Jocko Willink Talks with OutKick About Top Workouts, Jiu-Jitsu, The Must-Read Book for Men, and More
Retired Navy SEAL Officer Jocko Willink is a modern warrior. Known for his 4 a.m. workouts, grueling jiu-jitsu spars, punishing fasts to keep his mind and body running cleanly, and plenty more, Willink braces the full breadth of what fitness and working out can offer, no matter the sacrifice.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - APRIL 13: Jocko Willink is seen in attendance during the UFC 300 event at T-Mobile Arena on April 13, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
To many, Willink is an inspiration. His platform encourages men and women to push harder, no matter the demands, and get the job done.
If it requires pain, good. If it requires new obstacles, good. If it requires late nights and early morning, good.
Willink is as tough and as brilliant as they come.
OutKick had an exclusive chat with Willink, covering a range of topics: including embracing a minimalist workout routine (fit for the man with "no time"), why people should start training jiu-jitsu, how his premium line of fitness products, Jocko Fuel, kicks every other fitness supplements' asses, and writing a screenplay, soon to be released as a feature film starring his friend, Chris Pratt.
OutKick Chats With The Famous Jocko Willink
(The interview has been edited for brevity.)
Q: You've recently embraced minimalist routines for modern fitness; how different is that approach compared to, let's say, the traditional mindset behind working out?
Jocko: In fitness, like food, there are so many options out there that you can really get lost on the menu. If you go into a restaurant and there's a menu that's 20 pages thick and there's every different item that you could ever dream of, you end up not even being able to decide what it is you want to eat. It just might not work out that well. Just do what you can with what you have.
From my perspective, I look at working out using a very similar method. There's no reason to get too complicated with things. And that is also true when you're on the road. If you travel, and you don't always have the opportunity to go to the gym that you're used to, you might end up in a little hotel gym that has its own dumbbells and that's it. That works.
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - MARCH 17: American author Jocko Willink is seen on set during a taping of "Candace" on March 17, 2021 in Nashville, Tennessee. The show will air on Friday, March 19, 2021. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
You might even end up just beating yourself up in a hotel room because the hotel doesn't even have a gym or the gym is closed early in the morning. So now you can't work out in the gym. What you end up doing is, you know, burpees until you puke. That works.
If you do three minutes of burpees as hard as possible, you can get exhausted. I think that's a really good workout. If you're pressed for time, you don't have any equipment, you don't have any room, that's a workout that I just have to knock out.
There's an unlimited amount of workouts. There are so many different variations and push-ups. There are so many different variations of squats that you can do with no way whatsoever. Do what you can do; don't go hunting for extra options that can't get the job done.
Q: What's the one book not written by Jocko that the modern man should read?
Jocko: There's a book called "About Face." It's written by Colonel David Hackworth. He was a soldier and moved up through the ranks in the Army. He fought in the Korean War. He fought in the Vietnam War. He was just absolutely adored by people below him in the chain of command as a leader.
He wrote this book called About Face. It came out in 1989. I read this book for the first time, probably in the mid-nineties, and I really learned so much from it. This book is not a leadership book. It is a book about his life and it's about war. But even it's not meant to be a leadership book. It was the first book that I reviewed on my podcast. … That's the one I recommend people read.
Q: I've been immersed in jiu-jitsu for the past seven years. It's just been one of those things where, physically and mentally, it just always sort of keeps me at a good level. You're a key figure in that world.
READ: Why You Should Add Jiu-Jitsu To Your 2024 Bucket List | Alejandro Avila
What's your pitch for guys to get started?
Jocko: There are so many benefits I could get to … we could spend hours talking about it. From the physical side, obviously, you'll get a cardio workout there. Strength is involved; it's going to help you physically. You can also scale it. I'm sure that you've had times when you've been injured, you've been sore, you haven't been able to actually train, but you can still go in.
It's really good for every aspect of physical, mental, and psychological health. It clears your mind because when you're training, you don't let your mind be polluted or distracted by anything else.
Q: What's the best sport, not mixed martial arts, that you love to attend live?
Jocko: Hockey's a great sport to attend; I also like soccer, going to soccer games. We have a soccer team starting off here in San Diego, California. That's starting in April.
I enjoy going to sports, but as you kind of preempted with the question, when mixed martial arts and the UFC became popular, it really, really hurt my participation in attendance at other sporting events because jiu-jitsu, boxing, Muay Thai, wrestling — those are to me what I'm passionate about and everything else pales somewhat in comparison to those.
Q: What was it like getting your first screenplay ("Way of the Warrior Kid") turned into a full Hollywood project?
Jocko: There's a guy named Ben Everett. He's a movie producer. He's made really big movies. And he just looked at my book, The Way of the Warrior Kid, and tried to find me. He met with me and said, "Hey, you know, this is an amazing book. We need to move this thing forward. This thing should be a movie." And I think he pitched probably five or six times over several years.
He was the first guy who really seemed to understand what the book was about and the impact that it could have. So we started talking through a storyline and adaptation for the movie and what would be added to the movie to give it more depth.
We did it really fast, which was great. And one of the people that ended up seeing the screenplay was Chris Pratt. I knew Chris prior to this. He thought, "I'll at least give this thing a read because I know this guy, Jocko." Eventually, he thought, Wow, I got to make this movie.
Luckily, Chris, you know, he's been involved in Jocko Fuel to get in shape. … And that's kind of how Chris and I originally connected. We had a small window of, you know, ten weeks, and we were able to put this thing together and get it done.
Q: What sets Jocko Fuel products apart? How does it kick other fitness drinks and supplements' asses?
Jocko: It's healthy. The answer is very simple. It is actually good for you. And it's the same thing with our protein. It's the same thing with our pre-workout. It's the same thing with everything that we make. Our hydration and everything that we make are truly good for you. We don't have any artificial flavors. And that's why we make them.
Q: What is the scariest movie for people to watch this Halloween? What scares Jocko?
Jocko: Scariest movie. I would have to go with the original "Exorcist," right? I saw that movie and was horrified.
Q: You're known for being an early grinder. Getting after it no matter how early you have to wake up. What is truly better, sleeping for a full seven hours or waking up after five hours of rest, with a two-hour routine to kickstart your day?
Jocko: I've always said that a little less sleep is preferred if you're getting your workout in. And it turns out that recently, a bunch of science has kind of come out and said the same thing.
So, to me, it's better to get up and do your workout. You don't want to create a pattern where you're possibly not getting the sleep that you need. Here's what I found: If you wake up early in the morning, you'll be more tired at the end of the night, so you can go to bed a little bit earlier.
Usually, people are not doing anything super productive things between 10:00 p.m. and midnight. I just recommend you wake up at a consistent time every day. I would rather get up and get things done than sleep an extra couple of hours.
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