The Goggins Effect: How David Goggins’ Military Workout Changed My Body and Mind in 30 Days

When it comes to hardcore training, David Goggins rules the rooster. This former Navy SEAL isn’t known as the most formidable man alive for nothing. His workouts are as mentally and physically grueling as they come.

The very idea of following the Goggins military workout for 30 days was enough to send chills down my spine. Yet, another part of me looked forward to the challenge — had I got what it takes to survive training like Goggins for an entire month?

The fact that I’m writing this shows that the Goggins’ workout didn’t kill me. In fact, the physical and psychological benefits I received from the experience were transformational. However, the experience was undoubtedly the most challenging, exhausting, and demanding 30 days of my life.

In this article, I’ll break down my journey.

David Goggins Workout Overview

Goggins weighed 297 pounds at 24 and aimed to join the Navy SEALs. According to the height and weight chart, he was 106 pounds overweight to join the military.

Goggins set his mind on losing all that weight so that, in three months, when he walked into the Navy recruiting office, he was a lean 191 pounds.

To do it, he devised what is possibly the most intense training routine ever created.

Goggins’ training day started at 4:30 a.m. and ended at 9 p.m. An 800-calorie diet accompanied it to create the negative calorie balance he needed to lose body fat.

Here’s an overview of what each day looks like:

• 4:30: Wake up and eat a banana
• 5:00-6:00: Ride an exercise bike
• 8:00-10:00: Two-mile swim
• 11:00-12:00: Full-body workout
• 3:00-5:00: Ride an exercise bike
• 5:30: Run 2-6 miles
• 7:00: Dinner
• 8:00-9:00: Ride an exercise bike

While I was determined to follow the Goggins workout to the letter, his restrictive diet was not for me. I didn’t need to lose a hundred pounds in three months. I’d be thrilled if I could drop a percentage point in body fat. So, rather than sticking to 800 calories daily, I upped it to 1,600. 

My First Day

The first challenge for me was getting up at 4:30 a.m., two hours earlier than my usual routine. I adjusted by getting to bed by 9:30 each night to ensure I got six to seven hours of sleep.

Still, it was a struggle to adjust. During that first week, I really had to push myself mentally to overcome the ‘mind over mattress’ syndrome.

After downing a banana, I was off to the gym for a 60-minute session on the exercise bike. I knew that keeping my mind engaged during these cardio sessions would be a big challenge, so I took my earbuds to listen to my favorite motivational podcasts while on the bike.

I set the bike tension at a moderate pace and maintained a speed of 20 mph. Over that sixty minutes, I burned 637 calories and walked away feeling refreshed.

Next up was a two-mile swim. This is the part of the program I was dreading the most. While I wouldn’t say I’ve got a fear of the water, it is definitely not one of my favorite places to be. I got some motivation from Goggins himself, who did have a fear of the water. He overcame it by forcing himself to complete these daily two-mile swims.

I headed to the local pools with a sense of foreboding but didn’t put pressure on myself. I would stay in the water for two hours, and it was okay if I didn’t make it to the two-mile mark.

I focused on counting lengths. After every ten, I’d take a break for a couple of minutes and then plow into the next set of 10. By ten o’clock, I’d knocked off 53 lengths, which was about a mile and a half.

When I dragged myself out of the pool, I was utterly spent. Every muscle was aching, and my heart and lungs were on fire. I’d just put my body through a type of stress entirely foreign to it.

And there was plenty more to come.

By 10:50 a.m., I was back at the gym for the first resistance training session of the day. This was an upper-body calisthenics and weights-based session.

First up was pull-ups. Goggins is a pull-up legend. He holds the Guinness World Record of 4,030 pull-ups in 17 hours. All I had to do was a hundred.

I divided my hundred reps into ten sets of ten. My form on those last few sets was pretty sloppy, but I managed to squeeze them out.

Next was a tri-set consisting of the barbell bench press, dumbbell bicep curls,  and dumbbell shoulder press. Each exercise was to be done for a crazy four hundred reps. That meant four tri-sets of a hundred reps on each exercise.

I had never trained with such high reps before. Not knowing what I was in for, I used only an empty Olympic bar on the bench press and 10-pound dumbbells. Even with those light weights, it was challenging work.

I completed the first set of 100 on each movement without rest. But on the following sets, I paused several times as the burn in my pecs, biceps, and delts became too intense.

Goggins only allows you to rest in the fully extended position, which doesn’t give you much relief at all. And you’re not allowed to rest longer than 10 seconds!

I’ve been working out with weights for decades, but this 1,300-rep workout (100 reps on pull-ups and 400 reps each on the bench, curl, and overhead press) was more brutal than anything I’ve done before!

I now had until 3:00 p.m. before the next phase of this crazy training program. I headed home for food and rest. I actually managed to get about 45 minutes of much-needed sleep before it was time to head back to the gym.

By now, the psychological challenge was starting to dominate. I knew the Goggins workout was intense, but experiencing it was next level. Could I really handle 30 days of this type of torture? I seriously doubted it.

Still, I soldiered on. At 3:00 p.m., I was back on the exercise bike, this time for a solid two hours. I’m not ashamed to say that I didn’t set a blistering pace — in fact, the 75-year-old lady alongside me would have quickly lapped me in a race. But, at this stage, it was all I could do to stay upright on the bike!

