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  • 🔥 Rebecka Vitesson’s Long Road Back to the Competition Floor

🔥 Rebecka Vitesson’s Long Road Back to the Competition Floor

October 16th, 2025

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

  • 💪 After a third ACL tear, Rebecka Vitesson is back, tougher, hungrier, and chasing her spot among CrossFit’s elite.

  • 🧈 Move over, seed oils — beef tallow is hotter than ever.

  • 🩵 Annie and Katrin expand Empower by Dottir with pregnancy program for athletes, by athletes.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
❝

Our mission is to not only help [pregnant women] stay physically active, but also to ensure they feel educated, safe, and empowered...”

Annie Thorisdottir on the new Empower Pregnancy program.
PROFILE

Rebecka Vitesson Returns to Competition Post-ACL Surgery

Credit: @vitesson / Instagram

Flashback to the 2024 European CrossFit Semifinal. Rebecka Vitesson was just finishing her rookie run at the CrossFit Games the previous year and trying to secure her next appearance when it all came crashing down. 

Vitesson injured her knee during one of the events at the French Throwdown Semifinal and soon found out she tore her ACL. She had surgery four weeks later and faced a long recovery process. 

Now, more than a year later, she’s back and ready to rejoin the elite CrossFit ranks. 

  • “As expected, it takes time. And some would even say how far I’ve come already is much further than anyone would in this kind of scenario. But I also struggle with a lot more pain than I had in my previous ACL surgeries. So it’s been rough, but then at the same time I’m able to do so much more,” Vitesson tells Morning Chalk Up in an interview.

After the jump: see how Vitesson’s coach convinced her this wasn’t the end — and how she’s fighting her way back.

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SPEED READS

🔥🏋️‍♀️ GymBattle360 Launches a League for Gyms: The new startup is turning everyday training into organized sport — with local qualifiers, city finals, and $500K in prizes. Think training meets intramural league, with team events, bragging rights, and built-in member retention. Read more.

🎤💪 The Art of Coaching: In this CrossFit video, CrossFit’s Eric O’Connor and Stephane Rochet break down why great trainers aren’t made by certifications — they’re built on connection. From compliment sandwiches to celebrating micro-wins, this one’s a masterclass in coaching with heart.

🏋️‍♂️🏃 Functional Fitness vs. HYROX: In this Red Bull article, Noah Ohlsen breaks it down — HYROX tests your engine, CrossFit tests your versatility. One’s steady endurance, the other’s controlled chaos.

💡📉 What’s Replacing CrossFit?: Chris Cooper of Two-Brain says CrossFit isn’t dying — it’s evolving. Affiliates are shifting toward hybrid models with HYROX-style training, personalized coaching, and wellness add-ons. The future gym won’t just teach workouts — it’ll prescribe results.

ICYMI: 🌍 ATHX goes global — the Adidas-backed hybrid comp is fast becoming the next CrossFit-HYROX battleground.

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Move Over, Seed Oils — Beef Tallow Is Back

Credit: Shutterstock

Once seen as an old-fashioned cooking fat only good for grandma’s cast-iron skillet, beef tallow is making a surprising comeback. 

  • From skincare to high-heat cooking and fueling low-carb lifestyles, this “golden fat” is earning its place at the modern wellness table.

But what exactly is tallow, why are people raving about it again, and is it truly healthy or just another nostalgia-driven trend?

Let’s break down the science, the hype, and how to properly use beef tallow to support your health.

What Is Beef Tallow, Exactly?

Beef tallow is a rendered form of beef fat, usually made from the fat surrounding the kidneys and loins (also called suet). 

  • It was widely used until vegetable oils like canola and soybean oil gained popularity in the mid-20th century. 

But now, as people seek out traditional, whole-food fats and move away from ultra-processed seed oils, tallow is gaining renewed interest.

POLL

🏋️‍♀️ What’s your warm-up personality?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Last week, we asked: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Which 2025 Rogue Invitational Legends athlete would you most want to take a CrossFit class from?

  • Rich Froning 🇺🇸

  • Annie Sakamoto 😁

  • Brent Fikowski 🤓

  • Annie Thorisdottir 🇮🇸

  • Scott Panchik🥇

  • Rebecca Voight Miller 🌳

  • Dan Bailey 💪

  • Sam Briggs 🇬🇧

  • Mat Fraser 😤

  • Chris Spealler 🏔️

It was a tight race, but Rich Froning won out with 27.44% of the votes, followed closely by Brent Fikowski with 20.4%, and then Annie Thorisdottir with 16.2%.

INDUSTRY

Annie Thorisdottir and Katrin Davidsdottir Launch Pregnancy Program

Credit: @laurenfisher / Instagram

CrossFit Games champions Annie Thorisdottir and Katrin Davidsdottir turned their next dream into reality on Wednesday. 

They launched their company’s newest program: Empower Pregnancy. 

  • Additionally, they are finalizing an eight-week postpartum program designed to “facilitate healing and regain core and pelvic floor strength,” explained Thorisdottir, who is currently pregnant with her third child.

This announcement comes just nine days after Davidsdottir gave birth to her first child, a baby girl named Emberly.

Remind me: In spring 2024, Thorisdottir and Davidsdottir launched Empower by Dottir, providing training programs for women experiencing perimenopause, menopause, and postmenopause.

  • Today, more than 1,000 women of all fitness and experience levels are following their programs, which were developed in partnership with Dr. Stacy Sims, a world-renowned exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist who focuses on women’s health.

HIGHLIGHTS

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