First

By: Rich Froning, David Thomas

Narrated by: Sean Pratt

Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's Summary

Reigning CrossFit world champion Rich Froning is "the fittest man on Earth". He's fast, he's strong, and he's incredibly disciplined. But it takes more than physical strength to compete and win at an elite level. It takes incredible mental and spiritual toughness as well. And it is the precise balance of all three that makes Rich Froning a champion.

In First, listeners follow Rich as he trains for and competes in back-to-back CrossFit world championships. Along the way Rich shares invaluable training tips, motivational techniques, and spiritual insights that, in keeping with the CrossFit philosophy, will prepare you to respond to any real-life physical, mental, or spiritual challenge.

©2013 Rich Froning (P)2015 Tantor

Inspiring

It is amazing to see how Rich's faith helped him to change his priorities. After putting God first, he was able to win the games twice(when this book was written), then twice more has an individual and once as a team. What an amazing way to glorify God by being the best at what he does.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Fantastic

What a great down to earth Man! Read once and listened once. I recommend it to all :)

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

highly dissapointed

If you are a Rich Fronin fan boy then by all means get it. But if you are someone looking to oush your own performace to the next leevel you will get nothing here. Fronin describes in detail his childhood, all his competitipns in minute detail and praises God. Thats it!! No motivation, inspiration, and hardly any training tips. so unless you are a die hard fan of his pass this one up. Long and tedious too

7 of 12 people found this review helpful

First

Really liked his personal philosophy towards CrossFit, Faith, Family, Fitness, etc. Wish he had read it himself! Only critic. He’s quite at amazing athlete and person.

Level 1 CrossFit... Level 4 Christian

Not sure what I was expecting when I bought the book except that I'm less than a year into CrossFit and find myself continually searching for more information to be the best athlete I can be. Most of the book is a recap of riches experience at the CrossFit Games and what it was like from his perspective.

The stories about his family and his faith turned out to be the real hidden gems.

Not bad, but...

I guess I was hoping for more CrossFit and less Cross-Fit, to improve in the sport by learning from one of its greatest.

Great story, humble and great!

Loved how he found a bigger why and purpose! Great nuggets to apply in life.

This is a great book. Rich is a true Christian

This is a true testimony of human character.
Rich is a true role model for all young men.

Rich Froning CrossFit Machine

And much more importantly a Christian testimony. Love that brother. Great insight into the games competitions and his training, diet, and spiritual journey.

Slam full of Jesus and Christian rhetoric.

Buyer beware. Only buy if you don't mind constant references to Jesus. I don't have an issue with religion, but this is a fitness book. I didn't expect to find it here, and I wouldn't have bought it if I had known.

2 of 4 people found this review helpful

not bad for fans

not a bad book. worth a listen. kind of nothing unexpected which is the only disappointment

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

a little more god than I expected

Interesting story from a personal perspective but a little more god than I expected. I should mention I knew little about Rich except he'd won more crossfit games than anyone else.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Froning, his fitness and his faith

Excellent insight into Froning and what drives him. Great family man and athlete. Was unaware of the role faith has in his life - his outlook and optimistic lifestyle is fairly inspiring.

Inspiring

Great read.

I’m not a religious person but it was really interesting to hear about Rich’s faith and his story.

Don’t expect much

To be honest not the greatest book that I have listened to, you keep waiting for it to really kick up a gear and get interesting but it never happens! Also a bit to god squad for me.

Interesting

Rich is a real nice guy. He was brought up well and is a devout Christian. He does lots of excercise due to a disciplined upbringing.

That is the bones of this biography. it doesn't get much more thrilling than that. If you are a crossfitter then I would definitely recommend listening to this.

great listen

great insite to a very committed and dedicated athlete, a true professional who has achieved great results

If I wasn't a fanboy already...

Where does First rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I don't really listen to biography's or stories, I'm more of a informative, education, self-help kind of book reader but this was brilliant. This is one of those books you don't want to put down, every part of the Rich Froning story is engaging.

What was one of the most memorable moments of First?

Not so much moment, but a particular tone to the book is just how humble Rich is, if your big into Crossfit or even if your a novice you'll know of the name Rich Froning. Throughout this book though through his pain and struggle, his rise and successes his humbleness really shines through.

What about Sean Pratt’s performance did you like?

I'll be honest, his voice and accent worked well with the book. Having studied a million videos of Rich on Youtube initially it took some getting used to as you just expect to hear Rich but it didn't take long and Sean was very engaging.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I picked this up because I started Crossfit and who better to study than the greatest to ever do it, but I gained so much more. Overall I guess what I wanted to get out of this was just what kind of mindset to get into to achieve in the sport and if that's what you want I recommend picking up this book because I certainly got that... but I got so much more, it's not just about excelling in Crossfit that I got from this, I got how to excel in any area of life and to always stay humble and keep things in balance.

Well worth a listen

Listened to this because of crossfit but it had much more to it than crossfit alone. Well worth listening to!

A must for all CrossFit fans

Rich comes across as such a lovely guy. Really well narrated.
A must read if you like CrossFit