Video summary
Ross Edgley redefines resilience, arguing against the conventional notion of simply gritting one's teeth or suffering through pain without intervention. Instead, he posits that true resilience is about "suffering strategically managed," a concept illustrated by his refusal to run with a pebble in his shoe during a marathon training session; rather than enduring unnecessary damage, the strategic approach involves stopping to remove the obstacle and managing one's physiological state. He emphasizes monitoring internal signals such as neurotransmitter levels, caffeine depletion, muscle glycogen stores, carb intake, MCT oil usage, body temperature, and hydration needs like porridge oats. This pragmatic view challenges the glorification of the "tough heroic man" in a convenient modern world where people move from conditioned houses to cooled offices without facing natural hardships, suggesting that acknowledging these biological limits is more effective than pretending they do not exist. Edgley draws historical parallels between his own expeditions and the contrasting approaches of Antarctic explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen to highlight different philosophies on resilience. He notes how Amundsen utilized "Norwegian efficiency," incorporating trained Olympic skiers, dogs for transport and sustenance, and learning from indigenous people in the Arctic Circle, whereas Scott's British expedition relied on ponies that fell through ice, mechanical skis that broke down, and tins of food that spoiled quickly. Edgley admits to initially adopting a "Scotty" mindset with his Loch Ness swim but shifting toward Amundsen's efficiency for the Yukon River challenge. This shift involved working cooperatively with nature rather than fighting against it; he observed how glacial melt provided stronger currents and even felt Mother Nature guiding him after previous failed attempts, viewing these environmental factors as part of a spiritual partnership where the river would guide those crazy enough to try such an endeavor. A critical lesson from his experiences involves shifting focus from outcome metrics to process-oriented execution, particularly during long-duration swims like the six-hour on/off intervals in the Yukon or across Moray Firth under pitch-black conditions with no landmarks. Edgley explains that fixating on how far one has gone or checking a clock distracts from the immediate actions required for success, such as maintaining high elbow catches and proper leg kicks. He references a study involving runners on treadmills where visual cues of passing pillars were manipulated to alter perceived speed; similarly, in open water without visible land, relying on outcome anxiety can lead to stagnation or regression. His experience getting stuck in a counter-current for four hours while complaining about lack of progress only to learn he had drifted backward 200 meters underscored the ocean's indifference and reinforced that avoiding distraction by focusing solely on the process makes positive outcomes inevitable without needing constant dopamine hits from checking distance covered. To maintain this process-driven mentality, Edgley advocates against engaging with distracting thoughts like "why don't we just ask" or questioning one's location, which can rip a swimmer out of their optimal state. Instead, he suggests blindly and stubbornly thinking about the immediate mechanical aspects of movement to stay present in the moment. This approach was further solidified by his recovery from an Achilles rupture sustained while playing cricket four years ago at the end of COVID-19 lockdowns. His rehabilitation stack included caffeine, MCT oil, cinnamon, a hip replacement procedure for Andy Murray involving steel balls and ceramic sockets as inspiration, and listening to Ryan Holiday's *The Obstacle Is The Way* on Audible alongside Huberman's insights on perception studies. These elements combined to set the tone for his recovery, demonstrating that resilience is not just about mental toughness but also about strategic management of physical limitations and environmental realities. Ultimately, Edgley concludes that the most effective way to build resilience is by accepting constraints rather than fighting them, a philosophy he applied when swimming in darkness where visibility was nonexistent or dealing with unpredictable river currents. By treating challenges like the Yukon River as partners that provide necessary conditions—such as glacial meltwater for current strength—he transforms potential failures into guided opportunities. This perspective extends beyond physical endurance to emotional and mental fortitude, urging individuals to stop glorifying unnecessary suffering and instead adopt a strategic mindset that addresses limitations directly. Whether it is removing a pebble from a shoe or adjusting one's strategy based on weather patterns, the core message remains that resilience lies in intelligent adaptation rather than blind perseverance against insurmountable odds.
