Myth: You know how much stress your body can take
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  1. #1

    Myth: You know how much stress your body can take

    This was just a little something I found and I found this amazing.

    Myth: You know how much stress your body can take.
    Mythbuster: Craig Weller
    During Special Operations selection training, you're subjected to a brutal series of physical and mental tests. Depending on the program and the time of year, between 60 and 90 percent of candidates won't finish. Fun stuff.
    But it taught me something important: Pain does not stop the body. There's nothing that hurts so badly that you can't keep going just a little longer.
    Extreme and continuous stress teaches you to break daily life down into short, measurable goals. You make it to breakfast, and then you focus on making it to lunch. Sometimes your mind refuses to project beyond the immediate future: running one more step, swimming one more stroke, grinding out just one more push-up.
    Everybody hits bottom at some point. You get to a place where you'd do anything to make the pain stop. If your mind breaks first and you stop running, or wave for a support boat on a swim, or raise your hand during a beat-down to say that you're done, you're officially "weeded out." You've quit. You're part of the majority, but you still feel like a loser.
    Fortunately, there's a loophole: If your body breaks first, they won't hold it against you. Every guy in my squad had the same perverse thought at some point: "If I can just push myself hard enough to black out, I'll crash in the sand, take a nap, and wait for the medics to revive me. I'll get a nice little break, and then rejoin the pack."
    So we ran harder. We pushed. But we hardly ever got those naps.

    I remember being on a run, soaking wet and covered with sand. We'd just gotten back to our feet after calisthenics in the surf and a series of sprints up and down a sand dune. Then the instructors took off sprinting again.
    I didn't think I could make it any farther, but I knew I could never live with myself if I stopped running. So I put my head down and sprinted as hard as I could through the soft sand. Pain surged through my body, and the only conscious thought I can remember was that the air I was gasping into my lungs had turned to fire.
    I focused my eyes on the heels of the instructor. The pain was getting worse, but I kept going. I could hear another member of my class behind me, struggling to keep up with the pack while puking between strides.
    Guys who went through the training with me had similar experiences. They'd hit bottom one day, and think they could finally reach their breaking point if only they pushed a little bit harder. But it never worked. The agony would only increase. But so would their capacity to keep going. Pain, in other words, never actually broke our bodies.

    Which isn't to say we weren't incapacitated from time to time by hypothermia, hypoxic blackout, hypoglycemic shock, or some other things you find in the dictionary a few pages past "hell." But passing out was acceptable. Quitting wasn't.
    I'm a civilian now, running a facility and training people. Every now and then, I hear someone say, "I can't."
    Frankly, that's bull****. Next time you're tempted to say you "can't," remember that what you're really saying is, "I don't want to."


  2. #2
    Marine Free Member Wyoming's Avatar
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    .... I missed the point on this one!!


  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Patriot34 View Post
    This was just a little something I found and I found this amazing.

    Myth: You know how much stress your body can take.
    Mythbuster: Craig Weller
    During Special Operations selection training, you're subjected to a brutal series of physical and mental tests. Depending on the program and the time of year, between 60 and 90 percent of candidates won't finish. Fun stuff.
    But it taught me something important: Pain does not stop the body. There's nothing that hurts so badly that you can't keep going just a little longer.
    Extreme and continuous stress teaches you to break daily life down into short, measurable goals. You make it to breakfast, and then you focus on making it to lunch. Sometimes your mind refuses to project beyond the immediate future: running one more step, swimming one more stroke, grinding out just one more push-up.
    Everybody hits bottom at some point. You get to a place where you'd do anything to make the pain stop. If your mind breaks first and you stop running, or wave for a support boat on a swim, or raise your hand during a beat-down to say that you're done, you're officially "weeded out." You've quit. You're part of the majority, but you still feel like a loser.
    Fortunately, there's a loophole: If your body breaks first, they won't hold it against you. Every guy in my squad had the same perverse thought at some point: "If I can just push myself hard enough to black out, I'll crash in the sand, take a nap, and wait for the medics to revive me. I'll get a nice little break, and then rejoin the pack."
    So we ran harder. We pushed. But we hardly ever got those naps.

