The difference between an athlete who is happy just to be at the big event and one who shows up to win is one hundred percent mindset — a refusal to be beaten no matter how badly it hurts, built on top of all the training, sleep, and recovery you have already put in. In part four of Mindset of a Champion on Physical Friday, four-time CrossFit Games champion Kevin Koester explains the final mental layer that separates winners from everyone else who qualified.
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According to Kevin Koester, it is exactly that — they are happy to be at the Games, and he is not happy unless he wins. He told me it is one hundred percent a mindset thing where you decide you will do whatever it takes on the floor to win. Everyone at that level has trained their body, but the champion adds a layer in their head that says, I will not be beaten.
At the elite level the physical work is a given. Kevin made the point that you have trained your body, taken care of it, slept, eaten right, taken your supplements, worked out, then trained harder, then dialed in efficiency. After all of that, there is still another level that is purely mental — the internal certainty that you will not be beaten and that there is no plan B.
Kevin told me that saying it out loud — telling people he is going to win — is his commitment to himself. It takes the goal out of his head and makes it real, with no excuses and no plan B. He did exactly that going into the 2021 Games, telling Bryce from Invictus he was going to win. Declaring it publicly is part of how he holds himself to it.
Because it hurts, and that level of commitment is rare. Kevin's honesty cuts right to it — most people are not willing to do whatever it takes and accept the pain that comes with it. A champion is often just one person who is willing to give a little bit more than everyone else in the room on the day it matters.
The point of this series is not to make us all CrossFit Games champions. It is to take the mindset of someone who has won — Kevin has done it four times — and apply it to whatever you care about, whether that is running, opening a business, or winning a fishing tournament. Make a real commitment, decide there is no plan B, and be willing to do whatever it takes.
Kevin Koester is a four-time CrossFit Games champion and the recurring guest in this Mindset of a Champion series on Physical Friday. He has stair-stepped through the whole journey on this show — getting started, training to compete, qualifying, and now the mindset it takes to win and defend a title.
We have stair-stepped this whole series up to the hardest question — what does it take not just to get to the top, but to win and then come back and defend? There is a real difference between the bass fisherman thrilled to make the Bassmaster Classic and the one who shows up expecting to win it. I wanted Kevin to put words to that gap, and he did.
I asked Kevin point blank what separates him, who wins, from the person who is just happy to be at the Games. His answer was blunt and it stuck with me. He talked about an internal voice that says he will not be beaten no matter how badly it hurts. Watch the episode to hear him describe exactly what that certainty feels like and where it comes from.
One of the most useful things Kevin shared was that he announces his goal publicly. Telling Bryce from Invictus he was going to win in 2021 was not bravado — it was a commitment device, a way to remove plan B. I think that lesson reaches way past CrossFit. I unpack how it applies to fishing and business in the full episode. Press play to hear it.
The day after recording, the line I could not shake was simple — the reason everyone is not a champion is that it hurts. The commitment costs something most people will not pay.
You do not need to win the CrossFit Games to use this. Be the one person willing to do whatever it takes in your own arena. That is the whole lesson.
Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen — the training, nutrition, and mindset to stay in the game for life. Watch and listen to every Physical Friday episode from Tom Rowland.
Kevin Koester · CrossFit Games · Invictus · Bryce (Invictus) · Bassmaster Classic · Boston Marathon · Physical Friday · Tom Rowland Podcast
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series where I help fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen build the training, nutrition, and mindset to stay strong and stay in the game for life.
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