James Newbury's Words on PEDs, AMRAP Roundup

James Newbury speaks out against PED usage. CNN is investigating Cookeville. Sort of. Lukas Hogberg is moving to Spain. Kettlebell Kitchen is still closed.

Tuesday, November 19th, 2019

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 Tuesday, the 19th of November, 2019. 

James Newbury has some choice words for athletes getting caught using performance enhancing drugs in the sport of fitness. He took to Instagram on Sunday with his feelings. I’ll read them for you here:

“If you’re not gonna follow the rules, GO BACK to the sidelines where you belong. This is a frustrating topic and even more so for the people who are robbed of the chance to compete or have the thrill of a podium spot taken away because of short-cutters. You have taken something away from someone that cannot be returned. The earned opportunity to compete on the floor, the privilege to stand on the podium and the ability to celebrate all of their hard earned work because of your ego driven selfishness. It’s so simple. If you WANT to take illegal performance enhancing substances, you are NOT allowed to compete with the rest of us. Get it through your crazy brain. I’m telling you there are tons of us at the top of every sport who are not cheating our way there. We put in the hours, deal with the ups and downs and work harder to achieve our goals without exposing our bodies to abusive chemicals. For anyone out there that is contemplating using something to shortcut their way to the top, sit back, have a good hard think about your next actions over an Aloe Vera, spirulina, maca and Irish moss smoothie and I hope you’ll come to the conclusion that YOU ARE BETTER THAN THAT! Maybe then you’ll realise that all you need is a strong work ethic, sunshine, quality water, great sleep, a bit of resilience, probably some better friends and outstanding nutrition. Some athletic ability would go a long way too...... OR maybe go vegan? I don’t know 🤷‍♂️ I hope this message finds you well #rantover #gonnacheatdontcompete #backtothesidelines”

And, obviously, I’m sorry I couldn’t do that in an Australian accent for you. I mean, I could’ve, but it would’ve been bad.

AMRAP Roundup

We’re back with a long AMRAP Roundup this morning with seven big headlines. As always, check the show notes at WODDITY.com for more details and links to read more. Seven stories for time. Let’s go!

WODDITY is investigating on behalf of individuals impacted by the closure of Kettlebell Kitchen. If you were charged for meals you didn’t received, email me at [email protected] with the subject line “Kettlebell Kitchen” and tell me your story. The more details you can provide, the better. Men’s Health wrote a story on a guy who completed Murph every day for 30 days. After 3,000 pull-ups, 6,000 push-ups, 9,000 squats, and running 60 miles, he was able to trim almost 30 minutes off of his Murph time. Who says practice doesn’t make perfect?Officials from CrossFit’s Filthy150 coming up this weekend spoke with Sean Woodland and Tommy Marquez of the Talking Elite Fitness podcast last week and mentioned they’d set up for an official bookie to allow betting on the event. Morning Chalk Up put all the available information into one place.Lukas Hogberg took to Instagram yesterday to announce he’s moving to Spain. The Swedish athlete was the third-fittest man on earth in 2018 and was most recently in the news for withdrawing from the CrossFit Open.One of my favorite articles of the day was from Morning Chalk Up, which digs into more than 20 big name athletes who either chose to withdraw or did not participate in the CrossFIt Open this season. It’s some quality reporting.Cookeville, Tennessee, home of some little-known athletes like RIch Froning, Tia-Clair Toomey, and Mat Fraser, was the target of an article from CNN yesterday. Even one of the largest news sources in the world is trying to figure out what’s in the water.WODDITY will be running CrossFit Filthy150 live streams and commentary on our YouTube channel this weekend. You can find the streams and details about times on our online guide.

And that’s it for news about CrossFit on Tuesday, November 19th.

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