Spartan Training

I absolutely love the idea of *paying* to run through (and over and under and up and across) obstacles. It’s the perfect metpahor for life–which is one of the reasons why training for Spartan Races is my new sport-hobby. In this class, I share some of my favorite Big Ideas on how to become immune to obstacles in your life and, if you’re feeling it, do your first Race. The biggest obstacle you’ll face? Well, that’s Big Idea #1. :)

Spartan Up!! Want a swift kick in the optimizing butt?! This is the book for you. It truly is "a take-no-prisoners guide to overcoming obstacles and achieving performance" delivered with enthusiasm by Joe De Sena--the renowned endurance/adventure racer who created Spartan Race. We'll look at what's impossible vs. just really hard, how to pass the cookie test as we develop grit and learn how to get to the next telephone pole in the race of life.

Joe De Sena created Spartan Race. He's one of my favorite people on the planet. His mission? To "yank 100 million people off their couches to start living instead of being passive observers of life.” Angela Duckworth calls him a "paragon of grit" and, as you know if you've been following along, I'm ALL IN on Spartan Races as an epically awesome way to use obstacles to make ourselves stronger. We featured his first two books Spartan Up! and Spartan Fit! In this one, Joe walks us through the ten Spartan Core Virtues—from Self-Awareness and Commitment to Grit and Integrity. If you’re into embodying the classic virtues of ancient Greece as much as I am, I think you’ll dig the book as much as I did. Big Ideas we explore: A quick look at our Top 10 Spartan Virtues, how to find your True North, commitment (do you know what it *truly* is?), marshmallows (and our six-year-old sons), and what you'll know at the finish line (get there!!).

Joe De Sena is the founder of the Spartan Race. He’s also, as Angela Duckworth, author of Grit, tells us: “a paragon of grit” who “shows you how you’re capable of so much more than you think.” A paragon of grit. That’s the perfect description. After inspiring us with stories of real-life heroes and ancient Spartan lore, De Sena walks us through the seven pillars of Spartan training + a 30-day plan to get Spartan Fit. Big Ideas we explore include getting to the starting line, developing obstacle immunity, making thousands of small decisions and your gritty oath.

Trevor Moawad is a mental conditioning coach to elite performers. He is well known for being the mental coach to Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and has worked closely with prestigious NCAA football programs and coaches, the US Special Operations community, Major League Baseball, and the NBA. This book is, as per the sub-title, all about “How to Think Neutrally and Gain Control of Your Life.” I loved it and, if you’re also equally fired up by the mental toughness in sports and life genre, I think you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. Big Ideas we explore include neutral thinking (much better than positive or negative), goats and G.O.A.T.s, the law of substitution (focus!), the illusion of choice (if you’re REALLY ALL IN, there is no choice), and drawing a line in the dirt (and getting to it… again and again and again!).

I'm convinced Mark Divine is a superhero. Seriously. And in Unbeatable Mind, the former Navy SEAL gives us the handbook on mental toughness. In the Note, we'll look at the keys to cultivating our confidence, the importance of cultivating our concentration, learning how to control our breathing and other goodness that will make you unbeatable.

Christopher McDougall is a brilliant story teller (and author of Born to Run). In this great book, he weaves together a number of different narratives, with an emphasis on two: one about an extraordinary wartime adventure on Crete and the other about Natural Movement. In the process, he shares a ton of Ideas on how we can each tap into the extraordinary superpowers latent within. Big Ideas we explore include the ancient Greek meaning of the word “hero,” the mantra of the hero, why weeds + fat are optimal fuel and a great test.

I was first introduced to Phil Maffetone in Christopher McDougall’s great book Natural Born Heroes. Have you ever heard of Mark Allen? If you’re a triathlete you know he’s a legend. For those who might not know, Allen won the Ironman world championships an unprecedented six times. Triathlete magazine voted him the greatest triathlete of all time. You know his secret? Maffetone. In this book we get an overview of The Maffetone Method. Big Ideas we cover include the importance of remembering it's all about health AND fitness, making your workouts feel like a GIFT rather than a chore, how to build a super-strong aerobic base while burning fat for fuel and tracking it all via your #1 piece of equipment: that workout diary of yours with goals (what are yours?), strategies (yours?) and workouts (how're yours?). Ready to Optimize your energy and actualize your health AND fitness goals? Let's do this!

