Rest In Peace: Make WODs Great Again

POWERED BY:

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

• James Sprague brought his 10,000-watt smile into Carson and walked away with a third-place finish and a Games ticket. We caught up with the now two-time individual qualifier and talked about his sophomore season.

• Make WODs Great Again is gone, but in its demise, John Wooley finds an opportunity and shares some lessons he’s learned.

• CrossFit HQ wants to close the gap between the affiliate community and healthcare professionals through a new organization called the CrossFit Medical Society. Learn more below.

Should your gym be featured as our Affiliate of the Month for July? Please drop us a note to explain why!

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Sometimes it takes tiny events that mean nothing in the grand scheme of things to remove blinders that you should have removed yourself years ago.” - John Wooley on finding opportunity in adversity

CROSSFIT GAMES

CrossFit Games Profile: James Sprague Gains Momentum Heading into His Sophomore Season

James Sprague — the little brother we all wish we had — jumps onto the podium to celebrate his third-place finish at the West Coast Classic with his signature giddiness and exuberance. 

He steps down and continues to congratulate, thank, and chat with seemingly every person milling around amidst the confetti and champagne-covered floor mats. 

Sprague is anxious for what comes next and is grateful that he is once again headed to the big show of them all: the CrossFit Games. 

Making the Jump 

Competing as a teen in 2017 and 2019, Sprague held his own amongst a competitive lineup. 

Finishing fourth and fifth, respectively, in those years, he made a name for himself as a vibrant up-and-comer, with many people wondering how quickly he’d be able to make the jump to the Individual division. 

• With three-time teen champion, friend, and sometimes training partner Dallin Pepper blazing the trail, Sprague edged closer and closer each year between 2019 and 2023, attempting to grab a Games spot. 

But it wasn’t until 2023 that Sprague finally earned his way to the CrossFit Games via the North American West Semifinal, taking the second-to-last qualifying place ahead of Spencer Panchik.

A MESSAGE FROM GOODSPORT

New Research Reveals Unique Electrolyte Profile Found in GoodSport®Hydrates Better Than Leading Sports Drinks and Water

Groundbreaking research from Arizona State University's Hydration Science Lab examined the effectiveness of sports drinks based on their electrolyte profiles.

Most sports drinks rely on either sodium or potassium as their primary electrolyte to enhance hydration. The lab compared water, a leading sodium-based sports drink, a leading potassium-based sports drink, and GoodSport®, a drink containing both sodium and potassium.

Revealed at the American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting, the study showed GoodSport® hydrated significantly better and longer than the other drinks due to its unique combination of sodium and potassium. GoodSport® also contains four other essential electrolytes.

“We evaluated several sports drinks to identify which electrolytes or combinations would hydrate better, and it was empirically evident that GoodSport®, with its optimal levels of sodium and potassium, as well as other electrolytes, hydrated better and longer,” said Dr. Stavros Kavouros, lead researcher and Professor of Nutrition at Arizona State University.

SPEED READS

🤔🦣 Wooley Memeth: Make WODs Great Again is no more. The platform created by affiliate owner/memelord John Wooley was shut down by Instagram. Check out the full story below, and give his new platform, Wooley Memeth, a follow.

• Order now to get your hands on a limited-edition “Block First. Block Hard.” T-shirt to celebrate the new platform 😉😆.

• And, check out the Glinton Things podcast today at 5 p.m. ET to hear from the man himself.

🏆🏆 Celebrate the launch of the all-new Jocko Hydrate Drink by winning some epic prizes! Win a Jocko Fuel x Blue Cube Ice Bath ($20,000 value), a year's supply of the brand-new drink, or be one of 10 lucky runners-up to snag prizes from YETI and GORUCK. Stay hydrated and win big!

🌟🚣 Glow Row Fundraiser: Check out this cool event organized by The Dancer Love Foundation. It’s a marathon row with teams of 10 that supports adaptive athletes.

• The details: The event will raise funds to support those with physical and intellectual disabilities through fitness and love. It will take place June 15, 6:30-10:30 pm, at CrossFit Invictus in San Diego, CA.

• Learn more and register now.

🔥💙 Geaux CrossFit x Working with Larger Bodies: Later this summer, Geaux CrossFit in Baton Rouge, LA, will host the Working with Larger Bodies seminar. The seminar will provide members and the broader community with access to expertise and resources about fitness, nutrition, and working with athletes with varying needs for movement adjustments. Register now!

Rogue Invitational Qualifying System: The Rogue Invitational announced a new qualifying system for its annual event, which is moving to Aberdeen, Scotland, in 2024.

• From the announcement: “Over the past few years, we have been working on the method to select the best CrossFit athletes in the sport. This system takes into account the most recent event performance along with the last five years. There is a predictive component to replace missing scores due to various life events.”

• The post clarified that Rogue “reserve[s] the right to invite anyone but plan on using this to choose a MIN of 10 along with 5 MIN from the Q.”

• Check out more details on the qualifying system and search for athletes here.

