Interview: Samson Dauda is Prepared to Defend His Arnold Classic Title

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2023 Arnold Classic champion Samson Dauda is in the final stages of his preparation for the 2024 Arnold Classic, set for Mar. 1-2, 2024, in Columbus, OH. Dauda will attempt to become the first athlete to successfully defend the Arnold Classic title since Branch Warren did so in 2011 and 2012.

To do so, Dauda must defeat several of the IFBB Pro League’s best, including 2022 Mr. Olympia Hadi Choopan, who placed one spot ahead of Dauda in the 2023 Olympia, won by Derek Lunsford.

Check out BarBend‘s exclusive interview with Dauda below:

[Related: How to Watch the 2024 Arnold Classic Competitions]

Speaking to BarBend, Dauda shared he was not only prepared for a rematch with Choopan in Columbus but is looking forward to it due to how smooth his prep has been.

I’m feeling really good. I’m excited. I’m getting goosebumps because I’m ready to get after it.

Dauda knows Choopan is not traveling to Columbus for second place. However, Dauda feels he’s done the necessary work and is ready for the judges’ comparisons.

I need to be the aggressor more than the actual defender (champion).

Most of the anticipation for the Arnold Classic in the Battelle Grand Ballroom has circled around Dauda versus Choopan. Still, several other contenders in the lineup seek to shock the bodybuilding world with an upset.

Although Dauda, a Celsius-sponsored athlete, has been focused on his prep, he hasn’t slept on the other contenders vying for his Arnold Classic throne. Two of the 10 other athletes on the roster, in particular, stand out to him.

“I have Rafael Brandao placing high at the show. He’s improved and added size,” Dauda tells BarBend. “Horse MD (Marcello De Angelis) is another. I competed against him last year and was impressed. Fans in the United States haven’t seen him yet, and they don’t know what they are in for when they see him.”

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Samson Dauda (@samson__dauda)

Peaking for a single pro show in a year can be challenging enough, but the “Nigerian Lion” has been on an extended grind. Dauda competed in the 2023 Olympia in Nov. 2023, then won the 2023 Romania Muscle Fest Pro and 2023 Prague Pro shortly thereafter. That schedule did not offer Dauda much time to relax before diving into his 2024 Arnold Classic prep.

Dauda is scheduled to compete in the 2024 Arnold Classic UK contest on Mar. 15-17, 2024, in Birmingham, England, just two weeks after the main event in Columbus. Even with the grueling competition schedule, Dauda reports no ill effects and will be ready to present his best come showtime.

This prep has been great, Most preps have been hard, but I’ve been able to go through it smoothly. Everything has fallen into place nicely.

Dauda confirmed he will take a break from the competitive stage following the Birmingham contest to focus on the 2024 Olympia in Las Vegas, NV, on Oct. 10-13, 2024. Thanks to his top-three finish at the 2023 Olympia, Dauda has already qualified for the 2024 contest (in addition to his two aforementioned IFBB pro show wins since then).

Dauda didn’t have to enter the Arnold Classic this year. However, the opportunity to defend his title and potentially win the $300,000 first-place check was too good to pass up.

At the time of this article’s publication, Dauda is in Columbus, enduring the final stages of peak week prep with his coach, Milos Sarcev. Dauda Sarcev and his wife, whom he deems his “dream team,” for helping him achieve his best physique for the Arnold Classic stage.

“It’s great to be this comfortable because I’ve done this enough times,” expressed Dauda. “You get there, and it’s almost like being home. You already know what you have to do and not even think about it. That helps you to stay calm. Because there is no stress, you tend to look your best.”

All Dauda has to do is execute the game plan and relax. He expects to be relaxed enough to attend the expo at the Greater Columbus Convention Center to meet fans at the Celsius booth.

I’m definitely going to be there on Friday afternoon. Come by to meet me and see the team. It’s going to be a great time.

Prejudging for the Arnold Classic is on Friday, Mar. 1, 2024. The finals are set for Saturday, Mar. 2. Both rounds of the competition will be streamed live for free on the Arnold Sports Festival website.

