He’s gracious and famous, and he’ll never say no to a fan who wants a photo—unless he’s late for an event at the CrossFit Games. So far, CrossFit’s No. 1 ambassador has handled the challenges of fame like any other workout: with mastery.

“At home … nobody really cared. But it’s been the last couple months, (I) got stopped at the grocery store a few times, stopped at the movie theater,” says two-time CrossFit Games champion Rich Froning Jr., who lives in Tennessee. “And everybody’s kind of figured out where I live, too.”

Still, that hasn’t stopped him from being himself, he adds.

“I pick my nose. I don’t care. I don’t eat it, but I pick my nose,” Froning jokes.

He adds, referencing his wife, “Hilary might get mad.”

Since last year’s Games, Froning guesses he’s trained at roughly 20 facilities with his aggressive travel schedule. Although he likes working out at CrossFit affiliates, he admits he occasionally enjoys Globo Gyms where no one recognizes him, even if he was on the cover of the December 2012 issue of Muscle and Fitness.

“That’s the problem ’cause you don’t want to turn down talkin’ to people, but you gotta get to work. And if I’ve only got 20 minutes to get a workout in, if I go to a CrossFit gym sometimes it’s two hours because I’m not going to turn anybody down.”

Video by Molly Aguilar, Gary Roberts and Sevan Matossian.