In "Starting Strength" Rip says that too much chalk on the floor is a sure sign that the gym owner is not yelling loud enough.

Carless Chalking, I punish them with burpees!

just waht i said yesterday about what sends you round the twist!, im going to link that page to my blog

Well at least they put a little humor in the rules. We don't want it to look to much like the signs banning crossfit in the globo gyms.I battle the chalk mess daily and try to encourage proper use. Somedays I win that battle and some days i don't. Small price to pay I think.

Merle
CrossFit USA

Are you kidding? Chalk makes you stronger!

It can be a mess, but so what. That's what vacuums and mops are for.

Chalk is a part of the story we're trying to tell with Crossfit. Let people use it, then clean it up. It's not THAT bad. Chalk is part of your marketing, not a necessary nuisance.

Great Sign! We instruct everyone on how to use chalk correctly. Most people don't rub it in vigorously enough. Spend 10-15 seconds rubbing it deep into your grooves while being over the box. This will keep most the overflow in the box, where it belongs. Chalk trails will lead you to beginners! We keep one by our pull-up bars and one by our platforms. They should NOT move from there but somehow, they seem to grow feet now and then.

Awww but I love my chalk baths.

Ours gets a little messy .... then sometimes the whole bucket gets knocked over! We just clean it up.

http://www.thepowerbarn.com/wp-content/gallery/sidebar/thumbs/thumbs_chalksexy.jpg

Cool T Larry

Don't break the chalk! Baby-powder textured chalk isn't sexy. Blocks of chalk... nice...

We recently installed a pull-up bar outside. We've always worked on indoor bars that are "seasoned" with chalk, sweat & the occasional skin & blood. We find due to the elements, the outdoor bar is fresh & clean every few days and therefore much more slippery, even with a bit of chalk. Besides "suck it up" and "hold your grip", any recommendations so I don't break my skull open?

It's funny that we CROSSFITTERS are having this chat.
After all the talk of how it sucks to not have chalk in you local Globo Gym now CF gyms are become tight A#$ed about it?!?!?!
Get out the mop, plug in the vacuum and use as needed!
Sh*&, I use it for push-ups!
Jen

working out in the big chalk cloud is good training for Aromas.

Question...what is the purpose of raising the rates for the affiliate gathering...this is information to make better affiliates why do they have to pay more for registering now or later? Does it cost more to process people later? Just curious...seems like a money maker...after paying for the flight, hotel,food, etc, seems like an extra $50.00 is for??? And please understand I am not trying to be an a** about this...blog writing sometimes doesn't convey emotions properly. I am truly asking.

Great articles - hilarious and informative.

We have chalk whores at our gym too and a posted notice is long overdue.

Will there be Cliffnotes for Filfest '09 if we can't make it? - hope so!

My one rule on chalk is this:
If you are going to throw-up, dump out the chalk first.

So far no one has thrown up at my gym so, I have not had a problem with it.

My thought at this point is: When chalk is everywhere, It's time to clean.

We, like some of you it seems, like keeping our chalk in a five gallon bucket, and encourage users to keep their hands low in it when "chalking up", which keeps the mess to a minimum.

Also, as far as cleaning up goes, here's a little something we do at the fire station. We don't sweep at TCF (it's hard to sweep rubber mats, anyway). I just open the garage door, and starting at the front, take my electric blower (no exhaust) and blow all the dust bunnies and chalk right out the back. Takes less than 3 minutes, and by arranging everything so that the chalk is ALMOST always used near the back, the chalk cloud goes right out. It occasionally makes a small cloud inside if we've had some aggressive chalkers, but if you stay on top of it, that's not much of a problem.

Even if it was harder than this, I don't mind. I like being able to say we use it and "they" don't let you.

I'm going to have to agree with Anthony Bainbridge's post on Again Faster.
more chalk = more deadlift

Maybe it's purely psychological, but how many times have you seen a guy miss a lift, he chalks up (excessively I might add), and then like magic he hits the next attempt?

