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Back in June, after shot putter Ryan Crouser broke the sport's 30-year-old world record, he told reporters at the US Olympic Track and Field Trials that he’d known he could do this since 2017. Why 2017? For starters, Crouser already had one gold medal under his belt from Rio. But that was the first time he’d hit his stride training full time, instead of dividing his energy between getting his master’s degree and improving his throw. That was when the world record became less a dream and more an achievable goal.

When GQ last spoke to Crouser about his training, he was fresh off his victory in Rio, an overnight Olympic sensation with a promising career ahead of him. Since then, he’s had to reckon with the conundrum all Olympians faced in March of 2020, after the Games were postponed. For Crouser, all it took was setting a date he hoped to return to meets and training like hell to be ready for it. “I told my trainer, ‘I'm gonna commit to there being meets in September,’” he recalls. “‘If we do, that'll be great, and if not I'll have laid the foundation for the 2021 Olympics.’”

Cut to June’s trials, and it was clear the foundations had been laid. So what does a guy who broke the world record just to qualify for the Olympics do for the actual Olympics? Aim to beat his own record, of course. Ahead of his victory, Crouser spoke with GQ about training during the pandemic, eating well in Olympic Village, and how he crams 5,000 calories into a day’s worth of eating.

For Real-Life Diet, GQ talks to athletes, celebrities, and everyone in between about their diet, exercise routines, and pursuit of wellness. Keep in mind that what works for them might not necessarily be healthy for you.

GQ: After your world record-breaking throw, you said you’d known this was possible since 2017. Why?

Ryan Crouser: As a thrower, you do thousands and thousands of repetitions. You get to the meet and best case scenario you have six chances to do it. I had a few throws that were closer than I'd ever been in a meet. So I knew if I got something at that level in a meet, I could definitely throw the world record. I wouldn't say the world record throw was the perfect throw, but it was the closest to the perfect throw I've been in my career.

I graduated with my master’s in finance in spring of 2016. Being a student athlete was not optimal for athletic performance by any means, so I started training in the fall of 2016 as a professional athlete. That allowed me to train how I wanted to train, put in the hours that I wanted to, and dedicate myself fully to it. After I was able to do that and really be a professional athlete for the first year, I realized it was definitely a possibility for me. Before that it was a dream, but it wasn't really within my grasp.

What does your training typically look like?

A lot of people think we're just big strong guys and we throw a heavy ball as far as we can, which on the surface is correct. You have to be big and strong, which comes from the weight room. But you also have to be quick and flexible to accelerate quickly and react to the throw.

I'm always trying to keep my body weight up. I was the taller, skinnier kid growing up, and it's always been a battle for me to gain weight. There are other athletes that are just big guys trying to  lose the “baby fat,” I would jokingly say, so they might do a little bit more cardio. But our sport is 100% white muscle fiber, which is fast switch, so we're not doing endurance. I do 20 to 40 meter sprints three times a week, and 3 plyometric sessions a week, so jumping on boxes, bounding, I try to get as creative as I can. An agility ladder helps with having fast, clean footwork.

I throw four to five sessions a week right now. It'll be 20 to 40 throws per session, which can take anywhere from 90 to 120 minutes. It depends on the time of year, but right now it's more quality over quantity. I take a throw, take a second to evaluate it, and then focus and prep for the next one.

What are your eating habits like?

Food is almost a part of training for me. I'm eating on a set schedule that makes sure I never get hungry. I try to eat five meals a day, around 5000 calories. I go up to almost 6000 when I get into my offseason training, when I'm doing higher reps and burning more calories while trying to gain more muscle. I try to never go more than 3 hours without eating. I'm always eating something.

I do two breakfast burritos in the morning, which is about nine eggs. I add sausage or six strips of bacon. Cheese, sour cream, some red salsa, on the biggest flour tortilla I can get. Then around lunch my go-to is 12 ounces of rice with one pound of lean ground beef. I'll put some barbecue sauce on it, or sometimes I'll make an egg fried rice. For dinner, my girlfriend and I do a meal delivery service. She's a pole vaulter, and the "family of four" box works out really well for us: she eats about 2/3 of a serving, and I will eat the other three and one third servings. So I eat, like, a family of three's dinner. And then another snack before I go to bed to finish off my calories and go lower carb, higher protein.

Is that typical for a shot putter or also because you're naturally more lanky?

I'm unusual in being as structured as I am to make sure I'm keeping my weight up. I'm not a big eater compared to throwers. I've seen some of the guys eat close to 5000 calories just in one sitting. And I’m still relatively light for my height. I’m 6’7” and I’m about 320 pounds. Nick Ponzio, another Olympian, is 5’9” and 310 pounds.

Is it difficult to keep up all this structure while you're in Olympic Village?

I did lose a little weight in Rio. Most countries tend to be way on the lighter side in terms of calories than normal American cuisine. The thing that saved me was a protein shake they had at the USA training camp, where they had lunches prepared by American chefs. I was drinking, like, five of those a day to make sure my calories were up.

The key to success is being as prepared as possible and staying as flexible as possible. I was at Sam's Club yesterday getting a bunch of granola and healthier snacks to take along with me. Because of the COVID rules I won’t be in the village as long, so that won't be quite as much of a struggle. I love sushi, so I'm hoping they have that in the village.

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Given the weirdness of this year’s Olympics timing, what has your training been like over the past year and a half?

Everything got shut down right after the US indoor championships, where I had just missed the world indoor record. Right when the Olympics were canceled, I sat down with my training partner and coach and said, I need to commit to something. So I'm gonna commit to there being meets in September. If we do, that'll be great, and if not I'll have laid the foundation for the 2021 Olympics.

So I just acted like September would be the start of my season instead of May. It looked like early off-season training. I found some stability and consistency, and I fueled all of that uncertainty and frustration into my training. I got a sheet of plywood and a toe board and built my own ring that I could put in the back of my truck and drive to an empty lot behind the elementary school. I was throwing shot there, lifting in the garage, and doing my medicine ball workouts around the concrete supports underneath the bridge.

As mentally challenging as it was, do you feel like the extra time was ultimately beneficial to your performance?

It wasn't optimal facilities, but it was definitely optimal in eliminating distractions. I used the situation as an opportunity to train more. I ended up picking up some meets in late August and was kind of surprised myself at how well I threw considering I was still in pretty heavy training. I'd never had that much time to train in my professional career without being interrupted by travel or meets, and there were so few distractions during life in quarantine.

I feel like it's almost easier now to further the world record because I'm just competing against myself instead of having pressure to do something that I've never done before. It lets me just focus on myself and perform as best as I can.

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Danielle Cohen is GQ's Editorial Business Assistant.Related Stories for GQOlympicsReal Life Diet