Spartan Fit!
30 Days. Transform Your Mind. Transform Your Body. Commit to Grit.
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.
Big Ideas
- Get to the Starting LineSo you’ll know at the finish line.
- Obstacle ImmunityIs what we’re after.
- A Thousand Simple (+ Easy) DecisionsA thousand simple (+ easy) ones.
- You Can Do ThisDifficult vs. impossible.
- The Seven Pillars of Spartan TrainingOf Spartan Training.
- Grit, Oaths And BloodYours?
“My name is Joe De Sena, and if all you want is a training program, there’s a list of exercises in chapter 6 and recipes starting on page 206.
Or, to make things really simple: Go outside right now and run as far as you can. Then do as many burpees as you can. Then run, walk, or crawl home. Eat whole foods, skip dessert, don’t get drunk, get some sunshine, take cold showers, lift something heavy, use the stairs, meditate or pray, find someone to love. Lights out at 8 p.m.
There’s your program. Go do it.
Look, if being fit were as easy as having a list of the right exercises, the Internet would have ended the obesity crisis. There are a gazillion exercise programs out there! The team at Spartan Race posts a new workout every day—it’s all there, it’s all free. We have all this information at our fingertips. Lack of information isn’t your main obstacle.
Your main obstacle is you.
You are also your greatest opportunity.
And that’s as true for me as it is for anyone.
The purpose of this book is to help you overcome any physical or mental obstacle—and to achieve the opportunity that lives inside of you. To become Spartan Fit.”
~ Joe De Sena from Spartan Fit!
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. De Sena is *extraordinarily* inspiring. He once completed the Badwater Ultramarathon (135 miles), the Lake Placid Ironman (140.6 miles) and a short Vermont trail run (100 miles) in one week. (!) Now, he’s on a mission to help people optimize their lives and get Spartan Fit.
We covered his first book Spartan Up! which was also fantastic. For this one, he teamed up with John Durant—who wrote The Paleo Manifesto. Spartan Up! fired me up creatively (and got me doing burpees). This book fired me up to take my fitness to the next level. I’m signed up for my first Spartan Race and I’m committed to getting Spartan Fit! (Get a copy of the book here.)
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. The book is packed with Big Ideas and I’m excited to share some of my favorites so let’s jump straight in!
Download MP3
Download PDFThe bravest are surely those who have the clear vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it.
Get the Book
Listen to the PodcastGet to the Starting Line
“What I’m asking you to do here is to wake up. Turn on the lights. Get off the couch. Put down the French fries. The old normal of inactivity, of processed food, and of limits to your potential is over. A new normal is about to begin. It consists of constant improvement, of crushing your goals, and of robust living built on the most human of principles. If you have a Spartan mindset, you hit your workouts as consistently as you brush your teeth; and the unhealthy meal, not the healthy one, becomes the exception. You’ll like what you see in the mirror, but you’ll probably be too busy kicking ass to bother looking.
This guide is for anyone who wants to break through their limits and achieve what they thought was physically impossible. For some, that might be running a marathon. For others, it might be a walk to the grocery store. I’m not here to tell you that you’re fat. I’m not here to make you into a fitness nut. I’m here to make you into a life nut, to remind you of who you are and highlight your innate potential.
Like I said, I never question whether I’ll finish a race—even though there are some I didn’t finish. And by the time you’re Spartan Fit, you won’t question your potential either. Training will take you to a point where doubt and fears of failure don’t prevent you from embarking on a new challenge. Instead, you will see your victory with a sense of certainty and even inevitability.
But first things first: get to the starting line.”
That’s from Chapter 1: “Get to the Starting Line.”
Spartan Race’s tagline is “You’ll Know at the Finish Line.” De Sena likes to say you’ll know you can meet any and all challenges put in front of you—becoming immune to obstacles (which is the subject of our next Idea).
You won’t question your potential. “Training will take you to a point where doubt and fears of failure don’t prevent you from embarking on a new challenge. Instead, you will see your victory with a sense of certainty and even inevitability.”
