If You Can’t Do This, You’re Not Fit (Even If You Look It)

If the lowest dude on team could pass this test, the top guys are at the super elite level. If you can bench press your body weight 20 times, you are in top tier. And then we do an 800 meter run. The 800 is brutal. 245 to be the elite. I started walking around with my core at like 40 to 50% flexed all day, every day. My lower back issues went away instantly. >> It's GBRS. >> Yep. >> Is your program. Let me see if I got this right. It involves a broad jump, some pull-ups, some push-ups. Could you walk us through what the test is and what the program actually provides? >> I've had a high standard physically since I was 17. Right. I've gotten better. I've had really, really high points, low points coming back from injury. But I wanted something to be able to maintain a high standard. And when we got out, you start working with SWAT teams, SEAL teams, every team in between, firemen, and everybody else. And it's such a physical component that cannot be ignored. But so many people in the 80s, 90s, even the early 2000s, like good is good enough. Now, if you look at the majority of firemen, they look like professional. They look like CrossFitters. Like they're in shape because they understand we've got so much data on human potential and how to get there. Nutrition, sleep, recovery, training protocols, and they realize that you are your first lifeline. So, we're going through here and you know, the majority of the military screen test and SWAT teams, it's all body weight, push-ups, pull-ups, running, SEAL teams and special operations swim test, and that's about it. Well, that's not reality. You don't walk around, there's no weigh in. You don't walk in in a pair of board shorts and weigh in. You're wearing body armor, helmets, you know, pano night vision. It's a lot of heavy stuff you have to carry. So, you're always under an extreme load. But the physical standard was so high as a tier one level. Well, I mean, the the entire force is, but you have to maintain such a high level because everybody else is around you. So, when I'm looking at all these guys, SWAT team guys, like, if you had a physical standard, every SWAT team in the country held. If the lowest dude on team could pass this test, the top guys are at the super elite level. You're so wellrounded, you can solve anything physically. And that's one of the big things in the military. You never want to have to say no. Can you 25 guys get up over this mountain and assault that target by 04 in the morning? If it can be done physically, we can do it no matter what. We'll find a way. Move heaven and earth. We'll get it done. It's really, really hard to make a good decision on the backside when you are so physically taxed. Cuz no decision you're ever going to make is without being under extreme duress. If we elevate the physical standard, we can make better mental I mean, we can we can make better decisions through mental clarity when we're not just sucking wind. >> Also true very much so in civilian life, right? everywhere like ENTs, I mean business, entrepreneurship, school teachers, everybody, right? If you're not physically labored, you can make better decisions. So, that's the whole goal. >> I don't care if you're a 45-year-old fireman that has an extra 35 lbs of weight on you or if you're a 19-year-old kid who's in their prime. If you have to run up 10 flights of stairs carrying that hose, when you get to the top, execute a good decision. The guy whose heart rate isn't at 180 is going to make a better decision. They just are, and we all know it. So, let's set a standard that, you know, I don't care if it's Wednesday, if it's 2:00 in the morning on a Saturday, if you spring out of bed and take this test, you should be able to pass it no matter what. Now, what level are we trying to adhere? As high as humanly possible, if I hit the elite standard right now, in 3 weeks, I should hit the elite again. If I start to taper off, why? Lack of sleep, poor nutrition, you know, just really crazy OPT tempmpo, I'm in the red the whole time. Okay, maybe I need to take a couple days off, get back on my training plan to maintain that high level. But we do a broad jump. So power output on the floor in a dynamic fashion. Landing propriception. >> So just have people stand on a line, jump as far forward as they possibly can. And this the the lowest standard is your height. Is that right? >> So if I'm six foot tall, I should be able to broad jump past >> six foot. >> What's the next level up from that? >> One foot. >> One foot past your height. >> Yep. So seven feet would be, you know, middle of the road. If I can jump eight feet, that's really the standard. Like for me, I'm trying to get to a 10-ft broad jump. In reality, you are not going to have time to negotiate the obstacle. You are not going to be able to run up to that ditch and stop and look at and go, "Okay, I need to get I need to back it up a little bit." You're going to have to go as a cop chasing this kid down this city park. You're going to have to scale that 8ft fence right now. And a lot of people Vernon has a really good thing about monkey bars. Like everybody was swinging on monkey bars when you were a kid. In a certain point in adulthood, you stopped doing it. But you'll look at your kid, nine years old, swing on a monkey bar, like, "Oh, you're doing it wrong. Do it this way." Well, jump up there and show them. If you haven't been on monkey bars in 40 years, expect to be humbled really, really fast. >> It's like, use it or lose it. It's going to happen. So, we're always trying to test ourselves like what is going to make me a dynamic participant throughout the whole process. Broad jumps a really good expression. We have that in the SEAL teams. We had a legacy test. It was a bodyweight bench press. It's not fair for me to give 225 to a kid that weighs 160 lbs. or 140 lb woman or 50 lb woman. Yeah, >> your body weight though. And we go minimum standard 10 repetitions. >> 10 repetition single set with your body weight. >> That's minimum standard. 