Rich Froning firmly believes that there are no limitations on human capacity. The time it takes to travel a given distance is getting shorter and shorter, and the maximum weight of all major lifts is getting heavier in CrossFit. So when you choose something you love, don’t set yourself any limits. If anything, wipe away those you may already have on your mind.

Living the fitness lifestyle

With obesity turning into a global epidemic, exercise has become an important means of maintaining structure and health for many people around the world. CrossFit turned exercise into a sport. Opinions about the sanctity of CrossFit are strong and divided. The haters find it too dangerous and arbitrary, while the followers treat it as a religion of its own.

Even so, the four-time world champion endorses CrossFit as one of the best ways to find a balanced level of fitness. As a sport, it defies the extremes of just being a heavy lifter or an endurance runner. By combining skills that require lifting off the ground heavily, pulling your own body weight, and testing aerobic capacity within a limited time frame, awareness is developed of improving physical ability not just in one, but in multiple dimensions .

Finding a new identity through CrossFit

Not one to be obsessed with video games, it comes as no surprise that Rich Froning always had a very active childhood. Froning, who was actively interested in baseball and American football, studied physical education in college and became a firefighter for four years before graduating. In 2009 he saw CrossFit videos online and out of pure interest he decided to get the first level CrossFit certification.

With just enough information to work on, Rich set up a gym with basic equipment in his father’s barn. Along with one of his cousins, he began doing daily CrossFit workouts, aka WODs, published by CrossFit headquarters on the official website. After identifying with competing CrossFit athletes at comparable times, Rich decided to test the 2010 CrossFit Games and pray they wouldn’t be the last.

The first big, humiliating blow

Exceeding his own expectations, froningeasily sailed through all the preparatory events until the final part of the main event, the via ferrata, dealt him a crushing defeat. Part proud, part cocky, Froning undertook to climb the rope using only his hands to support his entire body weight. It was less than a split second before Rich lost his balance and stumbled to the ground as the first runner-up in the 2010 games.

Learning from that setback, Rich, who absolutely hated losing, continued to give it his all in his daily training to achieve and retain the CrossFit title of Fittest Man on Earth, four years in a row.

You have to be a little crazy to be the best at anything

When asked about his training log, Das Froning defines his apparent invincibility at the CrossFit games and replies that success is the result of many sacrifices. There’s never one big ingredient that dictates it. He admits he may not be the smartest athlete in the arena, but he certainly is the toughest. During his preparation for the Games, he would often do up to seven workouts a day to meet the high training volumes.

Listen to yor body, define your own rules and stick to it!

Not one to follow a specific diet, Froning asserts that training is instinctive rather than generalized recommendations. He doesn’t believe in rest days. However, he lowers the intensity and load of his workouts by a few notches every time he needs to rest his body. Rich eats very little during the day, depending largely on protein shakes, reserving his heaviest meals for the night.

When it comes to rest and relaxation, he doesn’t believe in using alarm clocks. He lets his body decide when to wake up in the morning.

One shot means moving fast

Working and training in the company of Better Than You will always ensure automated, steady progress without you even realizing it. Rich lifts in the company of men much stronger than him and runs in the company of faster runners to stay competitive.

After retiring from individual events in 2014, Rich Froning is happy to work on his skills that only come into play at team events. He also runs his own CrossFit gym in his hometown of Cookeville, Tennessee while traveling the world promoting CrossFit.