Notes on

Living With A SEAL

by Jesse Itzler

| 2 min read


Every day do something that makes you uncomfortable.
—SEAL

“SEAL, I have a problem,” I say to him. “I didn’t bring any extra underwear.”
“So what?”
“I can’t run without underwear.”
“Nah, bro, you can’t run without legs. It’s on.”

“Perfect,” SEAL says. “There’s only one rule in training: If it doesn’t suck, we don’t do it.”

If you want to be pushed to your limits, you have to train to your limits.
—SEAL

“My time with SEAL has convinced me the days of the fancy gym memberships are numbered. Things like CrossFit and street workouts are going to prevail in the future. All you really need to do is get your push-up and sit-up routine consistent, and you can see amazing results.”

“I have another philosophy. You can be fit without being healthy, but you can’t be healthy without being fit. Meaning… you can be in great shape on the outside, but if you don’t eat great and don’t take care of your insides, you aren’t necessarily healthy. History shows us there were plenty of athletes who were in great shape but suddenly died of a heart attack. Balance is key.”

“I also believe being in really good shape takes a combination of many components. For starters, you have to be strong, but you also have to be explosive, flexible, capable of running stop-and-go sprints and running long distances. You need the full package.”

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

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

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

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

“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.”

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