15 next level up 20 plus is elite. If you can bench press your body weight 20 times, you are in top tier. Pull-ups with no weight. And we do that because so many guys have so many injuries, so many shoulder injuries. And if your technique isn't there and you're dropping out of the hole, I don't want you to dislocate and jam up a shoulder. So pull-ups are in there. We have a farmer's carry. >> How many pull-ups? Sorry. The uh >> 10 15 and 20 plus. >> So 10 with your body weight, 15 is the next level up. And then 20 plus is elite. Okay. >> We do a farmer's carry. So with your body weight, so if you weigh 200 lb, you have 100 lb dumbbell in each hand. You get up and you walk it as far as you can. I'd have to look at the exact feet measurement, but I think the Elite is almost 300 ft. >> Mhm. >> 275 and 250 somewhere around there. And it's not an easy thing to do, but we work so much grip for the pull-ups and everything else. Like grip matters. We say that a lot. >> You ask anybody who grapples. When somebody who grapples and you know how to use it, grabs a hold of you, you instantly know you're in a world of hurt. >> Mhm. >> You grab some NCAA wrestling, he grabs a hold of you, the first thing you feel is his hands. Oh no, I'm just grabbing a hold of a grizzly bear right now. This is not going to be good. We need everybody to have that same strength. So, we've got that. We've got a trap bar and deadlift. We use a trap bar because the majority of guys in that career, they've already got some injuries stacked up and we actually put 45 pound bumper plates to pull from a little bit of an elevation because I've got a really long torso. And the big thing we push in that program is we want you to be able to train 52 weeks out of the year. There is no offseason for a fireman. There's no offseason for a SWAT team guy. There's no offseason for an Army Ranger. And if you get jammed up in the gym, and I've done it really bad, the mission doesn't care. You have to go anyway. and now you're not at 100%. And the entire patrol in you're thinking about your lower back and if you're going to be able to be able to perform on target. We can't have that. We're trying to increase your confidence, never decrease it. So that's why you pull from that. That is one and a half times your body weight is a minimum standard >> for how many repetitions? >> Five. >> One and a half times your body weight. Okay. >> And then two times your body weight. I think it's two and a half times your body weight is the elite for a set of five. You know, you can obviously do more. I think I did a set of 12 in that video, but it's just >> can I pick up double body weight under control without slamming on the ground, proper form, in control the entire time. >> So, we add in all those. So, the broad jump, the farmer's carry, body weightight bench, the pull-ups, the trap bar deadlift. We also have a plank for time. So, a minute and a half, 2 minutes. >> No, it's 2 minutes, 2 and 1/2 minutes, and 3 minutes. >> Arms planking, >> however you want to hold it. I started walking around with my core at like 40 to 50% flexed all day every day. My lower back issues went away instantly. So I walk around with a little bit of tension all day long. Just imagine walking around the pool with your shirt off. A little bit of tension in your abs and it protects my lower back. So we always say be an active participant throughout the entire movement. I'm never going to let my core go to jello because then my lower back will spasm. Everything is locked in. Everything is in control. My intensity is there. My focus is there. And I've blocked out all the stray voltage. So, we get through that and then we do an 800 meter run. I wanted to do a 400 meter repeats. Do a 400 stop as long as it took you to run. Execute another one in the same amount of time. Well, the SWAT team, they have an 800 meter run. We're like, well, since you already do it, I don't need a guy that can run a marathon. I need a guy that can throw a 200lb guy over his shoulders, run him up 10 flights of stairs, and make a good decision. So being a marathon runner, while it might be great for you, it doesn't really give me everything I need. I really need that hybrid athlete. And that 800 meter, I didn't realize, and then I talked to everybody who's a distance runner, the 800 is brutal. >> Mhm. >> It's too fast to fully sprint, and you can't slow down because that time metric, I think, is 315, 3 minutes, and 245 to be the elite. Everything I'm doing is putting me in position to be the best version of myself because the team deserves it. Everything I do, everything I say, everything I represent should be putting the group in a better position. And for us, because it's such a dangerous job, your physical readiness, it can't be ignored. That is the one thing that everyone should be able to count on. [Music]

What does it take to make yourself unbreakable? This test, built by elite operators, measures real strength — not how you look, but how you perform when it counts. Subscribe to RESPIRE for more science-based health tips: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyNaCRf6Aaljcm9ZWARawXw re·spire (verb) – (1) to breathe (2) to recover hope, courage, or strength 🌟🌟🌟 NEW VIDEOS EVERY WEEK 🌟🌟🌟 00:00 The Standard of the Elite 00:41 Why “Good Enough” No Longer Is 01:31 Training for Reality, Not Fantasy 02:16 Stronger Body, Sharper Mind 02:57 The Always-Ready Standard 03:30 The Broad Jump Challenge 04:40 The Strength Metrics That Matter 05:34 Train Without Breaking 07:02 The Core Secret That Fixed Everything 08:17 The 800-Meter Truth This video is a condensed and highly edited version of the full 223 minute podcast from @HubermanLab. For more information, watch the full episode and following the podcast. DJ Shipley is a retired Navy SEAL, author, and entrepreneur known for co-founding GBRS Group, a veteran-owned training and services organization. He also hosts the Team Never Quit Podcast and founded the skateboard company Tribe Sk8z. Shipley served 17 years in naval special warfare before being medically retired in 2019. Andrew Huberman is an American neuroscientist and tenured associate professor in the department of neurobiology and psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. Podcast Host: Andrew Huberman YouTube: @HubermanLab Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwRc2SEo-VI&t=2850s&pp=ygUaYW5kcmV3IGh1YmVybWFuIGRqIHNoaXBsZXk%3D Fair Use Disclaimer 1. Under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, commenting, news reporting, teaching, scholarship and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. 2. We do not own the rights to all content. They have, in accordance with fair use, been repurposed with the intent of educating and inspiring others. We must state that in no way, shape or form are we intending to infringe rights of the copyright holder. 3. Content used is strictly for research and education, all under the Fair Use law. #strength #strengthtraining #fitness #pullups #exercise #andrewhuberman #hubermanlab #testosterone #healthtips