Tim Grover was Michael Jordan’s trainer and, basically, his mental toughness coach. Kobe Bryant’s as well. And Dwayne Wade’s. And... Well, a ton of other elite athletes. He’s one of the world’s top mental toughness coaches and this book is, as per the sub-title, a manual on how to go “From Good to Great to Unstoppable.” Big Ideas we explore include: relentless commitment (vs. "Meh, good enough"), Do. The. Work (eat frogs and dominate), Pressure (pressure, pressure! BRING IT ON!), the source of true confidence, greatness math (remember: effort counts twice; just ask Michael Jordan and Jerry Rice), and turning your dreams into reality (ready?).

Ryan Holiday is brilliant. So is this book. The ancient Stoics taught us how to not only accept challenges but to thrive on them. Ryan brings their wisdom to life with compelling stories of great peeps who have rocked it in the face of adversity. In the Note we'll take a quick look at the three keys to making obstacles work for us: Perception + Action + Will.

Brad Stulberg is a writer focused on health and the science of human performance. (Amy Cuddy calls him her favorite health and science writer.) Steve Magness is a coach to some of the top distance runners in the world. Together, they’ve written a super-engaging, quick-reading book on how to pursue growth in a healthy, sustainable way—aka, without burning out. Big Ideas we explore include the secret equation of sustainable awesome (Stress + Rest = Growth), just-manageable challenges, the iPhone Effect Part 3 (aka how to decrease your productivity in one step!), the optimal work/rest ratio, and the paradoxical twist of fulfillment.

Phil Maffetone is a brilliant, iconoclastic philosopher-coach. He’s one of the best endurance coaches ever and has been advocating a fat-burning approach to ultra-endurance for decades. The sub-title to this book captures the essence of all his work perfectly: “How to Achieve Your Athletic Potential, Stay Healthy and Get the Most Out of Your Body.” This "Endurance Handbook" is basically an abridged version of "The Big Book of Endurance." As I was shining a flash light into all the nooks and crannies of Maffetone’s brain that I could find (hah), I kinda thought of these two books as a sort of parallel to Epictetus’s "Discourses" (the “Big Book”!) and "Enchiridion" (the “Handbook”!). Big Ideas we explore include Rule #1 (first, do no harm!), Rule #2 (build your aerobic base!), the importance of fat burning (and how to build it), the #1 pro tip (ELIMINATE SUGAR!!!), body economy 101 (uncapping your athletic potential), and winning the ultimate endurance race: life (see you at 100!).

Phil Maffetone is one of the greatest (if not THE) greatest endurance coaches ever. He’s coached everyone from the best triathlete in history (Mark Allen) to some of the best race car drivers (like the Andretti brothers). He even toured with The Red Hot Chilli Peppers as their wellness coach and helped Rick Rubin Optimize his life. This book is a fun look at Maffetone’s perspective on how to go about breaking the elusive 2-hour marathon. As he says in the sub-title, it’s all about “how it will go down” AND “what it can teach all runners about training and racing.” If you’re a marathoner, this might be the perfect way to get introduced to Maffetone’s core ideas. I loved it as another way to drill Maffetone’s core ideas into my mind and training methodology. It’s basically a holistic look at all the marginal gains we can apply to reach our running potential. Big Ideas we cover include a quick look at just how fast a 1:59 pace is (sub-4:35 min mile for 26.2 miles = CRAZY fast!), the importance of the MIND in hitting the target, why AEROBIC speed is so important (plus, what it is and how to train it), the ideal training schedule (is super dynamic and personal), how to run properly (hot coal technique!), and balancing the catabolic + anabolic phases of training.

John Kavanagh is one of the best MMA coaches in the world. He runs Straight Blast Gym Ireland and has been coaching the superstar Conor McGregor—one of the best MMA fighters in history—since the day he got into MMA and arrived in his gym. John was also Ireland’s first MMA fighter and its first Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. Plus, he’s a down-to-earth, humble guy. This is his inspiring story about his journey to the top and it reads like a case study in the growth mindset and grit. Big Ideas we cover include the fact that “Win or Learn” is literally THE PERFECT mantra for the growth mindset, Conor's path from welfare to $100m, the goldfish-bowl effect (need to hop out of your bowl?), standing up and falling down (and then getting back up!), loving what we do as the secret sauce to awesome (science says!!) and remembering that there's no easy route to any destination worth getting to.

Harvey Dorfman was one of the world’s leading mental training experts. Major League Baseball described him as a “pioneering sports psychologist.” He earned World Series rings as the mental skills coach for both the Oakland A’s and Florida Marlins. In this book, he covers the A to Z of mental discipline. Big Ideas we explore include Carpe momentum (seize the task at hand!), the peak performance cycle (approach + results + response), the blind men (and their elephant), and Percussus Resurgo (“Struck down. I rise again!”).