I overcame the mental challenge of two hours on the bike by listening to Goggins’s podcast with Joe Rogan.

At 5:30 p.m., it was time for the run portion of the workout. I set a very moderate pace for myself and knocked out two miles.

After dinner, it was back on the bike for a final 60-minute session.

When I hit the sack at 9:30 p.m., I felt like I’d been through 15 rounds with Mike Tyson.

The Next 23 Days

When I woke up the following day, I felt a gentle ache through my entire body. The prospect of repeating the previous day’s routine hung over me like a dark cloud. Still, I was determined. With the Nike motto ‘Just do it’ sounding in my head, I was up and into it.

The first bike ride felt good. I had a target calorie burn: I was determined to beat the 637 from the day before. And I did — by 15 calories.

Then, it was back to the pool. Again, I had a target to beat. This time, I made it to 58 lengths.

The rest of the day — the massive reps in the gym, two more stints on the bike, and a run — were mentally and physically draining. By Day Two’s end, I knew this was not sustainable, no matter how much I wanted to prove to myself that I was Navy SEAL material.

So, I compromised. My 50-something body needed more than 24 hours to recuperate from all that muscular stress. I decided to do the full program every second day. On the days in between, I’d follow Goggins’ military calisthenics program, which he published online just before the COVID lockdowns. This workout was no walk in the park, but it gave my body and mind the break they needed to survive the main course.

Here’s what the Calisthenics program involves:

• Jumping Jacks — 10 minutes 
• Superset: Jumping Jacks & Push-ups — 10 x 10 
• Alternate Lunges — 115 
• Sit-ups — 110
• Superset: Jumping Jacks & Push-Ups: 3 x 10

The first time I went through this routine, I puffed like a steam engine. You’re going non-stop, and those reps quickly add up. In the end, I was sprawled on the floor in sweat.

But at least the workout was done. I now had the rest of the day to recover and get psyched for the next day’s mammoth session.

The modified routine provided me with the right amount of recovery and mental and physical sustainability. I pushed myself to do an extra rep, burn a few calories, and make another lap on the pool.

The second week was more accessible than the first. My body was adjusting to the high reps and the long cardio sessions. As long as I had plenty of podcast episodes loaded, my mind was okay with the monotony.

By week three, I saw tangible results from all my hard work. Looking in the mirror, I was noticeably leaner, especially around the midsection. I could see the outline of a six-pack, and my obliques were becoming more defined. I was also improving on my pull-ups — those 10 sets of 10 reps were a lot more respectable than my pitiful effort on Day One!

Going into the last week, I was determined to finish strong. I had built momentum and was fully committed to seeing this challenge through to the end. My body had adapted remarkably, and I felt a newfound mental toughness I hadn’t experienced before.

Day 24: The Home Stretch

By now, the routine had become second nature to me. Amazingly, I was actually waking up on my full routine days with a sense of anticipation. The bike rides became enjoyable times of reflection. I’d found a rhythm to the workout and looked forward to each new challenge.

I was most impressed with my improvement in the pool. My speed had improved hugely, and so had my endurance. I could now complete the two miles with far fewer breaks. My water confidence had also grown.

I was also coping much better with the high-rep weights workout. My endurance had improved, so I could push through the burn and pump out 100 reps without a pause.

Final Day: Victory Lap

The final day of the challenge was a mix of emotions. I felt a sense of pride for making it this far and a bit of sadness that this intense journey was ending. I wanted to make the last day count, so I pushed myself harder than ever before.

The morning started with a vigorous bike ride, during which I set a personal best for calories burned. The swim was strong and steady, reflecting my progress in the water over the past month. My final full-body workout was a true testament to my growth. I increased the weight on my lifts and powered through each rep with an unshakeable determination.

The last run was symbolic. As I ran those final miles, I reflected on the journey — the early mornings, the physical pain, the mental battles. I felt a surge of accomplishment as I pushed through the final steps, knowing that I had done what I set out to do.

Lessons Learned

I’m proud to say I survived Goggins’ military workout — even though I did a scaled-down version. The physical benefits of the challenge were evident:

• My body fat percentage dropped from 16.7 to 15.6 percent
• Pull-up and push-up strength went up significantly
• My cardiovascular endurance level doubled
• I ended up with a visible six-pack

However, I benefited way beyond those tangible results. Here are four lessons I learned from the experience:

1. Mental toughness: I experienced the power of mental resilience. I pushed through many perceived physical and mental barriers to make it through.
2. Discipline: I thought I had discipline. But I had to dig deep to stay the distance on this challenge. And that discipline has benefited me in every area of my life.
3. Adaptability: I had to adapt to extreme situations (at least extreme to me). These included swimming for two hours, doing 100 pull-ups, and repping out with hundreds of reps on weight training exercises.
4. Mind-body experience: I developed a brand new appreciation of the connection between mental and physical well-being. At the end of the 30 days, I felt I could handle anything life put before me!

Conclusion

Completing Goggins’ 30-day military workout was one of my life’s most challenging yet rewarding experiences. It pushed me to my limits and beyond, transforming my body and mindset.

If there’s one thing I learned, we are all capable of more than we think. With determination, discipline, and a strong mind, we can overcome any challenge and become stronger on the other side.

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