Book Review: Living with a SEAL

I received a complimentary copy of the book Living with a SEAL in exchange for my honest review. As always, all reviews and opinions are my own.

Living with a SEAL documents the time Jesse Itzler hired a Navy SEAL to live with him and train him for 30 days. No spoilers throughout this review, I promise. The first few pages flew by. It was easy to read. At times I felt like I was reading someone’s blog in paper form. I found over the first chapter or two that I was, indeed, reading Mr. Itzler’s blog from the time he trained with a Navy SEAL.

I’m not entirely sure what I expected out of the book, but I was surprised that I couldn’t put it down! I don’t know anything about Jesse Itzler except for what I Googled while reading so my knowledge about him is very limited. Not sure if that worked to my advantage or disadvantage while reading his book, but here are some of my takeaways:

Liked:

The workouts and prospect of doing crazy workouts at odd times of the day made me feel less crazy for the workouts I do, while simultaneously lighting a fire under me to make my workouts crazier and to achieve more.

Disliked:

There were times I felt like I was reading self-promotion of Jesse and his wife’s businesses. (Which are awesome businesses, no doubt!)

Liked:

The weird “friendship” that ultimately formed between SEAL and Itzler.

Disliked:

As a parent it would have been nice to see the struggle of balance between working out and fitness versus parenting and taking care of someone else.

Liked and Disliked:

It left me wanting more — I wanted to know more about SEAL’s life. Where did he come from? How did he travel so light? Why did he agree to train a civilian in the first place?

Overall:

This book lit a fire under my ass. I definitely didn’t see that coming. And I would (and will) recommend it to my friends and running clients. It was an easy read, and fun to read the shenanigans that ensued when Mr. Itzler hired a Navy SEAL to live with him and train him for 30 days. Living with a SEAL was one of the fastest books I’ve read in a while because I couldn’t get enough of his workouts and the sheer insanity of this training! If you’re looking for a fun read to ignite your passion to work out and continue to challenge yourself for results, this is the book for you.

Now. Who do I call to hire a Navy SEAL…?