Open Announcement 24.2: Medeiros vs Mertens

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up. 

In today's edition:

• Justin Medeiros and Colten Mertens will go head-to-head and take on 24.2 in just a few weeks. Get our predictions now

• Get to know Emma Lawson, the teen sensation and 2023 Second Fittest Woman on Earth

• Learn about "separation value" and how to strategize workouts with TTT's Kyle Ruth and Brennan Dorman

Editor's Note: The Morning Chalk Up has moved its content to BarBend, which you can find here going forward. We have also moved our newsletter to a new mailing platform. Please bear with us through the transition and know that some things will look different temporarily, but rest assured, we're still here to deliver all the best news and highlights from the sport and community of CrossFit.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“A few events in, I got the leader jersey and I was kind of like, ‘Is this even real life?’ Here I am this morning thinking, ‘Do I even belong here,’ and now I’m being handed the leader jersey."

- Emma Lawson on earning the white jersey on day one of her first Games as an individual in 2022 

CROSSFIT OPEN

CrossFit Open Announcement 24.2 Matchup: Justin Medeiros vs Colten Mertens

The second live Open announcement matchup of the year was just released and we will be watching 2-time CrossFit Games champion Justin Medeiros go head-to-head against three-time individual Games athlete Colten Mertens.

Both of these men tend to do well in the Open so it should be a tight competition that will likely depend on the movements programmed in the workout.

One interesting fact about this pair is that they finished right next to each other in the 2022 Open where third-place Medeiros edged out fourth-place Mertens on the global leaderboard by just four total points.

Since we don’t yet know what Castro and Boz have in store for them, let’s take a look at some past results to give us a better idea of who might come out on top.

Justin Medeiros vs Colten Mertens

Justin Medeiros is coming off his worst finish ever at the CrossFit Games (13th) while Colten Mertens is coming off his best finish ever (18th). 

In 2023, Medeiros also had his worst overall Open finish since 2019 (78th), while Mertens had his best overall Open finish ever (3rd) and it was the second straight year he finished in the top five on the global leaderboard.

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SPEED READS

"Unpolished," a Six-Part Series: Watch Danish stand-out Rebecka Vitesson's new six-part YouTube series, "Unpolished." Rather than focusing on training and day-in-the-life videos, Vitesson plans to highlight and explore her background and upbringing, her inspirations, and mindset. 

🎟️ 🎟️ Syndicate Crown / North America East Semifinal Spectator Tickets: Want to check out the top 40 men and women, and top 30 teams in the North America East region early this summer? Spectator tickets are available now.

✍️ 💪 Need to get your L2 for affiliation? The Affiliate University will pay for your L2 when you enroll with them.

• Affiliate University is a comprehensive and results-based Business Mentorship program.⁠ They seek to help you create a thriving business and develop your coaches at the same time.

🏀 🏋️ Detroit Pistons x Core City CrossFit Kids: Core City CrossFit Kids and the Detroit Pistons are teaming up for a fundraiser on Saturday, February 24, and here's how you can help:

1. Buy tickets!! Bring your family and friends and come watch the game with them.

2. If you can’t come to the game, purchase tickets for the kids to bring their family members and friends.

3. Share this IG post to help spread the word.

Your ticket package includes a game ticket (vs. Orlando Magic), a post-game shot on the court, and a donation to the Core City CrossFit Kids. 

Help Katarina Fight Leukemia: The Morning Chalk Up's Julia Papworth has organized a GoFundMe campaign for her friend Maddy Curley, a former CrossFit Games team athlete. Curley's daughter, Katarina, was diagnosed with a particular form of Leukemia called "B-Cell ALL" and is undergoing heavy chemotherapy.

Working with Larger Bodies Seminar and PRVN Fitness: Athena Perez and Scaled Nation will be joining PRVN Fitness at their new headquarters in Nashville, TN to present the "Working with Larger Bodies" seminar. The event will occur on April 21, 2024, beginning at 9 AM. Register now!

ICYMI: Mal O'Brien to sit out the 2024 CrossFit Games season. Have we seen her on the competition floor for the final time?

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Getting to Know the Second Fittest Woman on Earth, Emma Lawson

By Emily Beers

It’s the first event of the 2022 CrossFit Games.

A 17-year-old rookie, Emma Lawson, is about to take on her childhood idols, Brooke Wells, Laura Horvath, and Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr. 

The teenager should be a bit scared, intimidated, and apprehensive to put herself out there against athletes she has looked up to since she started CrossFit in Kitchener, Ontario, at the age of 7.

But she isn’t.

TRAINING

What is Separation Value?: Training Smarter with Training Think Tank’s Kyle Ruth and Brannen Dorman

How do you create separation in a CrossFit workout? You work harder, right? 

