes’ Fav Fast Food: Bayley Martin asked fellow Australian Games athletes Jay Crouch, Ricky Garard, and more about their favorite fast food meals, then ranked them. Check out the taste test here.

ICYMI: Seventeen rookies. History says at least one cracks the top 10.

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Why Training Fasted Won't Optimize Your CrossFit Performance 

Credit: @optimizemenutrition/ / Instagram

You roll out of bed at 5:30 a.m., chug some black coffee, and head straight to the gym for your morning WOD. No breakfast. No fuel.

  • Just you, your empty stomach, and the promise that a fasted training session will somehow turn you into a fat-burning machine. 

Here's the uncomfortable truth, though: that fasted training strategy you've been banking on may be sabotaging the body composition and performance gains you're after. 

CROSSFIT GAMES

CrossFit Legends Share Words of Wisdom for 2025 Games Rookies

Credit: Crispy Dudes, @crispydudes / Instagram

Earlier this year, CrossFit legend Cole Sager shared via social media that he would not pursue a spot at the 2025 Games. He was finally hanging his jersey up after 11 years competing on the big stage. 

  • A husband, father of two, and the president of CompTrain, Sager has entered a new phase of life – that of a mentor, leading and guiding athletes who seek to pursue their dreams of competitive fitness. 

With the 2025 Games quickly approaching, Sager reflected on his time spent competing and had words to share with those about to do so for the first time. 

Here is his “Letter To the Rookies”: 

“Time will stand still this next month. You’ll pack your days with more work and deeper mental engagement than you probably ever have. You’ll feel the urge to obsess over everything, analyze every detail, and dial in every 1%. You don’t need to. Honor the hard work you are doing, and all that will follow. What’s far more important is being present and enjoying the journey.

“Eleven straight CrossFit Games went by in what felt like a few short years.”

Sager’s letter continues after the jump, and we reached out to some other past and present Games veterans to share their words of advice as well.

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HIGHLIGHTS

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

  • 🔥Check out this 85-kilo/187-pound complex from Elisa Fuliano, winner of The Italian Championship.

  • Here’s what a day of Games prep looks like for 2025 rookie Ty Jenkins.

  • Well done to Jessi and Chandler Smith, who took to a Ralph’s parking lot on the 4th of July to run a 5k.

  • Congratulations to Mirjam Von Rohr, who just defended her title of national champion in functional fitness - next up is European Championships in September.

  • 🙌Take a look at what training looks like these days for Brent Fikowski.