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The 40% Rule: A Navy SEAL’s Secret to Mental Toughness

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Re: The 40% Rule: A Navy SEAL’s Secret to Mental Toughness

#31

Post by Jtsummers »

vinceguidry wrote: post #11

It's entirely too hard to ascertain whether doing 2.5x more of whatever it is you're doing right now is really going to get you where you want to go. Sometimes, probably most of the time, the goal is learning, you want to immerse yourself into the space of possibility and figure out what's important. For a SEAL, someone regularly called on to do the impossible, the 40% rule makes perfect sense. For most of us, doing…

> Spending 2 hours in the gym instead of 30 minutes for me is actually counter-productive.

2 hours doing what in the gym? The balance of activities is the critical part, IME.

Re: The 40% Rule: A Navy SEAL’s Secret to Mental Toughness

#32

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

crikli wrote: post #16
Afton wrote: post #6

These techniques are useful when you have a large pool of young extremely healthy men. Then when they blow out knees, shoulders, back, etc you can just select the ones who didn't break. Claiming that this is a useful and effective way to train is a terrible idea. The only reason this kind of article is useful at all is that virtually everyone who trains a sport fails to train hard enough . In other words, after you r…

I regularly participate in events known as GORUCK Challenges. They're 12 hour+ endurance events led by current and former special forces operatives from all branches of the military. Yes, there are plenty of young extremely healthy men at these events, but they're the minority. The majority of participants are over 30 years old, in good but not great or extreme condition, and tend to be 10-30% female. These events ar…

I believe that you're both right.

When I was actively weightlifting, I learned to keep pushing myself. I'd keep a journal and force myself to work harder every time. It's all too easy to just say "I'm tired, I did a lot last week, my goals are being met." It's harder to say all these things but still add even just 2 lbs to the bar or squeeze out one more rep than last time.

Over time, you get used to constantly trying harder and the mental effort decreases while the physical effort increases.

On the other hand, you need to know when to quit. You need to understand when your body is saying "if you do this, I won't just be sore; I'll be seriously hurt." Learning to differentiate being exhausted, having sore muscles and breathing so hard your lungs are on fire from that stab of pain from a nerve that says "STOP NOW" is crucial.

I was lucky: the few times I ignored that voice telling me to stop I was able to walk away with no more than a few bruises or a pulled muscle.

Re: The 40% Rule: A Navy SEAL’s Secret to Mental Toughness

#33

Post by crikli »

rdancer wrote: post #26
crikli wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I regularly participate in events known as GORUCK Challenges. They're 12 hour+ endurance events led by current and former special forces operatives from all branches of the military. Yes, there are plenty of young extremely healthy men at these events, but they're the minority. The majority of participants are over 30 years old, in good but not great or extreme condition, and tend to be 10-30% female. These events ar…

backpack weighs twenty-five what?

Pounds.

Re: The 40% Rule: A Navy SEAL’s Secret to Mental Toughness

#34

Post by mapt »

eric_h wrote: post #21
pc86 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love to see a source for this that thinking about something uses more oxygen.

a meditative state is definitely helpful in reducing the body's consumption of oxygen. I got my open water scuba certification many years ago from a former Navy SEAL. At the time, I was 4' 8" and weighed 85 pounds. The Navy SEAL was about 5' 10", 200 pounds. Every single dive we went on he used less than half the air that I used, and I used less air than the rest of the dive group (because I didn't need as much given…

Your incorrect assumption is that you're supporting the same hardware with different software.

Drastic changes occur with aerobic training and hypoxic stress in the red blood cell count & blood volume, blood pressure, heart stroke volume & lower resting heartrate. He has more muscles, more energy stored in glycogen in those muscles, and swims faster. The person you learned from was likely not physiologically capable of long dives when he first started, no matter his mentality. And nobody is capable of using a "meditative breathing pattern" while they're exerting themselves at the limit of their aerobic capabilities; He was farther from them than you were. There are likely other long-term adaptations we don't know about, specific to diving.

Re: The 40% Rule: A Navy SEAL’s Secret to Mental Toughness

#35

Post by thescriptkiddie »

stephencanon wrote: post #29
rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also necessary in some circumstances. Kidney damage and broken foot bones probably won't kill you. Getting caught will.