You don’t put the bar down. You drop and do your next burpee. You embrace the pain and just…go…faster. Sure, that’s part of it. 

However, Kyle Ruth and Brannen Dorman from Training Think Tank and the Corpus Animus podcast believe there are ways to increase performance with intelligence, in addition to fitness, using the concept of separation value.  

We spoke to Ruth, who has been coaching CrossFit for 13 years, to dig a little deeper about this theme and others, and see how they could help us to become better, smarter athletes. 

Defining separation value of movements: At a recent competitor’s camp hosted by the Training Think Tank team, Ruth hosted a discussion on this very subject. The camp was attended by a wide range of athletes, from Quarterfinals-bound to the Sixth Fittest Woman on Earth in 2023, Alexis Raptis.

He broke this concept down into two categories: global and individual. 

• “Global” is defined by Ruth as, “The most complex movements you’ll see in whatever stage you’re competing at, or the movements that take the most time.” These are described as global because they take the most skill and time for everyone in your peer group. 

• An example of this would be ring muscle-ups, which require a high level of skill and a significant amount of time per rep, compared to double-unders, which require a lower level of skill and take a fraction of the time per rep. 

• “Individual” is defined by the strengths and weaknesses that an individual athlete has. It can go both ways. They can be movements that create opportunities to separate or movements that require some damage control. This highlights the value of knowing yourself well.

Then, Ruth and Dorman explained several components of determining separation value:

Cost of failure: Higher separation value movements typically have a higher cost of failure as well. To use the ring muscle-up as an example again: 

• “To fail a ring muscle-up, especially in the dip, you have not only wasted time and energy on that rep, you then must rest for an extended amount of time. Compared to a failed double-under, where you just step over the rope and keep going,” Ruth says. 

Heavy lifts tend to have a high cost of failure as well. A failed lift takes substantially longer to recover from, physically and mentally. This is where Ruth recommends having the “memory of a goldfish.”

THINGS TO…

…IMPROVE

Single Arm Overhead Squats

This tricky movement really tests your mobility in multiple joints. Limiting factors for many people could be hip, shoulder, or ankle tightness. Kriger Training shows how to spend time in the end position, under tension to gradually improve your game.

WORK YOUR WEAKNESSES

Qualified Coaches For Your Gym

Struggling to find talented coaches? BarbellJobs is here to help. Effortless posting, unlimited candidates, and perfect matches await. Access over 8000 job seekers through their extensive network and find the coach your members deserve.

HAPPY HIRING.

…TRUST

LSKD Trust Us Packs 

Check out the "Trust Us" pack, from LSKD, available in seven different sizes. You'll just have to trust the LSKD team that they threw in lots of goodies for you, as the items inside are a mystery. Word is that prices reflect 50% off, and there may or may not be lots of additional goodies thrown in. Grab one before they're gone. 

SURPRISE. 

Your Goals with Kaged

Always third-party certified, made with clean ingredients, and created with athletes in mind, Kaged has you covered. Find a supplement to help with any goal you may have this season: bulking, cutting, better energy, better focus.

TRAIN BETTER.

…REMEMBER

Stand Instead of Sit

Juliet Starrett reminds us of the benefits of standing and fidgeting while we work, as opposed to sitting still. While we stand, we inadvertently move around, which is what our body craves. She also recommends using a SlackBlock to help with instability and additional movement. 

BUILT TO MOVE.

HIGHLIGHTS

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

• 🎂Happy birthday to Morning Chalk Up's Eric Sherred.

• Congratulations to Jesse from CrossFit Gosford in Australia on the 100-kilo/220-pound bench press PR.

• Congratulations to the kids at CrossFit Camden Frontier in Camden, MI on all the double under PRs.

• 💕Congratulations to Games athlete Jake Douglas and new wife Ellen on their recent wedding. 

• Congratulations to the Berger family, training hard together every day. 

LOCAL COMPETITIONS

2/17 - 2/18: Busto Throwdown (Busto Arsizio, Italy)
2/17: Cupid’s Throwdown (Las Vegas, Nevada)
3/2: The LKW Games (Lake Waccamaw, North Carolina)
3/9: The Valkyrie Fitness Competition (Tampa, FL)
3/16: Upper Hunter Strongest Novice (Muswellbrook, Australia)
3/16: Oceanside CrossFit 1st Annual Shamwod & Shenanigains (Oceanside, Ca)
3/16: Shamwod & Shenanigains (Oceanside, Ca)
3/23 - 3/24: Beach Brawl (Spring) (Pensacola Beach, FL)
3/23: Masters Distinguished Games (Fort Wright, KY)
3/23: CFL Teen Take Over (Lorton, VA)