212°. It’s that extra degree where all the magic happens. Over 1 million people have enjoyed this super-short look at a super-powerful concept. Big Ideas we explore include a quick look at the importance of turning up the hear and initiating something called “activation energy,” how the little things matter and can be measured in Olympic gold, finding your ONE Thing, pruning diversions and going for the second mile, “and then some” style.

Lanny Bassham is one of my favorite teachers. He’s an Olympic Gold Medalist and World Champion rifle shooter. He won a silver medal after having what he calls a “mental meltdown” in the 1972 Olympics. Then he spent several hours a day for the next couple years talking to every gold medalist he could find about how they were THINKING while they were performing at such an elite level. In the next Olympics in 1976, Lanny won the gold and then began teaching his “Mental Management System®.” Since then, he’s coached Olympic teams from all around the world and has also worked with the Navy SEALs, Fortune 500 businesses, the PGA and its players and other elite performers in sports and business. He boiled decades of wisdom into his fantastic book With Winning in Mind. He and I connected for an interview and I’ve been personally practicing many of his ideas for years. Then recently sent me a copy of his latest book — this one. I read it the next day. It’s AWESOME. And, well, here we are. Of course, it’s packed with Big Ideas and, as always, I’m excited to share some of my favorites!

Originally published in 1974, this book is, as the sub-title suggests, the classic guide to the mental side of peak performance and transcends tennis/sports. If we want to win the game of life, we've gotta start by winning the inner game. In the Note, we'll take a quick look at how to do that, learning about Self 1 + Self 2 (and how to help them get along), quieting our mind and asking for qualities we aspire to have.

Would you like to find the Zone more often? Well, yah! Leading sports psychologist Michael Lardon, M.D. shows us how. 10 core lessons. In the Note, we'll look at why you want to have two scorecards, the importance of activation energy (451 degrees, please!!) and how to keep your confidence dialed in.

DC Gonzalez is one of the world's leading peak performance/mental training experts and this quick-reading manifesto on the art of mental training is fantastic. In the Note, we'll take a quick look at why mental training is so important, the critical three (breathing + relaxation + imagineering) and the most important lesson of all.

Alan Stein is a peak-performance coach who was immersed in the basketball world for fifteen years and now applies that wisdom to the broader game of life. I’m a huge fan of peak performance books, especially those with sports themes so I enjoyed this book. It’s broken down into three parts, capturing the various roles we play in life and work: Part I: Player, Part II: Coach and Part III: Team. Each section features a set of five core virtues we need to master and integrate across each domain. Big Ideas we explore include the importance of Self-Awareness (it's virtue #1!!), two case studies on discipline (featuring Steph Curry and Kobe Bryant), the comparison game (note: you will always (!) lose), the five virtues of being a great Coach, and one more rep (up Hell on the Hill).

This is a SHOCKINGLY good book. Want to get your mind right? Lanny Bassham, an Olympic gold medalist, has been teaching the art of mental training/peak performance for decades and this book tells us just how to rock it. In the Note, we'll look at the importance of making the process primary and other fundamentals of mental mastery.

Jim Loehr is one of the world’s leading sports psychologists and peak performance experts. In this great book, he tells us how all champions are able to access their Ideal Performance States, why we want to lean into challenges, how to make waves throughout out day and the first rule of toughness.

In our last +1, we hung out with my two favorite Joes: Scholar of the Hero’s Journey (and Grandpa in my spiritual family tree) Joseph Campbell, and gritty heroic exemplar (and soul brother), Joe De Sena.

Alexandra recently got Steven Pressfield’s newest book called The Artist’s Journey. Sub-title: The Wake of the Hero’s Journey and the Lifelong Pursuit of Meaning.

Not too long ago, we chatted about the Big 2 Virtues—the two virtues that science says are MOST correlated with a deep sense of true happiness and flourishing.

In our last +1, we talked about the Spartan World Championships and my “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” and “OMMS!” “OMMS!” “OMMS!” mantras as I started (!) and finished the Race after Emerson challenged me to do it.

Joe De Sena’s newest book is called The Spartan Way. It’s all about the ten Spartan virtues. It’s awesome.

Not too long ago, I introduced you to Leonidas—my Spartan sweatband. Yes, I realize it’s ridiculous that I wear this all day every day. That’s the whole point. (Hah.)

In our last few +1s, we’ve been having fun hanging out with Spartan Race Founder/CEO Joe De Sena, his son Jack and his cast-iron friend Leo. We also met my new sweatband Leonidas.

In our last +1, we met Spartan Race Founder/CEO Joe De Sena’s son Jack. As you may recall, at six years old he had the willpower of an ancient Spartan warrior!

