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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

#61

Post by gmarx »

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."

People assume they can tell the difference but the kind of chronic inflammation you get from overuse can sneak up on you. I saw a story about a concert pianist many years ago who was having trouble with his wrists. At the time his doctor or maybe it was teacher treated it like a muscular problem and told him to keep training so his wrists would get stronger. Eventually he built up so much scar tissue on his tendons that he was no longer a concert pianist...forever. WRT the article, sure you can run a marathon every day of the week. Impressive. I'd fear what that guy would be like after 40 years

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

#62

Post by mrbill »

crikli wrote: post #58
mrbill wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I've got to work my way up to the 5K and then to the Light; a Challenge/Tough (or Heavy) isn't on the radar right now due to some physical handicaps and limitations (google "subglottic stenosis").

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

#63

Post by mreiland »

pc86 wrote: post #42
HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.…

20-rep movements are great for hypertrophy/building size, but are not going to do nearly as much for strength and the 3-8 rep range. And squatting once a week will do even less than that.

squatting once/week is viable if you're extremely experienced and are not on steroids. The more experience you get, the more rest you need between lifts.

One of the major reasons why steroids works is because it cuts down on the required rest time by a large margin.

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

#64

Post by crikli »

mrbill wrote: post #62
crikli wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I've got to work my way up to the 5K and then to the Light; a Challenge/Tough (or Heavy) isn't on the radar right now due to some physical handicaps and limitations (google "subglottic stenosis").

Well that's a whole different deal there. :)

When you do the Light, the Cadre ask "does anyone have any medical conditions we should know about". Speak up, or at least talk to the Cadre before the event so he's briefed on the likelihood of incidence as well as treatment. Also, some of the Cadre were/are 18Ds, e.g. medics, and depending upon the severity of your condition you may wish to seek out an event run by one of them.

I don't know what you're doing for training, maybe you have that well in hand, but I highly recommend looking into the programming done by Rob Shaul at http://strongswiftdurable.com. They respond quickly to emails and are great about recommending plans based on your goals and current capabilities.

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

#65

Post by eric_h »

mapt wrote: post #34
eric_h wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

He was quite a bit more physically fit and obviously he was an adult (and a former Navy SEAL) and I was a teenager, so yes he had quite the physiological edge on me.

However, part of what he taught us was that when diving, with our without SCUBA gear, one shouldn't anywhere near approach the limit of one's aerobic capabilities, for precisely the reason of conserving one's air supply (and, honestly to focus on the experience of the dive and the amazing ecosystem around you).

I got much better at reducing my use of air by the time I got my open water cert, but I still never got anywhere near to how little he used.

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

#66

Post by [deleted] »

mapt wrote: post #34
eric_h wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

[deleted]

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

#67

Post by omilu »

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…

He did 100 chin ups one at a time. If you can do six in one go, you can probably do 100 over the course of 5 hours pretty easily and safely.

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

#68

Post by ThrustVectoring »

This seems completely backwards to me. IMO, the way to go is focus on allowing yourself to do things, not forcing things through. Active willpower and use of "mental toughness" helps much less than you think it does. Trying as hard as you can at, say, riding a bike quickly isn't that much more effective, and burns up much more long-term resources.

Like, how I'd reframe the advice is to pull the "replace trying with awareness" trick from The Inner Game of Tennis. Take stock of what it feels like to do the "last" pull-up that you can, and then feel what it's like to do another afterwards.

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

#69

Post by random778 »

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.

Have you ever tried doing a chinup? There is NO WAY you're going to do 100 continuous chinups. I'd like someone to explain how you're going to hurt yourself by trying to do that. Forcing it just results in you hanging there in futility.

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

#70

Post by aws_ls »

gmarx wrote: post #61
pc86 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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."

People assume they can tell the difference but the kind of chronic inflammation you get from overuse can sneak up on you. I saw a story about a concert pianist many years ago who was having trouble with his wrists. At the time his doctor or maybe it was teacher treated it like a muscular problem and told him to keep training so his wrists would get stronger. Eventually he built up so much scar tissue on his tendons t…

>I'd fear what that guy would be like after 40 years

Curious, what you imply by that. I have read about the skin (mostly the face) of runners not so great, because of exposure to so much weather. Did you imply something along these lines or something else?

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