PRVN Fitness Launches HYROX Program

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

• Top HYROX athlete and coach James Kelly has joined PRVN Fitness to launch a new HYROX program with the elite CrossFit training brand.

• How do affiliate owners know when it’s time to expand and offer new services or locations? Jason Fernandez from Best Hour of Their Day has some advice.

• Next up in our 2025 training camp preview: Invictus.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Winning is nice, but we also have a lot of different people and opportunities. And so if I can help any of our athletes in any different way, then that's always my goal.” - Holden Rethwill, head coach at Invictus and five-time team Games athlete.

HYROX

PRVN Fitness Brings in HYROX Coach James Kelly to Launch New Program

Training for a HYROX race? 

• PRVN Fitness has just created a new program specifically for the fitness racing phenomenon, HYROX. 

PRVN Fitness picked Australian HYROX athlete and coach James Kelly to write the program and prepare athletes of varying levels for race day. 

This isn’t the first fitness brand, specifically of a CrossFit origin, to launch a HYROX-focused program. However, it does show the popularity of the fitness race and its crossover into the CrossFit space. 

• Kelly placed third at the HYROX World Championship in 2024 and was the first athlete to run a sub-60 minute race on debut. 

He first met Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr, co-owner of PRVN, a few months ago and trained with her while she prepared for her own HYROX debut in the doubles division with fellow Aussie, James Newbury. 

• “I’ve been a HYROX coach all my time as a HYROX athlete, so I’ve been developing my business online and we’ve pretty much come together to join most of them and come out with our own PRVN HYROX training program,” Kelly told the Morning Chalk Up in an interview. 

The details: The way the program works is its level-based programming. 

• An example would be an athlete who thinks they can run a 75-minute race; they’d do the 75-minute program. 

Kelly added that it’s built for all athletes from all walks of life. While he expects a lot of CrossFit athletes to “dabble” in the HYROX program, he also anticipates athletes from other sports like running and even weightlifting. 

• “There’s a wide range of athletes in the HYROX space. So we’re trying to facilitate for all needs and all histories of training, not just one,” Kelly said. 

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SPEED READS

🏋️📋 World Fitness Project Movement List: Earlier this week, the World Fitness Project released its full movement list for the Pro and Challenger divisions in the inaugural 2025 season. Check it out here.

🌎 🎟️ 2025 Qualifying Event Updates: Here are a few quick updates from some of the 2025 CrossFit Games Qualifying Events.  

• French Throwdown — The first two qualifier workouts have been released and are available via the French Throwdown Linktree here.

• Rebel Renegade Games — The Rebel Renegade Games Online Qualifiers are now open. Register now, Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa & Gulf.

• Mayhem Classic — The Cookeville, TN invitational continues to reveal its roster of invitees. Check it out here.

🚨🚨 The CrossFit Open Is Coming: The 2025 CrossFit Open will take place from February 27 to March 17, so sign up now!

• Bundle and save on 2025 CrossFit Open shirts and Judges course registration here.

ICYMI: We talked with Jason Ansley and Roger Gillros, the event directors tasked with organizing the World Fitness Project’s first three events. Learn about the men’s experience and their plans for the WFP inaugural season here.

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

How I Lost $100K Chasing Shiny Objects (And How You Can Avoid the Same Fate)

In 2017, I was feeling pretty smart. My CrossFit affiliate was humming along nicely with strong profits, good member retention, and steady growth. 

Life was good.

But apparently, that wasn't enough for me.

In a fit of entrepreneurial over-exuberance, I decided to:

• Buy another affiliate.

• Open a bootcamp-style studio.

• Launch a sports-specific training facility.

• Oh, and I bought a cryotherapy machine for good measure (queue Mr. Freeze).

Care to guess how that turned out?

In a stunning display of poor judgment, I failed at every single one of those ventures. Not because they were inherently bad ideas but because I lacked the experience and wisdom to assess the risks properly.

• When all was said and done, I had lost over $100,000 and found myself mired in a drawn-out legal battle with a landlord.

I almost lost everything I had worked so hard to build.

All because I wasn't smart enough to pump the brakes and think things through.

THINGS TO…

KNOW

The Last 4 Male Games Podium Athletes Who Aren’t Signed in the WFP

• Fran Lung Analytics and Dave Charlton have been breaking down the World Fitness Project rosters from every angle. Stay in the know with the Fran Lung Newsletter.
  SIGN UP NOW!

WATCH

Justin Medeiros Lift With Strongman Legends Halfthor Bjornsson and Mitchell Hooper

• The two-time Games champ joined in a lifting session with the strongman legends and discussed their careers and training goals. Then Hooper and Medeiros threw down on a 2k
  WATCH NOW.

HEAR

PRVN Fitness Co-Founder Shane Orr on the Rox Lyfe Podcast

• Shane Orr, husband and coach to CrossFit GOAT Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr, joined the biggest podcast in HYROX, Rox Lyfe, to discuss the couple’s HYROX plans, as well as give some insight into his coaching and mindset.  
  LISTEN HERE.

CROSSFIT GAMES

2025 CrossFit Training Camp Preview: Invictus

In 2023, Team Invictus, comprised of Josh Al-Chamaa, Jorge Fernandez, Devyn Kim, and Brittany Weiss, put on a show at the CrossFit Games in Madison. 

• A podium favorite, but not necessarily for the top spot, the foursome made a statement and took home the gold. They only finished outside of the top five in only one event all week.

With the members of that squad going their separate ways, in addition to many other changes, the Invictus training camp has a fresh coat of paint heading into the 2025 season.

Invictus, a training camp known primarily for the caliber of teams it produces, had two teams competing at the 2024 CrossFit Games, with a third competing at the North America West Semifinal.

Following the Games, coach Holden Rethwill wanted to give his athletes more time than usual to recover physically and mentally. 

Recovering From 2024

There was a lot to process after the 2024 Games.

• Rethwill explained to the Morning Chalk Up: “A lot of people were unsure as to what their plans were going to be heading into this year. And so we just let folks do whatever they felt like doing in the off-season to make sure that they were having fun and enjoying the process.”

This season, a rulebook change limited the number of affiliate teams allowed to compete at the Games to one per affiliate. 

• It “kind of pulls the rug out for a lot of those aspirational athletes that maybe are not quite at the level of being on the number one team yet,” says Rethwill. 

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HIGHLIGHTS

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

• 🎂 Happy birthday (2/16) to Chaz Clark and Mike Roth.

• Great work to Dennis Olsson on this 140-kilo/308-pound overhead squat PR.

• Mirjam von Rohr is unlocking some new skills. See if you can try this one.

• Check out Zack George, who hit 50 strict handstand push-ups in under two minutes.

• 🏋️‍♀️ Nice job to Dawon Jung on this 81-kilo/180-pound snatch.

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