Training for David Goggins - 4x4x48 Challenge

00:00:00.000 | I just finished a six mile run in good old below freezing Boston weather.

00:00:05.040 | A bit too dark, a bit too icy, but probably good for the mind and soul.

00:00:09.680 | So I thought it'd be a good time to make this video and say that

00:00:13.060 | for the second year now, Mr.

00:00:15.300 | David Goggins is doing the four by four by 48 challenge

00:00:18.840 | at 8 p.m. Pacific on Friday, March 5th.

00:00:22.060 | That's running 48 miles in 48 hours by doing four miles every four hours.

00:00:28.480 | But this time, friends, him and I are doing it together in person.

00:00:33.020 | Just him and I, probably in the middle of a desert somewhere.

00:00:36.740 | Probably we're just one of us returning home alive.

00:00:40.200 | And I think you know which one it is.

00:00:42.860 | We'll do a podcast before and after.

00:00:45.000 | Also, he'll go live on Instagram at the beginning of every four hour leg.

00:00:48.760 | I have not been training much at all, to be honest.

00:00:52.160 | And this video is a quick explanation of how I'm training for this challenge.

00:00:57.840 | Starting today in a way that gives me a reasonable fitness base

00:01:01.500 | while still letting me be productive in all the different things I have going on.

00:01:05.680 | I took on this challenge with David on a bit of a leap of faith

00:01:09.840 | and a bit of madness in order to test myself mentally and physically.

00:01:14.440 | But also because I often take this kind of leap into things

00:01:18.140 | that seemed very stupid at the time.

00:01:20.640 | But when all is said and done, I almost always become a better person

00:01:24.820 | because of it.

00:01:25.940 | So if you're out there a little bit out of shape like me,

00:01:28.360 | I'm hoping you join me in getting back to exercising this month

00:01:32.400 | and perhaps taking on the challenge along with me, along with David, along with us.

00:01:36.780 | If you're not a runner, you can just do some sort of exercise

00:01:40.160 | for 40 to 60 minutes every four hours instead.

00:01:42.540 | If you want to get involved, check links in the description

00:01:45.920 | for more information, I think.

00:01:48.000 | But mostly just tag me and David if you're stepping your fitness up

00:01:51.380 | in any kind of way this month as you train and if you're participating

00:01:54.800 | in the challenge.

00:01:55.880 | I know it'll be inspiring to me to see anybody who's just getting out there,

00:01:59.640 | since to be honest, this would be a ridiculously big challenge for me

00:02:05.440 | with everything I have going on.

00:02:07.060 | So I can probably use all the inspiration you got.

00:02:10.440 | OK, so training wise, check out the Google sheet of my training

00:02:14.060 | in the description.

00:02:14.900 | But it's pretty basic.

00:02:16.280 | The focus, as usual, is to establish a ritual, a habit of daily exercise

00:02:20.280 | and then increasing duration a little bit every week.

00:02:23.320 | So maybe let me first speak to the principle of that.

00:02:25.620 | I know that for muscle building and for increasing race performance,

00:02:30.280 | it's good to mix up workouts from long to short sprints,

00:02:35.420 | that kind of thing with rest days and just mixing it up throughout the week.

00:02:39.160 | But I don't know about anyone else.

00:02:40.620 | But for me, that has only really worked when I'm already in really good shape.

00:02:44.380 | What for me has been more beneficial, more effective

00:02:48.300 | is to focus on building up the habit of exercise every day, the same thing.

00:02:53.260 | The habit and ritual of it lessens the need

00:02:55.940 | and the reliance on motivation and day to day motivation.

00:02:59.520 | So for me, the training is easily integrated into the day.

00:03:02.600 | It has two parts. One is cardio.

00:03:04.100 | One is bodyweight exercises.

00:03:05.980 | And the schedule is pretty basic.

00:03:08.140 | I run a medium distance every day, Monday through Friday,

00:03:11.440 | and a long distance run on Saturday and then rest on Sunday.

00:03:14.900 | So specifically for me, that means week one, what I'm doing now,

00:03:19.000 | six miles each day, then week two is seven miles.

00:03:22.280 | Week three is eight miles.

00:03:23.960 | Week four is nine miles.

00:03:25.740 | So we're about four and a half weeks off from the challenge.

00:03:28.120 | I think two or three days before the challenge, I'll take complete rest days.

00:03:32.300 | So my recommendation to you for what it's worth is to pick a cardio exercise

00:03:38.460 | that you can stick to on a daily basis.

00:03:40.760 | So running, cycling, swimming, even walking,

00:03:43.600 | and just build the habit and do an intensity and duration

00:03:47.600 | that doesn't break your body down, but it's still challenging.

00:03:51.100 | Just keeps challenging you, but not too much.

00:03:53.240 | Not causing injury, not causing over exertion, over exhaustion.

00:03:57.100 | On the bodyweight exercise side, for me, that's six days of exercise

00:04:02.440 | that includes pushups, pull ups, bodyweight squats

00:04:05.520 | and these ab roller things for the abs, for the core.

00:04:08.740 | I do it in rounds of 20 pushups,

00:04:12.080 | 10 pull ups, 10 ab rollers and 10 squats.

