Rich Froning is well known for being the Fittest Man on Earth. Rich has won the CrossFit Games 9 times: 4 Individual titles and 5 Affiliate Cup team titles.
Froning’s workout regimen is incredibly thorough. He works out 6 days per week for approximately 5-6 hours per day. Here’s a quick snapshot of what some of Rich Froning’s toughest workouts look like.
With such a demanding & calculated workout routine many people often ask him “how do you recover?” and that is what we sought to find out in our exclusive interview with Rich about his recovery routine.
What is Rich Froning’s Recovery Routine?
In the past 5 years, after recovering from a couple minor injuries and just aging in a physically demanding sport, I’ve put much more emphasis on pre and post-workout routines. Post workout recovery can be more beneficial when there’s a pre-workout routine in place.
I try to get seven hours of sleep, but that can vary depending on the kids and if something needs to be done on the farm, so I start with a contrasting shower every morning before training. Once I get to the barn or Mayhem, I’ll spend 3-5 minutes in the deep squat stretch, frog stretch, and couch stretch (all against a wall) before moving into a warm up that’s more specific to the movements we’ll be doing in that session.
Post workout usually involves a PHSO-RITE and massage gun before getting into the Cold Plunge. I’ve found that 10 minutes at 50 degrees works best for me. It doesn’t matter if I’ve just finished strength training, a nasty Mayhem Athlete piece, or an aerobic session, 10 minutes at 50 degrees are my magic numbers.
My diet and nutrition has looked different throughout my career. I used to eat just for the calories and energy, which is important, but 3 years ago I started eating more quality foods, staying away from the things that caused inflammation in my joints, and consistent timing, and I’ve learned how much that aids in my recovery, too.
What Does Rich Froning Think About Cold Water Therapy?
I’ve read the science and peer reviews so based on that, I was pretty confident it would improve muscle recovery but I didn’t realize how much it would help or how that would translate to how I felt during the day.
It has also affected more than muscle recovery, which has been an unexpected bonus. For example, I knew it would help with muscle fatigue and soreness, but the extent of improvement was surprising.
The unexpected part was seeing the direct correlation through WHOOP data. I have more consistent days in the green, lower RHR, and my deep sleep percentage improves when I’m consistently doing Cold Plunge sessions, and those are things that stretching more isn’t going to improve, only certain recovery disciplines can do that.
What is Rich Froning’s Favorite Recovery Product?
I don’t think there’s a silver bullet to recovery, there’s no stand alone practice that is adequate for well rounded recovery, especially in CrossFit, but incorporating the Cold Plunge has had a compound effect on my other recovery routines like getting enough sleep, daily mobility, and a nutritious diet.
I believe the reason for that is, most everything else has varying elements that are out of our control. Some nights we don’t sleep as well for unknown reasons, some days time constraints can interfere on a mobility session, and other times having the right food at the right time is hard to do, however, no matter if it’s 30 degrees in Tennessee or 90 degrees, my Cold Plunge is going to be 50 degrees and I can (usually) always manage 10 minutes for all the benefits it provides.
Image Sources
- Rich Froning in Cold Plunge 2: Cold Plunge
- Rich Froning in Cold Plunge: Cold Plunge
- Rich-Froning-Recovery-Strategies: Cold Plunge
