David Goggins 48 Hour Challenge - 4 Miles Every 4 Hours | Lex Fridman

Run four miles every four hours, totaling up to 48 miles. Cold outside. Below freezing. It's icy and wet. It's windy. I actually tried to record this intro outside. I had to come back in because it was too windy for the audio or. I don't know what I'm doing. In general. I don't know what I'm doing. I didn't try to think about this too much. Just said, do it. I said I was going to do it. I'm going to do it. You might be wondering, I'm wondering how long I'm actually going to last. You're going to have to watch the end to find out. I might swap out a jiu jitsu training session for one of the running sessions. I also decided to do an exercise of gratitude, almost like a thought experiment. I wrote down 12 things I'm grateful for. One for each session. To think about when I run and to talk about when I come back from the run. I thought this would be a nice challenge, a nice way to strip away all the literal and metaphorical fat from the mind, all the distractions, all the busyness that fills up the day, to really purely zoom in on the things that make life worthwhile, to be thankful for them and to push the mind to its limits. To see, you know, to see that I still got it. Still a tough guy in a way that I don't usually, these days, test myself. I usually test myself in the realm of intellectual work. I don't as much test myself in the realm of physical work. So let's see if I still got it. Cold, wet, windy, in the night, still rushing, still tough. Let's see. Let's see how long I last watch to the end to find out. All right, let's go. All right. Four miles down, four to go. Plus jiu Jitsu session. That was easy. But I can tell it's gonna get tough. So, like I said, I made a list of 12 things that I'm grateful for, one per session. The first thing I'd like to show my gratitude for is to go all the way back to the beginning, is to my childhood, to my family in Russia, and to my grandmother, who was a really big, important person in my life early in my life and throughout my life and throughout my memories. The love, the kindness, the toughness, and also just the piercing, simple, minimalist intelligence that she gifted me or showed me the importance of. But of course, the love, just the care. And I miss her deeply. I miss the bigger family very much. So many of my formidable experiences were There so much of the soul of my love of literature, of my love of knowledge, of my love of pushing your mind to the limit of understanding and curiosity about the human mind. So much of it was born there. Whether it's in the early days of friendship with my close friend Yura, who showed me the deep value of friendship, I think I understood what it means. The brotherhood that makes in the companionship, that with which life becomes somehow more fulfilling when you get to share it with somebody else. That kind of love, that kind of friendship was revealed to me early on as profoundly important and fulfilling in life and the Russian culture. At least that time, at least in the context of my family. We didn't have many material possessions, but that didn't matter. It was all about the relationship, about the friendships, the music, the soul of the people that I loved. And it implanted in me again the love, the brotherhood, the connection with other human beings that's so profoundly fulfilling in life. All right, I'll try to talk less, try to run more. I'm going to have to try to figure out the whole clothing in the shower situation. That's something I didn't anticipate. With 12 sessions, I guess for most of them I'm going to have to jump in the shower and change clothes. So I'm going to maybe have to do a little bit of laundry. Okay, 11 to go. Let's do this. All right, that was 3am, eight miles down, 36 miles to go, and one Jiu Jitsu grappling session. That was a little bit wet, a little bit cold, but we'll be alright. The body feels good, the mind feels good. We'll do all right. This is kind of fun. Like I said, I'm making a list of things I'm grateful for. The second thing is, of course, my family, my dad, my mom, my brother. It's been ups and downs and tension, like all families have, but really to focus in on the most important thing, as there's been a lot of gifts that they've given me each. My dad's really given me nothing. No, I'm just kidding. My dad's given me the love of knowledge, of physics and science, especially the rigors of mathematics, and also the love of music and poetry and wit, of revealing, of seeing the absurdity and things that otherwise might seem painful, that might be stressful, seeing the humor in all of it. That's a little bit of the Jew, a little bit of the Russian in him. My mom has taught me what it means to be, what it means to Love, of course, but also what it means to express emotion. I mean, she, she is, she's a vibrant, beautiful personality and human being. And