Featured Image: @samson__dauda on Instagram 

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Fitness & Wellness Apps Can Now Use SleepScore Tech

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With SleepScore APIs, fitness and wellness apps can offer personalized sleep-improvement solutions to their members, driving engagement

In its efforts to help the fitness and wellness community catch more quality z’s every night, SleepScore Labs is widening its net. 

In partnership with the Lake Nona Impact Forum, SleepScore, the global leader in enterprise-ready sleep science and improvement, will make its SleepScore APIs available across many health and fitness apps. Doing so will enable users of participating apps to sleep better and reap an abundance of ancillary health benefits. In turn, SleepScore APIs will strengthen engagement and retention across those apps. 

“We are delighted to bring the power of our evidence-based sleep improvement solutions to the many great health and wellness apps that would benefit from improved engagement, retention, and outcomes,” said Uma Shivanand, head of product at SleepScore Labs. “It’s our mission to make a meaningful impact in this vital aspect of people’s lives.”

credit: SleepScore

With data from 230-plus scientific studies, 61 peer-reviewed publications and over 360 million hours of contextual sleep data, SleepScore APIs help users unlock improved sleep habits. After gathering a user’s sleep data through wearables, the program logs and compares it before laying out a personalized sleep journey, presenting sleep content material, a cognitive behavioral therapy option and a sleep coaching system. SleepScore users enjoy between 10 to 26 extra hours of sleep per month, the platform says.

With quality rest in high demand, those results promise to drive engagement once applied to new platforms. SleepScore already has a proven track record in that regard, reportedly delivering three to four daily engagements and a retention rate after 30 days of 60%, topping the industry average of 8%. 

The release of SleepScore APIs comes as an emphasis on sleep as a form of personal wellness only continues to grow. Therabody and United recently agreed on a partnership to offer sleep-nurturing amenities on flights after noticing an increase in demand for improved sleep while traveling. 

Centr, Chris Hemsworth’s fitness and wellness platform also recently released a new audio series aimed at improving users’ sleep performance. LumosTech, a sleep-specific tech company, partnered with the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun last season to enhance sleep routines with light therapy products.

The post Fitness & Wellness Apps Can Now Use SleepScore Tech appeared first on Athletech News.

Julianne Hough’s Kinrgy Chooses WeHo for First Dance Fitness Studio

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The dance fitness brand partnered with Xponential Fitness to open three studios. Upcoming locations are set for Austin and Seattle

Julianne Hough is dancing her way into March with the grand opening of her dance fitness platform Kinrgy’s first brick-and-mortar studio, in West Hollywood, California.

Founded by the “Dancing with the Stars” starlet in 2018, the fitness brand partnered with Xponential Fitness late last year in a deal that will see up to three AKT dance-cardio locations rebrand and operate as Kinrgy studios. Although Xponential acquired some intellectual property in the deal, Kinrgy’s team is handling the design and class formats for the studios. 

Hough commented that the opening of Kinrgy WeHo marks the next evolution for the dance fitness brand that initially launched as an online platform, especially as additional studios will open in the spring in Austin, Texas and Seattle, Washington. 

Kinrgy leans into healing and mindful movement, blending it with dance-based fitness, sculpting, cardio, breathwork and meditation classes.

“With Xponential’s end-to-end operational expertise in providing best-in-class boutique fitness studio experiences, we are thrilled to provide our community an in-studio offering that lives up to the standards of our online platform,” Hough said. “Kinrgy is more than a workout; it’s a journey back to oneself.”

Kinrgy WeHo will open on March 1 at 7111 Santa Monica Blvd, with a ribbon cutting featuring the famous dancer/actress/entrepreneur on Friday evening, exclusive member mixers with raffles and refreshments on Friday and Saturday and a full schedule of classes throughout the weekend. Founding memberships are also available for a limited time.

The new Kinrgy WeHo studio will be open seven days a week with four to six classes available and plans to add more. 

“I’m eager to see the West Hollywood community and beyond embrace this new chapter of wellness and self-expression with open hearts and energy,” Hough added.

