The internet is rife with 2019 summary stories, top-10 articles, and New Year’s resolution landmines. We’ll talk about that and bring back the AMRAP Roundup on the first episode of 2020. If you missed it, don’t forget to listen to our 2019 CrossFit Rap Up rap song from yesterday’s episode. If it wasn’t your cup of tea, don’t worry. It only happens once a year.
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 Wednesday, the 1st of January, 2020.
The Top 4 Top-10 Articles of 2019
Okay, so it’s a new year. That means all your favorite fan pages have started to fill the world with top-10 articles on biggest stories from 2019 and best things to look forward to in 2020. I’m nothing if not a smartass, so I’ve pulled together a new special segment called “The Top-4 Top-10 Articles of 2019”.
Barbell Spin’s Top 10 Stories of 2019 featured the unfortunate passing of two icons in the CrossFit community, one story on failed drug tests, and four stories on some hard-hitting penalties. Find a link to that in my show notes or at WODDITY.com.
Morning Chalk Up had a couple 2019 summary articles, including 3 Lessons Learned From The First Four Sanctionals by Tommy Marquez. Those secrets are using new movements and implements, calling back to their locale’s culture, and sharing best practices. I’m always a fan of everything Tommy does, so we definitely have a link to that for you.
Next to that, the daily newsletter published a story titled “The 10 Most Impactful Stories of 2019”. They broke stories down to what was most impactful and what went viral, including their evil April Fools Day prank when they published a story saying Rich Froning had accepted an invite to compete as an individual at the 2019 CrossFit Games. The story was almost immediately regurgitated by a number of fan sites. The other stories touch on positive body image for muscular CrossFit women, NUUN working to continue sponsoring female athletes through pregnancy, and huge organizational changes around CrossFit’s place on social media, shoe restrictions and cuts at the Games, and the CEO of the company resigning.
Katrin Davidsdottir published her list of things to do in 2020 on her Instagram page. They range from goals around being a better human (but, let’s face it, she’s already a pretty great human) to eating her vitamins and greens. I think she’s doing pretty good at that, too.
AMRAP Roundup
I’m fired up to bring back the AMRAP Roundup, a segment where I breeze through some of the top headlines in the community. As always, I have links to these stories in my show notes and on WODDITY.com if you want to read more in-depth. Six stories for time, let’s go.
- CrossFit Toby from the hit TV drama This is Us is back in the news with conjecture about the future of the Toby/Kate relationship. If you missed it, check out our coverage and Jessica Danger’s response to the problematic representation of CrossFit on the show.
- Groups are starting to focus in on what is being called the “fourth trimester” of pregnancy – the idea of supporting new moms through postpartum hurdles. Some CrossFit gyms have started holding specialized classes, along with companies like BirthFit and their work in the space. If you are a pending, expecting, new, recent, or current mom, one quick google of BirthFit can get you a great support system.
- The Irish Examiner dug into how Emma McQuaid, the fittest woman in Ireland, found the sport.
- Scott Panchik, after signing with Innov-8 for a shoe sponsor last year has now added Born Primitive to his list of sponsors and is now the first male CrossFit athlete to be sponsored by the gear company.
- Morning Chalk Up dug into a story about an accountant taking over a failing CrossFit gym. Read about the journey to making the affiliate profitable. Spoiler – they haven’t made it yet, but they’ve made some tough decisions.
- Sean Sweeney, the CrossFIt Cowboy, is launching his own training program called the “Cowboy Way” next week.
Okay, that’s it for news about CrossFit for Wednesday, January 1st. Thanks for listening. Please be sure to rate, review, subscribe, and share. For WODDITY, I’m Ben Garves. We’ll chat tomorrow.
