Living with a SEAL

31 Days Training with the Toughest Man on the Planet

By: Jesse Itzler

Narrated by: Jesse Itzler

Length: 5 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's Summary

Entrepreneur Jesse Itzler will try almost anything. He brazenly pretended to be an established hip-hop artist to secure a meeting with a studio head - and it led to a record deal. He convinced a bunch successful business executives to invest in an unprecedented business plan - and it turned into Marquis Jet. He sincerely offered to run a 100-mile race in Spanx to get the attention of the beautiful founder of the company - and ended up marrying her.

His life is about being bold and risky. And it's brought him plenty of rewards.

So when Jesse felt himself drifting on autopilot, he hired a rather unconventional trainer to live with him for a month - an accomplished Navy SEAL widely considered to be "the toughest man on the planet"!

Living with a SEAL is like a buddy movie if it starred the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air...and Rambo. Jesse is about as easy-oing as you can get. SEAL is...not. He even shows up at Jesse's apartment with an inflatable raft just in case the Itzler family ever has to escape Manhattan by crossing the Hudson River.

Jesse and SEAL's escapades soon produce a great friendship, and by the time SEAL leaves, Jesse is in the best shape of his life, but he gains much more than muscle. At turns hilarious and inspiring, Living with a SEAL ultimately shows you the benefits of stepping out of your comfort zone.

©2015 Jesse Itzler (P)2015 Hachette Audio

Amusing Even For The Unabashed Couch-Potato

I've read the reviews saying Living with a SEAL was inspiring, wanted to make people get out there and push themselves, their bodies to the limit. Please believe me when I say that that was NOT my intention when purchasing this book.
I wanted to change my mind, my outlook on life. Living with a SEAL did that, but mostly it was an amusing look at another person's boy-howdy boot camp extraordinaire. SEAL was a boy who played Rambo, not using the action figure, but skulking through the woods, stalking and hunting. He is a man who looks at everything around him as either something he wants to protect or something he's willing to destroy to protect his primaries.
He also plainly and simply lives in the moment. When he runs, he doesn't gabble and talk because he's in the now of the moment (even though he admits he hates running. But as he says: If it doesn't suck, we don't do it). And Itzler learns a lot about being present, enjoying what he has, being ready to protect his loved ones, keeping out of harm's way.
He also becomes fitter than ever. Ya wanna get fit? Here ya go. 31 days of doing it all.
Just be prepared for a lot of military-style and ex-rapper-style profanity--I didn't mind it, but maybe 'cause I can be quite the sailor myself.
There's a lot of humor in the book, a lot of advice, a lot of wake-up/change it up examples of learning how to wake up and live your life in a more profound way.
Do I want to go out and push myself to the limit? Do I want to go out and run miles in a blizzard so that my clothes are rock solid frozen when I'm finished? Well, maybe not.
But now I do want to wake up and appreciate what's around me. Plus, I appreciate chuckles a lot more...!

Stopped listening half way thru

The accounts of the author's actual training with SEAL and grappling with SEAL's challenges and coaching were my reasons for downloading the book. Those sections had some good takeaways. However the book became more and more a platform for the author to tell us about his personal exploits and achievements. Others might find that entertaining but that's not why I purchased the book so I lost interest.

Inspirational book that doesn't make you think, it makes you get off your ass and DO!

Just finished this book on my another 21 k hike.
Tonight I thought I was too tired to do anything, I was thinking, maybe I just watch something and fall asleep, it was a busy day. I'll do more tomorrow.
And then I started listening to "living with a SEAL" again. I got up, put on my workout gear and went out.
"Only Today and Getting Better", I remembered seal's words.
I'm a self-improvement book/courses junkie. I consumed so many books that were supposed to make my life better. They made me think different. But they didn't make me do things different.
This book did.
I guess the most important lesson for me, that I got out of the book - when my mind tells me I can't, it just talks about what I haven't done before, the mind has no idea what I truly am capable of. "I can't" is just a memory. I can do anything I can see myself doing. "I can't" has nothing to do with the present or the future, it's the past.
"Only Today and Getting Better"
Amazing book. I'll listen to it not one time more during my workouts and tough times to push me beyond "I can't". I might not have the seal training me to defy my limits but thanks to Jesse Itzler I have the next best thing!

Living with a Seal

Absolutely life changing. Do I think I can walk away from this story and accomplish the progress Jessee did? No way. But there are powerful "take always" from this story that I will most definitely be incorporating into my life. It's amazing the limitations we put on ourselves; allowing our minds to govern what we believe we can or we cannot do.

By far, one of the best books I've read lately. Not just inspiring but frigging hilarious!

Thank you to both Jesse (who by the way, has balls of steel) and SEAL.

It was Ok

Ironically enough I passed on David Goggins book to buy this one. This book left me wanting to know more about Seal (David Goggins) and Sarah Blakely than Jesse. Jesses writing style is decent but I just wasn’t that interested in the story. The underlining lessons were also ok but nothing I’d listen to again, which is odd for me as I tend to listen to my books several times. I’m now listening to “Can’t hurt Me” by David Goggins and loving it, I highly recommend. I’d pass on this book.

Fantastic

I listened to this audiobook in one day during a road trip. Unlike other audiobooks, I never found myself needing to take a break from the story. It was entertaining, inspiring, and all around more than I expected from a "memoir." Highly recommend.

status quo interruption

the mundane life all jacked with by a seal. he got what he wanted. entertaining and eye opening for myself. first goal... 100 push ups in a day.

I can't get enough

I've had this audiobook for less than a year and I've already listened to it four times. I'll probably listen to it for more times by the end of this year too.I don't know how they did it but they combined comedy with motivation on a level all of its own.

Highly highly recommended

Very inspiring in many ways, and fun to listen to the way Jesse narrates his own story.
I recommend this to anyone.

Disappointed

Language is too coarse for listening at work or within ear shot of children. No insight on how it changed Jesse's life or thought processes post living with the seal. No sharing of the informational nuggets gained by doing this was the big disappointment.

cool book, listened to after David Goggin's book

definitely a good complement to you can't hurt me, cool book. short but not too short :)

Brilliant

I absolutely loved this book. Fantastic, funny and brilliantly read by author! i thoroughly recommend it.

surprisingly motivational

this is a funny and sweet book. I really like the narrator and find he is very charismatic and inviting. it is a friendly voice.

the story impressed me I was enjoying the journey and the anecdotes although some are a little self promotional.

this story has really motivated me. I would love more detail about seal. and to know the big red chicken story.

easy listen

I really enjoyed this book
Nice easy listen,I took notes as to some of the workouts as I went through the book.
Not easy at all but it is a great way to motivate ones self and try and get to 1000 push ups in a day.

Enjoy!

Repetitive and tedious

Narrators voice like nails on a chalk board. basically 5 hours of being told that hes going out on another 6 mile run.

Wow

i recently read "Cant hurt me" and this was the perfect follow on from "SEAL" loved every minute.

Inspirational

Inspirational, great book to make you push yourself more and think out of the box.

funny and inspiring

good narration and interesting story. made me laugh as well. I'd recommend it definitely :)

Loved it

Funny and inspirational, it's alot more than just the recitation of his training log.

Life Changing

Picked this up yesterday and couldn't do anything but listen and obsess about it for 24 hours.

A truly inspirational journey through mental and physical barriers. It makes my poor excuses for skipping workouts sound pathetic!