Building the Elite Podcast
Sep 6, 2023
The Hardest Part of the Day - Ep. 47
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"The hardest part of the day is getting out of bed" is a common phrase among successful SOF selection candidates.
Aside from serving as the sort of inside joke that helps people bond and encourage one another while doing difficult things together, it also conveys some essential concepts related to resilience and motivation and helps to reinforce the types of mindsets that excel in difficult conditions.
In this episode, we break those concepts down and discuss how you can apply them in your own life, whether you're undertaking a career in special operations or taking on another challenging path.
More episodes from Building the Elite Podcast
2 days ago
Planning for Failure - Ep. 56
Over the past decade, we’ve helped prepare hundreds of clients for dozens of different SOF selection courses. Through this process, we’ve developed an extensive model of what’s required physically and cognitively to make it through almost any selection. In other words, how fit you need to be and the thinky-brain skills - things like segmenting, compartmentalization, and managing your self-talk - that you need to manage the various tasks you’ll be required to do.
The specific skills and physical traits necessary to succeed vary a bit from course to course, but we have a robust and adaptable process to get people extremely well-prepared for almost any selection.
However, there is one area we haven’t developed as extensively: the emotional and social components of SOF selection. These are often the limiting factors for either not getting selected - when you make it through a selection but aren’t chosen to move forward - or outright quitting. We can’t cover these broad topics in a single podcast but we will explore them over the coming months.
In this podcast, we will highlight the specific skills necessary to manage the emotional and social experience of failure, setbacks, and pressure from cadre and peers that are common at SOF selection. This will include a recap of mental skills we’ve touched on before in different contexts.
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Nov 16, 2023
Alex Hutchinson, Part 2 - Pain, Effort, and Performance - Ep. 55
This is the second half of our conversation with Dr. Alex Hutchinson.
Dr. Alex Hutchinson is an author and journalist based in Toronto, Canada. His latest book, Endure: Mind, body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance, is an exploration of the science and mysteries of endurance.
Alex is a contributing editor for Outside Magazine, writing a Sweat Science column. He also writes a column for The Globe and Mail and Canadian Running magazine. He’s also written award-winning articles for Popular Mechanics, has written about adventure travel for the New York Times, and was a columnist at Runner’s World for five years.
Alex started out as a physicist with a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, then spent a few years as a postdoctoral researcher with the U.S. National Security Agency, working on quantum computing and nanomechanics. During that time, he competed as a middle- and long-distance runner for the Canadian national team, mostly as a miler but also dabbling in cross-country and even a bit of mountain running. He still runs most days, enjoys the rigors of hard training, and occasionally races.
If you’re into human performance or have ever wondered what factors govern the limits of human athletic potential, then Alex’s book Endure is a must-read.
*To find more of Alex's work:*
www.AlexHutchinson.net
Outside Magazine Sweat Science
*Timestamps:
*00:00:25 Altering the Perception of Effort
00:08:20 Maximum Effort
00:10:49 Processing Pain
00:16:15 Pushing the Signs of Breakdown
00:20:20 Finding Limits
00:24:08 VO2 Max Protocol
00:26:01 Altitude Training
00:29:49 Learn More About Dr. Alex Hutchinson
00:30:30 Outro
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Nov 15, 2023
Alex Hutchinson, Part 1 - The Limits of Human Endurance - Ep. 54
Dr. Alex Hutchinson is an author and journalist based in Toronto, Canada. His latest book, Endure: Mind, body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance, is an exploration of the science and mysteries of endurance.
Alex is a contributing editor for Outside Magazine, writing a Sweat Science column. He also writes a column for The Globe and Mail and Canadian Running magazine. He’s also written award-winning articles for Popular Mechanics, has written about adventure travel for the New York Times, and was a columnist at Runner’s World for five years.
Alex started out as a physicist with a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, then spent a few years as a postdoctoral researcher with the U.S. National Security Agency, working on quantum computing and nanomechanics. During that time, he competed as a middle- and long-distance runner for the Canadian national team, mostly as a miler but also dabbling in cross-country and even a bit of mountain running. He still runs most days, enjoys the rigors of hard training, and occasionally races.
If you’re into human performance or have ever wondered what factors govern the limits of human athletic potential, then Alex’s book Endure is a must-read.
*To find more of Alex's work:*
www.AlexHutchinson.net
Outside Magazine Sweat Science
*Timestamps:*
00:00:22 Intro
00:01:50 Athletic and Academic Background
00:06:07 Limits of Endurance Test
00:10:50 Theoretical maximum/Tim Noakes
00:15:15 Model of Fatigue
00:19:12 Mental Fatigue
00:20:30 Practical Application in Training
00:25:17 Low Hanging Fruit In Performance
00:28:35 A Note From our Sponsors
00:29:00 Outro
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