I started writing this at 5:22 on September 29th, 2019. I was in the Squaw Valley Resort (room 316) in Northern Lake Tahoe for the Spartan World Championships that we talked about not too long ago.

In our last +1, we talked about Zen in the Art of Spartan Spear Throwing and the recent installation of a spear throw setup in our backyard, complete with bails of hay, etc. (Yes, we’re ALL IN at the Johnson house.)

In our last +1, we talked about chasms and jumps and sidewalk cracks. I shared a couple of personal stories with my Spartan Races.

In our last couple +1s, we talked about finishing strong and getting to the starting lines of life.

In our last +1, I introduced you to my new watch, Mr. Suunto, who asks me every day, “What direction are you headed today, sir?” To which I reply, “To the BEST version of myself, sir!” (We have a very nice rapport. lol)

I’ve mentioned the fact that I love to do 100+ burpees every day but I realized I haven’t formally introduced you to Mr. Royal H. Burpee. (My apologies!)

In our last +1, we talked about my quest to be a Spartan champion in 2025 and how that’s resulted in a lot of WINing TODAY. (How’re your goals-systems?!)

Jerry Rice was one of the greatest (American) football players ever. He was a wide receiver known for his astonishing work ethic and commitment to (and demonstration of) excellence.

The other day we received a beautiful note from a Hero (thank you, Jessica!) letting us know how much she appreciated our work.

In our last +1, we met Joe De Sena’s kettlebell named Leo. (I laugh as I type that.)

Today we have some very important news.

In our last couple +1s, we’ve talked about your breathing. If you haven’t checked out the full Optimal Breathing 101 master class yet, you might dig it.

Continuing our theme of stepping up and into our very own World Champion You Training Camp, let’s have fun with a little practice of mine.

Let’s go back to Kelly McGonigal’s The Joy of Movement.

Joseph Campbell once shared a bit of advice given to a young Native American at the time of his initiation. He was told: “As you go the way of life, you will see a great chasm. Jump. It’s not as wide as you think.”

In Spartan Up!, Joe De Sena (founder of Spartan Race) tells the ridiculous story of Göran Kropp.

The other day I celebrated the 9-month anniversary of my little bionic-arm-creating injury. I celebrated by doing 300 burpees.

In our last +1, we talked about the importance of finishing strong. I shared a bit about the origin story of my first business, eteamz. It probably sounded like all sunshines and rainbows. Of course, it wasn’t.

In our last +1, we took a trip down Etymology Lane and learned that the word Identity has ancient Latin roots. It literally (!) means “repeated beingness.” Who you are, your sense of your self, is largely formed by what you do. Repeatedly.

The other day as we were wrapping up another great studio session, our film genius Ben was breaking down our setup and we were chatting about that day’s +1s.

Not too long ago I introduced you to my Suunto watch. Then I introduced you to my little Spartan Leonidas.

In our last +1, we talked about my mission to become a Spartan World Champion.

In our last +1, we talked about The Choice of Hercules.

Tim Pychyl is one of the world’s leading authorities on the science of conquering procrastination. He wrote a great book called Solving the Procrastination Puzzle and we featured him in Conquering Procrastination 101.

Not too long ago, we talked about the Golden Buddha. In fact, as you may recall, we talked about him twice.

This morning as I was wrapping up my AM1 Deep Work time block—which, of course, was preceded by that morning’s meditation and the prior night’s bookend featuring an early shut-down complete, digital sunset and red lights at the Johnson house—I heard a tap-tap-tap on my office door.

Since our time with George Leonard exploring his ideas on Mastery, I’ve been thinking about him a lot.

Ultimately, what we want to get *really* (!!!) good at alchemizing any and all challenges into fuel for the bonfire that is our passionate commitment to living a heroic life in service to something bigger than ourselves.

Not too long ago we talked about how much I enjoy training in the rain.

In our last +1, we had fun chatting about the diploma we give to our Heroic Coaches.

In our last +1, I shared a kind note from a fellow Heroes and we talked about developing our obstacle immunity one OMMS at a time.

In our last couple +1s, we chatted about a couple of the astonishing stats on the science of how movement Optimizes our sense of well-being and joy.

Today I want to go spend another minute or three with Trevor Moawad and some more wisdom from his great book It Takes What It Takes.

In our last few +1s, we’ve been spending some time with world-class fear wolf-tamer, Mark Divine as we explore wisdom from his new book Staring Down the Wolf.

Today we’re going to have some fun mapping out how to use micro-moments of frustration to catalyze the next-best version of you, antifragile style.

In our last couple +1s, we talked about a key (arguably the #1 key) predictor of our long-term health/morbidity: our visceral fat.