Along with dance classes ranking as the most popular modality based on Google’s average monthly search volume in 2023, vigorous exercise such as dancing may help combat depression.

High-profile celebrities are cashing in on fitness as of late, as seen with Chris Hemsworth’s Centr,  Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new fitness app with a devoted following and Jennifer Aniston becoming the famous face of Pvolve.

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Momentous Gets $32M To Expand Human Performance Supplements

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Humble Growth has acquired a significant minority stake in Momentous, the ‘human performance’ brand led by former NFL player Jeff Byers

Humble Growth, a consumer-focused investment firm concentrating on disruptive wellness brands in the food, beverage, health, beauty, vitamins, supplements and apparel space, has acquired a significant minority stake in Momentous, a fast-growing human performance and nutrition company. The deal is worth $32 million, Athletech News has learned.

The strategic partnership sees Momentous co-founders Jeff Byers and Erica Good continuing to lead the company together as CEO and president, respectively. Last year, the Park City, Utah-based brand tripled its revenue from 2022 and projects to double its revenue again this year. 

Next up, Momentous plans to open a new Los Angeles-based headquarters, grow its staff and advance the customer experience of its DTC model.

credit: Momentous

The human performance brand recently released an updated version of its website, allowing consumers to explore products based on their desired “pillar of performance” — such as cognitive function, sleep, athletic performance, foundational health and hormone support.

The timing is ideal, as Americans are eagerly spending hard-earned dollars on vitamins and supplements, especially those in the performance, recovery and mood genres.

NY-based Humble Growth, led by RxBar co-founder Peter Rahal, debuted a $312 million fund last fall, with a who’s who list of investors including Nestlé Health Science, Verlinvest, BodyArmor co-founder Mike Repole, Stonyfield Farm founder and CEO Gary Hirshberg, IT Cosmetics co-founder Paulo Lima and Ainsworth Pet Nutrition founder Sean Lang.

Not Your Traditional Supplement Brand

Aligned with Humble Growth’s mission to partner with entrepreneurs and brands promoting health and wellness, Momentous was launched in 2018 to offer high-quality, science-backed products (seven of which tout the Informed-Sport certification) to meet the needs of elite performers.

Human performance is an area that Byers knows well as a former NFL offensive lineman. After retiring from the NFL, the Momentous CEO became aware of a major gap in the supplement, He first launched Amp Human, creating the brand’s popular PR Lotion product before acquiring the Momentous brand in 2021 and merging it into the company.

Instead of marketing gimmicks, Byers’ approach to supplements is to rewrite the current industry script with an expert approach, tapping the talent of Dr. Andrew Huberman, Dr. Andy Galpin and other health and wellness practitioners. 

“Supplements to me have a weird connotation, so our goal is to build the ‘anti-supplement supplement company,’” he told ATN in an exclusive interview last year. “We want to be your trusted partner in life optimization.”

Jeff Byers (credit: Momentous)

From the NFL to Consumers

Passionate about targeting “mindset” consumers who seek quality products to optimize their health and performance, Byers’ position has led Momentous to secure nearly 200 pro and college sports teams partnerships, including a deal to create a custom recovery product for an NFL team, along with millions worth of innovation contracts with the Department of Defense.

The brand has also attracted pro athlete shareholders such as NFL Pro Bowlers Luke Kuechly, Kyle Rudolph, and Ndamukong Suh, former professional skateboarder Rob Dyrdek, Ironman Champion Lucy Charles-Barclay and more. 

Byers remarked that joining with Humble Growth on the heels of exponentially growing Momentous will mean an upward trajectory for the brand, which has also earned the title of Official Supplements and Sports Nutrition Partner of CrossFit and the CrossFit Games.

“We were immediately drawn to Humble Growth and its partners’ exceptional track record in successfully operating and scaling nutrition and supplement companies,” Byers said. “Their lived experience positions them as invaluable thought partners during our continued growth, and I’m confident that Humble Growth’s passion and expertise for consumer products in this space is going to usher us into an exciting new chapter.”

The post Momentous Gets $32M To Expand Human Performance Supplements appeared first on Athletech News.