Read the full video transcript
give me your overview of resilience and
and how you've come to think about it
from a a human standpoint yeah I I say
in the book um that resilience is
suffering strategically managed and what
I mean by that is you know so often I
think people think in terms of gritting
your teeth Manning up you know and and
for me it it it just wasn't quite right
to sort of say that that's not that's
not an approach that I found works it's
like me and you go for a run right now
um if we're 5K into the run and we're
going to run a marathon you turn to me
and say Ross I got a pebble in my shoe I
won't go resilience man up run with it
and wear it down no like just just let's
stop and take the pebble out Chris you
know I mean it's it's suffering
strategically managed and I think um
especially with the latest swim as well
with the Yukon it is really nice if
people say oh Ross is really tough he's
really resilient I'm like no no it's
just suffering strategically managed you
know uh neurotransmitters chemicals in
the brain caffeine depleted of muscle
glycogen carbs uh I need more than that
MCTS uh I'm getting cold make sure that
the porridge oats are turned up you know
I mean it's anything that's going on
limiting limitations and I think um to
go on from a little bit of a tangent it
it it's kind of what I I love the heroic
age of Antarctic exploration you with
admon Robert Falcon Scott Shackleton and
when Robert Falcon Scott and admon the
Norwegian uh Falon Scott being the
British guy when they were racing to the
South Pole it was so interesting that
admon with Norwegian efficiency you know
he turned up his guys were trained
Olympic ski there's Olympic skier in his
team as well who led from the front
everybody was made to practice in skis
not only that as well they turned up
with dogs this is something that he
learned when going to the Arctic Circle
as well from the indigenous people there
so he knew that if he got to the South
Pole with this number of dogs that on
the way back he could eat a certain
number of dogs for sustenance and the
British at the time were like a that's
ungentlemanly like eating dogs that's
terrible and then equally when you look
at the British Expedition they brought
ponies that ended up falling through the
ice and they had to feed them to the to
the orcas they brought uh mechanical
skis that just broke down tins of food
that were just completely useless and
poisonous as soon as they arrived and I
think it was so interesting that
learning from that I was very much
Scotty of the Antarctic when it came to
Loch Ness and Tres Amino you know I
turned up and it was like right let's
give this a good go whereas for the
Yukon I was is very much trying to be
adanson you know this Norwegian
efficiency and um that's one of the
biggest things to come back if I was to
add a chat to the art of resilience it
would probably be uh that
story I read it uh I think I messaged
you about this by snap I ruptured my
achiles playing Cricket the most British
way to do it um four years ago at the
end of the end of Co and I put together
and this is the same if anybody is going
through good for physical stuff probably
also all right for emotional stuff uh
obstacle is the way by Ryan holiday art
of resilience by yourself on Audible I
think I go go audible cuz that's cool uh
and then
um resurfaced the documentary about Andy
Murray is uh hip replacement where he
gets a ball and socket it's like a steel
ball and a a ceramic socket hip
replacement and those three that's my
stack you know yours was caffeine uh MCT
and cin um mine was those three and um
that was the thing that really kind of
set the tone for the rest of my recovery
um but it is it's such a unique
perspective on resilience and I think
that we are definitely in an age of um
glorification of the tough heroic man
and the main reason being that it feels
like something that's very absent it
feels revolutionary it feels um
counterculture in a world which is very
convenient and you go from conditioned
house to cooled office um it
feels traditional in a sort of wholesome
way to talk about just gritting your
teeth and getting through it um but
given the choice I mean what did you do
for the swim you didn't swim upstream
when it came to what you were doing
mentally you didn't try and swim
upstream and it feels like that's kind
of the philosophy that you've taken yeah
yeah it yeah I love what you said that
yeah I never actually never thought
about it like that but that um this is
this is why I wanted to appreciate
coming on here cuz I'm still
deconstructing the Yukon so this is
almost just like therapy it's not
podcast at all please tell me about your
ancal tra yeah no but that is exactly it
I didn't really think about it but yeah
figurative metaphorically yeah it was
very much trying to uh work with the
river this is going to sound so strange
as well but it it really is like quite
spiritual when you do and that's the
only way I can describe it for want of a
better term but with the Yukon it just
just it it almost provided everything
that we needed so so the glacial M the
