1) Burpee Test

Goggins followed Itzler everywhere for the 31 days of training, including the office. One afternoon while in the office, Goggins told Itzler it was time for a burpee test–performing 100 burprees as quickly as possible.

If you haven’t done a burpee before, don’t worry, it’s simple and you don’t need any weights.

You simply drop to the floor in a plank position, do a push-up, kick your knees to your chest and jump into a jumping jack.

It works out your arms, chest, legs and abs.

Now do 100 (timed).

Under 10 Minutes – Solid

Under 11 Minutes – Acceptable

Over 13 Minutes – Unacceptable (do it again)

Itzler’s 100 burpees time:

11 minutes and 45 seconds (first time)

10 minutes 27 seconds (second time)



Aim to get under 10 minutes. Stay tuned to for my score.

13:00.06 (my first attempt, will do it again soon)





2) Nickels and Dimes

Do 5 pull-ups (nickels) and then 10 push-ups (dimes) every minute on the minute.

So if you do the 5 pull-ups and 10 push-ups in 30 seconds, you get a 30 second rest. If it takes you 50 seconds to do the set, you only get a 10 second rest.

Do this for 10 minutes.

Total will be: 50 pull-ups and 100 push-ups.



By the time Itzler got to 4 minutes, he dropped to the ground and couldn’t do anymore.

Can you do the full 10 minutes?





3) 150 Push-ups with 50-Pound Vest

Goggins apparently made friends with a guy at Itzler’s gym and he let Goggins borrow a 50-pound weighted-vest. So of course, Goggins wanted to put it to use, and they did.

Do 15 sets of 10 push-ups with 30-seconds of rest between sets.

Total: 150 push-ups with weighted vest. Itzler’s time: 22 minutes SEAL’s time: 15 minutes





This is a hard one, even Goggins couldn’t go straight to ten push-ups without dropping to his knees after the sixth set. Yet all he kept saying was “This is great.”

4) Run, Push-up, Run

Instead of doing a typical 6 mile run, Goggins makes Itzler do 25 push-ups every half mile. Also, each mile time must be faster than the last.

Start at a 9 minute-mile pace.

After running half a mile, drop down and do 25 push-ups.

After 1 mile, do 25 push-ups and run the next mile at an 8:50 mile pace.

Repeat push-ups at every half mile and by the last mile you run should be at an 8:10 mile pace.

1st mile: 9 mile pace (50 push-ups)

2nd mile: 8:50 mile pace (50 push-ups)

3rd mile: 8:40 mile pace (50 push-ups)

4th mile: 8:30 mile pace (50 push-ups)

5th mile: 8:20 mile pace (50 push-ups)

6th: mile: 8:10 mile pace (50 push-ups)

Total: 6 miles and 300 push-ups.





5) The 4/4/48

This may be the toughest workout in the book:

Run 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours.

A total of 48 miles in two days.

Goggins had Itzler train for this by running 4.25 miles four times in 24 hours.

Since Itzler was running in the cold (about 10º F), he ended up pulling his groin about 16 miles in and had to cut the run short.



Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I think Goggins had to leave before they did the actual 4/4/48 run. Maybe I’ll try it (Leave a comment below and if enough people show interest, I’ll give it a shot).