With Hyperhuman, Fitness Brands Can Create Game-Changing Video Content

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The tech company empowers wellness providers, connected hardware companies, consumer fitness entities and digital fitness brands to generate quality, scalable content in minutes 

In the world of digital health and fitness, video content is the heartbeat of any enterprise. Offering a fresh stream of content that’s scalable to varied audiences is fundamental.

However, producing this content is time-consuming, expensive and resource-intensive. 

To do so, companies can either: hire a video production agency, which can be time-consuming and expensive; hire an internal team – also cost-intensive and unwieldy;  or utilize lower-quality stock video that likely won’t meet the needs of today’s discerning consumers.

In response to these challenges, tech entrepreneur and former Fitbit product leader Bogdan Predusca, along with former management consultant and digital innovation leader Dan Nica, have developed an entirely new infrastructure for video production that shoulders the heavy lifting, streamlines the process and yields smart, sustainable and measurable content. 

Launched in late 2020, Hyperhuman is an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered health and fitness video creation and delivery platform that automates the video production process and helps companies provide personalized, engaging content that boosts customer loyalty and drives positive health outcomes.

The platform effectively reduces cost and resources by providing a tech-assisted content production toolchain, a cutting-edge video delivery infrastructure, omnichannel export capabilities and a white-labeled consumer app.

“Start-ups, and small- and medium-sized businesses that are largely the backbone of this industry have always been challenged to create quality, scalable content,” says Predusca. “So, we set out to build a platform for companies to produce smart, quality video content with a mission to make the world’s health and fitness media accessible reusable and profitable.”

Hyperhuman Founders Dan Nica (l) and Bogdan Predusca (credit: Hyperhuman)

Hyperhuman serves digital companies, wellness providers, connected hardware companies, and consumer fitness companies.  

What Hyperhuman Solves For

“The video creation process is disconnected and clunky. It takes a long time,” says Predusca. “Quality is hard to manage. It’s expensive. Development is not sustainable. Content is not personalized for the user, and oftentimes the outcome is poor.”

Hyperhuman addresses these needs, and more, with a host of features including the ability to add exercise details, create exercise groups, add royalty-free music, share auto-generated social clips, and more. 

“We took our industry insights and set about envisioning what companies ultimately need to achieve and used technology to achieve it,” Predusca explains, “It’s an entirely new infrastructure for video production and delivery.”

credit: Hyperhuman

How It Works

Hyperhuman is an open platform that uses a data-driven approach to help companies create hyper-personalized content in minutes or transform existing videos into a reusable library of smart video blocks. 

AI handles post-production, quickly generating assets in a modular format embedded with analytics so companies can gather user feedback and track key metrics such as user engagement, workout completion rates, and more. Content can be instantly published in any existing app or digital product using Hyperhuman’s public API or embeddable webpages.  

“It’s like having a dedicated post-production and video agency that is just a click away, that yields smart, measurable, amenable and highly customizable omnichannel content,” says Predusca.

Additionally, Hyperhuman offers an extensive video library of ready-to-use footage, including various workout styles, exercise demonstrations, and fitness classes. This content – produced by Hyperhuman’s elite video production partners – can be easily incorporated into workouts and programs, eliminating the time and effort of filming new footage.

credit: Hyperhuman

In a move to enhance their client’s success even further, Hyperhuman partnered with PR firm Dunn Pellier Media in late 2023, gaining significant exposure and awareness in the market.

“We want to set our clients up for success in all ways and we continue to seek unique collaborations and partnerships like this to do so,” says Predusca.

The Future Is Personalized

“The future of fitness is undeniably heavily weighted on personalization and continually adapting to consumer needs and uses – fast,” predicts Predusca. “The utilization of AI helps to do so and will develop in many ways. Clearly, the delivery of content is evolving as well, and we are always looking at new ways of interaction and consumption.”

To that end, Hyperhuman recently partnered with a sports apparel company that delivers personalized content based on biometric data derived from technology embedded into their clothing. In the digital healthcare space, Hyperhuman is in talks with companies that are using DNA testing to deliver hyper-personalized content. 

