At 6-foot-7, 320 pounds, two-time Olympic champion Ryan Crouser needs a lot of food to fuel his pursuit of gold medals.
The shot put star, who won gold medals at both the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, must burn about 5,000 calories a day to maintain his shape and strength.
A typical breakfast might include a five-egg omelet, cheese and a quarter pound of turkey sausage, followed by two servings of oatmeal and a cup of blueberries. His two lunches will consist of a pound of lean ground beef or chicken and 12 ounces of rice. Meanwhile, he had dinner with his girlfriend.
“We’ll be following a recipe for a family of four. She’ll eat one portion and I’ll eat the other three. The normal portion size for most dinners is about 400 calories, so three portions gives me 1,200 calories,” he said.
All in all, Crowther was used to racking up large grocery bills at his local Sam’s Club.
“It’s definitely going to be expensive. It costs me $200 to $250 a week just by myself,” he said. “I think it’s a pretty significant investment in my athletic performance.”
The current world record holder spoke to Make It while promoting his work Working with Thorne, he doesn’t skimp when it comes to purchasing the best ingredients. He would pay for organic, grass-fed beef even though it costs “30 to 40 percent more” than other beef.
“If I can get higher quality food, I can get higher quality training,” he said. “I can see without a doubt that I train better and perform better. As an investment, it makes financial sense.”
As he looks to win another gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the self-taught Crowther spoke with CNBC Make It to discuss his approach to training for the Games.
The Importance of Setting “Micro Goals”
Matthias Hanst | Getty Images Sports | Getty Images
Now 31, Krauser’s body isn’t recovering from the rigors of the weight room, training circles and tracking like it was in his early 20s.
“As you get older, your situation continues to deteriorate,” he said. “In the end, time will win.”
But Crowther has found new ways to continue improving, even if he needs to change his plan of attack. Instead of “working hard” every day, he found ways to conserve his energy.
“Just because I can’t squat 700 pounds today, doesn’t mean I can’t focus on technique,” he said. “It’s about putting yourself in a space where you can come back tomorrow and do the work over and over again.”
Crowther set his own personal record last year, a feat he never imagined possible in his youth.
“If you had asked me when I was 24 or 25 years old if I thought I would still have a personal record at 30, I would have said ‘no way, no chance,'” he said.
At his age, Krauser is motivated not by chasing new records but by setting smaller, achievable goals. Even if it’s just a few extra pounds, Crowther is giving himself something that’s not out of reach.
“(I set) these small goals and then see progress day after day, week after week, rather than ‘I want to throw a PR,'” he said. “When big goals become harder to achieve, find those small wins. Get enough of these small wins and you’ll get to where you want to be, even if it seems impossible when you first start.”
How he battled burnout while chasing Olympic gold
Krauser won his first Olympic gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Ryan Pierce | Getty Images Sports | Getty Images
Krauser says it’s hard to avoid burnout while maintaining a heavy diet, tracking exercise, measuring progress and working out day after day.
“It’s easy to get burned out and feel like, ‘Why am I doing this? What am I doing this for? I don’t like this,'” he told Make It.
He tries to give himself one day a week to step away from training and spend some time outdoors. When that’s not enough to wake him up, Crowther has a trick to get himself back on track.
“When I’m having a hard time mentally, I ask myself, ‘Well, what else can I do?'” he said. “I would be in the office as a financial advisor. I’d rather do that. It’s helped me through a lot of (difficult) times.”
Even if Krauser just wants to stay on the couch and watch TV, he tries to remind himself that if he wasn’t an athlete, that wouldn’t be an option.
“The alternative is, if I’m not training, I’m not sitting on the couch watching Netflix. I’m working in a cubicle,” he said. “I try to realize how lucky I am to be able to do what I do and have a job that I love.”
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