Jocko Podcast - Jocko Underground: Training VS Preparation for The Worst | What Non-drinkers Have in Common.

Episode Date: July 21, 2025

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This is the Jocko Underground podcast number 174 sitting here with Echo Charles. We're going to review some of your questions and provide courses of actions that will help you through various scenarios. So that's what we got. All right. Cool. First question. Good evening, Jocco and Admiral Charles. I see what he's doing there.

I like that. I have a dichotomy of sorts. I've embraced the path. Thanks to your podcast and your books. stuff right at the mall. I'm in a much better place. I'm waking up at 5.30 to work out for two hours. I'm only eating clean and tracking my macros.

As a result, I've gained eight kilograms with just 18 pounds of lean muscle. However, in one of your earlier podcasts, you said you'd want an operator to be built like a truck and not like a Porsche. As I'm training for selection for Portuguese SOF, I wonder if I should continue with my quote-unquote clean, routine or if I should train with less sleep, a crappier diet eating sand and no warm-up instead. I'm afraid I might get back to my old self and become less disciplined if I follow the latter course of action, thus hindering the work that I've put in and still have to put in

to be 100% ready for the selection. In addition, I also fear that training in those conditions would make me more injury prone. Also, I was wondering if you had any tricks to prevent or deal with colds and injuries during buds when you couldn't make when you couldn't take supplements or if you just BTF through it thanks for all you guys thanks for all the good work you do that will keep crushing cruising okay and impressing record yeah yeah dude got a little fan out there huh my man is in the game 100% uh so check it out combat is not pretty it is chaotic and it's not by any means constrained to

the niceties of life and I'm going to imagine I don't know too much about Portuguese soft and their selection process but I'm guessing that the selection is going to be similar to most special operation selection course it's going to be a gut check

so that being said I think it's cool to keep up these kind of high performance It's Drago style workouts. And I'm not talking about Drago the seal. My brother Drago, I'm not talking about that Drago. I'm talking about the movie. Ivan Drago.

Right. So it sounds like this guy's doing Drago type workouts, right? In the digital with the computer and the, all that stuff. As opposed to the Rocky workouts in the snow, in the, in the barn with the axe, right? So those are, those are sort of the dirty. So I would probably integrate. some of that into your workout, right? You don't want to get, you don't want to miss out on anything.

You don't want to miss any training because there are legit things where if you're just not used to it, it could catch you. So maybe do some random gut checks, you know, once every three or four days, do something that just sucks, you know, like, uh, run four miles carrying a sandbag or, uh, do 500 burpees or, you know, farmers carry for a mile one hand. with whatever pounds going to hurt. You see what I'm saying? Like doing some stuff like that because if you do some stuff like that, you're going to be prepared. You're going to learn how to adapt to it

and you're going to be a little bit tougher because of it. As far as as diet goes, I actually think I would inject a little bit of like a little bit of dirtiness into the diet because you don't want to get, I've seen people that would react badly to, not the best food. And again, I'm assuming that in your selection process, you're not going to get the best food.

Maybe sometimes you won't get much food at all. Maybe sometimes you'll get, you know, meal ready to eat from the military. Or you'll get some chow haul slop. So you're not going to get some perfectly, you know, zone perfect food. And so you don't want that to upset you. So probably, yeah, like once a week, maybe do some,

maybe, you know, like a cheat day type thing. But just eat some regular. Food. Don't lose your mind. You know what I'm saying? Don't go crazy. But, you know, eat some stuff that's maybe not perfect. And I'll tell you, if this kind of stuff, if, like, you're worried about you're losing

your, your discipline. If you're worried about that from having a cheat day and doing some dirty workouts, you've got bigger problems. I don't think you will. You think you're worried about something you shouldn't be worried about. And also we asked about no warm up. Yeah. Sometimes you just do stuff like,

again, you don't want to do a heavy deadlift with no warm up. That would be stupid. But to go out and go for run without a like a, okay, I'm going to do a four minute cycle and then I'm going to do a stretch and then I'll do my run. No.

Like sometimes you get to go out, pace yourself so you don't blow out a hammy. I think that's the most common industry in injury. It's just blowing out of hammy doing sprints. you ever blown a hammey doing sprints? Yeah, I mean, I pulled my hamstring in football. There you go. So you've blown out a hammy doing sprints.