“In the end, it’s about helping consumers to achieve better outcomes,” explains Predusca. “Fitness companies have a significant impact on people’s lives, helping the world to become fitter, more active and healthier. Hyperhuman is trying to do our part by democratizing video production and delivery and making video smart so that companies can deliver on this.”

The post With Hyperhuman, Fitness Brands Can Create Game-Changing Video Content appeared first on Athletech News.

Home Workouts – Thu, Feb 29

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CrossFit Albuquerque – Home Workouts

View Public Whiteboard

Warm-up

2 MIN CARDIO

3×10 band walkouts

10 bird dogs

1 min plank

Weightlifting

E3Mx5 Sets:

(Athlete Choice)

Strict Press or Bench Press x 7 reps @ 50% of 1-RM

*Using 31×1 Tempo*

Bench Press

Strict Press

Metcon (No Measure)

Bodybuilding:

16 min EMOM:

Minute 1 : :30 sec handstand hold

Minute 2 : 1-3 Turkish Get ups with KB on Right

Minute 3 : 1-3 Turkish Get ups with KB on L

Minute 4 : 12 reps Dumbbell Biceps Curls

The post Home Workouts – Thu, Feb 29 appeared first on Crossfit Albuquerque.

CrossFit – Thu, Feb 29

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CrossFit Albuquerque – CrossFit

Warm-up

2 MIN CARDIO

3×10 band walkouts

10 bird dogs

1 min plank

Weightlifting

E3Mx5 Sets:

(Athlete Choice)

Strict Press or Bench Press x 7 reps @ 50% of 1-RM

*Using 31×1 Tempo*

Bench Press

Strict Press

Metcon (No Measure)

Bodybuilding:

16 min EMOM:

Minute 1 : :30 sec handstand hold

Minute 2 : 1-3 Turkish Get ups with KB on Right

Minute 3 : 1-3 Turkish Get ups with KB on L

Minute 4 : 12 reps Dumbbell Biceps Curls

The post CrossFit – Thu, Feb 29 appeared first on Crossfit Albuquerque.

Open Gym – Thu, Feb 29

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CrossFit Albuquerque – Open Gym

View Public Whiteboard

Warm-up

2 MIN CARDIO

3×10 band walkouts

10 bird dogs

1 min plank

Weightlifting

E3Mx5 Sets:

(Athlete Choice)

Strict Press or Bench Press x 7 reps @ 50% of 1-RM

*Using 31×1 Tempo*

Bench Press

Strict Press

Metcon (No Measure)

Bodybuilding:

16 min EMOM:

Minute 1 : :30 sec handstand hold

Minute 2 : 1-3 Turkish Get ups with KB on Right

Minute 3 : 1-3 Turkish Get ups with KB on L

Minute 4 : 12 reps Dumbbell Biceps Curls

The post Open Gym – Thu, Feb 29 appeared first on Crossfit Albuquerque.

2024 China DMS Pro Bodybuilding Show Preview

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The 2024 China DMS Pro show will occur at the New International Expo Centre in Shanghai, China, on Friday, March 1, 2024. It features 11 IFBB Pro League athletes competing in the Men’s Physique and Bikini divisions.

This show has received less attention due to its scheduling on the same weekend as the 2024 Arnold Classic in Columbus, OH. However, the China DMS Pro winners will still earn qualifications to compete in the 2024 Olympia in Las Vegas, NV, on Oct. 10-13, 2024.

2024 China DMS Pro Rosters

The rosters for both divisions are below. Names are in alphabetical order, courtesy of the IFBB Pro League website:

Men’s Physique

Abdullah Al Salem (Kuwait)

Carlos Asiedu Ocran (China)

Ilya Kvashnin (Russia)

Krishna Purnama Putra (Indonesia)

Yiming Wei (China)

Han Yang (China)

Xingwang Yang (China)

Bikini

Xinyi Chen (China)

Heather Hei Man Kam (China)

Jiaqi Wei (China)

Hongmei Zhou (China)

[Related: How Samson Dauda Trains During Peak Week for the 2024 Arnold Classic]

[Related: Urs Kalecinski and Wesley Vissers Tag Team Back Training During 2024 Arnold Classic Prep]

Krishna Purnama Putra

Krishna Purnama Putra was the 2022 NPC Worldwide Amateur Olympia Men’s Physique winner. He competed twice in the pro ranks in 2023. He finished ninth in the 2023 Tokyo Pro, won by Joven Sagabain, and leaped to fourth at the AGP South Korea Men’s Physique Pro, won by JunHo Lee.