glacial lakes they're melting which made
sure that we had like a stronger current
uh we had a brief window of those two
days where the sun actually came out uh
it it just felt like the Yukon was like
you know what like if you're crazy
enough to come and try this we'll we'll
we'll guide you well after the first two
attempts that you've done for this you
would oh something Mother Nature was all
right I've kicked you in the kicked you
in the deck twice here we go I'll give
you a nice little helping hand explain
to me where your mind is you know you're
doing 6 hours on 6 hours off if it was
great British Swim you're doing 15
minutes or half an hour or 45s what are
you doing with your mind for that long I
the biggest thing that I've taken away
is solely focusing on the process and
this is something I actually learned
from the raw Marines because and anyone
listening will be able to understand
when you're focusing on the outcome
you're not actually focusing on the
process so if you are rowing you're on a
treadmill something whatever it is if
you're looking at the gym clock and
being like how much longer have I got oh
my god I've only done 15 minutes no no
no no you're focusing on the outcome
you're not focusing on the process if
you're running on a treadmill Focus how
my four foot striking my heel striking
how's my Cadence that's what you should
be focusing on when I'm swimming how's
my high elbow catch am I catching am I
finishing my stroke what's my leg kick
doing that's the process the moment I
immediately turn to the boat and start
saying how much further have we got how
far have we gone th those metrics are
important but if you keep on asking that
you're not focusing on the process if
you're not focusing on the process
you're not focusing on the outcome but
the weird thing is by just solely
focusing on the pro process the outcome
becomes inevitable how do you avoid
tapping into dopamine's a hell of a drug
and the where am I where was I how far
have I gone oh this is exciting that's
something that fuels motivation and for
a lot of people that's a Temptation now
is there a mantra that when that voice
comes into your head say why don't we
just ask I'll just and you know that
it's going to rip you out of this
process driven mentality that you say is
optimal is there something that you do
to bring yourself back to that not
necessarily I think it's just really
blindly and stubbornly thinking of the
process it was actually I I love um
hubman he talked about there was a study
and I hope I don't butcher this but he
was talking about how he there was a
study where they had people on a
treadmill and they had them run in kind
of this kind of like Corridor and in
this Corridor they said you run as fast
as you want so they did and as they're
running in this Corridor the sort of
pillars going past them were either sped
up or slowed down and what it was
showing VR of some kind exactly that
exactly that and it was sort of saying
how they were manipulating The Columns
moving fast so if the columns are going
faster they think they're running faster
if they go slow they're like oh my God
is that as fast as I'm running and
that's one of the biggest things that I
took away one from the GB swim and this
certainly on the GB swim because when
you're swimming across like the Moray
fur for instance there's no land there's
no landmarks you can't see anything also
not only that it say it was kind of like
complete completely overcast you've not
even got the moon so it is pitch but
you're swimming in a black hole and
you're like am I even moving like what
is going on and I've even seen that I
remember in um St Lucia once I did a
swim and uh got caught in a bad counter
current and I swam as hard as I could
for 4 hours this was after an 18-hour
swim and I did not move for those four
hours I was swimming as hard as I could
to stay on the same spot so so that's
like running a marath well an ultra
marathon for 18 hours and somebody just
putting a treadmill in the middle of the
road and going I'll just run on that for
4 hours it was not and then I remember
stopping turning to the captain and said
how are we doing he said Ross I'm I'm so
sorry we've not made any progress for
four hours I remember turning and I
won't repeat quite what I said my
language was quite colorful I was like
what do you mean we've not moved I was
complaining for about 20 seconds and he
just said so sorry sorry Ross can I just
interrupt you there I went what and he
goes the whole time that you've been
complaining you've gone back 200 meters
I was
like and that in that moment really
taught me the ocean does not care but
sorry going back to that that the
experiment I heard from hubman I thought
that was so interesting as well because
I'm just literally like those columns
going past sometimes I'm like don't
don't tell me because you might turn
around and go oh Ross you're going
really slow and that day bad day exactly
that will crush me or you're doing
really well and it's a roller coaster
I'm almost like I don't want to know cuz
I'm solely focused on the process I
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