Ben Garves Podcast: Fitness, Nutrition, and Activism

For full show notes, see WODDITY.com: https://woddity.com/black-crossfits-new-lives-twitter-account-matter/ 

It is a new day. Full of fresh opportunities, endless possibilities, and unfulfilled potential for all of us to make the world a better place. I just wanted to remind you of that before we dive in.

Reykjavik CrossFit Championship Officially Cancelled

Frederick Aegidius wrote on the Reykjavik CrossFit Championship website yesterday an announcement that the postponed event has now been formally cancelled. Aegidius wrote:

“We have been following the development of Covid19 and its effects on travel restrictions and the limitations put on larger events since the shut-down of most of the world in March.

We were hoping that our postponed dates would still be possible but as we are now moving into June, we are sorry to inform you that we will not be able to host the 2020 RCC…”

He continues, “All registration fees and tickets will be fully refunded through Eventbrite and TIX.is respectively, but the processing time might be slow due to a high number of refunds that need to be finalized so please bear with us.”

CrossFit Science Education Twitter

CrossFit has launched a new CrossFit Science Education Twitter account, @CrossFitSciEdu. It’s the latest step in a longstanding war the organization has been waging about corruption in scientific studies, peer review, and review boards. In the announcement they state CrossFit Science Education was created to meet a clear need for this type of rudimentary education by providing the terminology and tools necessary for thoughtful, skeptical engagement with science (both as it is and as it is frequently misconstrued).

While we’re at it, CrossFit also shared a book by Doctor William Davis. TItled Undoctored: Why Health Care Has Failed You and How You Can Become Smarter Than Your Doctor, it takes you on a journey into how corruption has led to the current state of our health and fitness industries.

Black Lives Matter

This podcast celebrates its first birthday in August, and I’ve talked a lot about progressive causes over the last year. For many in my audience, I understand that’s not your cup of tea and I appreciate that you’ve stuck with me for the core substance of the shows. But saying that black lives matter isn’t a progressive cause. It’s an acknowledgement of a basic human right.

I want to read you from an email I sent to a member of the community this morning, someone I hope to continue having this conversation with and possibly invite on the show. I wrote:

Someone made a really poignant comment on one of my videos yesterday. He wrote, "it's not really helpful to put the burden on marginalized communities to speak out right now, their voices are constant, it's those who are regularly silent that need to speak up and shoulder the burden." I wonder if that was the mistake I made when trying to talk about diversity in February, that I put the onus on a marginalized community to speak up instead of trying to have those with racial privilege acknowledge not just their voices, but their performances and achievements.

In the email, this community member wrote about Elizabeth Akinwale’s frustrations and retirement from the sport. I responded: Akinwale was such an incredible athlete to watch. I can't imagine the burden felt by a black athlete to be the single or one of very few voices for their community. Or the pain she had to have felt to be held by some as a counterpoint to an argument. Like when somebody says "Golf isn't a white sport. Look at Tiger Woods" or "Gymnastics isn't a white sport, look at Simone Biles," and now "CrossFit isn't a white sport, look at EZ Muhammad, Elizabeth Akinwale, and Chandler Smith." 

For full show notes: https://woddity.com/debating-racial-diversity-in-crossfit/

So here we go. Diversity in the CrossFit community was a topic we worked hard to cover in the month of February and now it’s back and for a much darker reason.

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 1st of June, 2020. Don’t forget, links to all of these stories are in the show notes of your friendly neighborhood podcasting app, as well as on the new WODDITY.com.

Let’s give you some background. In December I began reaching out to prominent members of the CrossFit community - 30+ athletes, hundreds of gym owners, top officials at CrossFit Inc., and some of the highest-profile members of former CrossFit Media staff. In total, one gym owner agreed to participate, two major members of the media, and four athletes. The rest were unresponsive, and so began the fall of the series. 

By the time February rolled around, the idea of a month-long series talking about diversity was in shambles. CrossFit’s official stance was that I was gaslighting and shouldn’t write about the topic. Both members of the media, after agreeing to participate, had stopped returning my messages. Every athlete I had spoken to, who seemed so excited to contribute, had ghosted me now that it was time to have the conversation.

One man, Marcus Lowther, an affiliate owner, author, and now a person I consider to be a friend, had the courage to speak up, even when those with the greatest voices in the community didn’t. 

As a side note, Lowther has some great fitness childrens books which can be found at cartoonfitcomics.com if you want to support him. He wrote in his blog (marcuslowther.com) Saturday about his experience with the world’s reaction to George Floyd’s horrendous death. He looks at Lyrics from the DJ Khalil song “Elevate”, which says “I gotta go high, I gotta elevate.” He pairs that with Michelle Obama’s 2016 speech, quoting, “When they go low, we go high”, and he asks himself if there even is a high road right now. He writes, “We have posted protest videos and hashtags and donated to campaigns and fought for a bigger voice and created inspiring music and art and poetry. But here we are.”

He talks about the parallels between this moment in America and the story captured by Todd Philips and Juaquin Phoenix in Joker. He says, much like Joker, America is standing on the hood of a police car, watching the anarchy and chaos it has unleashed.

Lowther writes, “Forget the high road, let’s just find an actual road.”

It’s hard to say there was one catalyst for why this conversation is now so important in the CrossFit community. It could be a decade of silenced voices finally able or willing to speak up. It could be the largely one-sided voice and evangelical moral leadership of some of our greatest CrossFit athletes and community members. It could be the political divide caused by that rift and the silence of a growing number of progressive gym members around the world. It definitely has something to do with the atrocity that was the death of George Floyd and hundreds if not thousands of police brutality cases in the United States, the racially-motivated atrocities that came out of Jim Crow laws as early as the 1860s, and let’s just say it: the dark history of this country and slavery...