So that's a real common thing that's going to happen. You don't want to do that. But, you know, you don't want to require a perfect warm-up every time you do a workout or every time you get tasked with something challenging. Because in the field, you're not going to get a warm-up, right? You just all of some people start shooting at you, and you've got to get a down man. You've got to just pick them up and carry them. There ain't no warm-up involved.

So that's what I would do there. I guess what I'm saying is induce a little bit of chaos, a little bit of combat, a little bit of chaos combat to your workouts, to your diet, a little bit of chaos. Selection, I can about guarantee is there's going to be some chaotic moments. And if you do that, you'll be in a good spot. And then you're also wondering if I had any tricks to deal with colds or injuries during buds when you couldn't take supplements.

You don't need supplements to overcome anything. You know, I, we even had, I guess there were supplements when I went to Buds, but no one, I didn't know one person that took any supplements. I think somebody had a power bar. Remember power bars? Yeah, I remember power. I think people had power bars. I think I tried him and I was like, this thing tastes terrible. Yeah, it's kind of joke.

But there wasn't any big supplementation thing. Dude, just eat some good food, some whole food. Occasionally eat some crappy food just to make sure your gut can handle it. but here's the other thing you're gonna be sick and you're gonna be injured during training just like fighters going into fight in the UFC oh I got a little bit of a sprained ankle of course you do I got a little bit tweaked shoulder of course you do oh I got my my ribs I got hitting the ribs yeah of course you don't go to a fight 100% doesn't happen and in selection you're gonna be you're gonna have a sprained ankle you're gonna have a hurt elbow you're gonna be coughing

up you know snot you're gonna be as a dog and you're going to be injured and that's just the way it is so that's no factor just the only when you think about it just just don't even think about it just keep going and when you're right now while you're training if you're sick like go go work out do what you can got a little injury do what you can don't hurt yourself don't get yourself sicker but go do what you can no factor yeah it's kind of where i'm at less sleep yeah occasionally you're You know, see what it feels like to do the less sleep thing. Because he's asking if I should train with less sleep,

crap of your diet and no warm up. Yes, yes and yes. You know, optimize. Don't do it all the time. You need sleep to recover. But like maybe, I don't know what you do for a job, but, you know, maybe on Fridays instead of going out to the bar, getting drunk or whatever, I don't think you're doing that.

But instead of doing something stupid, that doesn't simulate selection. Do something stupid that does simulate selection. You know what I'm saying? Like do you like sleep three hours and four hours or something like that and get up and go do a run and see how you feel while you're doing that and take a nap in the afternoon. It'll be fine. So I would do that. I would introduce a little chaos to your world.

You don't want to be a Porsche. You want to be a four by four and you'll be in a better spot. That's what I got. Let's just say that's probably one of the like weak links where you get someone who's like really as you would say. say a stud physically, but introduced to the slightest adversity. And they're not used to that. So mentally, it'll feel like your body's breaking down. Like, I'm like my body's injuring itself right now, but it's really not.

You're just not used to that kind of adversity physically, you know. You're fine. So mentally, yeah, yeah. Oh, you got a cold, whatever. Right. Oh, you're coughing up, whatever. Bro. Yeah.

Your ankle hurts. Yeah. It's like, yes. That's the way. Yes, it does. Cool. No one cares. Yeah, with clean PT.

Brow, if you're sick, you better rest. Yeah, it's rest time. You know, your ankle is out, bro. You better not be doing any kind of squats on that ankle. It won't heal up. You see him saying? You won't be at your best, you know. It's not about that. Just BTF. BTF. BTF. F TTF, BTF. Freaking actual BTF, Tony, like broke his damn. So that is a little excerpt of what we are doing on the Jocko Underground podcast. So if you want to continue to listen, go to, go to, jocco underground.com and subscribe and we're doing this we're doing this to mitigate our reliance on external platforms so we are not subject to their control and we're doing this so that we can support the jocco podcast which will remain as is free for all as long as we can keep it that way but we but we are doing this so we don't have to be under the control of sponsors and we're doing it so we can give you more control, more interaction, more direct connections, better communications with us. And to do that, we are, we're building a website right now where we'll be able to utilize

to strengthen this legion of troopers that are in the game with us. So thank you. It's jaco underground.com. It costs $8.18 a month. And if you can't afford to support us, we can still support you. Just email assistance at jocco underground.com and we'll get you taken care of until then we will see you mobilized underground.