00:04:16.280 | My recommendation, again, take it with a grain of salt,

00:04:19.620 | is if you do bodyweight exercises, pick numbers within the round

00:04:23.840 | that allows you to do timed rounds without much rest in between.

00:04:28.920 | Maybe no more than one minute's rest

00:04:31.220 | and do essentially a full body workout, but not to exhaustion.

00:04:35.340 | And I know a lot of people are going to say, you know, rest days

00:04:38.340 | are really essential.

00:04:39.180 | You want to alternate upper body, lower body, push, pull,

00:04:41.780 | all those kinds of things.

00:04:43.360 | All of that is true when you're trying to achieve maximum performance.

00:04:46.660 | What I find for me in a busy life when I have a million things going on,

00:04:50.920 | building the habit, building the ritual of exercise

00:04:54.040 | and not pushing myself to exhaustion is the most effective way

00:04:57.800 | to stay healthy and just to feel good and make sure the exercise

00:05:01.000 | stays part of my life.

00:05:02.000 | You probably didn't ask me, but that's my recommendation

00:05:06.300 | if you're starting from being kind of out of shape to building up shape

00:05:10.020 | for doing something like that 48 mile challenge.

00:05:12.320 | But you should also definitely read a lot of different advice

00:05:16.140 | that's out there and integrate it in a way that works for your own schedule,

00:05:19.520 | for your own body, all that kind of stuff.

00:05:21.280 | On the diet side, I'm eating clean as usual, just meat and veggies.

00:05:25.440 | The veggies are mostly cauliflower and green beans, my two favorites.

00:05:29.780 | And on the meat side is ground beef actually from Belcampo Farms.

00:05:34.880 | They sent me a ton of meat and it's delicious.

00:05:37.300 | On the supplement side, I'm doing the usual

00:05:41.140 | athletic greens every morning, plus fish oil

00:05:44.220 | and electrolytes before and after the run.

00:05:48.180 | You should definitely check out Athletic Greens and Belcampo Farms.

00:05:52.360 | They are both somehow amazingly now sponsors of the podcast that I host.

00:05:57.620 | After I posted about how much I love their stuff.

00:06:00.780 | And also check out cauliflower, especially in rice form.

00:06:04.920 | It's a game changer.

00:06:07.120 | So at least my training regimen is pretty simple.

00:06:10.200 | Run basically every day, body weight exercises every day.

00:06:13.200 | Don't overexert and gradually increase the duration of the exercise.

00:06:17.960 | And the rest is just in the mind.

00:06:20.960 | And I'm hoping I am mentally tough enough to not die with David Calkins.

00:06:25.460 | I thought to post this video, you know, hopefully to inspire others

00:06:29.640 | to step up their exercise game this month, to run, to cycle,

00:06:33.560 | all that kind of stuff, and maybe even join in on this crazy challenge.

00:06:36.480 | I think it's a really perfect balance of testing the body and mind.

00:06:40.580 | Just being able to persevere through this 48 hour period.

00:06:43.580 | It's just long enough to where it's not this kind of shorter marathon

00:06:48.760 | run of suffering.

00:06:50.220 | You kind of have to suffer just a little bit every four hours.

00:06:54.400 | It's honestly just a huge honor to be able to do this kind of thing

00:06:57.360 | with David Goggins.

00:06:58.980 | We were just supposed to do the podcast.

00:07:00.520 | But of course, as he does with everybody he meets,

00:07:03.980 | he pulls you in and challenges you to push yourself to your own limits

00:07:08.020 | to discover yourself.

00:07:08.980 | And I think that's kind of what this whole life is about,

00:07:11.740 | is to do difficult things and in the process

00:07:15.320 | be able to discover something about yourself

00:07:18.200 | that you wouldn't be able to discover in any kind of way.

00:07:20.960 | There's some kind of magic in the challenge that allows you to put a mirror

00:07:24.700 | to yourself, to meet your demons, to overcome them.

00:07:27.420 | And then the rest of life becomes easy or at least easier.

00:07:30.260 | The training in Boston is definitely a bit rough right now.

00:07:35.680 | It's been below freezing for many days in a row.

00:07:38.640 | So it's starting to feel a lot like Rocky IV,

00:07:43.360 | except in this version, the Russian is the out of shape

00:07:48.360 | underdog training in the snow.

00:07:50.820 | And it's the American who says, if he dies, he dies.

00:07:56.320 | So we'll see what happens.

00:07:59.280 | I love you all.

00:08:00.020 | Love.

00:08:00.100 | Love.

00:08:00.180 | Love.

00:08:00.260 | Love.

00:08:00.340 | Love.

00:08:00.420 | Love.

00:08:00.500 | Love.

00:08:00.580 | Love.

00:08:02.660 | Love.

00:08:04.660 | Love.

00:08:06.660 | Love.

00:08:08.660 | Love.

00:08:10.660 | Love.

00:08:12.660 | Love.

00:08:14.660 | Love.

00:08:16.660 | Love.

Training for David Goggins - 4x4x48 Challenge | Lex Fridman

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