I, I certainly have inherited a little bit of that in terms of temper, in terms of emotion, in terms of deeply feeling, experiencing things. And my brother's. I mean, I wish, I hope I inherited something from my brother because he's an incredible human being. He's fun, he's fascinating, he's brilliant. He's in many ways opposite than me in terms of how much rich, interesting personality he has. And I've always looked up to him. Growing up, it's. I always wanted to be like him. I still want to be like him. So I'm really grateful for the family I have and for the tough times and for the beautiful times. So. All right, here we go. Let's try to get some sleep. Let's get in the shower. We're almost there. Only 10 more sessions to go. Let's do this. See you at 7am. Okay, that was 12 miles down. A lot more to go. Feeling good. It's been a while since I've been up at 7am in the morning on a Saturday, but it feels good. It feels like I'm getting in front of the day because nobody else is out. This feels productive. I'm looking forward to hopping in the shower and getting some work done before the 11am run and then the jiu jitsu session. So some people are asking me what I'm eating. I didn't plan any of this. So I'm eating what I usually eat, which is meat. I mostly eat meat these days. And we all make mistakes. And one of mine is to eat like I usually do, which is one larger meal I ate after the 3am run and that turned out not to be a good idea because I just feel just really heavy and full, which is not a good feeling when you're running. Okay. So in terms of things I'm grateful for is, you know, I often joke around about being Russian. And it's true, the culture, the music, the poetry, the science of the people is in there, in my blood and my roots and my family. But I am, at this point, I'm a red blooded American. I, I love this country. This country giving me everything I have, the opportunities, the ability to do what I do, the ability to challenge myself, to create things I want to create. It's an incredible country, an incredible country that welcomes immigrants with open arms. For the most part, people like me, silly, silly Russian, kids like me with a dream. It opens its arms and puts it into this giant pool of people that compete against each other, cooperate against each other. There's a tension, there's a love, and you figure out how to. How to make it all work as a big pool of diverse kind of backgrounds. You know, nobody is truly from America except Native Americans. But even. And even then, there's a diversity in that history. So it's an incredible country in its welcoming of immigrants and opportunities it provides for people with a dream and that are willing to work hard. So I'm deeply thankful for this country, for the United States of America. I know I often joke around about being Russian, but it's more just wit and humor. And I am, in terms of my roots, Russian. But if we look, I look in the mirror. If we look at who I truly am, I'm an American. I always will be American. And I love this country and the opportunity it's given me, and I'm deeply grateful for it. All right, that was 16 miles. Four sessions, eight more to go. I'm getting in a little bit of a zone. Feeling good, getting a lot done. There's an interesting urgency to everything, which I kind of enjoy. I'm actually getting a lot of work done. Even the napping has an urgency to it. I shut off, turn back on, have a lot of energy. The only thing I screwed up in is eating a little too much at 3am last night. But other than that feeling, feeling pretty good. Still a little bit fast, a little bit soft, but just getting out there on the road, it's a little cold, it's a little windy, but, yeah, it feels good. Feels good. I'm glad I did it. It's a fun way to throw a wrench into the whole thing of life, to make you appreciate everything and to be grateful for everything. So what is this number four on the list of things I'm grateful for? Man, is friendship in general. Like I said in Russia is when I first developed really close friendships, but really when I became. It's silly to say, but when I became a man, I was in America in going to middle school and high school here, college, and meeting some really, really close friends, especially in the Chicago suburbs. In Naperville, a really close friend of mine, Matt, you know, I really formed a close lifelong bond with him and with other folks here with his family. And, you know, we don't often. You know, these days, we don't even often talk that much together, but there's still. Anytime we see each other, there's. It's like we never spent, you know, an hour away. So, you know, Matt and others have taught me the value of friendship. I spent so much time working, I spent so much time pursuing my passions. But behind it all is sort of a love for other human beings. And friendship is at the core of that. Of course, I also want a family and