Personally, I do not mind the chalk everywhere. Yes, people tend to go overboard, and yes, we do end up with chalk everywhere. But, it's better than when people tape their hands up like burn victims and then we end up with sticky tape gunk on all the bars and rings.

And as for clapping your hands... Guilty as charged, even when I barely have any chalk on them, I just can't resist it. It's so ingrained in me that I clap my hands together before grabbing the rings or the pull up bar even when I don't have chalk on my hands.

"Don't" signs are not cool, IMHO.

Water is for bathing, chalk is for gripping. Get it straight. Other than that, chalk is good.

I agree with Chad, for some reason chalking up can be a part of the mental preparation for a big lift.

Best chalk story ever: one of our clients, a 14yo was prepping for Fran one day by taking handfuls of chalk and sprinking it across the top of the pullup bar like icing on a cake. Trainer caught him and said, "what the Hell are you doing?" And, he says "chalkin' up for pull ups, like you said."

why do comments get held up for approval?

I don't agree with the Again Faster article that you should only chalk parts of your hand that contact the bar. The biggest thing for me on the deadlift (especially lots of them like in Diane) is skin slipping on skin. The hook grip puts my thumb underneath other fingers and that is where sweat usually causes my grip to slip. But I do agree that it doesn't need to be spread all around the gym.

I love the clapping like you made your kettlebell disappear part!

Where is a good place to buy some chalk? I don't have any yet, and sadly, I've never tried it before. Need it for my garage gym though!

Nice. People should learn to use the chalk. People should not be slobs. People should clean up their own mess, you're the Coach, not their f**ing janitor.

If you lift it, put it the f**k back, if you break it, fix it.

As you can tell, I agree w/the sign :)

--z--

Theresa,

http://www.pendlaybarbell.com/chalk.html

You can find it at any weightlifting equipment website. Or, you can try your local gymnastics school. They usually sell it pretty cheap since they buy it in bulk.

It's late here on the East Coast but I'll take a stab at answering some questions:

The filter is twitchy lately on posts. It's been grabbing more for no apparent reason to my eye but I'm not the IT dept. Like I said yesterday, if your post gets held, wait a bit and then e-mail me about it and I'll go look. The pace here is phenomenal. Sometimes we need a heads up to go look because we just don't have the time to check frequently.

As for the fee increase for FilFest, I don't have all the answers because Lisa is the mastermind behind this one, but I can tell you this: We're not making a dime on FilFest. Take a look around at other conferences. Many make you book 2 months out and they raise their prices by a couple hundred. $50 3 weeks out is not much to complain about in my book. There are all sorts of logistics that need to be handled with the hotel, etc.

Or maybe I'm just taking that extra $50 and buying Stella with it. Who wants a cold one?

1) chalk doesn't cause tears - lack of callouses or callous maintenance cause tears

2) mopping chalk isn't that difficult

3) do the affiliates who complain about chalk put their chalk buckets by the smoothie machine or fern plants? Maybe they don't want chalk on the plasma tv remotes?

Sorry guys and gals - I don't buy all the fuss about chalk problems.

Anthony,

Maybe your clients are scared of you, so they don't chalk up the joint, you firebreather, you...

Teresa - you can also find blocks of chalk at your local sports store in their climbing dept. I get mine at REI - a 4"x4"x2" block (1 oz) for about a buck.

They aren't scared of me ... but they ARE scared of Jodi ... good point Jon! :P

I was a gymnast...I love chalk! Spit on your hands first then add chalk. My personal opinion, it's a gym, there is going to be overspill~I don't mind!

~Kim
CrossFit Persevere

Chalk is just part of life. CF Redding bought a vacuum and we just suck it up. We recently bought Black Diamond refilliable chalk bags which seemed to cut down the spillage and regulates the chalk dobbers.
Chalk is white courage use it, love it and embrace it its a part of CrossFit

Bryan S