100 Pull-ups in 100 Days

Thiel says Zero-to-One, I say Zero-to-One Hundred

Do it where you can: farm shed in Kenya, day 50 @ 50

Applying First Principles to Mind and Body

Following my post last week on bulldozers, I received an email from a 70-year-old Midwest farmer with a photo taken from the seat of his tractor. He sent this email as he was bringing hay to a snow covered field, cows gathered.

“How are the pull-ups?” he asked.

I met Wayne two years ago. He was visiting California. An older man at the beach doing pull-ups is something you notice. With a back shaped like the continent of Africa, and a smile that said hello, it was an easy conversation to start. We have stayed in touch since.

“I read your post on bulldozers versus wheel tractors” he wrote. Wayne’s email was a two sentence poke, accompanied by a single photo, clearly taken from the seat of an old wheel tractor. He was telling me he was the real deal without telling me he was the real deal. Wheels or tracks, Wayne was out feeding his cows in winter while I was inside posting on LinkedIn about tractors.

Wayne does 100 pull-ups every other day. When I met him two years ago this past January, it was the season of New Year’s resolutions and I couldn’t even manage 10.

“You can get to 100 in as many days” he declared to me that day at the beach. And I did, three months later.

Don’t Embarass Yourself

The 8VC offices have pull-up bars mounted outside the third floor executive suites, inspired by the childhood home of Joe Lonsdale, whose family traditions include a pull-up contest before sitting down to Thanksgiving Dinner. “Don’t embarrass yourself,” Joe once told me, when I challenged Lonsdale Sr. to a pull-up contest at Crissy Field.

Peter Thiel’s Zero-to-One, which outlines First Principles, is one of those books many of us have on our shelves but few live by. Here’s a refresher, but applied to wellness and kicking ass:

Create New Beginnings

I hate gyms. But back when I used to travel a lot, I booked hotels according to the gym rating. Now I look for fresh air. I have snapped tree limbs, bent metal arbors, even used two belts and a janitors broom handle to get my pull-ups in.

I know a lot of good work gets done in gyms, but for me weights are the stuff of formula, and this is the fundamental principle in Zero-to-One: ditch the formulas for success, and go back to the basics.

Weight bearing exercises make for better all-around wellness. With pull-ups, it’s just you and the bar. I love the simplicity, and it reminds me of the taking things back to First Principles.

Be a Polymath

General directions and absolute concepts, not specific tips: ”Polymaths are the people who could connect the dots and these people are very, very dangerous.” Thiel said. I think of connecting the dots as connecting my chin to that bar. This is being a generalist, but also doing just one thing. You can do them anywhere. You’ll build your whole being doing it. And it will lead to being better at many other things.

Core Principles

First Principles thinking is to break down something into its most basic elements to get at a core truth of what is known. In essence, it’s a process where you deconstruct something, and then build it up again just the way you want it.

Practically speaking, as this relates to pull-ups, Wayne said to break down your effort into four sets:

1. As perfect a form as you can manage, even just five;
2. On set two, clock as many pull-ups as you can. No matter the form, this is where you put points on the board;
3. Back to form. Be honest;
4. Fourth and final, go for all you have, leave nothing on the bar.

Thiel famously said: “The single most powerful pattern I have noticed is that successful people find value in unexpected places…and they do this by first principles instead of formulas.”

A Note on Competition

Thiel wrote much about competition, but here I’ll apply a mind-body perspective to “others”. When it comes to you and the bar, the only competition is you. It’s the voice inside your head saying not to do it. My Zen teacher says: “Don’t activate the comparative mind. Life is swiftly passing. Be aware of the great matter. Don’t waste time!”

When I get to the gym, or the tree branch, I hit the bar (or branch) right away. No chance to listen to another voice, and above all, no competition.

Thiel has the same urgency. “Be courageous: risk failure with boldness instead of moving too slowly and doing nothing.”

Find your own vertical reference point, which for me was 100 pull-ups @ 50-years-old.

Shoes Off

Recently I found I could do more pull-ups by taking my shoes off. This led to running on the beach, and this made me think of meeting Wayne. The real deal, feeding his cows in snow, atop his tractor, not feeling the need to compare anything to a bulldozer or let his mind drift from his midwest snow to my California sand.

He simply asked how the pull-ups were coming along.

And I do 100 of them, every other day. Kicking and screaming.

Let me know how it goes: peterson@8vc.com

Wayne and his cows