Brian Johnson records a short Heroic +1 podcast reflecting on motivation and his current fitness process. He aims to raise his VO2 max from a "superior" level (top ~5–10%) to an "elite" level (top 2% for his age) and is building a Zone 2 aerobic base by following Peter Attia’s recommendation of four hours of Zone 2 per week (he did three the week he read the book and has hit four every week since). Experimenting with a daily microprocess, he’s trying three 15-minute Zone 2 workouts Monday–Friday as breaks between deep-work blocks. To explain friction around motivation he quotes Tony Horton, who describes three internal voices with precise frequencies (Angel Tony 21.35%, Devil Tony 35.4%, Voice of Consistency 43.25%) and notes that pairing Angel + Consistency yields ~64.7% chance of showing up. The episode’s practical message: rely on consistency rather than waiting for motivation; "do it anyway" even if it’s ugly.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic one. I just finished a quick a.m. sunrise workout. My primary energy target right now is moving my VO2 max from the highest rating at the place I did at superior, which I think is around the top 5 to 10% to a Peter Attia approved elite level, which is top 2% for my age. Now, my primary process target right now is building my Zone 2 base by clocking in Atiya's recommended four hours of Zone 2 per week. I did three hours the week I read his book and I've hit four every week since. Now, my primary microprocess daily target I'm experimenting with this week is three 15 minute zone two workouts Monday through Friday as I hammer some deep work to get ahead, using the micro workouts as my oscillations between deep work blocks. I just did my first one and let's just say I definitely didn't really feel like doing it. Now as I was finishing my thousand meter row, as the sun was rising, I was thinking about my lack of motivation and Tony Horton came to mind. Tony Horton is the guy who created P90X. He's a legend in the fitness energy think the Energizer Bunny of workouts. And in his great book called the Big Picture, he lets us in on a little secret. He says, and I quote, here's a dirty little secret. I don't get all that fired up about exercise most of the time. In fact, he tells us that he has a few different voices in his head. First, there's the Angel Tony who's all in on working out. Given the fact that Tony is one of the most iconic figures in the fitness world, you'd expect that voice to dominate his brain all day, every day, right? But Tony says the voice of Angel Tony only shows up about 21.35% of the time. Love the precision. Then there's the Devil Tony. That guy has zero interest in doing anything productive and he shows up 35.4% of the time. Oops. Tony's chances of working out on any given day aren't looking so good, with Devil beating Angel at 35.4% to 21.35%. So how's he get himself to show up? Enter the voice of consistency. Tony says this guy is about as exciting as a wet dish rag. But thankfully he shows up 43.25% of the time. You put the voice of consistency together with Angel Tony and Boom, we're at 64.7% enough to get the job done. And that's how I got myself to train this morning. And that's today's plus one. Let's quit thinking. We need to feel like doing the things we know we should be doing to create the lives we want. Turn up the volume on the voice of consistency and let's go. Motivation not required. P.S. tony also puts it this way. I quote him again. Sometimes the biggest obstacle to consistency has nothing to do with external factors. Some days you just don't feel like you have what it takes to do what you need to do. Do it anyway. I don't care how you do it. I don't care if it's ugly. I don't care if you do it hard or slow. I don't care if you do it with a fox or if you do it in a box, in a house, or with a mouse. Just get it done.
