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Ben Greenfield Life

Why Millions Of People Are Paying To Suffer Through Ice, Fire, Electricity, Barbed Wire, Mud & More: Rise Of The Sufferfests Review.

Ben Greenfield Life

Ben Greenfield

Education, Fitness, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness

4.65.2K Ratings

🗓️ 1 April 2017

⏱️ 68 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Last year, after racing the AT&T Spartan Stadium race in San Francisco, I took my wife and twin boys to a private screening of one of the only movies I saw during the entire year last year (I'm not much of a Hollywood guy).

Actually, this wasn't even a movie. It was a documentary, a genre that I really only tap into when my assistant sends me an audio download of some documentary somebody tells me I "must-see" and then I listen to it while I'm walking through the forest and imagine what is going on from a visual standpoint (as a film nerd, my guest on today's podcast would probably throttle me for this). Anyways, I walked out of the screening incredibly impressed. I laughed, I was inspired, I was on the edge of my seat, my kids were howling with laughter, and my wife loved it. So what did we see exactly? The documentary is called "Rise Of The Sufferfests". It's all about the global obstacle course phenomenon, and in a highly entertaining and funny way, it explores the history of the sport, the psychology behind it, the personalities that drive it, and asks what it says about the world we're living in. Here's the trailer: Director Scott Keneally is my guest on today's show. This self-proclaimed “beta male” has been stuck in the mud since the fall of 2011, when he tackled his first Tough Mudder. Back then, the first-time filmmaker had no idea he’d be making a movie about any of this stuff. He went into it with a simple plan: to suffer and write a story about the suffering. Keneally had previously confessed to things like bedwetting and sweaty pits in places like the New York Times Styles section, and figured the one about training up and tackling a paramilitary assault course would make for funny material. That essay was featured on the cover of his local alt-weekly, but more importantly, while researching the history of the company, he stumbled upon a “Social Network”-style scandal surrounding its origins. He quickly reinvented himself as an investigative journalist, and his story ultimately landed on the cover of Outside. The exposé received widespread media attention, opening doors to a consulting gig with 60 Minutes Sports, a speaking engagement at Stanford Business School and—by kismet or luck—an unlikely new career path as a filmmaker. When he’s not running in mud, Keneally works as a treatment writer for some of the top directors in music videos and commercials. Over the past 15 years, he has collaborated on videos for Rihanna, Madonna, Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus, as well as Paris Hilton’s infamous burger commercial. He has also been known to play didgeridoo with the criminally under-discovered rock band OURS, through which he has toured with Marilyn Manson and recorded on the band’s Rick Rubin-produced record, “Mercy.” He received his B.A. from Boston College (’99) and his M.F.A. from University of San Francisco (’04). He lives on a vineyard in Sonoma County, CA, with his wife and little boy.

During my discussion with Scott, you'll discover:

-How raves, micro-dosing with LSD, and rebelling against being a preppie turned Scott from wanting to be the president of the United States to instead making music videos and eventually obstacle course racing...[13:45]

-The crazy, eccentric man named "Mr. Mouse" who inspired Scott to make the Sufferfests movie... [19:45]

-Scott's take on why millions of people are suddenly paying to suffer through ice, fire, electricity, barbed wire, mud and more...[28:20]

-The concept of "The Strenuous Life" and why humans are hardwired to want to get out of our comfortable lives...[31:20]

-Why a shocking number of people are doing obstacle course racing to get a good profile pic...[35:20]

-The intriguing link between the "masculinity crisis" and obstacle course racing...[47:05]

-Why you must have some aspect of fear and discomfort in your life...[52:00]

-What were the craziest adventures you embarked upon while filming Sufferfest? [59:35]

-What Scott thinks is the next "big thing" in OCR...[62:20]

-And much more!

Resources from this episode: -"Rise Of The Sufferfests" -A.J. Jacob's books on Amazon -ToughGuy.co.uk -Theodore Roosevelt's "The Strenuous Life" -Book: Generation Me - Revised and Updated: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled--and More Miserable Than Ever Before -What Doesn't Kill Us podcast with Scott Carney -The World's Toughest Mudder

Do you have questions, thoughts or feedback for Scott or me? Leave your comments at BenGreenfieldFitness.com and one of us will reply!

