Destroy Your Excuses For Not Exercising With This Amazing Book
Last Updated November 30, 2017 By Michelle Nader
Are you trying to get on a workout progam, change your eating habits, and change your life, but struggle with the motivation?
Do you workout, but not as consistently as you want?
Do you start to exercise, but come up with a million excuses to stop?
Believe it or not, by reading this simple, easy-to-read book you will stop these bad habits and actually achieve your goals.
And the funny thing is, this book isn’t even a “self help”, nor a “motivational” book. It’s a simple (non-fiction) story.
I read Living With A Seal…31 Days Training With The Toughest Man On The Planet, recently, and it changed my life.
I’ve worked out consistently 4-5 days a week for over 21 years, but recently with work, family, and life responsibilities have dropped down to maybe 2 days a week, and it was killing me mentally. I would beat myself up for skipping workouts, eating like a pig, and making excuses wherever I could find them. I eventually realized that the only time I could fit in a workout in my day was at 5:00 AM, gulp.
Despite this realization and facing a real possibility of getting out of shape and worse yet, just unhealthy, I STILL couldn’t get up at 4:45 AM to hit my BASEMENT gym at 5 AM.
Fortunately, I stumbled upon this book Living With A Seal, by Jesse Itzler and felt like I could workout at 2 AM if I really wanted.
The book, written by successful entrepreneur Jesse Itzler, follows his month long journey as he decides to live with the toughest man and navy seal on the planet, David Goggins. Jesse is an accomplished marathon runner, having run several marathons, yet decides to mix up his running and exercise routine by hiring an accomplished and very determined navy seal to kick up his training a few notches.
Having a navy seal train you is a great idea. Having an accomplished navy seal like David Goggins train you is either a better idea, or just stupid.
Here is a list of extreme running events he’s finished. Keep in mind, these are extreme. Like running 100 miles extreme…
- The H.U.R.T 100, a 100 mile ultramarathon through the mountains of Honolulu
- Badwater, a 135 mile ultramarathon through Death Valley
- San Deigo 100 mile endurance race
- 4,025 pull-ups in 17 hours, a worlds record set in 2013
So you can see, Jesse not only hired a determined navy seal, but an extreme athlete who challenges the physical and mental capabilities of what can be accomplished.
The book chronicles their 30 days together as Jesse endures workouts like never before. For example, early in the book David takes Jesse on a 6 mile run at 8pm. Not a big deal, but its in the winter, in Boston, in a snowstorm and all Jesse has to wear is shorts, a hat, and a sweatshirt.
Just a few hours later “seal” as he is reffered to in the book, takes Jesse on anther ice cold run in the freezing Boston morning at 5 AM. Another 6 mile run and unfortunately all Jesse has to wear are the still-wet clothes from the previous nights run, minus underware, which is still soaked and back at the hotel.
These types of physical challenges continue throughout the book, as the workouts get more and more extreme.
“Seal” continues to shock both Jesse and the reader with more unorthodox mental and physical challenges like sleeping in an uncomfortable chair all night, enduring a long stay in a steam room until he almost passes out, and taking a dip in a frozen pond covered in ice.
Here is a list of some of the more noteworthy and funny chapter titles:
- My Nuts
- That Damn Finger
- No Peeing Allowed
- Oxygen Deprivation
- Enjoy The Pain
- Sick Fuck Friday
- 1,000 Push Ups
The Most Motivational Book You May Ever Read
Again, this isn’t a book you’ll find in the “self help” or “motivational” section of amazon since its just a funny easy-to-read nonfiction story of two guys living and training together.
However, after reading the book, you feel like you can run a marathon after running through your front door. Its that effective.
The reason is that David Goggins pushes Jesse beyond his normal physical limitations or what Jesse thought were his normal limitations. Would Jesse run 6 miles then jump into a frozen lake on his own? Of course not. But Goggins pushed him to do so, and therefore not only showed Jesse what he is capable of accomplishing physically, but also mentally too.
Goggins teaches Jesse the 40% rule.
The 40% rule says that when you think you are done with a physical challenge, whether its push ups, pull ups, running, or whatever, you are really only 40% done. Your body has the ability to accomplish much more.
And this is because our minds (and bodies to an extent) tell our bodies to stop what were doing in order to stop the pain and prevent injury or exhaustion. But once you reach that point, its ok to keep going so long as you can mentally and physically do so. It may require a brief break to give your body a chance to rest, but your body will respond if your mind pushes it.
A perfect example is Goggins’ pull up record. Obviously no one can do over 4,000 pull ups straight. But a break here and there over time and he broke the record.
Use This Book To Accomplish Your Goals
I wrote earlier how I struggled to workout in the morning at 5 AM.
After reading “Living With A Seal”, not only have I worked out every morning at 5 AM, (with the exception of weekends), but have been able to accomplish other goals in the morning too. After a workout, I’ll actually clean, contribute to this website, or do meal prep before getting ready for work or before the family awakes.
Both Jesse Itzler and David Goggins are very motivational and I highly recommend you read this book if your struggling with any goals in your life. You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish.
For extra motivation I’ve included links below to separate podcasts featuring David Goggins and Jesse Itzler. They’re both must listen to podcasts.
Click this link for an awesome podcast featuring David Goggins
Click this link for an awesome podcast featuring Jesse Itzler