David Goggins is an American ultramarathon runner, ultra-distance cyclist, triathlete, motivational speaker and author.
He is a retired Navy SEAL and is the only member of the United States Armed Forces to complete SEAL training (including two Hell Weeks), the United States Army Ranger School (where he graduated as Enlisted Honor Man) and Air Force Tactical Air Controller training.
He is also a former United States Air Force Tactical Air Control Party member who served in the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War.
David Goggins is a former world record holder for the most pull-ups done in 24 hours.
In this in-depth David Goggins biography, we’re going to take a close look through his inspirational story up until now.
We’re going to pay particularly close attention to the positive lessons we can learn from David and some of the pointers he has given to his followers over the years.
David has amassed a large following on social media over the years, and at the time of writing, he has more than one million followers on his personal Instagram account.
David’s story is one of pushing the limits of what is possible and challenging himself to be the best he can be.
Quite clearly, there are a lot of things we could learn from David’s journey. So let’s get started.
Jump To Section
David Goggins Information
• Full name: David Goggins
• Date of Birth: 17 February 1975
• Age: 48 years old
• Height: 6ft 2in (188cm)
• Weight: 190lb (86kg)
• Net Worth: Unknown
• Instagram: @davidgoggins
Who Is David Goggins?
As we have already mentioned at the start of this article, David is an ultramarathon runner, ultra-distance cyclist, triathlete, motivational speaker and author.
But where did his story begin? David has been open about his difficult childhood in the past and he gave an insight into his struggles as a young boy when speaking on the Jay Shetty podcast in early 2019.
“People starting seeing me as this amazing superhero,” David explains on the podcast episode. “In the back of my mind I knew the real story
“My dad was an alcoholic. He was really big on being a powerful man. He had two different sides to him. Our house was the dungeon. No one knew anything about the inside of that house. The inside of that house was evil and horrible. Once he left that house, he was the nicest person on the planet, so no one knew who this guy was. The scarring started happening inside the dungeon.”
David goes on to explain how he was put to work at his father’s family business from a young age.
“My dad didn’t really believe in us going to school,” he says. “He had a family business which was a skating rink and a bar.
David Goggins (Photo: @davidgoggins / Instagram)
“From the time I was able to walk, I was working at the skating rink – from like 9pm until 12am pretty much. I was four years old, scraping gum off the skating rink floor with my brother and my mom.
“Once the skating rink was shut down, the bar would open up and be open from midnight until 3am or 4am. Once that closed, we’d go upstairs and clean the bar.”
“Once my dad got drunk, that’s when the nightmare began. He’d get violent and we got beatings quite regularly. Probably at least once or twice a week.”
After his tough childhood, David opted to pursue a career in the military.
He became a member of the United States Air Force Tactical Air Control Party. David served his time in TACP and left the United States Air Force.
David succeeded in graduating from BUD/S training with Class 235 in 2001 and was assigned to SEAL Team FIVE.
David served in Iraq and in 2004 and he graduated from Army Ranger School with the distinction of enlisted ‘Top Honor Man.’
It was in November 2005 that David received the sad news that several of his friends and fellow SEALs had died in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan.
This tragic event sparked him to decide to participate in extreme Ultra Running events to raise money for the families of his fallen comrades.
He ran his first race in November 2005, at the San Diego One Day (100 miles in 24 Hours).
Since then, David has completed more 60 endurance races, regularly placing in the top five and taking home first place several times.
In 2008, he was named a ‘Hero of Running’ by Runner’s World magazine.
His self-help memoir, Can’t Hurt Me, was released in 2018 and is a New York Times Bestseller.
In the book, he shares his amazing life story and reveals that most of us tap into only 40 per cent of our capabilities.
David Goggins’ Book Can’t Hurt Me (Photo: Amazon)
There is no doubt that David’s story is an inspirational one.
He has shown incredible self-awareness and courage to transform himself over the years, and he has not been afraid to speak about the dark realities of some of his struggles.
For example, after spending four years in the Air Force, David admits that he weighed almost 300lbs. He was told that he was too heavy to make it through SEAL training. But in less than three months, he returned, weighing 190lbs.
We could all do a lot worse than look at David’s courage and determination to push himself to the limits as a source of inspiration to be our best selves.
Age, Height and Weight
David Goggins was born on 17 February 1975 and he is currently 48 years old.
He is 6ft 2in (188cm) tall and weighs around 190lb (86kg).
World Pull-Up Record
David Goggins (Photo: YouTube)
In 2012, David went on the Today Show to attempt to beat the world record for the most pull-ups done in 24 hours. However, he ended up falling just short of the record after suffering an injury during the attempt.
He was not to be denied, however. Showing his unrelenting desire to succeed, David then returned to try again the following year.
At his third attempt, on January 19 2013, in Brentwood, Tennessee, Goggins broke the world record for the most pull-ups done in 24 hours.
He completed an incredible 4,030 pull-ups in 17 hours, and set a new world record.
Quotes
David Goggins has some great no-nonsense quotes. Below, we have picked out some of our favorite David Goggins quotes.
“So What’s Your Fucking Excuse? Life isn’t designed to be fair. I know we all want it to be, it’s just not. Plain and simple.”
“It is important to look at our life in its entirety as the over-arching purpose. Our mere existence is the purpose. The simple fact that you are still breathing is purpose.”
“Never allow the fear of being judged make you not try to be exceptional.”
“The bigger you dream the more you will doubt yourself along the journey of pursuing that dream.”
“Sometimes in life you have to make up motivation when you have none left. It helps to have a medieval mindset at certain times in your life. We cannot forget the many hours, weeks and years we put into being our best.”
“Always be prepared to readjust. Life doesn’t always pan out as you want it. Don’t allow it to hijack your brain. Be open-minded to the possibilities in front of you! There’s always a way, we just have to figure the out the equation.”
“In life we should always be on the hunt for those uncommon people who are in constant pursuit of greatness. Surround yourself with people who push you to be better rather than those who make you feel better.”
“You have to look at everything as a new opportunity. Stop looking at things the way they appear.”
“Shit’s not going to happen overnight. In a world that moves so fast, you must be able to slow your mind down. Most of us are willing to try to push ourselves harder to achieve our goal but the second we hit a setback, we get down on ourselves and allow our minds to spin out of control. Don’t let your setback define you.”
David Goggins (Photo: @davidgoggins / Instagram)
Net Worth
There is no official figure for David Goggins’ net worth.
Although there are some websites around which claim it is around $250,000, there is no official word on this, so it is best to take these numbers with a pinch of salt.
What Can We Learn From David Goggins?
Quite clearly, David Goggins’ story is a very inspirational one.
He has shown an amazing amount of self-awareness on his journey to undergo some pretty impressive transformations.
As well as setting himself incredible physical challenges, David has not been afraid to go back and revisit some of the difficult times of his life, especially his childhood, to overcome them and move forward.
We would all be wise to pay more attention to how our childhoods have affected our lives and our development into who we are, much like David’s example.
David Goggins (Photo: @davidgoggins / Instagram)
In Conclusion
David Goggins is truly an inspirational character and he deserves his title as the “world’s toughest man”.
He has shown incredible resilience on his journey and has not been afraid to talk about his past struggles and failures.
David’s story is an inspirational one for anybody looking to transform their lives and become their best selves.