CrossFit competition returns this weekend with the ATA Games being streamed live from Norway, Reebok now sells face masks, and LifeAid’s Mothers of Fitness episode two is now out.

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 Friday, the 29th of May, 2020. Don’t forget, links to all of these stories are in the show notes of your friendly neighborhood podcasting app, as well as on the new WODDITY.com.

Competition Returns in Norway

What are you up to at 3:00 AM Eastern time tomorrow? Sleeping? I have a better alternative. A live CrossFit competition. Shocked? Yeah, me too. It’s a huge surprise, but equipment manufacturer ATA has put together a showcase of Norway’s fittest athletes and are running a live stream of the event. Athletes will win prize money and equipment, along with a donation in their name to a charity. And Norway is no stranger to great CrossFit athletes. Confirmed for the event are CrossFit Games attendees and invitees like Matilde Garnes, Nicolay Billaudel, Andrea Solberg, and defending second-fittest woman on earth Kristin Holte. They’ve even shared details about precautions they’re taking to protect athletes and volunteers. Check the show notes for a link to their YouTube channel, which wasn’t super easy to find because it’s brand new.

Reebok’s Foray into Facemasks

A sneakerhead has repurposed a new pair of Reebok’s Zoku Runner into a pretty epic facemask for running. While it looks complex enough to warrant a “you probably shouldn’t try this at home”, it has inspired many. In fact, Reebok itself is now selling face covers if you’re sick of trying to be fitnessy in a basic facemask. Link to that in the show notes.

Get 3 masks for $20 from May 25-June 30 and $2 from every pack of face covers sold goes to Save the Children’s Global Coronavirus Response Fund.

Mothers of Fitness Episode 2: Cassidy Lance-McWherter

If you recall back to Mother’s Day, LifeAid Beverage Company’s FitAid sub brand kicked off a new YouTube documentary series called Mothers of Fitness. The second episode has now been released and it features five-time CrossFit Games athlete and 2018 CrossFit Open winner Cassidy Lance-McWherter. Her and her wife talk through their experience with IVF and life adjustments they’ve had as they get ready to have their first child.

Introducing 2020 CrossFit Games Athletes

Don’t forget to watch Elite Sports Insider on Sunday at noon Eastern. We’re kicking off a six-week series introducing you to every athlete invited to the 2020 CrossFit Games. This week we’re covering Andrea Nisler, Björgvin Karl Gudmundsson, Cole Sager, Gabriela Migała, Griffin Roelle, Karin Freyova, Katelin Van Zyl, Kendall Vincelette, Mia Hesketh, and Sanna Venälänen. Many of them you haven’t seen much of, so come...

Full episode show notes are available at WODDITY.com: 
 
Dave Castro has started posting clues for the 2020 CrossFit Games, Elite Sports Insider is profiling CrossFit athletes, and Matt Chan takes on Joe Thomas.

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 Thursday, the 28th of May, 2020. Don’t forget, links to all of these stories are in the show notes of your friendly neighborhood podcasting app, as well as on the new WODDITY.com.

Elite Sports Insider

After a two week hiatus, Elite Sports Insider is back this weekend. ESI is our weekly YouTube live show, run like a poor man’s do-it-yourself SportsCenter with the tagline, “Please don’t sue us.” I’m so beyond excited for this week’s episode because it kicks off a six week series. Yes! Six weeks! Each week, for the next month and a half, we are profiling ten CrossFit athletes who have received invites to the 2020 CrossFit Games. Ten athletes a week for six weeks covers the full field of sixty athletes invited to the CrossFit Ranch in Aromas, California. And that even leaves us with a little bit of time to cover any athletes who received trickle-down invites from international athletes forced to decline due to travel restrictions.

I love doing the show, but I needed the vacation, ya’ll. Find a link to Elite Sports Insider in the show notes and at WODDITY.com - we stream 20-30 minute episodes every sunday at noon Eastern. Click the reminder button and YouTube will let you know when the live stream starts. This week we’re looking at athletes like Andrea Nisler, Björgvin Karl Gudmundsson, Cole Sager, Gabriela Migala, and Karin Freyova. To name a few.

Dave Castro’s 2020 CrossFit Games Clues

CrossFit Games Director and Director...of...Training...or...whatever Dave Castro’s second job at CrossFit is…

Dave Castro has started into CrossFit Games workout teaser season this week, by posting a video to his Instagram story that skirts around the edges of a whiteboard we know is filled with all sorts of workout treachery. The board lists Friday, Saturday, Sunday - suggesting a three-day event. In the Friday section we see “ab” and “ski erg” listed with question marks. We see a miscellaneous note next to Friday that says “CF x3” - which can be interpreted to be three events on Friday. Along the top of the board are three columns, labeled “M”, “G”, and “W” for what would probably be Metcon, Gymnastics, and Weightlifting.

Either way, this story is not lost in time. I’ve captured it and uploaded it to WODDITY’s YouTube channel for your perusal. Feel free to watch it as many times as you want and comment with what your theories are. I’d love to hear them.

CrossFit Headlines

We have two quick stories for headlines this morning.

ELFIT CrossFit Championship Cancellation

Many in the CrossFit Community were excited for the first CrossFit Sanctional in Egypt this year, but the ELFIT CrossFit Championship took to Instagram yesterday to announce they have decided to change the event from June to be fully postponed until the 2021 season. 

Matt Chan on NBC’s Titan Games

Long-time CrossFit Games athlete Matt Chan...

Labor of Love is the latest network show to feature a CrossFit athlete, Hunter McIntyre misses his Murph goal, we peek at the Dubai CrossFit...