    I remember being on a run, soaking wet and covered with sand. We'd just gotten back to our feet after calisthenics in the surf and a series of sprints up and down a sand dune. Then the instructors took off sprinting again.
    I didn't think I could make it any farther, but I knew I could never live with myself if I stopped running. So I put my head down and sprinted as hard as I could through the soft sand. Pain surged through my body, and the only conscious thought I can remember was that the air I was gasping into my lungs had turned to fire.
    I focused my eyes on the heels of the instructor. The pain was getting worse, but I kept going. I could hear another member of my class behind me, struggling to keep up with the pack while puking between strides.
    Guys who went through the training with me had similar experiences. They'd hit bottom one day, and think they could finally reach their breaking point if only they pushed a little bit harder. But it never worked. The agony would only increase. But so would their capacity to keep going. Pain, in other words, never actually broke our bodies.

    Which isn't to say we weren't incapacitated from time to time by hypothermia, hypoxic blackout, hypoglycemic shock, or some other things you find in the dictionary a few pages past "hell." But passing out was acceptable. Quitting wasn't.
    I'm a civilian now, running a facility and training people. Every now and then, I hear someone say, "I can't."
    Frankly, that's bull****. Next time you're tempted to say you "can't," remember that what you're really saying is, "I don't want to."
    One word for you - compartmentalize.

    The word "compartmentalize" means to separate into distinct parts. For me, it illustrates the need to separate mentally what we are doing.

    Learning to compartmentalize pain and keep going is an invaluable building block of confidence.

    Being able to successfully compartmentalize and function is how you overcome ANY mental object that's blocking your path.

    It's all metal.


  4. #4
    This is pretty f*cking moto. Summed up, if you're strong enough mentally, you can push your body far beyond the point where you "think" you don't have any more left.


  5. #5
    Marine Friend Free Member Pandza03's Avatar
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    Very moto, good read.
    Ill keep it in my head for ever


  6. #6
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    The Mind Dictates and the Body Responds.
    If you don't Mind, It don't Matter....


  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by benw2200 View Post
    you can push your body far beyond the point where you "think" you don't have any more left
    And the body always cycles around to collect on accounts payable. Maybe not today or tomorrow but someday, someday

    --->Dave


  8. #8
    Marine Free Member PaidinBlood's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SlingerDun View Post
    And the body always cycles around to collect on accounts payable. Maybe not today or tomorrow but someday, someday

    --->Dave
    I'm not even old but that is pretty damned true...I've already run up a nice tab...


  9. #9
    I think this quote right here kinda goes along with it:

    "The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It's your mind you have to convince."


  10. #10
    I do believe I will print that out and see if I can't have our Sergeant ensure every Poolee reads that before our IST. Good stuff, thank you for sharing that.


  11. #11
    Marine Free Member PaidinBlood's Avatar
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    I do believe I will print that out and see if I can't have our Sergeant ensure every Poolee reads that before our IST. Good stuff, thank you for sharing that.
    I guess you don't want them reading old SlingerDave's quote til they're all beat up and worn out ready to EAS, huh?


  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by NoPainNoGain17 View Post
    I think this quote right here kinda goes along with it:

    "The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It's your mind you have to convince."
    Where did you get this quote from?


  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by UsmcMotorT View Post
    Where did you get this quote from?
    I can't wait to hear the answer on this one!!!


  14. #14
    i run a 18minute on the pft===easy stuff

    but in the gym with all those ladies around i run 4 min miles,,,,who ever invented spandex should be given a nam or some $hit


  15. #15

    That would be Vince...

    Quote Originally Posted by UsmcMotorT View Post
    Where did you get this quote from?

    Google it - it's fastest way to find out anything,, I did...and here you go http://www.leadershipnow.com/disciplinequotes.html


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