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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

#51

Post by kamaal »

nostrademons wrote: post #50

I'm curious whether this would hold for creative, mentally taxing work like programming. I'd love to get 2.5x the coding time in, and I've found that I can often ignore my limits and keep coding long after my brain tells me that I'm exhausted...but then when I wake up in the morning, I find that I really should've stopped when I got tired, because it will take me 2.5x the time to unravel the mess I made the night bef…

>>I'm curious whether this would hold for creative, mentally taxing work like programming.

It works when it should. As a teenager from a poor family in India, I would generally go on 5 hour sleep- My waking live was spent going to college, studying for long hours in the library and doing late night studies at home.

I used to sleep between 3 AM and 9 AM in the morning.

I didn't even like I was doing anything great at all. It felt more like 'opportunity'. Because frankly my other friends from a similar background where having it way worse, most had quit studies and were doing small time jobs to support their families.

I had these kind of episodes in my life quite a few times. Generally something good comes out of it. And it has always felt like 'opportunity'. Stressful, tiring, taxing and demanding of course, but I feel blessed to be even given the opportunity to undergo the struggle.

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

#52

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

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

#53

Post by tonyarkles »

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…

I had the same experience. My first 5 or so dives, I was burning through air like crazy. I also had some pretty serious underwater-anxiety that I was dealing with. I spent some time just hanging out underwater without scuba gear, basically doing ~30 second underwater meditation to help the anxiety go away and to practice controlling my breathing, and my air consumption went way down, plus diving is way more fun when you're super relaxed and just moving around using the most minimal motions to propel yourself.

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

#54

Post by ErikAugust »

gist wrote: post #49
ErikAugust wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 l…

"No one should ever think that they should battle serious kidney damage (and risk death) in order to finish a completely optional foot race." I agree. But I have to ask you this question (since I see that you are quite accomplished in this area from your webpage). Isn't there a strong mental component to people who do these types of things? (I don't have that currently although I have exercised nearly every day for t…

Oh, yes, definitely.

Through habit and positive reinforcement, the psychological drive to run, train and race grows wildly in some people - and it can grow dangerously large.

As a result, people run their way to injury and other serious long-term health repercussions. See the article someone posted above, for notable examples. The mind is so powerful - it can override everything, to the complete detriment of the body.

And even if most of the injuries and health problems aren't life threatening - it's truly sad because by overdoing it, you can still kill your ability to run, the thing you love to do.

I think to be successful in the long-term - meaning, staying mostly injury-free, improving performance over time, and performing at your peak in your races - is to be absolutely exceptional at governing that psychological drive.

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

#55

Post by Brainix »

Enough with the clickbait. I had to scan the article 3 times before finally finding what the 40% rule is. And when I did find it, it's just like, your opinion, man. Seriously, citation needed (and some Navy SEAL's deeply moving personal anectote is not a citation).

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

#56

Post by mbrameld »

foiejapofijw wrote: post #36
Afton wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)?

Most people would understand that the poster meant after 6 chinups the poster reaches muscle failure and stops trying to do more. The poster could continue to struggle against the muscle failure until (s)he eventually achieves 100 chinups, but that would result in physical injury to go along with the achievement.

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

#57

Post by tonyarkles »

chadgeidel wrote: post #5

Maybe not quite the same thing - but I do something similar. When I'm trying a new thing that requires physical endurance I set a pace in which I could "do the thing for many many hours" even though I know it's probably going to be much less than that. For example - I recently went on a bike ride with friends where we climbed an unknown (to me) hill. I slowed down a bit to a pace I could maintain long term. I was one…

When I have the heart-rate monitor with me, it's really easy to stick to that zone. I shoot for a target heart rate of about 150, and I can go a long time. Last time I tried it was 7 miles, and I stopped because I'd looped around and was close to home. I set it up with RunKeeper so that it gives me a heart-rate report every minute, and I just tweak my effort a little bit to keep in right around the target.

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

#58

Post by crikli »

mrbill wrote: post #48
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 hope to be able to do a "Light" sometime in the next 24 months, myself. The Tough and Heavy are just too much. Gonna start out with a Kill That 5K.

I'd really encourage you to do the Challenge. You will have the opportunity to learn some things about yourself, good and bad, that you will not get during the Light. That knowledge is worth the added difficulty. Your team will get you through. There will be men and women with multiple events under their belts who will be there to pick you up mentally and physically when and if you start to founder.

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

#59

Post by [deleted] »

mbrameld wrote: post #56
foiejapofijw wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)?

Most people would understand that the poster meant after 6 chinups the poster reaches muscle failure and stops trying to do more. The poster could continue to struggle against the muscle failure until (s)he eventually achieves 100 chinups, but that would result in physical injury to go along with the achievement.

[deleted]

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

#60

Post by crikli »

pc86 wrote: post #41
Afton wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

There is quite a difference between "this hurts because it is uncomfortable" and "this hurts because I am damaging my body." Most of the time you can tell the difference. I've also heard it put this way: "If it hurts, it means you're doing it right. If you're in pain, stop."

Agreed. And when a person is new to training it's wisest to err on the side of caution because it takes time to learn how the body feels when it's uncomfortable vs when it's injured.

I should have been more clear in my response that when I say "don't fucking quit" that "...just because you're uncomfortable" is implied. The 100 chinups from the article is a pretty bad example, candidly, of something to be powering through, especially, if you're not already in decent condition and have that sense of hurt vs injury. The degree of discomfort could become so high that it masks the injury signals from the structure of the shoulder.

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