How to Run Quarterfinals in Your Gym, From Justin Medeiros' Coach, Adam Neiffer

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

• CrossFit Fort Vancouver’s (and Justin Medeiros’) head coach, Adam Neiffer offers tips to affiliate owners and coaches running Quarterfinals for their athletes this week

• “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” — here are 4 athletes we’re watching in 2024 who have been away from the CrossFit Games for too long

• Dr. Christina Prevett discusses the results of a new study on CrossFit and pregnancy. Spoiler: It’s good news for those who like to train heavy

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Whether that's Justin Medeiros or ‘10 a.m. Terry,’ our job as coaches is to make our athletes' lives better outside the gym as a result of the time and effort we invest together inside it.” - Adam Neiffer, head coach and owner, CrossFit Fort Vancouver, on showing up for his athletes and community

CROSSFIT QUARTERFINALS

How Justin Medeiros’ Coach Adam Neiffer and CrossFit Fort Vancouver Prepare For Quarterfinals 

Adam Neiffer is two-time CrossFit Games Champion, Justin Medeiros’, coach. 

• He also owns and runs CrossFit Fort Vancouver, a thriving affiliate that registered 244 athletes for the 2024 Open. Of those athletes, 78 qualified for Quarterfinals (the 8th most in the world). 

These facts could create a burdensome balancing act for the second stage of the 2024 Games season, but Neiffer sees it as an opportunity to strengthen his, already solid, community in Vancouver, WA. 

There is no question that year four of Quarterfinals is different from the previous three. With so many athletes expected to participate, it could be challenging for affiliates trying to make it a fulfilling experience for their members. 

It seems as if CrossFit HQ had the foresight to plan for this. 

Adrian Bozman has expressed that affiliates will be able to program the workouts in a class setting, making them more accessible to larger groups. 

This is exactly what Neiffer plans to do. 

With 12 CrossFit classes per day, it would be difficult to create more time outside of class for Quarterfinals. The workouts get released at 12:00 p.m. PST on Wednesday, April 17th. So the anxious athletes who want to get one done that day can take advantage of the ample Open Gym time that’s offered. 

• “In classes, athletes that are either not registered or that did not qualify for Quarterfinals will still get to do the workouts, with the typical guidance from their coaches on how to best scale/modify,” Neiffer tells Morning Chalk Up.

Not every affiliate has such a large number of athletes to prepare for, but it may be relative to gym size and scope. Making a plan with your team will help set you up for success.

“For us, building a plan for how to prepare for and run Quarterfinals for a larger group starts with the question: "What best serves our community?" Starting with this question helps guide all of the decisions we make in our affiliate,” Neiffer explains.

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SPEED READS

🚨🚨 Want an Exclusive Morning Chalk Up x 2POOD Belt? We are giving away 10 exclusive Morning Chalk Up belts from 2POOD, and all you have to do is sign up for a free trial of our Rx membership to have a shot at winning one.

🎟️ 🎟️ CrossFit Asia Semifinal: The Far East Throwdown, the 2024 CrossFit Asia Semifinal, will take place May 17-19, 2024 at the BEXCO Exhibition and Convention Center in Buscan, South Korea. Tickets are available now!

How to Tackle Quarterfinals: CrossFit Invictus just dropped the Ultimate Quarterfinals Guide with tips and tricks from Invictus coaches and their roster of CrossFit Games athletes. Learn how to get your hands on it now.

☀️🥵 “About the Heat”: The Professional Fitness Athletes’ Association revealed yesterday that in advance of the 2024 Games in Ft. Worth, TX, it sent a request to CrossFit for clarification about preparations for heat during the competition this summer (Click here to read it).

• From the post: “Many athletes, coaches, and agents have raised questions regarding how the CrossFit Games team will mitigate the impact of the heat index in Fort Worth, TX. In support of all athletes and in partnership with our Advisory Board, we asked CrossFit to provide clarity regarding the duration of time athletes will work at high intensity outdoors. Having this information ensures each athlete can make appropriate arrangements for their health and safety.

• CrossFit’s response (quoted in the IG post): “Thanks for all the thoughts about what information will help you prepare for Fort Worth. We reviewed your suggestions and can give you a little more information. It is not to the level you are looking for, but we hope it provides enough to help athletes decide how to manage their heat-related training heading into the Games in August.

  --The competition will feature 1 primary field of play, indoors in Dickie's arena

  --A much smaller percentage of events than Madison will occur outdoors”

The unofficial 2024 Team Quarterfinals leaderboard continues to settle as scoring reviews and adjustments are made. The leaderboard will be set no later than April 15, 2024, according to the CrossFit Games team.