🏳️‍🌈💛 Reebok Unveils “Unity by Reebok” for 2024 Pride: The collection, according to Reebok, “features expressive and colorful graphics inspired by the traditional tie-dyed garments seen within Pride parades across the globe, plus apparel featuring the collection’s mantra: ‘For Anybody and Everybody.’”

• Check out the full line and grab some new kicks and other gear, as Reebok also pledged to donate $10,000 to The Boston Alliance of LGBTQ+ Youth (BAGLY)!

🏆 TYR Wodapalooza Drops TYR Cup Details: The team at Loud and Live is dropping more info about the inaugural event this Fall. Stay in the know below:

• With more details out in the world, the TYR Cup crew posted this hype video laying out everything you need to know. Check it out now!

• The prize purse for the event will be $250,000, broken down as follows:

  • TYR Cup Champs: $160k per team
    Runner-ups: $40k per team
    MVP: $10k - Awarded to the individual with the greatest singular positive impact on their team’s success.
    The remaining $40k will be shared across the remaining division champs.

ICYMI: Under CrossFit's existing scoring structure, consistency beats event wins. Learn why winning multiple Semifinal events doesn't guarantee a Games ticket.

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

RIP Make WODs Great Again

Well, it’s official. 

Make WODs Great Again no longer exists on Instagram. I always knew this day would come, but it still feels very sudden and jarring for some reason. 

I heard a comedian say once, “If you say horrible things for a living, you need to be prepared for the consequences.” And while I don’t feel like the things I say are horrible, I do understand the risk presented often with satire and expected someday I would cross a line I couldn’t come back from. 

The irony is that isn’t what happened. 

On Friday, May 31, Instagram sent me a message stating that their technology had detected that I had infringed on someone's intellectual property, and because of that, they had disabled my account. 

• The property in question was a video sent to me from a follower several months ago that I turned into a reel and it went viral. 

At the time, it received a little over 52 million views and well over a million likes and shares. As I often do with good content, I’ve re-shared it several times. 

I re-shared it again that Friday morning without knowing that the person who sent it to me originally sold the rights to MTV, who, in turn, very quickly filed a copyright and subsequently claimed it against me. 

• Just like that, the page was over. 

I wish I had a more dramatic story for you all, but at the end of the day, I made a simple but very costly mistake, and the only person I can blame is myself. 

When situations like this occur in my life I try to look for the lessons.

A MESSAGE FROM POWER MONKEY FITNESS

Take Your Gymnastics Training to New Heights

Maybe you dream of getting your first strict ring muscle-up, iron cross, planche. Or you are coming from an injury and want to slowly build back the higher level skills you were comfortable with pre-injury. The Power Monkey Ring Thing can help!

The Ring Thing will allows you to work safely and effectively by reducing your body weight by 50%. You'll build proper technique with your pull-up, muscle-up, iron cross and much more.

Morning Chalk Up readers get a $50 discount using code "RINGTHINGMCU".

*available for shipping in the US only.

CROSSFIT/HEALTH

CrossFit LLC Introduces the CrossFit Medical Society to Help Build a Community for Doctors, Providers, Affiliates, and Members

CrossFit HQ is seeking to close the gap between CrossFit and healthcare professionals through a new organization called the CrossFit Medical Society (CFMS). 

The organization is seeking to educate those in the healthcare profession about the efficacy of the CrossFit methodology, empowering affiliates and their members to manage their health more holistically. 

CFMS will be a membership-based organization that will function independently but as a partner with CrossFit HQ.

The Details

The new health organization will be headed up by Dr. Tom McCoy and Jennifer Pishko, who own and operate McCoy Medical, which is a “lifestyle-concepts approach” to healthcare. 

CrossFit HQ tapped Dr. McCoy and Pishko to build a network of physicians and other healthcare providers who bring the CrossFit methodology into a traditional healthcare setting.

Doctors and other healthcare practitioners can join CFMS to network with one another, share educational materials, and continue to advance ways to introduce the “cure for the world’s most vexing problem, chronic disease.”   

• “The overarching vision for all of us was to create a health ecosystem that could allow healthcare providers, both physicians and other disciplines, to have an avenue to connect with affiliate owners and coaches and CrossFitters where they could meet them in their health care journey,” McCoy told Morning Chalk Up in an interview. 

Affiliate owners and members can join the CFMS for free, make use of the educational materials, share with others in their home communities, and connect with doctors and health practitioners who are also credentialed by CrossFit and are CrossFitters themselves.

HIGHLIGHTS

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

• 🎂Happy birthday to James Hobart.

• Happy belated birthday to Sasha Nievas.

• Congratulations to Games rookie Lexi Neely on qualifying for the CrossFit Games as an Individual.

• Great work to this crew in Uganda, Africa, on getting after a tough WOD together.

• 🏋️‍♀️Nice work to Xander from Niche CrossFit in Australia on the 110-kilo/245-pound snatch.

At the West Coast Classic, two friends of ours had some of their extremely valuable camera equipment stolen. Heber Canon of the Buttery Bros arranged a GoFundMe account to raise money to replace the lens and the camera.