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These 5 Games Performances Stopped Us in Our Tracks
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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.
In today’s edition:
🎁 Games hangover? These 5 moments keep playing in our heads.
🦶 Arch. Hollow. Tap. Repeat. Why mastering positions makes TTB easier.
🧩 Albany demonstrated that CrossFit isn’t just the sport of fitness — it remains rooted in the affiliates.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
We’re not just representing our gyms at the CrossFit Games; we’re representing CrossFit as a methodology and profession.”
CROSSFIT GAMES
5 Epic Performances That Stole the Show at the 2025 CrossFit Games
Credit: Scott Freymond
Another CrossFit Games has come and gone, and as fans of the sport, we feel a bit like a child on the day after Christmas: Still full of cheer, yet disappointed as the Games are now a whole year away.
All we can do now is remember the excitement and the impressive performances we witnessed, until it’s time to gear up for 2026.
5 of the Most Impressive Individual Performances from Albany
Toomey-Orr Takes on the Men’s Field in “Row/Run/Row”
We should be accustomed to it by now, as Toomey-Orr often outperforms many male competitors in mass-start endurance events, especially those involving swimming. Still, watching her do so never gets old.
Toomey-Orr began her competition by beating 19 of the 30 men (and tying another) on “IE1: Run/Row/Run,” marking her first of four event wins over the weekend.
What made this performance particularly impressive is that there were 3000 meters of rowing between the four-mile run and the run-mile run, which highlights just how strong a runner Toomey-Orr is, since taller, heavier men have a significant advantage in rowing.
Continue reading for more epic performances from Albany.
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SPEED READS
🥇🎙️ 2025 Games Recap with Champ, Jayson Hopper: On the Boys Interrupted podcast Tuesday, James Sprague joined hosts Dallin Pepper, Justin Medeiros, and 2025 champ, Jayson Hopper for a no-holds-barred Games recap.
📱🏃 HYROX Hub Launches in pliability App: Athletes can now access a new library of quick recovery and mobility routines built for HYROX. Led by pros like Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr and Jake Williamson, the Hub targets key muscle groups to boost performance and prevent injury all season long.
💪 📊 Inside the 2025 Games Programming: Check out this movement-by-movement breakdown of the 2025 CrossFit Games on the Misfit Podcast. It reveals that elite fitness still centers on foundational skills pushed to the limit. With 67% of events under 10 minutes, the programming favored intensity, precision, and pacing over novelty.
🚨🎙️ Not For Time Live Episode: In case you missed it, a new episode of the Not For Time podcast dropped earlier this week. Hosts Sean Woodland and John Wooley recapped their 2025 Games experience with producer Stephen Stover.
🎽🥇 Games Winner’s Shirts: Velites, the official apparel and Footwear Partner of the 2025 CrossFit Games, has two new additions to its lineup. Pre-order your Toomey-Orr or Hopper winner’s shirt now!
ICYMI: 📲 IG follower growth slows at 2025 Games.
MEMBER EXCLUSIVE
Master the Toes-to-Bar: One Position at a Time
Credit: @b.a.w_media / Instagram
Here’s the step-by-step toes-to-bar breakdown you have been waiting for.
Understanding is the first step to implementing a skill. So let’s break it apart and put it back together, piece by piece.
The Approach
As we know, in Olympic lifting, the setup is crucial for generating tension, maintaining a proper bar path, and building confidence.
Gymnastics skills rely on the same principles.
Jumping up and approaching the rig correctly will set you up for a strong first rep.
Start by standing directly under the rig. This position lets you pull into the first arch of the kip swing.
Jump with an overgrip; the more “meaty” your grip is (knuckles over the rig), the more control you gain through the larger forearm and lat muscles.
Most common mistake: standing behind the rig and jumping.
This can cause a pendulum swing instead of the intended kip swing.
POLL
🏆 Where do you want the 2026 CrossFit Games, the 20th anniversary, to be hosted? |
Last week (just before the Games), we asked: Of the seven CrossFit Games events announced thus far, which are you most excited to watch?
IE01: Run/Row/Run 🏃♂️🚣♀️🏃♀️ (25.9%)
IE02: All Crossed Up 🔁🎯 (11.1%)
IE03: Climbing Couplet 🧗♂️📌 (11.1%)
IE04: Albany Grip Trip 🛞💪 (8.7%)
IE05: 1RM Back Squat 🏋️♂️📏 (11.1%)
IE08: Going Dark 🐂🛠️ (14.3%)
IE09: Running Isabel ⚡🏋️♀️ (17.5%)
IE01 received the most votes, and Tia’s performance in that event ranked as one of our top five most epic performances of the weekend. Check out the others in today’s newsletter.
CROSSFIT GAMES
Why the 2025 Games Were a Win for the CrossFit Methodology
Credit: CrossFit Games
Over the past few seasons, a lively debate has developed online and elsewhere about the connection (or lack thereof) between CrossFit as the “sport of fitness” and CrossFit as a fitness methodology for everyday gym-goers.
Some have suggested that the athletes we see on the competition floor no longer possess the same understanding of the methodology or build relationships in affiliates as previous generations did.
However, the CrossFit Games have been and remain an advertisement for the CrossFit methodology taught in gyms worldwide.
And once again, it was on display this weekend in Albany, New York, at the 19th annual CrossFit Games.
And here’s a statistic that may surprise some: this year at the Games, 45% of the athletes who lined up at the starting line hold a current Level 1 or Level 2 CrossFit Trainer certification.
HIGHLIGHTS (h5)
Celebrating a PR, hosting a fundraiser, this, that, or otherwise? Send us a tip.
🎂Happy birthday to Sebastian Rodriquez.
Congratulations to Maria Langfors, who is expecting a baby.
🔥Check out what a training session looks like for Vår Thurmann-Moe, who is prepping for World Fitness Project Tour Stop 2.
Well done to 16-year-old Ana of Brazil on this 101-kilo/222-pound clean complex.
😳Watch coach James Townsend crush this powerlifting total in five minutes.
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