✍️📋 Rogue Invitational 2024 Volunteer Applications: In case you missed the announcement, the Rogue Invitational is going international in 2024, and you can be there, behind the scenes, for all the action in Aberdeen, Scotland. Get more information and apply now.

Hustle Up App Named New Games Sponsor: On Friday, CrossFit named Hustle Up as an Official Sponsor of the Masters, Teenage, and Adaptive CrossFit Games.

• From the press release: “ This newly formed partnership will extend beyond the CrossFit Games, as Hustle Up will also be an Official Sponsor of the CrossFit Semifinals and will provide helpful resources for CrossFit affiliates.”

ICYMI: John Wooley, the creator behind Make Wods Great Again, shares his thoughts on the OG CrossFit slogan, “Forging Elite Fitness.”

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

4 Games Vets Primed to Qualify Again After Several Years Away  

When pundits and fans talk about who will make it back to the CrossFit Games in 2024, the discussion mostly focuses on the big-name athletes who missed 2023. 

And rightfully so.

With Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr, Brooke Wells, and Gui Malheiros among others missing the Games last year, many people are excited for their return.

However, many other athletes who have had longer absences from the CrossFit Games and aren’t top of mind, are positioned well to earn a trip to Fort Worth this summer. 

Here are a few we have our eyes on:

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HEALTH AND LONGEVITY

Interview: Dr. Christina Prevett on New Study That CrossFit During Pregnancy May Result in Fewer Complications

Talk to almost any CrossFit athlete who has been pregnant. 

She’ll tell you she received at least some degree of criticism, or at the very least moderate concern, from people in her life, or from vocal onlookers online, who saw her lifting heavy weights, or doing handstands and pull-ups, as her pregnant belly grew.

Even (or maybe especially), the six-time Fittest Woman on Earth Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr was certainly not spared from the critics, who came out in droves as she continued to appear to train hard when she was pregnant with her daughter in 2023.

This is part of the reason Dr. Christina Prevett, a pelvic floor physical therapist and a postdoctoral student at the University of Alberta, has decided to dedicate her research to studying fitness – specifically high-load resistance training – during pregnancy. 

When she was pregnant with her first of two children she was a competitive national-level weightlifter, who continued lifting moderately heavy throughout her pregnancy, which led to criticism.

• “People on the Internet were being the people on the Internet. You know, ‘Your organs are going to fall out of your body. All this kind of stuff,” she said, laughing.

• “There’s acceptance [for pregnant women to lift] low to moderate loads, but people get a lot of hate when they choose to lift heavy, but there’s no [scientific] evidence to say that it’s bad,” Prevett told the Morning Chalk Up.

And now, thanks to a study Prevett conducted at the University of Alberta, there’s some evidence that continuing to do CrossFit and lift heavy might provide some benefit to both mother and baby.

The details: Prevett’s research, which she conducted in 2022, was published in the International Urogynecology Journal and included 679 participants around the world, most of whom were recreational, general population CrossFit athletes (88 percent) and Olympic weightlifters. 

• The study considered variables, such as whether or not the women kept wearing lifting belts throughout pregnancy, as well as what types of lifts they did and didn’t do to “get a good picture of what they modified [in their training] and how they did” in pregnancy, delivery and postpartum, she explained.

The result: Those who maintained their pre-pregnancy training levels – or at least continued to lift at least 80 percent of their pre-pregnancy one rep max at some point during their pregnancy – had fewer pregnancy-related, delivery, and postpartum complications than those who ceased training levels before giving birth.

• More specifically, rates of high blood pressure, mood disorders, gestational diabetes, and cesarean sections were “well below national averages” of the general population, Prevett said.

Further, the research showed that women who were stronger during pregnancy had much lower levels of incontinence during and after pregnancy, and those who continued to hold their breath and brace hard as they lifted – something that pregnant women have often been told not to do by health practitioners – didn’t develop pelvic floor dysfunction as has often been feared.

HIGHLIGHTS

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

• 🎂Happy birthday to Jamie Hagiya.

• Happy belated birthday to Mike Halpin.

• Nice work to Games athlete Camilla Salomonsson Hellman on the snatch PR, eight years in the making!

• Great handstand skills from Mario…er Javier from Navarra, Spain. Is this possibly a new team event?

• 🤯Congratulations to Donna Jean Wilde, for setting the new Guinness World Record in a plank hold. The 58-year-old woman held a plank for 4 hours, 30 minutes and 11 seconds.