7 Burning Questions for the 2025 CrossFit Season

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

• The 2025 season is upon us, and we’ve got some burning questions. Check them out below.

• Should the dynamics in your gym mirror those of a healthy family? Ben Bergeron, co-host of the Chasing Excellence podcast, has more.

• We talked with Zimbabwe’s Christina Livaditakis about her election to the PFAA and her plans for the 2025 season.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I believe in the methodology…for health and fitness, so with that, I will support my community by competing in the 2025 season.” - Christina Livaditakis on why she plans to compete in the 2025 Games season.

CROSSFIT GAMES

7 Burning Questions for the 2025 CrossFit Games Season

With the new year underway, there are a lot of questions about the state of CrossFit and the direction of the sport.

• Last year closed out with some surprising news for athletes and fans, including the announcement of a new season structure and rumors of a new Games location.

Moving into 2025, there are a host of burning questions we want to answer — here are seven of them.

Where Will the 2025 CrossFit Games Be Located? 

The first year of the CrossFit Games in Fort Worth, TX, went worse than anyone could have expected. 

• If CrossFit were to return to the Dickies Arena next year, it would likely remind everyone of Lazar Ðukić’s untimely death. To avoid this, it makes sense for CrossFit to move the Games to a different location in 2025. 

While the timeline is tight to relocate an event the size of the Games, some familiar venues like Madison, WI, or Carson, CA, could make things easier. 

• With the smaller field sizes already announced for 2025, CrossFit could go back to The Ranch in Aromas, CA, and try to bring back the nostalgia of the good old days.

Of course, we’ve also heard the rumors about Albany, NY. We’ll wait for the official announcement before booking our tickets. 

Can CrossFit Fix Its Video Review System? 

In 2025, CrossFit will run virtual in-affiliate (read: online) Semifinals to determine who qualifies for the CrossFit Games. 

As part of last month’s announcement outlining the season structure, the Games team has added the requirement that Semifinal judges have the CrossFit L1, the 2025 Judges Course, and a new Advanced Judging course. 

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SPEED READS

🇺🇸 🙏 Mayhem 4.40 Challenge: The Mayhem 4.40 Challenge is a 40-day journey designed to push you and bring real growth into every area of your life. For each of the 40 days, you’ll commit to four pillars — Faith, Family, Fitness, and Service — taking action across all of them daily.

• Learn more about the 4.40 Challenge and sign up now.

🇰🇷🥇 The Far East Throwdown 2025: Over the holidays, events hosting In-Person Qualifying Events (formerly “Semifinals”) began releasing information about their qualifying processes and events. Check out that schedule here.

• Weon-Woo Lee, the Far East Throwdown General Director, announced details about the only in-person Asia qualifier via YouTube video. Among other details, he announced that there would be no regional restrictions on those wishing to attempt to qualify for the event.

🇪🇸 🏆 2025 Wodland Fest Wild Cards: Over the past few days, the Wodland Fest, one of two European In-Person Qualifying Events for the 2025 CrossFit Games, announced the first of several “wild card” athletes. The competition itself takes place in Málaga, Spain, from April 25-27.

• Aniol Ekai, Spain’s current top male CrossFit, and Iceland’s Sara Sigmundsdottir will compete and serve as ambassadors for the event.

🤝👑 Syndicate Crown and The Fittest Experience: Two of the three in-person qualifying events in North America announced that they would follow the North America West (The Fittest Experience) and North America East (Syndicate Crown) competitive regions from last season. Learn more about that here.

• Learn how athletes can qualify for The Fittest Experience (May 16-18, 2025) here and Syndicate Crown (May 30-June 1) here.

🌎🏆 World Fitness Tour: The team behind the World Fitness Project began announcing the inaugural class of “signed” athletes for the 2025 season over the holidays. Get caught up here.

• Yesterday, the WFP announced that recent Dubai Fitness Championship winner Luka Ðukić is one of the signed athletes for 2025. 

ICYMI: Answering our six burning questions from the 2024 CrossFit Games season.

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

The "Family Test": How Successful Gyms Mirror Healthy Family Dynamics

As an affiliate owner, you walk through your front door every day with a certain feeling in your gut. You may not be able to put it into words, but that instinctual reaction speaks volumes about the health of your community.

I'd argue it's the most important indicator of your gym's success.

More Than Just Metrics

We fixate on revenue, profitability, membership numbers, and retention as the key metrics defining our gyms. While those are important, they are ultimately lagging indicators, not leading ones.

• As Albert Einstein famously said, "Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."

The true lifeblood of our gyms — the thing that keeps people returning day after day — is the feeling, the vibe.

Think about it this way: What's the feeling you get when you come home and walk through your front door?

PROFILE

Interview: Zimbabwe’s Christina Livaditakis on Election to PFAA Board and Why She’ll Compete in the 2025 CrossFit Season

Zimbabwe’s Christina Livaditakis has been keeping busy during the offseason. 

In October, Livaditakis finished third at the Down Under Championship (DUC) in Wollongong, Australia. Then, in November, she was elected as one of the six athlete board members for the Professional Fitness Athletes’ Association (PFAA). 

• The Morning Chalk Up sat down with the Zimbabwean to discuss living in Australia, competing in Africa, her role on the PFAA Board, and her goals for the 2025 season.

Discovering CrossFit

Growing up in Zimbabwe, Livaditakis was an active kid who enjoyed all sports, from water polo to rugby. She first became interested in CrossFit in 2016.

• “I was in a gym training normally, and I was bored,” she said. “I’d heard of CrossFit through [a friend who said], ‘All those CrossFitters look jacked.’ I was like, oh yeah, that sounds cool; I want to look jacked. I’ll give it a go, and then I fell in love with the sport.” 

Livaditakis fell in love with the methodology as well. She earned her CrossFit L1 and began coaching soon after.

HIGHLIGHTS

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

• 💕Congratulations to Ally Zierke and Colten Mertens, who got engaged over the holidays.

• Congrats to Jody for this Bring Sally Up challenge with 100-kilo back squats.

• Watch Games athlete Agustín Richelme test out his snatch (125 kilos/275 pounds), a set of three cleans (150 kilos/330 pounds), and a back squat (202 kilos/445 pounds).

• Amazing job to Willy Georges on this double push press at 140 kilos/308 pounds.

• 🎉Happy 10-year affiliate anniversary to CrossFit 2102 in the Netherlands.