A Champ’s Recipe for Success: What Every Masters Athlete Should Know
With the history of dominance of Masters Athlete, Kevin Koester, of course people want to know what his secret sauce is. We get emails all the time at Invictus about his nutrition, recovery, supplements, and training regime. He gets even more instant messages about these same things.
Spoiler alert. He will tell you what he does but doesn’t recommend you also do those same exact things and expect results.
“Everyone is different. What works for one person may not work for another. What I do, or what someone else does, won’t necessarily be the thing that helps you succeed,” he said. “You have to figure out what works best for you and do those things.”
Kevin Koester’s Top 2 Recommendations for Masters Athletes
With that being said, there are TWO things Kevin does recommend for all Masters athletes to make sure they have a healthy handle on life and training. No matter if you want to compete in the sport of CrossFit or if you workout to stay healthy or keep up with the grandkids, these are important.
#1 – THE number one thing that he stresses is the most important for Masters to address and stay on top of is MOBILITY.
“I didn’t do any mobility for 30 years as an ironworker aside from a quick warm-up before work. That lack of movement takes a long time to undo,” he observed. “It became obvious that this was my weakest part of CrossFit and it was holding me back, especially with Olympic lifting and going overhead.”
That all changed after the 2019 CrossFit Games when all the competitors were given a lifetime membership to ROMWOD. He and his training partner and fellow Invictus Masters Athlete, Pat Sprague, started working it into their routine daily – in addition to what is already programmed for them in the Invictus Masters Program they both follow – and now he craves it instead of viewing it as boring or a time-consuming activity in his already busy schedule. And due to this routine, he’s already better than he was a few years ago – in competition AND at work!
“(Before daily mobility training) I was working a steel project in Montana and some of the positions I needed to get into were pretty difficult,” he remembered. “Two years later when I returned, I was moving much better and could get into those same positions with ease. That’s when I noticed that it changed my life.”
#2 – TIME MANAGEMENT is a key to success, whatever success may be for you.
Most Masters are balancing a life outside of the gym that is hectic, whether it be due to a demanding career, kids, a relationship, or other stressors people in their age group face. In order to make time for exercise, you have to schedule it into your calendar.
Kevin has his entire week scheduled in his calendar in 30-minute increments. He admits that his life isn’t currently very spontaneous, but this is what works for him right now as he juggles his professional life (or lives – he has two) as President of Apex Steel and Owner of Invictus Seattle, with family time, and of course, training time in the gym and all the other things that come along with that like mobility and body work. To make sure he has time for it…he makes time for it. That’s where the calendar comes in – making sure he has time to do all the things he needs and wants to do.
Back to figuring out what works for you and doing that….
To determine and measure this, here’s what he suggests. “Notice when you feel great. Or alternately, when you don’t feel so great. Note the things you have been doing in the couple days leading up to that. If you feel good. Do more of that. If you don’t, make some changes and see how that affects you.”
Sounds simple, right? If you need some suggestions, download: ‘Top 5 Recovery Tips for Masters Athletes’ and give some of those a try! Download the FREE guide now!
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