This week’s conversation is with Rich Froning Jr., dubbed the Fittest Man in History after winning four back-to-back individual CrossFit Games championships (2011-2014).

He also won the worldwide Open for three consecutive years (2012-2014), and when he retired from individual competition after the 2014 season, he captained his affiliate’s team, CrossFit Mayhem Freedom, to two back-to-back Affiliate Cup championships in 2015 and 2016.

When I mentioned to a couple of my friends that Rich was coming on, they raised their eyebrows and nodded, “That’s going to be a great one.”

Rich’s point of view comes from being recognized as the best in the world at his craft.

It’s clear Rich understands winning – and the costs associated with it.

In Rich’s words: “To be the best in the world at anything, you’re not balanced. You can’t be balanced.”

So if you knew that ahead of time, would you still pursue it? It’s a great question and why I love these conversations so much.

They really make you think about who you are and what you value most – at least they do for me.

“I don’t like to look at things and think, ‘Man if I could’ve changed that…’ I try to look at them as, ‘They changed me for the better at that point.”

In This Episode:

  • Always loving sports and learning to love competition growing up with a big family
  • Why his competitive fueled him to be great at Cross Fit but hurt his relationships
  • The cost of wanting to be “The Best” vs “His Best”
  • What his standard training regimen consisted of
  • The arc of his growth up to competing in the CrossFit games
  • The people that were most influential in shaping who he’s become
  • How he gets in his own way: dealing with the concept of balance
  • The trap he walked into when he wanted to be the best to prove his worth to others
  • The athlete he admires most: Barry Sanders and the common question they both get from fans
  • What drove him to go to such crazy lengths to win / why he absolutely can’t stand losing
  • His strategy for tackling big challenges
  • His dad’s method for teaching him which he found to be effective
  • How he thinks about failure
  • What he hopes the next generation gets right… it starts with figuring out who you are

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