Kidney damage will absolutely kill you if left untreated.

It can still kill you if treated, too. There's a reason you come from the factory with two of those - they're fragile.

Re: The 40% Rule: A Navy SEAL’s Secret to Mental Toughness

#36

Post by foiejapofijw »

Afton wrote: post #23
crikli wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I regularly participate in events known as GORUCK Challenges. They're 12 hour+ endurance events led by current and former special forces operatives from all branches of the military. Yes, there are plenty of young extremely healthy men at these events, but they're the minority. The majority of participants are over 30 years old, in good but not great or extreme condition, and tend to be 10-30% female. These events ar…

I can do 6 chinups right now (I happen to have tested last night of all things). If I tried to do 100 chinups, I would certainly be scheduling a Physical Therapy session tomorrow to deal with the pain in my elbow. Unless I was having surgery for a tear in my shoulder. There is lots to recommend "don't give up". But it also has to be tempered with "Stop if it hurts". You'll get fit/strong/endurancy-faster if you can k…

You said you can do 6 chinups right now, but if you tried to do 100, you'd be in physical therapy the next day. Trying to do 100 implies you're going to do as many as you can. Given that, are you scheduling a physical therapy session, since you did as many as you could last night (6)?

Re: The 40% Rule: A Navy SEAL’s Secret to Mental Toughness

#37

Post by ErikAugust »

ErikAugust wrote: post #8

"Who is this guy? I’ve never seen anything like it. And during the race, I kept an eye on him and around mile 70 — he weighed probably 260 pounds, which is quite large for an ultra runner — he had broken all the small bones in both of his feet and had kidney damage and he finished the race." Running 100s at 260 pounds - and continuing through kidney damage and broken foot bones isn't tough - it's just stupid.

I think the 260 pounds, kidney damage, and broken bones things might be the writer greatly over-dramatizing this part of the story, too.

Why do I think this?

David Goggins ran a 50 mile ultra a little over a month after the San Diego 100: http://ultrasignup.com/results_participant.aspx?fname=David&... (Scroll down to 2006).

David is undoubtedly a very tough (and gifted) endurance athlete. No doubt about that - just look at his results.

But I also think overblowing these stories is dangerous. No one should ever think that they should battle serious kidney damage (and risk death) in order to finish a completely optional foot race.

Re: The 40% Rule: A Navy SEAL’s Secret to Mental Toughness

#38

Post by nugget »

ErikAugust wrote: post #8

"Who is this guy? I’ve never seen anything like it. And during the race, I kept an eye on him and around mile 70 — he weighed probably 260 pounds, which is quite large for an ultra runner — he had broken all the small bones in both of his feet and had kidney damage and he finished the race." Running 100s at 260 pounds - and continuing through kidney damage and broken foot bones isn't tough - it's just stupid.

A friend of mine went through BUDS. He told me once that the key to surviving hell week was simply to mentally accept that you would either keep going and pass, or literally die in the surf. No middle ground. A lot of the candidates get hurt in the training. It's stupid. But it's also a very extreme form of mental discipline and commitment that they probably take with them for the rest of their lives, for better and for worse.

Re: The 40% Rule: A Navy SEAL’s Secret to Mental Toughness

#40

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

beachstartup wrote: post #28

recently i hired a barbell / weight coach to train me (he really pushes me hard, harder than i ever thought i was capable of going), i find that i usually start wanting to mentally 'give up' at around the halfway mark during a training session. 40-60%. but since i'm generally healthy, the trick is to decide to go until i absolutely can not move anymore, whether it's 2 minutes or another hour. once you've made that de…

A technique I used was called "20-rep squats." It's been written about in a few places. Simply put, you choose a weight that you can do 20 squats with using good form. Next time you add weight to the bar and do 20 again, lather, rinse, repeat every week or whatever your interval is.

It works well for working out alone because the goal is simple: do 20 reps with more weight than last time, even if it's just 1 lb more. You simply don't allow yourself to stop before failure. It's "20 or die." It was the most productive form of weightlifting I've ever done in terms of increasing strength and body mass.

Make sure you have a good, stable squat rack :-)

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