Team "Rest of World" Takes Exhibition Win at FitFest 2024

December 11th, 2024

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

  • Team “Rest of World” took home the bragging rights, beating Team Europe at FitFest 2024 last week. Get the details below.

  • The holiday season is the busiest time of the year for many people. Today, get some tips from EC Synkowski on how to stay on track when things get hectic.

  • The documentary film on the 2023 CrossFit Games, Fittest on Earth: Final Showdown in Madtown, dropped last week. Check out our review.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“[Coming back] has been pretty slow progress, to be honest. But it’s good to see where you stand with a little bit of pressure. Training has been going very well, and we’re just slowly progressing…and yeah, I’ll get back.” - Sara Sigmundsdottir on her comeback from injury and illness.

COMPETITIONS

Credit: @fitfest_uk / Instagram

Team “Rest of World” Beats Team Europe at FitFest 2024

While some of the top CrossFit athletes in the world were throwing down at the Dubai Fitness Championship in the UAE over the weekend, 20 others were competing in the Pro Showcase at FitFest 2024 in Birmingham, UK.

  • The Pro Showcase, an invite-only, exhibition-style competition, featured two teams of 10: Team Europe and Team Rest World (R.O.W.). And while there was no prize money on the line, athletes were paid to show up and compete. 

After 10 tests of fitness and 11 scored events over the course of two days, it was R.O.W. who took the title.

Emily Rolfe, the 2024 Third Fittest Woman on Earth who was part of Team R.O.W., called the event “epic.” 

  • “Tons of excitement from the European crowd. The whole event was chock-full of events so there was always something to watch,” she told the Morning Chalk Up in an interview.

Remind Me

Team R.O.W. was captained by Dallin Pepper and Arielle Loewen. The other members of the team included:

  • Emily Rolfe

  • Abbie Domit

  • Jayson Hopper

  • Colten Mertens

  • Fee Saghafi

  • Nick Mathew

  • Sam Dancer

  • Shelby Neal

For Team Europe, eleven-time CrossFit Games veteran Bjorgvin Karl Gudmundsson and Emma McQuaid co-captained the rest of their team, which included:

  • Aimee Cringle

  • Aniol Ekai

  • Ella Wilkinson

  • Harry Lightfoot

  • Jelle Hoste (he was replaced with Colin Bosshard as it was believed Hoste was suffering from food poisoning).

  • Jonne Koski

  • Lucy McGonigle

  • Sara Sigmundsdottir

A MESSAGE FROM HUEL

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SPEED READS

😎🌴 2024 TYR WZA Miami Beach Wave 2 Ticket Sales: In case you’ve missed it, tickets for TYR WZA Miami Beach are currently in Wave 2 pricing. Get yours soon and save some $$$.

  • So far, the elite athlete roster includes: 

    • Team: “The OGs” (Sara Sigmundsdottir, Katelyn Van Zyl, and Victoria Campos), “Relyte Salt Baes” (Arielle Loewen, Alex Gazan, and Emily Rolfe), “PJ’s” (Jeff Adler, Jayson Hopper, and Pat Vellner), “the Boys” (Noah Ohlsen, Chandler Smith, and Travis Mayer), and “the Broadway Girls” (Haley Adams, Brooke Wells, and Sydney Wells).

    • Individuals: Brooke Wells, Travis Mayer, Anikha Greer, Nick Mathew, Laura Horvath, Gui Malheiros, Alexis Raptis, Ricky Garard, Pat Vellner, Dani Speegle, James Sprague, and Arielle Loewen. Many more to come.

🐒💪 Help 3rd Monkey Functional Fitness: Earlier this month, 3rd Monkey Functional Fitness, home of Spring Lake CrossFit, suffered two fires that severely damaged the building and the equipment inside. Learn more about the gym and donate here. Stay tuned for a deeper dive into this story later in the week.

🗳️ 🏆 2024 Gym of the Year Giveaway: FITAID’s annual Gym of the Year Giveaway is on now, and they will be choosing one lucky gym to get a swagged-out prize pack. Follow this link and fill out the form to be entered to win. And learn more here!

  • Also, LIFEAID co-founders Aaron Hinde and Orion Melehan will be speaking about their experiences and the development of their business at BEVNET Live, December 8-10.

📨💰PushPress Giveaway for GymHappy Clients: Want to win $500? GymHappy clients can check out the details.

🎄🥦 Free Holiday Nutrition Guide: Check out this free nutrition guide from Training Think Tank Nutrition, which offers tips on managing holiday travel, get-togethers, parties, and more.

ICYMI: Luka Ðukić and Karin Frey took the top podium spots at the 2024 Dubai Fitness Championship. Check out our full recap.

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Credit: @optimizemenutrition / Instagram

4 Easy Strategies for Staying on Track with Nutrition During Busy Times

I've worked with countless busy professionals struggling to maintain healthy eating despite their demanding careers and jam-packed schedules.

Recently, for an episode of the Consistency Project podcast, I had the opportunity to talk with Amanda, a CrossFit coach and corporate event manager, to discuss her challenges and share some strategies for staying on track.

  • Like many, Amanda is no stranger to long hours and last-minute work trips. "It seems like I create good routines, and then something always pops up to derail any meaningful habits I've created," she told me.

No matter how dedicated you are to your health goals, life has a way of throwing curveballs. But that doesn't mean you have to throw your hands up in defeat.

With a little planning, a lot of flexibility, and a side of self-compassion, it’s entirely possible to find a sustainable way of eating that fuels your life and your performance while leaving room for the unexpected.

Here are four practical tips I gave Amanda that might be helpful to you as well:

Treat Nutrition Like an Important Work Project

You wouldn't walk into a big meeting without an agenda, right?

Apply that same mindset to your eating habits.

INDUSTRY

Credit: @crossfitgames / Instagram

Fittest on Earth: Final Showdown in Madtown — Our Take on the Latest CrossFit Documentary

The 2023 CrossFit Games documentary, Fittest on Earth: Final Showdown in Madtown, is officially available for $14.99 on Apple TV and Prime Video. We got a chance to watch the documentary and have some thoughts on what you can expect. 

Our Take

Like all of the Fittest on Earth documentaries of the past, Final Showdown in Madtown gets up and close with the athletes at the CrossFit Games and does an incredible job telling a handful of their stories. 

  • If you watched the 2023 CrossFit Games as it unfolded, the documentary takes you behind the scenes of the memorable moments from the event while bringing you first-hand athlete perspectives that you won’t find anywhere else.

The Annie-Katrin Moment

Remember watching Annie Thorisdottir and Katrin Davidsdottir compete during the Olympic Total event? 

  • Their genuine support for each other was heartwarming, as they both hit lift after lift before falling into each other’s arms in celebration at the end of the event. 

Re-watching this moment in the documentary was tear-jerking all over again, as both Thorisdottir and Davidsdottir provided their memories of the event from their perspectives.

HIGHLIGHTS

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

  • 🎂Happy 45th birthday to Joamir Terrero! And good luck competing this weekend at the IF3 World Championship in Budapest, Hungary.

  • Check out Travis Mayer, building up to a 131-kilo/290-pound snatch. 

  • Congratulations to the finishers of the first-annual Brushy Mountain Melee, held at Brushy Mountain CrossFit in Wilkesboro, NC.

  • Congratulations to Gui Malheiros, who just completed the Honolulu Marathon.

  • 🙌Congratulations to Julia Gillros, who PRed her clean (72.5 kilos/159 pounds) and took third place at the Wodla Fitness Festival in Sweden.