Living with a SEAL: 31 Days Training with the Toughest Man on the Planet

by Jesse Itzler

Workout totals: 17 miles (5.5 miles in 50-pound vest)

If a motherfucker looks crazy, usually the motherfucker is crazy. —SEAL

Dumbbell bench press: 15 reps at 35 pounds, 12 reps at 40 pounds, 10 reps at 45 pounds, 8 reps at 50 pounds, and then 6 reps at 55 pounds. Then, we do seated rows: 15–12–10–8–6 (medium weight). 51 reps. Then, we do military press: 4 sets of 10 (medium weight). 40 reps. Then, we do triceps pull-down: 15–12–10 (light weigh). 37 reps. Curls: 15–12–10 (25 pound dumbbells). 37 reps. Sit-ups: 50… one minute rest… then 50 flutter kicks: 50 four-count flutter kicks (basically do a flutter kick for 4 seconds… that equals 1).

“Money is fun to make, fun to spend, and fun to give away. That sums it all up.”

“Sara also likes to think of money as a big magnifying glass. If you are a good person before you had money… then money makes you an even better person. If you were a charitable person before you had money… then money makes you even more charitable. But if you were an asshole before you had money… well then, money makes you an even bigger asshole.”

Walk 5:00 at 12 incline (3.5 speed) 2:30 at 6.2 speed 2:30 at 8.7 speed 2:30 at 6.3 speed 2:30 at 8.8 speed

2:30 at 6.4 speed 2:30 at 8.9 speed 2:30 at 6.5 speed 2:30 at 9.0 speed 5:00 walk/cooldown 1–30 push-ups (Time: 41 minutes)

Workout totals: 3 miles (25 minutes of intervals on treadmill), 465 push-ups, 50 sit-ups, 50 flutter kicks, and SEAL circuit: dumbbell bench presses, seated rows, military press, tri pull-downs, curls

Don’t get too comfortable. Ever. —SEAL

“No matter what, you can never let them ‘boo’ you. You have to control the situation.”

Remember when you told me to ‘control my mind’ the first day you moved in with me, well, I’m telling you in business… ‘control the situation.’”

“Twelve push-ups every forty-five seconds for twenty-two minutes, then fifteen pull-ups, two minutes rest. Then twenty push-ups, three pull-ups (five sets). Then a hundred flutter kicks.”

Workout totals: 364 push-ups, 30 pull-ups, 100 flutter kicks

You can always keep going. —SEAL

SEAL once told me that when he came back from a mission, when everyone would sit around and smoke and decompress, he would go running. After a twenty-four-hour mission, he would work out.

Workout totals: 6 miles (sub-8-minute-mile pace) and 200 push-ups

If you’re hungry, run faster. You’ll be home quicker. —SEAL

“We are going to focus on the basics this morning. Push-ups and sit-ups. It all starts with the basics,” SEAL says. It’s true.

I do ten push-ups followed by as many sit-ups as I can until the second hand on the clock hits 12 again. Then I start the push-ups and sit-ups again. We repeat that for thirty minutes nonstop.

“Let’s do a cooldown” are his exact words. To SEAL, a cooldown is an eight-mile run.

“We have five miles left. If you are hungry, run faster. You’ll be home quicker.”

“Try me, motherfucker. I mean it, try me.”

“It’s not what you do, it’s when and how you do it. It’s all about the conditions. Remember that.”

Workout totals: 8 miles, 400 push-ups, and 550 sit-ups

I can sit still for hours. Waiting. —SEAL

I don’t like to talk to strangers. Actually, I don’t like to talk, period. —SEAL

“Hey, SEAL, what do you think about when you run?” “Finishing.”

One rep at a time. And when I’m done, I worry about the next step or rep.

Now I finish the first thing on my list with 100 percent focus and then attack the next.

At around four miles I somehow figure out that if I breathe exclusively through my diaphragm, it feels a little better.

Workout totals: 10 miles @ 8-minute-mile pace

Be ready for anything at any time. —SEAL

Twelve runs of four miles each every four hours! He calls it the 4/4/48.

Do we go out hard (the first mile is very tough with big elevation) or do we pace ourselves? SEAL says, “Go hard.”

twenty sets of twenty push-ups!!!

“Finish up. GET THIS SHIT DONE, FUCKER.”

Workout totals: 16.1 miles and 700 push-ups

The tougher the conditions, the more I like my odds. —SEAL

Workout totals: 3.5 miles and 154 push-ups

Fear is one of the best motivators. Anger is the other. —SEAL

We do fifteen sets of fifteen push-ups on the minute (225 push-ups).

“We only have four days left. We need to push our limits. Your work isn’t done. You aren’t ready to go back to the real world,” SEAL says.

“Yeah, the fucking steam room. Setting that bitch at one hundred twenty-five degrees and we’re in there for thirty minutes. No dumping water on our heads, no talking (obviously), and only twelve ounces of drinking water allowed in. I’m going to test your WILL.”

“You don’t even know what suffering is, motherfucker,”

We do twelve, then eight, then six, then four push-ups on the fifteen-second mark, followed by sit-ups, where we do as many as we can for sixty seconds. We rest one minute, then repeat for thirty minutes. I’m a beaten man.

Workout totals: 9.5 miles, 775 push-ups, 125 sit-ups, 21-minute steam, frozen lake

Know what’s important to you and protect it at all costs. —SEAL

“Exactly, Jesse,” he says. “They’re your primary, and as long as I’m in this house they’re my primary too. You asked me what I would do. I would protect my primary at any cost. And unfortunately for you, you’re my third option.”

Workout totals: 9.5 miles

I don’t celebrate victories but I learn from failures. —SEAL