90 Days to Black Belt — What It Actually Takes

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119 segments

0:00

of your episodes when you look back

0:03

>> and you can't say all of them. That's

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disallowed. That answer is no. No, no

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good. No fly.

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Which if you were starting, if you did

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not have a YouTube channel, but you had

0:14

a thriving career, so you had some

0:15

money, which of those you can like pick

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two or three of the experiences that you

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would pay to have looking back

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>> that I would do again in a heartbeat?

0:25

>> Do again. Or you're like, okay, I only

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get to pick two or three. But like I

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would absolutely pay for these.

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>> Okay.

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>> If I if I had to

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>> I would pick first of all

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the black belt challenge. So as this

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video I had 90 days to try and get a

0:46

black belt in taekwondo. Part of this

0:48

came from a personal passion of having

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done all of these stunts and working

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with a lot of stunt performers. All of

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them come from worldclass martial arts

0:56

backgrounds. And I realized I had never

1:00

actually taken the time to learn a

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martial art from the ground up and that

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it was lacking in my performance and

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mental fortitude and I wanted to

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experience that. So what do I do? I make

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it a challenge so that I can devote my

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whole life to it.

1:18

>> And that experience changed me. When I

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look at clear before and after,

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you know, from having put your body

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through a lot, there are moments when

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you have a photo before and after. My

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body changed. But there are moments in

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life when you as a person change before

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and after. And that can be captured by a

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photo always.

1:39

>> That was one of those for me. getting to

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study with master Grandmaster Simon Ray,

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one of the greatest martial artists on

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planet Earth, took me under his wing and

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did what most instructors would have

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never done, which is believe in me and

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push me to try and actually get a black

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belt in 90 days. And we're talking about

2:00

politeness. I think martial arts has

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taught me all of that. when you bow to

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the mat before you step on when you yes

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sir yes ma'am everything it might sound

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gimmicky to someone on the outside but

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it does become a practice and an

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automation and a way of life and that's

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something I'm really proud of as a now

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black belt

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and grateful for it I I would pay to do

2:25

that again and in fact I am because

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we're doing a sequel so I am paying to

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do it again trying to qualify for

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nationals this year with mastery so I'm

2:34

I'm very excited about it. I would

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recommend it to anybody. The other one I

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was going to say that I would pay to do

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again for the experience I had

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ultimately, not when I was going through

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it, is the Houdini challenge.

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>> Yeah. So for that I had six weeks to

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learn how to hold my breath and pick

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locks to attempt Houdini's water torture

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cell which famously is hanging upside

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down in a glass box filled to the brim

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with water escaping a series of

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lockpicks with one breath of air. And

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that I would say is probably

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among the most physically challenging

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>> challenges I've done. Free diving,

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breath holding is a level of athleticism

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that is so bizarre to me because when

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you're in a workout class and it gets

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hard, they say, "Keep breathing. This is

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the one time you can't do that.

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>> You're you're holding your breath." So,

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I was having to learn how to push

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through that. Ultimately, I got to 3:30

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and most Navy Seals is like 2 3 minutes

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is pretty good. Houdini's was best time

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was also 3:30.

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But on the production side, it was a

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really fascinating challenge because it

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was the first time we

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creatively designed our own obstacle and

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solution. So in the beginning, we spent

3:57

months trying to connect with other

4:00

magicians on Earth who own a water

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torture cell. There are not many.

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>> Yeah. And ultimately we came to the

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conclusion of designing our own which

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was really really incredible and

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creatively challenging. How do you

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create a glass box that can f be filled

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with so many gallons of water and

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maintain the structural integrity when

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there's a person inside

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and function with all the locks and the

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hinges with water as an involved

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substance. It was a huge huge

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engineering challenge for our team

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and I'm really really proud of the final

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result because both of those things are

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things I would have never guessed that

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like 2016 me would have been able to do.

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First of all, holding my breath that

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long. Second of all, taking the creative

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liberty to design something that was

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inspired by a work of history but also

4:56

our own.

Interactive Summary

Ask follow-up questions or revisit key timestamps.

In this video, the speaker reflects on two of his most transformative and challenging YouTube projects that he would choose to repeat: the 90-day black belt taekwondo challenge and the Houdini water torture cell escape challenge. He details the personal growth, physical discipline, and creative engineering required for both endeavors.