in 2018 Colin O'Brady became the first
person ever to cross the Antarctic
continent alone unsupported and
completely human-powered now he's
trading his skis for orders as part of
an elite team attempting to become the
first people in history to roll from
South America to Antarctica through 600
miles of the most treacherous and
unpredictable waters on the planet the
Drake Passage
[Music]
how's it going brother well it's a
little tonight Mike just always has
these crazy workouts for me to kind of
simulate what I'm gonna have happened
during the row find myself diving into
the most challenging and epic stretches
of ocean with the Drake Passage and
seeing if my mind body and spirit are
capable of doing this so all of these
training sessions are super crucial to
get me ready for I need to be to cross
Drake Passage so today's gonna be a good
day man I got a test for you we're gonna
take all the training that we've been
doing over the last several weeks and
we're gonna translate it man
to fully immerse himself in the task at
hand we've set up a fun little test for
Colin we're gonna simulate a bad day on
the water a bad day on the ocean make
him as uncomfortable as I can hit the
basics the strength the power the
endurance doing it in the middle of the
night because colin is gonna be called
to use these exact same skills at any
hour of the day so we're gonna cheek old
get you a little wet and we're gonna
have you do what you do best
Mike's really just such a dynamic coach
he's able to kind of do things with me
that I've never seen anybody do in a gym
one of the keys to my success then
Arctica was working with Mike because of
things I'm doing no one in the world has
ever done and so it takes a creative
mind to sort of simulate these extreme
environments
when I met Colin he said I want to do
something that no one's ever done before
I want to step out of my comfort zone I
want to inspire a lot of people and I
said this guy is a kindred spirit like
where we're we're cut from the same
cloth
in 2014 I started an initiative called
12 labors project where I set out to do
12 increasingly difficult challenges
2015 I broke the world record for most
pull-ups in 24 hours 2016 I pulled a
Ford f150 for 22 miles across Death
Valley in the summer I flipped the 250
pound truck tire for 13 miles straight I
do these different challenges to inspire
people to kind of step out of their
comfort zone and kind of pursue that
greatness in them all right so here's a
game plan number one we're gonna get you
in that pool of ice-cold water sitting
there for four minutes after that you're
gonna do 10 squats all right you're
gonna navigate through this the ability
of course I got set up for you and then
you're gonna have to grow 1,200 meters
upon completion of this you're going to
ringing that Bell and you're gonna do it
all over again we're gonna do this four
times a day okay all right
[Music]
hands in there you go focus on your
breathing
deep breaths keep your arms close to
your body
[Music]
he is really being all mentally prepared
for anything that comes my way oh and
Mike has its diabolical ways but there's
message of the madness control your
breath you control the pain remember
that there you go 5 4 3 2 1 I'm sticking
[Music]
Collin he likes to do things that take
him away from his comfort zone stable so
I cultivate an environment that allows
Collin to kind of drop into that deep
flow State
[Music]
utilize his amazing skills of just
dialing it in getting focused and
getting the job done keep the pace up
one of the things you've realize about
the Robo is constantly rocking what
happens when you're going over huge
waves well your body is crashing around
and moving around so he's simulating a
lot of those motions so he's working on
all this side-to-side mobility you know
three times three eight times nine times
nine at the end of the day I got to make
sure that the training from the mental
aspect and the physical aspect are in
line with each other
so I want to get him used to just
getting it dialed in quick and
performing at a high level let's go
let's get it back now
[Music]
just another day man
[Music]
job man
the final filter between Colin and the
Drake are his thoughts I wanted to see
how solid his mindset was going into
this project Colin has the commitment he
has the courage he has a clarity of
vision he's ready no doubt I love you
brother
I love you brother I have you no swimmer
my entire life so you know spent time
you know swimming in the ocean and
surfing that I haven't rode a boat so I
found a row specialist and Chris who's
been out there on the water you know
really teaching me how to row keep that
posture I'm training Colin to get his
form right to create the muscle memory
that he's going to need to accomplish
three weeks of rowing every 90 minutes
straight nice and relaxed and then build
it up at the catch making sure he's
sitting up straight making sure the
timings coming together making sure that
he's really learning to use his frame as
much as possible all right might sound
like little things but you know when
you're rowing 12 hours a day for you
know multiple weeks at a time those
little things can become big things
[Music]
keep going the interesting thing about
Colin is obviously he's an elite athlete
and so he's picked it up quickly but at
the end of the day it's pretty nuts for
anybody to go from complete novice to
rolling the Drake Passage as quickly as
he's doing all right today on the Drake
I'm gonna be sleep-deprived I'm be
exhausted muscles are gonna be sore from
so many consecutive days and the stakes
are so high in the Drake but I need to
have that muscle memory completely
dialed so my body is ready and prepared
so when the harshest conditions hit I
still have that great form built in
I'd say that is everyone yeah you know
we have an amazing team on this project
all of us bring these different sort of
levels of experience in terms of how
we've pushed our body our life
experiences and that's what I love about
it we all have these different skill
sets that I think ultimately will make
us even stronger
[Music]
hardest part about the road is gonna be
the kind of crazy conditions we're gonna
see out there because the economy
trained for that so so much preparation
I can do it on that side but obviously I
can just be as fit as possible and as
strong as possible
a few nights of just waking up scared
thinking about being out in the water
it's gonna tackle it one day at a time
one stroke at a time training to do the
Drake Passage the biggest thing stay
positive and work hard
building up the fitness building up the
calluses nothing like the Drake will be
but we'll take all the training we can
get
I think there is not much that you can
kind of do to repair yourself I think
it's something you are born with or you
are not you just do strong I control
your breath this expedition has been a
long time in the planning a lot of hard
training ups and downs we did persevere
and ultimately got more prepared to row
a boat across Drake Passage follow the
expedition in real time on discovery