RICH FRONING JR.’s official bio reads something like: ‘a 10-times CrossFit Games champion, having earned four consecutive individual titles from 2011 to 2014 and six team titles as the captain of CrossFit Mayhem Freedom. Widely regarded as one of the greatest CrossFit athletes of all time.’
But to a significant portion of the fitness community, Froning’s aura transcends even this imposing CV – he isn’t just one of the greatest, he is the GOAT. It’s common to read internet chatter conceding that – much like Mike Tyson in the ’90s – the only reason other Games champions got to stand atop the podium was Rich’s ‘retirement’ into the teams division. And, that even now, aged 38, he would make a serious dent in the leaderboard were he to return.
When we asked Froning – on a recent episode of the Men’s Health UK Podcast – why he thinks he’s still so dominant in the sport when many of his contemporaries have long since left the competition floor, he lists a self-deprecating – but surprisingly introspective – set of conditions: ‘I think I’m just stubborn. I enjoy it and if I’m going to be working out, I’m going to be working out hard.’
He also cites that he personally tests much of the elite programming for CrossFit Mayhem’s online and in-house training platform – the lifeblood of his business. This doesn’t just keep him in (ridiculous) shape, but also accountable – he’s aware that for many, his body is his business card: ‘We’re selling a product, so I need to look good with my shirt off.’
But beyond this, he says his own legend keeps him motivated: ‘If somebody’s going to say, “I beat Rich at whatever workout or whatever competition,” I want it to still mean something.’ He admits that he doesn’t ever want to have to say, ‘I used to be Rich Froning.’
What’s Rich Froning doing now?
Froning might still be on top of his game, but has training for that game changed as he pushes into his late 30s? He says that while his training volume is still eye-wateringly high, his approach now is at once both more cautious and less stressful: ‘I’m still probably working out as much as I ever have but with way less urgency or stress about it.’
Outside of competition training, Froning now uses much lower loads, only rarely pushing into top 10% weights, instead focusing on ‘greasing the groove’ and drilling his form: ‘I’ll do a lot of volume at lower percentages, just to make sure that the movement pattern is there.’ Despite wanting to ‘still be Rich Froning’ for as long as possible, he doesn’t let ego become the enemy of longevity – listening to his body when it counts: ‘When things hurt, I’m not pushing through those pains.’
There are some exercises where this is more pertinent than others, such as the Olympic lifts. ‘The snatch, the clean and jerk, those are the two that if I’m not smart about it, I feel it for a couple days, especially my left knee.’ His training now heavily leans on more low-skill, ‘grunt work’-style movements, such as farmer’s carries, heavy sandbag cleans and loads, and vaulting over high boxes, as well as ample push-ups, pull-ups, and bodyweight squats.
As he closes in on an event or competition, however, this is when ‘Old Rich’ (Young Rich?) rears his head. He’ll begin to incorporate more CrossFit-specific (but not entirely joint-friendly) kipping movements, up the weights in his big lifts – especially the ones he knows will appear on the competition floor – and will generally stop holding back in the gym. He says he’ll ‘push past stupid and do something dumb’, but that he tries try to minimise this intensity until six to eight weeks out from a competition.
New challenges, same mindset
Despite his unyielding domination of the sport of fitness, Froning says he isn’t a ‘goals guy’, in the sense of chasing specific targets or PBs, but that he just likes to have something to aim towards: ‘I need to have a target or else I’m just an aimless soul looking around for somewhere to land.’
These days, however, his aims are more holistic than just competitive CrossFit. He’s taken part in the Leadville 100 – a gruelling 100-mile mountain bike race that includes around 12,000 ft of elevation gain – multiple times, recently tackled a gruelling 24-hour bike race in Texas, and sticks closely to one of the original CrossFit principles of regularly learning new sports. ‘We played in a men’s slow-pitched softball league. I just like competing. I just enjoy it, man.’
An avid hunter, Froning has also taken to understanding and experimenting with how to train for the physical demands of multi-day, wilderness expeditions in the mountains – a topic he’s exploring via the Mayhem Hunt YouTube channel and training programmes.
When pressed on if he’d be joining fellow CrossFit Games royalty Mat Fraser and Tia-Claire Toomey on the Hyrox scene, Froning shied away from answering the question directly but didn’t hesitate to compliment the ascendant fitness race: ‘It’s awesome. It gets people moving. It gets people training. And that’s what we’re trying to preach.’ Amen.
Fuel like froning
Froning’s eating habits have evolved over the years, but he finally thinks he’s nailed it.
Not So Fast
Froning previously utilised daily intermittent fasting. ‘I did that for probably four or five years and then out of nowhere I just started dropping weight. I just couldn’t get enough calories in that window.’ Now he spreads three meals across the day, with a snack before bed if he needs to up his calories.
Densely Packed
In the past, struggles with not eating enough led Froning to cram in calorically dense, but nutritionally sparse foods. Now he tries to strike a mindful balance of enough fuel, with enough micronutrients. ‘It’s not for body comp or anything like that, more of just taking care of myself.’
Carb Up, Carb Down
Froning pays attention to his macros and adjusts his intake according to the demands of his workouts: ‘As a rule of thumb depending on the amount of training, I’ll adjust my carbs, but my fats and proteins stay the same.’ He aims for 100g fats, 200g of proteins, and adjusts between 300-500g of carbs.
This article originally appeared on Men’s Health UK.
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How Rich Froning Became The Greatest CrossFit Games Athlete In History
