{"id":467079,"date":"2026-02-11T02:19:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T02:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/467079\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T02:19:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T02:19:10","slug":"this-guy-runs-one-sub-6-mile-a-month-to-prove-hes-fit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/467079\/","title":{"rendered":"This Guy Runs One Sub-6 Mile a Month to Prove He\u2019s Fit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once a month, Brendan Rogers will lace up his trainers and head over to his local gym in Chicago. After a couple of minutes of static stretching<\/a>, he\u2019ll hop onto a treadmill for a one mile time trial. No warmup or cooldown, just an all-out effort.<\/p>\n

If all goes to plan, Rogers, 24, won\u2019t have to come back to the gym for another month.<\/p>\n

He ramps up the speed right under 6:00 minute pace and hops off a mile later, having dug deep, but honestly not too deep. Then he sends a text to his sister, Claire:<\/p>\n

5:50 mile. Still in shape. Now can have as much Taco Bell as I want in Feb.<\/p>\n

In his eyes, a sub-6:00 mile means he\u2019s in shape and therefore doesn\u2019t need to exercise for the rest of the month. His routine went viral last week when Claire posted on X<\/a> about his most recent attempt.<\/p>\n

My brother has this unique approach to fitness where he doesn\u2019t exercise, but he does run one mile on the treadmill at the beginning of each month. If he breaks six minutes then he doesn\u2019t work out until the start of the following month when he tests his speed again.<\/p>\n

The post has garnered over 115,000 likes, 3 million views, and dozens of replies criticizing Rogers\u2019s logic or heralding him as a genius biohacker.<\/p>\n

Naturally, this piqued the interest of the Runner\u2019s World office, so I called up Rogers on Monday to get to the bottom of his fitness routine.<\/p>\n

Does he have a running background?<\/p>\n

Rogers does have some experience with competitive running, having competed in track and cross country when he was in high school at The Wheeler School in Rhode Island. But he\u2019s quick to point out that he didn\u2019t have any shiny PRs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was more there for team chemistry,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n

\"boysCourtesy Brendan Rogers<\/p>\n

Rogers (center, with white socks) once ate six donuts before a high school cross-country race.<\/p>\n

Rogers only joined the team because the school made him participate in a sport, and he had a crush on one of the members of the girls\u2019 team. They overlapped for two years, then she graduated. \u201cI was like, \u2018Great, this is my opportunity to stop running, because I\u2019m not loving this,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then I was asked to be a captain.\u201d<\/p>\n

He couldn\u2019t turn down the offer, so he stuck it out through his senior year and ended up having a lot of fun. \u201c[It] was a blast, and I had such good memories, and the team was actually really good, so I was lucky to be a part of it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Rogers, however, has one impressive accolade to his name: he was all-division in the 4×800-meter relay in indoor track. But only because he was the alternate and he had to sub in for a teammate who couldn\u2019t run.<\/p>\n

\u201cKind of doomsday for me,\u201d he said. \u201cBut they needed me.\u201d
<\/p>\n

Related StoryWhy 6:00?<\/p>\n

Rogers believes that 6:00 represents a time that demonstrates some fitness but isn\u2019t unattainable for him. He wants to be clear: he has no interest in getting faster\u2014merely breaking 6:00 and avoiding the gym<\/a> is is enough for him.<\/p>\n

Last July, he ran the fastest time of the experiment to date\u20145:38\u2014but that was a bridge too far.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018I\u2019m a little too fit right now. I gotta dial it back.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

How did he start this routine?<\/p>\n

Rogers took a gap year after graduating high school in 2020, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, he focused on eating healthy and lifting weights. But soon after he started his freshman year at the College of Holy Cross, he realized that he would rather spend his unstructured free time hanging out with his buddies and playing video games than go to the gym.<\/p>\n

His senior year of college, he and some friends, lured by the promise of a free beer, signed up for a half marathon that the college paid for and offered training sessions. But he quickly gave up on the 6 a.m. weekly meetups. Instead of doing the prescribed workouts, he instead would run one mile a week at an all-out effort. A real time saver, he thought.<\/p>\n

He finished last among his friend group. But the seed was planted.<\/p>\n

\"runnerCourtesy Brendan Rogers<\/p>\n

Rogers\u2019s friend cheers him on at the half marathon.<\/p>\n

\"groupCourtesy Brendan Rogers<\/p>\n

Rogers (second from right) celebrates with a semi-well-earned beer after his half.<\/p>\n

Soon after graduating, Rogers moved to Chicago as part of the Teach for America program. That\u2019s when he decided to start his monthly time trial. Rogers would go to the gym, but instead of running easy for three miles, he figured it would be more time efficient to blast one mile.<\/p>\n

Does the treadmill count?<\/p>\n

Some critics in the comments of the post said that a treadmill doesn\u2019t count and that he should try running outside or on a track. Rogers understands the reasoning, but in his words, \u201cAt the end of the day, a 5:50 mile is a 5:50 mile no matter where you are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I do think it is a little bit easier to sprint on a treadmill with the fear of falling off and having the entire gym look at you like a crazy person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related StoriesWhat does his sister think?<\/p>\n

Claire, who works as a journalist at GOLF Magazine, doesn\u2019t necessarily think her brother\u2019s time trial method is sustainable long-term, but she said it makes sense for him at this point in his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has a long work commute, is just getting settled in a new city, and has his first full-time job,\u201d she said via email. \u201cFitness probably isn\u2019t top of mind for him, so I like that he\u2019s challenging himself a little bit, but I\u2019m confident that he will ease into a more typical fitness routine as time goes on.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s his Taco Bell order?<\/p>\n

Rogers lives dangerously close to a Taco Bell, so that\u2019s where a lot of his money goes on weekends. He tries to stick to the value menu and usually orders a beefy five layer burrito or a 12-pack of Cinnabon delights (donut holes dipped in cinnamon sugar with cream cheese frosting in the middle.)<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to say I have the diet of an unsupervised 12 year old who\u2019s home alone for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s his plan if he doesn\u2019t break 6:00?<\/p>\n

Rogers paused for a moment when I asked him this, like it almost hadn\u2019t crossed his mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would probably call one of my friends who actually works out and ask them what they do,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think the horrible thing would be I\u2019d probably have to run more than one mile, which would, you know, kind of be a bummer.\u201d<\/p>\n

How long will he keep doing this?<\/p>\n

\u201cTill the wheels fall off, which you know, I\u2019m sure they will,\u201d he said. \u201cBut until then, I\u2019m just gonna enjoy the ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or, in the words of his sister, \u201cThis works because he is 24.\u201d<\/p>\n

Become A Stronger Runner With These Exclusive Training Programs\"Chevron\"Chevron\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Theo Kahler is the news editor at Runner\u2019s World. He\u2019s a former all-conference collegiate runner at Winthrop University, and he received his master\u2019s degree in liberal arts studies from Wake Forest University, where he was a member of one of the top distance-running teams in the NCAA. Kahler has reported on the ground at major events such as the Paris Olympics, U.S. Olympic Trials, New York City Marathon, and Boston Marathon. He\u2019s run 14:20 in the 5K, 1:05:36 in the half marathon, and enjoys spotting tracks from the sky on airplanes. (Look for colorful ovals around football fields.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Once a month, Brendan Rogers will lace up his trainers and head over to his local gym in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[49,48,407,84,44],"class_list":["post-467079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fitness","tag-health","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}