friendship with a girl, with a wife, with my kids. But I see it all as kind of part of the same big picture. And it all started in middle school, meeting that weird looking Iranian kid, Matt. You know that we just instantly connected. Different worlds, different backgrounds, different histories, different music preferences. The guy likes Biohazard and, and like Pantera, heavy metal. I like it. It's pretty good. It's pretty good. But I'm more of a classic rock kind of kind of guy. And we together fell in love with music. Playing guitar, sports, football, soccer, tennis, chess, everything. Talking about the biggest philosophical questions about the universe and things like that. And it's always a pleasure to see him and I'm deeply grateful for having the chance to met him, to met others in Naperville. Alan P. Jim Jota, you know, countless, countless people that have had changed the direction of my life, have affected me, have shown me what friendship is all about. So I'm deeply grateful for that. Never forget it. They're always, they're always family. All right, let's go do some jiu jitsu. This is John Fisher, black belt instructor, philosopher, warrior. So we're gonna train around a little bit here. Saint. That's five sessions now. Although I'm starting to lose track a little bit. It's a fun time. Nice little break from the running and it felt remarkably good for some reason. Makes me feel like this is the calm before the storm, but. So 16 miles of Jiu Jitsu session. Just a few more miles to go. It should be fun. So, you know, since I did Jiu jitsu, did a little bit of no GI grappling, this is a good time to say that I'm grateful for all the people that I met on the mat. I forgot who said it, but it's true that the mat is one of the only places in this world that's deeply honest. You can't hide from the truth. In combat sports in general, it's one on one and it's just you and the opponent and you're constantly, especially in the grappling sports where you can go 100% and get choked and threatened of murder over and over and over again with some of your closest friends. I mean, it's an incredible kind of experience. That's deeply humbling that I hope to be doing for the rest of my life. I see it extremely valuable for your intellectual curiosity and growth to be humble throughout your. No matter what you achieve in life, to be humble is to me is essential for happiness and for just continuous growth. But your brain can get lazy, you can start getting full of yourself. So I think Jiu Jitsu, for me at least, especially as my body gets softer and get older and don't have as much time to train. Jiu Jitsu is a great place to be humbled where you, you can train with a young blue belt, they'll kick your, kick your butt and submit you over and over. And it kind of reminds you that you might be good at like programming or something like that, or you might be good in space of science and so on, but somehow being tapped by a 20 year old reminds you one, that you're mortal and two, that you're not as special as you think. You're not such a big shot. And I think that's a really powerful thing. I think that's probably an essential element of why. I know I talk about looking up to Joe maybe a little too much, but I do in this regard that he is truly everything he's accomplished in terms of both wealth and success and comedy and so on. He's still humble. I think Jiu Jitsu is a crucial part of that. It is for me. So I'm really grateful for having discovered, for having sort of come across the sport first through judo. Grateful to the folks at Philadelphia Judo for revealing to me the beauty of this art, of the gentle art of judo. And I'm really grateful to Balance Studios in Philadelphia for teaching me Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, taking me from white belt to black belt. I'm really grateful for all the people I've met in the grappling arts and Jiu jitsu, martial arts in general. I'm grateful for my current gym, Sean Fisher, John Clark and all the people that train there. There's something about them that's both deeply philosophical. I think something about Jiu Jitsu attracts or, or encourages the development of intellectual kind of chess, like puzzle solving, curiosity that creates really interesting people from all different kinds of backgrounds. And also the toughness, like I said, being tapped kind of sharpens your mind to understand, to understand that you're not special. And because you're not special, your approach to life has this kind of humble curiosity which makes you a really interesting person to talk with, to be friends with, to just have a deep conversation with, to have some beers with. So I'm from Broadway Jiu jitsu here in Boston to all the way back to Philly with Balance Studios and all the people I've gotten to meet, I'm deeply grateful for them. I hope. I've been, for the most part, injury free my whole life in martial