But first? First you need to get to the starting line.
And, of course, this applies not just for a race but for EVERY day of our lives.
We need to decide what race we’re in/what goal fires us up. Then we need to make a HABIT of getting to the starting line. Day in and day out. Week in and week out. Year in and year out. Starting line. Starting line. Starting line.
What’s your race?
How do you make sure you get to the starting line feeling strong?!
P.S. For me: It’s almost silly, but one of my favorite parts of the day is marking off my official arrival at that day’s starting line. After getting up and meditating for 20 minutes, I do a super-simple 5-min set of stretches culminating in one sun salutation. Then I cruise over to my wall calendar, and put an “X” over the “1” representing the sun salutation in my daily movement goals 1 + 10 + 100 + 1,000 + 10,000. Then I put a smiley face next to that X, saying to myself, “That was the most important thing I’m going to do today.”
I’m at the starting line. The rest of the day is easy.
P.P.S. De Sena has interviewed a ton of people for his podcast. He tells us: “One of the most common themes has been to start every day on the right foot. It’s important to find a routine—a set of rituals—that allows you to set a positive and productive mindset for each day. The key part is finding actions that you can control, rather than becoming dependent on external factors, such as the news, that can throw your day into a tailspin if they don’t happen according to plan.”
The Spartans do not ask how many enemy there are, but where they are.
The best preparation for good work tomorrow is to do good work today.
Obstacle Immunity
“Spartans refer to this readiness as ‘obstacle immunity,’ meaning an ability to move past, around, through, or over whatever life places in their path. In the races, we’ll position a mud pit, a greased wall, and other physical challenges in the way of racers—but, whatever the obstacle, its purpose goes beyond just trying to trip someone up and challenge them with thirty burpees. These obstacles are metaphors for the obstacles we all encounter as we move through life. A cancer diagnosis is an obstacle. A pink slip is an obstacle. A broken marriage is an obstacle. Life sends them our way in an endless procession.”
Obstacle immunity. What a phenomenal concept. Imagine having such deep confidence in your ability to meet life’s challenges that you are IMMUNE to the obstacles.
Navy SEAL Jocko Willink (author of Extreme Ownership) says, “Good” in response to whatever (!) happens. That’s obstacle immunity.
Nietzsche tells us: “My formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati: that one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity. Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it . . . but to love it.”
Marcus Aurelius tells us: “The impediment to action advances the action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”
That, of course, is obstacle immunity.
Ryan Holiday wrote a whole book inspired by that Aurelius quote. In The Obstacle Is the Way, he tells us: “Whatever we face, we have a choice: Will we be blocked by obstacles, or will we advance through and over them? We might not be emperors, but the world is still constantly testing us. It asks: Are you worthy? Can you get past the things that inevitably fall in your way? Will you stand up and show us what you’re made of?”
One more passage to echo this wisdom. This one from Alex Lickerman’s The Undefeated Mind where he tells us: “And when our response to failure is to summon an even greater determination to succeed, vowing to get back up after being knocked down not just once but again and again each day and with every obstacle that rises up to challenge us… then we’ll have found a treasure even more valuable than any apparently foolproof plan to reach our goal: the determination necessary to seek a better one when it fails. For in demonstrating to ourselves that we can always summon more of it, our determination becomes to us like a good friend, its steady presence and our faith in its power imbuing us with confidence that no matter how many times we’ve failed, no matter how much we want to quit, victory can still be ours.”
And, finally, there’s Nassim Taleb’s concept of becoming antifragile—where our strength is so deep that, not only are we unbroken from a challenge, we GET STRONGER.
Let’s cultivate our obstacle immunity and antifragility as we say “Bring it on!” every time we run up against an obstacle—KNOWING we’re about to get stronger.
P.S. This is basically the theme of Confidence 101 which is one of my favorite classes!
One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity.
