Jeff Cavaliere says Goggins’ legs are a sign of overtraining.
Building muscle and strength involves overcoming painful challenges and enduring difficulties. It demands unwavering dedication, commitment, consistency, time, and sacrifice. David Goggins is one athlete who exemplifies these qualities.
David Goggins is a former United States Navy SEAL officer who has transitioned into an ultramarathon runner. He holds multiple Guinness World Records and is renowned as an ultra-endurance athlete. Goggins is also recognized for coaching accomplished athletes, helping them enhance their endurance across various sports.
This article provides an in-depth look at David Goggins’ workout routine and explores what makes his training sessions so intense. ATHLEAN-X’s Jeff Cavaliere analyzes this routine in a YouTube video released September 2, 2024. Watch it below:
About David Goggins
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David Goggins is a 49-year-old former Navy Seal known for his brutal and intense exercises. His unrivaled motivation and coaching skills, which we have observed in athletes like NBA player Damien Lillard and UFC fighter Tony Ferguson, have also contributed to his fame. Goggins trains every day, doing at least two hours of cardio. Studies show performing cardio exercises regularly can help decrease cardiovascular mortality and reduce the chances of heart disease (1). He’s a natural who does weight training four to five days a week.
Professionals like Cameron Hanes, neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman, and Joe Rogan have even acknowledged David Goggins’ approach to bodybuilding and fitness. Goggins is also an author who has written several books about pushing your limits and overcoming adversity to reach your goals.
Jeff Cavaliere’s Breakdown of David Goggins’ Workout Routine
“I want to investigate today if there’s validity to the training methods that are borderline psychotic, but again, I say that respectfully.”
Jeff Cavaliere finds David Goggins’ physique impressive. However, he discusses overtraining and points out how David Goggins’ leg looks. “When it comes to overtraining, when you start to have legs that look like this… to me, it’s an indicator that maybe you’re doing just a little too much… I understand that this swelling and this pitting edema that David has in his lower body came after a surgery, but it didn’t stop him from doing what he was doing. Maybe you should just start to listen to the signals a little bit cuz it might actually get you where you want to be faster by taking one step backwards,” said Cavaliere.
Here is a list of David Goggins’ workout routine:
Nickels & Dimes
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Jeff Cavaliere coins David Goggins’ approach to his exercise as a “nickels and dimes routine” consisting of five pull-ups and ten push-ups. It’s a high-volume workout that involves alternating between two exercises, trying to get two rounds every minute. This results in ten pull-ups and twenty push-ups, and Goggins does this for about an hour to two hours.
“I’ve done this workout, and I lasted for 20 minutes, 25 minutes. I was able to keep up the pace, but I could imagine at some point very soon I was going to start to tire out and not be able to keep up that pace but he’s able to keep going because he’s build his work capacity up by doing more of that.”
According to Jeff Cavaliere, Goggins does this to build total work capacity. However, doing super high reps can help you build muscle, especially when you take it to failure. This study shows that training to failure can help build strength and endurance and induce muscular growth (2).
150 Push-Ups with 50-Pound Vest
David Goggins does 15 sets of 10 push-ups with 30 seconds of rest in between sets wearing a 50-lb weighted vest. Cavaliere recommends using a 45-lb plate if you don’t want a vest. He also highlighted that the goal of the workout was for a Navy SEAL to complete it in 15 minutes.
Goggins also does his push-ups with tempo too. When he does his 150 push-ups, he uses the tempo of a song doing isometric holds, which increases the time under tension for the target muscles. “The song, he goes down every time it says “Bring Sally Up,” he’s up. Every time it’s “Bring Sally Down,” he’s down,” says Cavaliere.
Burpees Test
Goggins also does explosive exercises like burpees, doing 100 as quickly as possible. Goggins’ guidelines state that doing the 100 under 10 minutes is solid. Finishing under 11 minutes is acceptable, but anything over 13 minutes is unacceptable, and you must do it again.
Pull-Ups & Chin-Ups
Goggins does 100 pull-ups in under ten minutes. He takes a three-minute rest and follows up, performing five pull-ups every five seconds, only resting for five counts until failure. For chin-ups, he goes back after a ten-minute rest and does 100 chin-ups in under ten minutes. He takes a three-minute rest and does five chin-ups with five seconds’ rest until failure.
“Good clean pull ups here. Nothing that I have a problem with at all.”
Run Push-Up Run
Cavaliere says he isn’t a conditioning guy and regards this exercise as “the psychotic stuff.” Goggins, during the run push-up run, does a six-mile run. He starts with a nine-minute mile pace. However, at every half mile, he stops to do 25 push-ups. At the end of this workout, he does six-mile and 300 push-ups. “This is taxing your entire energy system. I do think it’s a good workout,” says Cavaliere.
The 4/4/48
“This is where it just gets downright stupid, and when I say stupid, I mean that very respectfully again because when I look at this workout, my knees actually throw up in my mouth,” Cavaliere acknowledges. This exercise allows you to run for four miles every 48 hours. “That’s almost two marathons in two days.” The keys are an unbreakable spirit, drive, and determination that David Goggins possesses.
Jeff Cavaliere’s Breakdown of David Goggins’ Diet
Here is a list of some of David Goggins’ meals:
- Bison Meat
- Sweet Potatoes
- Oatmeal
- Protein Shakes
- Grilled Chicken
His cheat meals include pizza and cookies.
While David Goggins’s diet varies, timing is very important to him. He doesn’t eat anything after 6:30 PM and never snacks between meals. Goggins likes proteins and little carbs in all his meals, except when he’s about to run a long distance.
Though Jeff Cavaliere doesn’t agree with some of his points, he explains, “As someone that works out at 10:30 every night and eats dinner at 12:00 midnight, I certainly don’t prescribe to the belief that you can’t eat after 6:30 and still remain lean as I’ve proven now for over 20 years I believe that ultimately it’s the calories that you take in the calories that you burn that nets out to your body weight that you work around with.”
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References
- Nystoriak, M. A., & Bhatnagar, A. (2018). Cardiovascular Effects and Benefits of Exercise. Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine, 5, 135. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcvm.2018.00135
- Santanielo, N., Nóbrega, S. R., Scarpelli, M. C., Alvarez, I. F., Otoboni, G. B., Pintanel, L., & Libardi, C. A. (2020). Effect of resistance training to muscle failure vs non-failure on strength, hypertrophy and muscle architecture in trained individuals. Biology of sport, 37(4), 333–341. https://doi.org/10.5114/biolsport.2020.96317