Putra could be in the running for gold in Shanghai because he’s had time to improve his physique, and the judges will have more time to focus on him. It would be his first win and Olympia qualification if he’s successful.

Xingwang Yang

Xingwang Yang will make his IFBB Pro League debut. Fans in Asia have anticipated his arrival on the pro scene after he earned his pro status at the 2023 NPC Worldwide Global Classic Superbowl Macau Pro Qualifier.

Xingwang Yang’s symmetry may be his greatest strength. Even though Men’s Physique athletes wear shorts, Yang’s leg development was apparent in his last amateur show.

Abdullah Al Salem

Hailing from Kuwait, Abdullah Al Salem is coming off a 12th-place finish in the 2023 Sheru Classic UK Pro, won by Febo Gambacorta. Abdullah Al Salem will face a smaller lineup in Shanghai and has had time to improve. This will be his 2024 season debut, where he will aim for his first pro show win.

More Bodybuilding Content

Jay Cutler to Receive 2024 Arnold Classic Lifetime Achievement Award

Nick Walker Trains Back Raw 14 Weeks Out From the 2024 New York Pro

How 7-Time Figure Olympia Champion Cydney Gillon Trains Legs During Her Off-Season

Featured image: @calebcarlos33 on Instagram 

The post 2024 China DMS Pro Bodybuilding Show Preview appeared first on BarBend.

The Open Report: Week 6 — It’s Here!

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Editor’s Note: “The Open Report” is a multi-part series by Mike Halpin that breaks down the current CrossFit Open registration numbers and examines where they stand in historical contexts. You can read the previous installments here.

We have arrived. The 2024 CrossFit Open starts on February 29, at 12 p.m. PT / 3 p.m. ET, with the announcement of 24.1 by Dave Castro. 

We are in the ramp-up period this week, and things are looking up.

That’s what I will be touching on today. Over on my Instagram, Known & Knowable, I have been tracking and posting a few data points (mostly) daily. First, the daily totals of the “Open Division” (16-54-year-old men and women) and then the age group divisions that fall outside that 16-54 group (14-15 boys and girls and 55+ men and women).

That currently looks like this:

Click to enlarge

In week two of the Open Report, I touched on this comparison to 2022 and 2023 and how it didn’t give a good representation without a bunch of caveats. For example: 

In 2023, registration started weeks to months earlier. 

The 2023 Open started nearly two weeks earlier in February than 2022 and 2024. 

So, about halfway into our tracking window, I started adding in a better year-over-year “Days Out” comparison. In short, I compared registration based on the relative start date of the Open itself rather than the calendar date from one year to the next. 

This helps to align the years better and resolves the issue I found if you just compared February 16 to February 16. In 2023, that was the day of 23.1, but in 2024, that was still two weeks out from 24.1. To align that, I compared the current registration daily total to the last two pre-season periods on the same days out from the ‘X.1’ announcement date.

Here is what that looks like:

As you can see, 2024 is tracking well ahead of 2022 but has slowed down in the last few days, settling in at only 1,651 registrants ahead of 2023. The lull could just be people waiting, and we will see if it ramps back up after the announcement.

From the X.1 announcement through the submission deadline of the first workout, things really start heating up. Here are the last two seasons in that window:

I believe the 2024 Open will follow a similar trajectory through the submission deadline this Monday. I have held back doing this because it was a bit too early to call and this week was going to be very telling of if the momentum continued.

Prediction: Based on tracking this daily and comparing year over year, my estimates are somewhere in line with 2019’s total of 357,000 but still far below the record year in 2018 of 416,000. This would put CrossFit just above what I presume to be HQ’s goal of growing by 10% year-over-year, or just over 355,000. 

