We just recorded the second episode of our Elite Sports Insider show, which means it’s really a thing now. Morning Chalk Up is raising money, and has some important stats and guides for you, while I have some choice words for them.
Good morning and welcome to the WODDITY podcast for news about CrossFit. We are a daily podcast, Monday through Friday, doing CrossFit news in five minutes or less.
My name is Ben Garves and today is Monday, the 20th of April, 2020.
Maybe you’ve heard of this little viral pandemic we’re dealing with. CoronaVirus Disease 19, or COVID-19? You know…the one that has shut down 96% of the gyms in the US, is well on its way to provoking a financial crisis vastly surpassing 2008’s Great Recession, only trumped by the Great Depression of the early 1900s, and is the reason we’re all locked inside recording podcasts? Yeah, that one. Well, it’s hard to beat around the bush, a lot of today’s episode is about it. So, to keep things light, I’m going to put a joke at the end. Just dangling a little carrot for you, my friend. Only one joke, okay? I’m on a budget.
WODDITY’s Elite Sports Insider
Yesterday was the second episode of our new live series, Elite Sports Insider. Think of it as a DIY SportsCenter for CrossFit and elite fitness.
This week we talked about how the CrossFit community may actually be getting stronger during the COVID19 pandemic, I unbox a WHOOP Strap 3.0, show off an amazing fitness-oriented kids coloring book created by coach and gym owner Marcus Lowther, and dig into how your experience as a fan will change with the CrossFit Games moving to Aromas, California.
I started Elite Sports Insider to give you and I a way to dig a little bit deeper into the CrossFit community and the CrossFit Games. These podcast episodes are amazing as a quick hit of the major highlights, but sometimes you just want to analyze, opine, and discuss.
You can fine Elite Sports Insider recordings on WODDITY’s YouTube channel by searching YouTube for WODDITY or Ben Garves. We live stream the show every Sunday at 12PM Eastern. If you want to watch live, make sure to subscribe to us on the ‘Tube. As always, I also have a link to the channel and for the next episode in the show notes of your friendly neighborhood podcast app and at WODDITY.com.
Morning Chalk Up
Let’s talk about Morning Chalk Up, because they have some awesome things going on right now.
“Hey Ben – you know you report news about CrossFit and Morning Chalk Up reports news about CrossFit and it sounds like y’all are competitors. So…why do you mention them so much?”
I’m glad you asked, random guest in the studio who sounds like me with a southern accent. First of all, I’m a fan. Of the community, the sport, and the work of Morning Chalk Up. So when I find out they’ve launched a subscription service so fans can support them directly? I’m going to give it a shout out here. Use our show notes for a link, or go directly to morningchalkup.com/support.
There’s no arguing about the quality, professionalism, and downright awesomeness of the humans over there, especially Brittney Kleyn, Tommy Marquez, Jessica Danger, and Justin LoFranco. Beside the fact that we may have the same topic, but we’re largely different content and format niches.
Morning Chalk Up App
In the list of perks for buying a Morning Chalk Up subscription is the subtle but explosive caveat that you’ll gain early access to a mobile app. That’s all we know, but it’s big news. I’ll refrain from any conjecture as to what that app could include, but I’m sure it’s going to be wicked smart.
There are two really great resources Morning Chalk Up is putting out right now:
CrossFit Sanctional Statuses
MCU has been closely tracking and charting changes to CrossFit Sanctional events given the pandemic. I know you want a link to it, so I have that for you. I’ve been reporting the closures and postponements, but this is a great way to see them all in one place. There are six cancellations (if you count the Rogue Invitational), nine postponed events, and two holding out in hopes of progress. Those are the Asbury Park Summer Games in late June and the Mayan Classic in July.
CrossFit Affiliate Closures
The other awesome thing Morning Chalk Up has been doing for the community is gathering and reporting global gym closure statistics. That’s the basis for the number I quoted earlier in the show. At the time of recording this, those stats are 96% of US-based affiliates and 88.99% of global affiliates closed during this outbreak. They’ve also reported 22 affiliates permanently closed as the result of the crisis.
You can support Morning Chalk Up through their quarterly tee shirt releases, but also by $5/month or $75/year subscriptions and one-time monetary contributions.
And that’s it for news about CrossFit for Monday, April 20th. Thanks for listening. Please be sure to rate, review, subscribe, and share. We’ll be back tomorrow with a wild op-ed from Forbes about Uber buying CrossFit. Yeah. Really. For WODDITY, I’m Ben Garves. Chat tomorrow.