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hey, you crazy masochists. You're going to dig this one. This podcast is about why millions of people are basically paying lots of money, including myself, to suffer through ice and fire and electricity and bar wire and mud and more.

0:14.0

It's with this guy who put out one of the only documentaries I watched last year that I really liked. So you're going to dig this one.

0:20.0

But before we jump in, I want to tell you about how to crank your muscle gains to relatively new heights by flooding them without increasing your protein intake by a single gram with a whole crap pola of amino acids.

0:36.0

So there is this package and it's called the mass Zimes package. It's a one two workout combo. So it starts off with something called P3 O M, which is a protein digesting probiotic. It's actually one of the most potent protein digesting probiotics in the world.

0:56.0

So that breaks down the proteins and then there's this stuff called mass signs that it comes along with because the proteolytic enzymes in mass signs combine with these probiotics to break down proteins and deliver them to your muscles very, very quickly.

1:10.0

I mean, I've seen the videos on their website. No, I'll give you the website. You're on a second. You can sprinkle this stuff on a steak and watch the state dissolve.

1:16.0

So it enhances your immune system. It clears away undigested protein in your gut. It can even improve focus and mental clarity because all your neurotransmitters are made with you guessed it amino acids.

1:28.0

So anyways, it's probiotics and digestive enzymes combined together super unique approach to protein digestions called bioptimizers. And to get some for yourself, you go to bengreenfieldfitness.com slash biopt. That's biopt.

1:42.0

Ben Greenfield fitness.com slash biopt as in bioptimizers. And you get 10% off automatically. No code required. And they'll get you the mass signs. They'll get you P3 O M probiotic sounds like a robot out of Star Wars P3 O M.

1:57.0

Get it, baby. Combine it with mass signs. This podcast is also brought to you by gains wave gains wave rocks. It's changed my life. So I have.

2:07.0

And I'm hoping that my dear mother isn't listening because this is going to make her blush. I've used Viagra. I've done it. Yes, I admitted it. I have tried that stuff just to see what would happen. And it works.

2:19.0

But it also causes stuff like blurry eyes and it gets processed by the liver and it makes your heart rate go up and down. It's it's I don't think it's healthy. I'm pretty sure it's not healthy. I've actually got articles at Ben Greenfield fitness.com about how it's not healthy.

2:32.0

Well, you can get all the same results with acoustic sound waves. And there is this medical clinic that you can go to that just blast your crotch, whether you're a guy or a girl works for girls too.

2:45.0

Now with acoustic sound waves, it opens up old blood vessels and stimulates the formation of new blood vessels and it works fantastically. I've done it.

2:53.0

And to do this for yourself, what you do is you get 150 bucks off. You text the word greenfield to 31 31 31. And we text word greenfield to 31 31 31. That gives you 150 bucks off this treatment. It's called a gains wave treatment.

3:09.0

And you can also go to gains wave.com and click find a doctor to locate a gains wave provider near you. Find a doctor. I don't know why I said that like it was a question. It's not a question. It's not find a doctor.

3:22.0

Find a doctor. Find a doctor. I found mine in Miami. He was awesome. He was actually Mr. Gaines himself did my treatment. So I'm special. You can have him do it too. You'll get an even bigger discount if you go to Miami clinic. So I hear anyways though gains wave.com or text the word greenfield to 31 31 31. And now let's go learn from the guy who directed the suffer fest Scott can you Lee in this episode of the Ben Greenfield fitness show.

3:50.0

We don't really have jobs that we're building things and seeing results and feeling the sense of gratitude and confidence that you feel when you achieve something great that maybe you didn't think you were able to do. So I think that's driving a lot of people in general. And you know who doesn't want to be outside playing in mud. I think it appeals to like that child and all of us.

4:06.0

And even like Hunter McIntyre who is featured in the film and I know you know him well and he is definitely I would say maybe the world's best off school research but before that he was you know the world's best party for it. And you know he found a way to channel his energy.

4:22.0

He's an expert in human performance and nutrition. Voted America's top personal trainer and one of the globe's most influential people in health and fitness. His show provides you with everything you need to optimize physical and health.

4:36.0

Mental performance. He is Ben Greenfield power.

4:42.0

Speed, mobility, balance.

...

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