A Thousand Simple (+ Easy) Decisions
“Humans are meant to strive and grow. From birth to death, trillions of cells in our body continuously reproduce and regenerate. Humans are meant to work, to sweat, and then to bask in the exhaustion that often accompanies great achievement. Humans are meant to be healthy, with a body that functions long and efficiently. Humans are meant for a greater purpose than sitting, watching, and consuming. And it’s not just our physical health I’m talking about: striving and struggling give our lives deeper meaning.
No one is born physically fit. Everyone who ever became fit did so through a thousand simple decisions—decisions they made everyday to move, to exercise, to purge their imperfections, to eat the healthiest foods, and to structure their lives in pursuit of important goals. You may be out of shape or in failing health, but change is still possible. When you leave the couch, it will be headfirst. Your mind leads the way; your body follows suit.”
Love that. Let’s shine a spotlight on the fact that change is created through “a thousand simple decisions.” There’s the important (big) decision to make a change in our lives. THEN there are the thousand simple decisions we make day in and day out in support of those higher ideals.
Jim Rohn tells us about the “two easies”—stuff that is easy TO DO *and* easy NOT to do: “It all comes down to a philosophical phrase: the things that are easy to do are also easy not to do. That’s the difference between success and failure, between daydreams and ambitions.
Here’s the key formula for success: a few disciplines practiced every day. Those disciplines have to be well-thought out. What should you spend your time doing? You don’t want to waste your time on things that aren’t going to matter. … A few simple disciplines can change your future with your family, your business, your enterprise, your career. Success is a few simple habits—good habits—repeated every day. …
You’ve got the choice right now of one of two ‘easies.’ Easy to do, or easy not to do. I can tell you in one sentence how I got rich by the time I was thirty-one: I did not neglect to do the easy things I could do for six years. That’s the key. I found something easy I could do that led to fortune, and I did not neglect to do it.”
What are your “easy to do”s? Identify them and realize that you’re creating your destiny with a THOUSAND simple decisions every.single.day. Moment to moment to moment. Step forward. Choose areté.
P.S. When I read the line about purging imperfections, I thought of Carlos Castaneda and his brilliant wisdom on the Toltec Warrior. In The Wheel of Time he tells us: “If his spirit is distorted he should simply fix it— purge it, make it perfect— because there is no other task in our entire lives which is more worthwhile… To seek the perfection of the warrior’s spirit is the only task worthy of our temporariness, our manhood.”
He also says: “The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.”
We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time.
You Can Do This
“Now that I’ve scared the shit out of you with the suicidal discipline of Spartan warriors, fighting off an armed assailant while bound and blindfolded, one hundred-mile snowshoe races, the Rocky IV training montage, and seven-year-olds running the New York City marathon, I’m here to say: You can do this.
Spartan Races are designed to test the limits of their participants but everyone’s limits are different. That’s why we’ve created four distinct versions of the race: to challenge everyone, no matter their level of fitness.
Remember, getting to the starting line is harder than getting to the finish line. So let’s get to the starting line.”
Let’s take a moment to recall a brilliant Idea from Spartan Up! in which we learned that “really really hard” does NOT equal “impossible.” Remember our Swedish friend who hopped on a bike, rode to the base of Mt. Everest, ascended without oxygen or help from a Sherpa, came back down and peddled back to Sweden?
Yah. CRAZY. And CRAZY hard. But not impossible.
The most common reason not to do a Spartan Race (or go after *whatever* goal you’re after) is that you can’t do it. Well, I’ll echo De Sena: You can.
Get this: His son ran the New York City marathon at SEVEN-YEARS-OLD. Hah. He’s unofficially the youngest to ever do it. *rubs eyes* (Last year I was inspired to do a set of 300 burpees when I read that his daughter banged out 300 at something like four or five years old!)
So, back to you: What are you currently telling yourself is impossible? Time to reframe/go for it?
It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.
The Seven Pillars of Spartan Training
“Unlike specialized athletic competitions, every Spartan Race is designed to test generalized fitness and adaptability to novel obstacles. So how do you train for that? To become a well-rounded athlete requires a well-rounded training program and a holistic approach to healthy living. Spartan training focuses on seven pillars—endurance, strength, athleticism, recovery, nutrition, mind, and code—that we believe comprise the essential elements of training. You’ll notice that all seven of these pillars appear in the 30-Day Plan, and they’re all there for a reason.
