Unbreakable Endurance Mindset For the Human Machine

  |   EP13   |   65 mins.

Podcast Player

View on Zencastr
itunes logo 01
spotify logo 01
google play logo 01
youtube logo 01
Matt Scarfo

Imagine running a marathon without much training. Then do it again every day for 9 days. The physical challenge of exercise is obvious. What happens when you push the body to its limits… and then some? You get time alone with your mind.

This episode is about the relentless mindset and motivation that are key to high performance. How to dig deep when times get tough.

Episode highlights

Show that you won't stop at any cost, and the Red Sea will part for you. Second guess yourself, and you won't go anywhere. Click To TweetSometimes the best thing you can do is to take a rest day. Click To TweetThe body is a combination of "ropes, pulleys, and levers". Click To TweetAfter enough time exercising, your personal demons become impossible to shut out. Click To TweetWhen the physical body starts to break down, we rely on our mental state to pull us through. Click To TweetRock bottom is so much farther down than most people realize. Click To TweetWe don't know better than nature. Choose natural products over isolates and synthetics Click To TweetGet back to the basics and ask yourself: how are we supposed to eat, move, rest, and breathe Click To Tweet

Podcast Sponsor Banner

About Matt

Matt Scarfo entered the fitness industry in 1999 at age 20. He was interested in learning how the human machine was engineered – how it responded, how it adapted, and how it accommodated when exposed to stress and stimulation. Almost twenty-two years later, his curiosities led him to explore the most fundamental aspects of adaptation; adaptation to movement, exercise, diet, stress, injury, and disease. He’s coached, train, and mentored over 10,000 clients and colleagues. Matt has also partnered with two of the major fitness education institutions in the United States for more than two decades. His passion lies in understanding and maximizing human performance.

Top things you’ll learn from Matt

  • Optimize exercise effectiveness and efficiency by understanding ropes, pulleys, and levers
    • Muscles are the ropes
    • Bones are the lever arms
    • Joints are the pulleys
  • Proper squat and bench form
  • Rhabdo is especially hard on the kidneys
  • Sherpas working at high-altitude have similar blood markers to someone with rhabdo
  • Matt’s first 12-hour run
  • 251 miles in 9-days
  • Walking lunges on treadmill for time. Worked up to several kilometers
  • Headspace for repetitive, physically arduous tasks for an extended period of time
  • From bodybuilding and strength training, to ultra running
  • Injuries he sustained included 5 toenails missing, stress fractures in feet, bruised tops of feet, massive knee swelling
  • Voice in your head attacks you the entire time. Fight all the bosses you already beat. Even from when you were a child
  • Your inner voice says the things that only you know about yourself
  • Second-guessing yourself is poison
  • The universe does miracles not favors
  • Bury it fast and bury it deep. Tolerance to pain can be acquired
  • How and when to listen to pain versus ignore it
  • Pain is never okay, exercise is supposed to be uncomfortable. You draw the line wherever you want
  • Are fitness supplements a crutch or useful
  • The importance of variety (eating, moving, and more)
  • When in doubt, always go back to basics
  • Do activity-specific training. Want to run better? Practice running. Row better? Practice rowing

Resources mentioned

Gear, Tools, Resources

  • Essential Amino Acids
  • Fish Oil or Krill Oil
  • Xero Minimalist Shoes
  • The Bible
  • The 12th Planet by Zachariah Sinchen
  • Breath by James Nestor
  • Oxygen Deprivation Mask

Connect with Matt

This podcast is brought to you by

Nick Urban is a Biohacker, Data Scientist, Athlete, Founder of Outliyr, and the Host of the Mind Body Peak Performance Podcast. He is a Certified CHEK Practitioner, a Personal Trainer, and a Performance Health Coach. Nick is driven by curiosity which has led him to study ancient medical systems (Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hermetic Principles, German New Medicine, etc), and modern science.

Nick Urban

Music by Luke Hall

Subscribe to MBPP!

itunes logo 01
spotify logo 01
google play logo 01
youtube logo 01

What did you think about this episode? Drop a comment below or leave a review on Apple Music to let me know. I use your feedback to bring you the most helpful guests and content.

Leave a Comment

Ask Nick a Podcast Question