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

by Jesse Itzler

“Today is goal day. Today all your hard work pays off. We are going to see if you can do one thousand push-ups.”

But to SEAL, victories are short-lived. He tells me he never celebrates an accomplishment. Once his goal is done, it’s time for his next goal. Our work is not done. It’s time for our next goal.

A thousand push-ups is something I could never have imagined doing. It just shows that repetition and consistency equal results.

Workout totals: 3.5 miles and 1,000 push-ups!

If you don’t challenge yourself, you don’t know yourself. —SEAL

Workout totals: 8.5 miles, 300 push-ups, frozen lake

I don’t stop when I’m tired. I stop when I’m done. —SEAL

Two minutes later he has me on the treadmill walking twenty minutes on a fifteen-degree incline at 3.6 pace.

Workout totals: 10.6 miles, 20

minutes on treadmill on incline of 15, 100 push-ups, 30 pull-ups

I don’t like assholes and I don’t like bullies. —SEAL

I don’t want what you guys have. —SEAL

“I don’t want the same shit you guys want. I’m not looking for anything else. I’m going to do the same shit I’ve been doing,” he says, “only I’m going to do it better.”

If you can see yourself doing something, you can do it. If you can’t see yourself doing something, usually you can’t achieve it. —SEAL

“Fuck it,” and blow it off. Procrastinate.

“Fuck it.” He’d get off the couch and do it. Regardless of the time, the temperature, or how tired he was. I absorbed some of that just-get-it-done and there-are-no-excuses attitude.

The first day SEAL came to move in, he told me I needed to control my mind. I thought it was just a saying or a throwaway comment, but I think there might be more truth to it than I originally thought. Our minds sometimes tell us little lies about ourselves, and we believe them. We think we can’t do this or that. It’s not true.

Workout totals: 6 miles

The only easy day was yesterday. —SEAL

The simplicity that SEAL has is one of the most important things in life. He gets to do what he loves every day. He lives stress-free.

The harder the training, the more courage it took to do and the more satisfaction was derived from it.

I think about what I need to be thinking about. —SEAL