#370 – Building Community through Voluntary Hardship with Jason Mccarthy of GORUCK

Matt & Niki talk to Jason McCarthy–founder & CEO of GORUCK–about how we went from US Army Special Forces (Green Beret) to founding and running a company that–similar to Barbell Logic–believe in Voluntary Hardship and building community.

Jason joined the Army after 9/11 because of 9/11. He enlisted and eventually completed the long, arduous Green Beret pipeline. In the Army, but especially the Green Berets, shared suffering strengthens teams and prepares these units for difficulties of combat. While civilian rucking does not, cannot, and does not aim to simulate Special Forces training, the community and choosing to push oneself beyond one’s limits and the comforts of society helps provide purpose and build community, as GORUCK events are done in groups.

You have to swim against the current these days. Lifting, rucking–you have to choose to follow these pursuits and maintain the practice to reap the benefits they provide.This will benefit you in life, as no one–even those who shirk form hardship and choose the comfortable, the convenient, the easy–would not say that life is easy.

With any change, it’s important to START–start small, start now or as soon as you can. Commit to beginning. Take your first step. Stop thinking, planning, considering: do.

We celebrate these steps. We celebrate PRs. We celebrate improvement and betterment.

They also discuss the benefits of being a novice and how pursuing new challenges helps prevent burnout with those long term pursuits and things we must do.

Finally, the joy of completion comes up. If you’ve never experienced a ruck flop after a heavy, long ruck, you’re missing out. It’s the feeling of racking the bar after your last heavy rep, jumping in a pool after a hard workout, cracking open a beer after a long ruck. After shared suffering comes communal celebration.