Hello and welcome to The Progress Theory where we discuss how to implement scientific principles to optimise human performance. I am Dr Phil Price and in today's episode, we have ex SAS, and now the founder of the Modern Warrior project, Lindsay Bruce.
I’ve been desperate to know what separates those who make into the SAS compared to the rest of us. You hear on social media the importance of leadership, discipline, a fast learner, for example, all of which are important, but you can be a great disciplined leader and still fail SAS selection. Is it physical or all about having the right mindset. And also, can we learn these skills and apply them outside of the military?
As always, follow and subscribe for all of our content on Instagram and Youtube. So here is, Lindsey Bruce
In this episode, we discuss:
1:00 - Introduction
05:09 - How to apply for the SAS
09:09 - What do you need to complete SAS selection?
13:22 - Are you cut from a different cloth?
18:14 - The background of SAS soldiers vs Officers
24:05 - Developing mindset through exposure
28:37 - Is there anything where you’ve got it or you haven’t?
34:35 - The phases of selection
40:16 - The Physical determinants of SAS selection
49:27 - The Modern Warrior Project
1:05:26 - Signing up for the Modern Warrior Project
Key Findings
The Popularity of Special Forces and TV Shows: "Especially when you're linking that from TV to social media, and obviously recent years popularity with The TV shows that is just growing arms and legs, obviously, you know, which is, you know, going back to Before before all this happened, you had the odd thing that would maybe come out that would be, you know, popular in TV. But it didn't really go to that level of And I think social media has obviously helped catapult that into the, you know, another stratosphere really, which is which is got It's got positives and negatives along with that."
The Power of Grit and Determination: "But there is something about every man who gets through that if you just has an extra level of grit, Drive and determination than the next than the next guy."
The Drive to Success: "They've got a huge reason to, you know, that when you see a championship level boxer who comes from nothing and to to get to the top, he is the hungry wolf climbing the hill to get to the top."
The Importance of Health and Fitness in the Military: "There is so much you can do physically, then the rest of it is down to their mindset and how resilient they are, and what goes on upstairs."
The Evolution of Health and Fitness: "So if you look at the that that era and and how that era ended up moving on to later stages of life, a lot of them were like packs of broken biscuits physically later on in life because they don't look after themselves."
Finding Purpose in Life: "I went through this period where I just wasn't quite sure what I should be doing. So there was a lot of uncertainty as far as, you know, the question you ask yourself, am I really doing the right thing? You know, I kinda like what I'm doing. Some of the some of the things that I'm doing, I I enjoy, but really is it really serving me in my life to the point where I think that I'm in the right place, doing the right thing. And and the reality was that I wasn't."
Helping Men Similar to My Age: "So at the same time, I could see certain problems in the world, from a general perspective of men over a certain age. They were having these common challenges in life. And I thought there was a huge there was a huge calling for helping men similar to my age who I could really relate to and help."
Belonging to Something: "And everyone's different. There's a very diverse bunch of people come into the program, but they all have similar common challenges that can be dealt with. And not only that, it's about being part of something because people wanna belong to something, don't they? Human beings are social creatures, they want to belong to something."
The Importance of Optimizing Our Routines: "So strangely enough, everything that the guys need in the program that they come to me for, I need it I need also. Now I I'm I'm maybe a step ahead when they come on the program because I've been doing this stuff a long time, and, You know, I physically keep myself in shape, and all my habits, like, you'll be the same, you know, we come from the same sort of, yeah, thought processes, not the rest of it. You know, we look after ourselves, we eat the right foods, we we get off sleep, and we're very into our optimizing our our, Our our sort of our circadian rhythm and a lot, hence, you know, being part of the human 2014. You know, so it's we've got we've got that already, and we understand the benefits of that. So it's essentially guiding guiding men to the same process so they can optimize themselves. But when I think about everything that that I provide them with And what the rest of the community provides them with. I always see this as a you're not like like you said a minute ago. I'm not on this pedestal going, you know, I was in the special forces."
"The Power of Community: We stay for the community."