Lex Fridman's 30-Day Challenge: 20,000 Push-ups and Pull-ups, With Advice From David Goggins

Fridman recounts that a few days earlier he tweeted that he would do as many push-ups and pull-ups over the next 30 days as the tweet got likes, retweets and comments, adding that no number was too high. It reached 20,000, which he says is more than four times what he had prepared himself for. In the name of health he decided to spread the work across several bodyweight exercises, including squats, ab rollers and running, using a rule of one mile of running equaling 42 push-ups.

He then wrote to David Goggins, whom he describes as one of the toughest and most inspiring people alive: a retired Navy SEAL, ultramarathon runner, former record holder for most pull-ups in 24 hours and author of *Can't Hurt Me*. Goggins replied that it was "a pretty good" workout, but pointed out that Fridman had spoken only of push-ups and pull-ups, and that adding other exercises implied there was a number too high.

Goggins said he would have stuck with push-ups and pull-ups and pushed to the limit of pain, which would have taught Fridman a huge lesson about himself. Fridman took the hint and decided to do the original 20,000 push-ups and pull-ups and to add the other exercises on top, as best he could.

Fridman says he wants a routine that is healthy yet still pushes him physically and mentally, taking under an hour a day and keeping him in sharp shape. He admits he did not think much before tweeting from his bed, and he says some of the most fun, ambitious things in life start on a whim and should still be taken to completion.

He picked bodyweight work because it removes excuses: a hard workout takes 20 to 30 minutes, can be done at home, and travel is no barrier. He is a big believer in habits because they remove the need for day-to-day motivation, which rises and falls. With the coronavirus lockdowns making it easy to slack off, he also hoped to encourage others to get moving again each day.

A last reason is personal: he wants to harden the muscle of doing something he does not want to do, for a long stretch, and getting it done. That is why he asked Goggins directly what to do when things get tough.

Goggins tells Fridman that the difficulty will come day after day, and that many people only sign up for one- or two-day events because the mind can process that much suffering. A month, he says, is a different thing. There will be mornings when the body says it does not feel like doing this, especially with six miles of running every day.

He insists he does not love getting up either. He says he sometimes stares at his running shoes for hours, getting a drink, using the bathroom, watching TV or doing some work, while his body protests. The lesson is to win the morning and not let that resistance sink too deep into your head.

For day 17, when knees, back and shoulders hurt and elbow tendonitis sets in, Goggins advises recalling your resume. Fridman has studied for hours, days and years to get where he is, and almost certainly did harder things than this. It is difficult to think clearly in the middle of pain, he says, but you have to take one second to find that thought and remind yourself that you have been here before, if not in this kind of pain.

Fridman lays out the routine: run six miles, then do 34 rounds of 15 push-ups, 5 pull-ups, 5 ab rollers and 10 squats. He may split them into three sessions, two, or one, and plans to do the hardest part early, probably about 14 rounds, then another 10 and 10 later. Each round is meant to take about two minutes including rest, so 34 rounds is 68 minutes, and the 30 days start the next day, Wednesday, June 10th.

He shows one round on camera, with roughly a minute of work and a minute of rest. On form he is relaxed: critics may complain that push-ups do not go all the way down or pulls all the way up, but he says what matters is minimizing the risk of injury. He had done over 400 push-ups and pull-ups in a day to test feasibility; it was tough but doable, so he believes 680 is possible for a few days if he avoids injury, and that the rest of the month is mental.

Asked how to stay injury-free, Goggins says that without a good base of push-ups and pull-ups you will get hurt, since both movements overuse the elbow and shoulder hinges. Going from zero to hero brings injuries, so he suggests many people do far more squats and abs instead, and prioritize recovery with protein, minerals and as much rest as possible. Overuse problems come with the territory.

When the upper body starts to hurt, he says, make squats your go-to because legs can handle a great deal. He notes that during his pull-up record his only contact point was his hands, and that in races he has torn a quad completely, bandaged it, and walked 75 miles. His message is not to use injury as an excuse to stop moving but to find an exercise that doesn't hurt.

Fridman adds that he will stretch well and warm up with the six-mile run before the bodyweight work. His diet is mostly keto or carnivore, which for him means ground beef, sometimes steak, and low-carb snacks. He adds extra salt, magnesium, two or three fish oil pills, and a multivitamin.

Fridman invites others to join at any level, doing any hard exercise every day. For anyone not already conditioned, he recommends starting very low and increasing day by day, giving the body time to adjust. The aim is not just 30 days: it is to form a habit that lasts for months, especially during a period when exercise is important for staying healthy and sane.

He will track daily reps in a spreadsheet linked in the video description, which others can copy, and he may go live to answer questions, though he found working out on camera a bit odd. He ends with Goggins's response to a podcast invitation, in which Goggins said he sees Fridman as someone developing heart to go with his intelligence, and that they could have a good conversation.

Fridman closes by saying most of the journey will be quiet and between him and himself, a chance to rediscover himself by doing something very hard for a prolonged period. He expects to come out a different and better person, and ends with "stay healthy and stay hard."