Ask A Genius 1538: 12,680 Days of Workouts, Trump’s Chaos, and Nobel Peace Prize Irony
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner
Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/10/09
How does Rick Rosner balance a 34-year workout streak with sharp critiques of Trump, media accountability, and global politics?
In this candid exchange, Scott Douglas Jacobsen asks Rick Rosner about his extraordinary 12,680-day workout streak—over 34 years without missing a day. Rosner outlines his routine of push and pull days, daily leg work, and adaptations due to a semi-permanent rotator cuff injury. The conversation shifts to current affairs, where Rosner criticizes Trump’s chaotic style, dishonesty, and lack of accountability in the media. He highlights Trump’s controversial Nobel Peace Prize ambitions amid the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal and domestic militarization. Rosner draws contrasts with Obama’s early prize and reflects on the strangeness of today’s political climate.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Here’s a quick question. How many days have you worked out consecutively?
Rick Rosner: Around 12,680.
Jacobsen: That’s incredible. What is your most frequent type of workout? A particular muscle group or something?
Rosner: I have push days and pull days, but I work my legs every day. Not that it has made them any good, but I can put both hands around my lower leg, right above my knee. My leg is probably only about 16 inches in diameter. Higher up, I can still touch both hands together around my leg. That’s not a large leg. I do machine squats and mostly leg presses. Sometimes I’ll do leg extensions if someone is hogging the leg press machine. On chest days, I use a different machine at each gym I go to. For a while, I was doing bench presses with free weights, but I have a sore rotator cuff. Still.
Jacobsen: Still?
Rosner: Yes, I think it’s semi-permanent. Before I go back to free weights, I’d like to get a little stronger—if ever.
Jacobsen: Any complaints for today? Any immediate complaints about the news?
Rosner: A lot of people on X say Trump seems chaotic, dishonest, and nonsensical. He says whatever he wants, and nobody holds him accountable. The media were always after Biden, but Trump seems worse and still nobody is calling him on it. CNN’s Jake Tapper even conducted an interview with Trump via text message, which drew criticism because you can’t verify who typed the responses.
Trump says Israel and Hamas have reached the first phase of a peace agreement—and today multiple outlets reported that Israel and Hamas signed a ceasefire and hostage deal as part of that first phase, pending implementation steps. We’ll have to see how it plays out. There are indications negotiations have advanced. And, of course, Trump wants the Nobel Peace Prize. Meanwhile, he has ordered National Guard deployments for domestic enforcement in some states and has threatened to use the Insurrection Act—moves now being challenged in court—so “peaceful” isn’t the word many would use.
Jacobsen: They gave Obama one before he had even done anything.
Rosner: That’s right, and that was controversial at the time. They could conceivably give him one because they think it might moderate him. I doubt it, but who knows.
Jacobsen: We live in strange times.
Rosner: Yes.
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