arts. You know, banged up here and there, but nothing broken, nothing torn. I hope, I really hope that stays same. You know, if it doesn't, so what. I'll still persevere. But I do hope to be doing Jiu jitsu for the rest of my life. It's a beautiful, it's a humbling journey I'm deeply grateful for. All right, I think that was 20 miles, but I'm not sure. I'm kind of losing track and also not really worrying about the full span of it, but instead focusing on the next step. It's getting a little bit tough after doing jiu jitsu. Your body gets banged up a little bit, so you get to feel the run a little bit, but not even just physically. You get to feel the duration of it mentally, which kind of starts wearing on you. You start to sleep, kind of the whole weight of it. Because I've also been working while doing this in the span, in the, in the times between the runs. This is tough. This is. There's the ups and downs and I've been feeling pretty good, but come down pretty, pretty hard at this point. And you know, I took a, I took a shower before filming this. Just really didn't want. I would say filming is probably the hardest part. Having to face the camera, having to reveal these parts of myself. Hopefully it's a value to somebody to be fragile in this way. I knew this was going to get tough. It might get even a lot tougher. I'm ready for it, whatever it brings. So far, so good physically. So there's a little bit of shin splints, a little bit of ankle pain. I'm trying to make sure I keep a slow pace. I'm doing nine minute miles kind of pace to really make sure that no injuries get aggravated. I mean, we're starting to go into a territory I haven't been before in terms of distance, in terms of mind. So let's see. This is going to be fun. It's a fun test. It might be kind of silly to say, but I'm really grateful for books, for having the opportunity from an early age to explore the minds and the thinking and the ideas of others through Camus. So I would say most the 20th century existential philosophers and writers were for me early on, really influential. For me, at least, they broke me out of the pursuits of everyday life that we're born with. The sort of the focusing, the egotistical view of life, where you just kind of focus on the task at hand. And the existential way of thought, counterintuitively, perhaps, got me to think about the bigger picture of life, got me to think about my own mortality, about the meaning of life, of life in general. So Camus, Albert Camus, Herman Hesse, Nietzsche, of course, Friedrich Nietzsche, Dostoyevsky, Kafka, Franz Kafka. Hugely influential for me. Hemingway, George Orwell, Animal Farm is one of my favorite books. I don't know why. Just love it. For me, I would spend months. I read slowly and I'll spend months on a particular book and really take it in. It was kind of a friendship with the. Both the author and the ideas in that. I mean, with Herman Heston, Glassby Game, Siddhartha, Damien Steppenwolf. Like all of these books, I. I guess I could say I dated them as like a girlfriend for a few months, you know. And some of them I'm still seeing on the side every once in a while. And I remember moments when there's reading these individual books and just coming to a point in the book where it was like a transformative moment. I would sit back and think about how incredible it is to be here, to be in my skin, to be alive, and also how terrifying it is that this whole thing ends just mortality. Speaking of which, Ernest Becker would denial death. So the more modern philosophers and thinkers and psychologists, nonfiction and fiction, it's just a tremendous effect on me. If I were to regret anything. I think it has to do with my Soviet upbringing is I never really got into science fiction. So I've really. It seemed like, to my mind, it seemed to me more profound and more important to study World War I and World War II and the subtle experiences of everyday life that Camus and Hassan Dostoyevsky described as opposed to having to create a fantasy world. I always thought the fantasy world is a kind of unneeded spice added to the picture that's already fascinating and not fairly so. I felt this way because I can see now there's a lot of profound philosophical and dramatic work that's done in science fiction. But one of the things. One of my goals is to find the time, read more science fiction. So if there's good recommendations, certainly the foundation series, I need to read Snow, Crash, Dune, all of these books I need to read that have not been part of my childhood, but really should be part of my extended childhood because I still haven't grown up. Okay, talked for way too long, but it feels good to talk. Maybe to escape from the running. I look forward to the challenge of the 11pm run or the 3am run, and I think it'll be the hardest is waking up for the 7am doing that run and then a full day after that. This is fun. I'm glad I.