Another year of 10% growth, but that could be wishful thinking. 

In 2022 and 2023, an average of roughly 78,000 athletes were added from Day +1 to Day -5. That would put 2024 at around 326,000. That’s only 1.25% growth over 2023. Registrations could use one big and final push. It could come down to the 24.1 workout itself, which Dave Castro has stated will be something anyone could do in an affiliate or in their garage. That could be good for the numbers versus a complex chipper workout like 23.1.

We will all see soon enough if the barometer I talked about in the first week of the Open Report has sunny skies or storm clouds. 

I am sure CrossFit wants to set the tone with a win here after a season marked by affiliate fee increases, multiple layoffs, elite athletes dropping out, programming issues, and judging issues.

This is, after all, the first anniversary of the 23.1 announcement having the wrong barbell weight for Laura Horvath and Gabi Migała. However, it’s a new chapter, one where Dave Castro is back to doing the announcements and in charge of the Sport of CrossFit. 

[Related: 9 Tips To Be a Low-Maintenance Crossfit Open Participant This Year]

I am still feeling optimistic that things are looking good for CrossFit and Castro’s Games team by Monday evening. But who gets the credit? 

I am sure multiple people will come out of the woodwork to take credit for the new growth of registrations. I say whoever is trying to take credit, let them have it. As long as it means more people testing their fitness against their community which leads to more people around the world training under certified CrossFit coaches, doing the CrossFit methodology, we all win. It’s good for CrossFit HQ and for affiliates.

The bottom line: “A rising tide lifts all boats” — John F. Kennedy (attributed)

We are keeping this week a bit shorter, but I am not done with the series. Over the next few weeks, we finally get to react to the number totals and check back in on the unaffiliated, the Service Open, age groups, the 25% QF Cutline, and other topics.

Here are the penultimate numbers (before the ones that ultimately prove me right or wrong)……

Week 6 of Open registration tracking:

Reminder: Dates and info for the 2024 Open:

Registration started on January 9 at noon PT

Open Workout 24.1 starts on February 29 at noon PT

Open Workout 24.3 ends on March 18 at 5 p.m. PT

That gives us a window of 52 total days for registration before the first workout. Plus, there are 19 days between workouts 24.1 and 24.3.

(Editor’s Note: All data within this report for the 2024 CrossFit Open was pulled from the CrossFit leaderboard on Wednesday, February 28 at 1 p.m. EST.)

We are now 52 days into the registration window and 0 days until the Open begins.

The current 2024 registration total is growing at an average rate of around 4,625 each day after the initial day-one total of 20,982. Compared to previous years:

Past 7-Day Comparison Year-Over-Year

Note: The 2023 Open registration started on November 17, 2022, with an incentive from NOBULL to register before December 31. In 2022, Open registration started on January 13, similar to 2024. In 2023, the Open started on February 16.

[Related: ROKA Partners With CrossFit Games, Adds Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr to Athlete Roster]

Numbers, numbers, numbers!: Additional data I’ve been tracking along with a few suggestions from readers and commentators on Instagram.

2024 Open Division – Registration by Region and Division, then 10% cut and 25% cut

MEN

WOMEN

Top 15 Countries by Athlete Nationality

Total Affiliate Count 2018-2024

*Note: For these two years, the count of registrations for each affiliate is blank, so it’s not possible to see if affiliates may have been listed with zero registrations, which does show up on ‘22-’24.

Top 10 Affiliates Registered for 2024

*Note: SuperForce CrossFit appears to be a 16-location franchise across different areas of Brazil. It appears that they are submitting all registrations under a single affiliate on the leaderboard. 

Top 10 Ages of Registered Athletes

Registrations by Age Group Divisions

More CrossFit Content

Read the latest CrossFit stories from the Morning Chalk Up below:

Interview: Haley Adams on Finding the Joy In CrossFit Again After Her Year Away

Meet Dylan Gibbs: The First U.S. Male Collegiate Functional Fitness National Champion

Breaking Down the Most Common CrossFit Open Movement Combinations

Featured Image: @crossfitcentralhouston / Instagram

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