Master these and master anything.”
The Seven Pillars of Spartan training. Let’s take a quick look.
Endurance.
It all starts with endurance
—mental and physical. Virgil tells us:
“Come what may, all bad fortune is to be conquered by endurance.”
De Sena walks us through the importance of training our physical endurance—specifically for running—and how to do it incrementally. (Hello, hill runs!)
Strength.
“Strength is the muscular capacity to move heavy objects.”
The primary heavy object we move in this training? Our bodies. De Sena tells us Mother Nature already provided us with a gym. Now we just need to go out and use it. He also walks us through how strength endurance training builds mitochondria—the powerhouses within each cell that give us energy. This probably sold me on the Race more than anything! (Hi, burpees!)
Athleticism.
“Athleticism refers to skill-based movements that require balance, flexibility, and coordination.”
I love this section as well and its emphasis on whole body, natural, functional movements. #1 tip here? Start with your posture. Check out
for more on that. #1 tip for now: STAND TALL. Raise your sternum on your inhale, chin slightly tucked, shoulders slightly externally rotated = you standing with dignity.
Recovery.
“So we train hard and attack life every day while bearing in mind certain realities. We’re very aware that intense training requires equally intense recovery and recuperation.”
Train hard. Recover hard. Repeat. (Remember: TWO nights before your race is the most important sleep night, not the night before. … Watch
yet?)
Nutrition.
“It’s a cliche, but you truly can’t out-train a bad diet.”
Keep things simple and remember these four keys to our Spartan diet: 1) Most important (!!): Start by making sure you eliminate the toxic overly processed junk. (“Skip the soda, pizza, and candy.”); 2) Focus on whole foods; 3) Eat nothing sometimes; 4) Adapt and vary your approach without becoming dependent on one “perfect” diet.
Mind.
Spartan training is as much mental as physical. We gotta get our minds right. Tips: View the world as your gym. Push through Resistance. Develop routines to get to the starting line and build obstacle immunity. Take a news fast (like Nassim Taleb).
Code.
The Spartan Code:
“
Spartan
s push their mind and body to its limits; master their emotions; learn continuously; give generously; lead; stand up for their beliefs, no matter the cost; know their flaws as well as their strengths; prove themselves through their actions, not words; live every day as if it were their last.”
What a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without ever seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.
Grit, Oaths And Blood
“The Olympics may span millennia, but the ideals have retained a central vision; it is the ethical code, the adherence to values such as valor, skill, striving for excellence, and pushing beyond boundaries. It’s this vision that continues to make an Olympic gold medal the highest honor in sport. Not only do the Olympic Games still bring people together from all corners of the world to compete and connect regardless of their differences, but, to be part of these Games, to be called an Olympian, is to acknowledge that you believe in the stuff of legends—and the pursuit of the potential inside every human being.
It could take the rest of my years to get obstacle racing included as an Olympic sport. I have taken on a lot of insane challenges in my life. I have been told ‘no’ more times than I can count. I have been counted out and written off. I have danced with death. But I got it done.
And I swear an oath to every man, woman, and child who has completed an obstacle race; I swear to every young person who begins to train their talent; I swear to every Spartan warrior who ever died for his brothers and every Spartan woman who breathed free: I will not rest until obstacle racing is recognized as an Olympic sport.
I swear it in blood.”
De Sena has an inspiring chapter sharing his gritty Olympic commitment. Let’s get THAT gritty.
Angela Duckworth tells us there are 4 aspects to cultivating Grit: Interest (it fires you up)+ Practice (you show up daily) + Purpose (it’s about more than you) + Hope (you’re in it for the long run). To what are YOU committed? What do YOU swear in blood?
This may be the hardest lesson of all: that pain and adversity are not a challenge, but an opportunity—a gift from the universe, a blessing from God. If you know what you’re afraid to do, you know exactly what you should do next.
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