Jesse Itzler is, in CBS News’s words, “an Atlanta Hawks owner and co-founder of Marquis Jet,” and his publisher, Hachette Book Group, writes of “the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks games, where he’s an owner of the team.” “Itzler had seen Goggins at a 24-hour relay race in San Diego,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. “Itzler was running as part of a relay and Goggins was running the full length solo,” CBS News wrote; Itzler “was running on a team of six ultra-marathoners,” the AJC said.
Then, as Hachette puts it, “he hired a rather unconventional trainer to live with him for a month—an accomplished Navy SEAL.” “And I invited him to come live with my wife and I for a month,” Itzler recalled to CBS News. “But Goggins had one condition before moving in: ‘Just do what I say. No matter what,’ he said.”
“Goggins arrived at Itzler’s home in New York in 2010 during one of the snowiest winters,” the AJC wrote, and “Training began immediately with a six-mile run at a pace just over 9 minutes and 100 pull-ups.” The Atlanta Jewish Times, writing about the book, listed what followed: “Itzler and the SEAL run at 6 in the morning and 10 at night,” with “6-mile runs, 50-pound weight vests, burpees, sit-ups, pullups and as many as 1,000 pushups a day.” And “They smash holes in a frozen Connecticut lake to risk hypothermia by jumping in.”
“Retired Navy SEAL David Goggins has a saying,” CBS News wrote: “When your brain says that you’re done, you’re only 40 percent done.” “Itzler chronicles their experience together in his new book, ‘Living with a SEAL: 31 Days Training with the Toughest Man on the Planet,’” CBS News reported in 2015, and of the month he said: “I found out that we all have a reserve tank, and I found out that I had so much more in my reserve tank.”
Fact check
The facts and where they come from
- A businessman hired a Navy SEAL to move in, and on day one, the SEAL ordered a hundred pull-ups. Hachette Book Group: “he hired a rather unconventional trainer to live with him for a month—an accomplished Navy SEAL.” CBS News: “having had Goggins as his live-in personal trainer for a month.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Training began immediately with a six-mile run at a pace just over 9 minutes and 100 pull-ups.” 412
- His name is David Goggins. CBS News: “Retired Navy SEAL David Goggins.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Navy SEAL David Goggins.” 12
- The businessman was Jesse Itzler. CBS News: “Jesse Itzler, an Atlanta Hawks owner and co-founder of Marquis Jet.” Hachette Book Group: “the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks games, where he’s an owner of the team.” 14
- He first saw Goggins at a 24-hour race in San Diego. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Itzler had seen Goggins at a 24-hour relay race in San Diego.” Atlanta Jewish Times: “a Navy SEAL he saw at a 24-hour run in San Diego.” 23
- Itzler ran it with a relay team; Goggins ran it alone. CBS News: “Itzler was running as part of a relay and Goggins was running the full length solo.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Itzler was running on a team of six ultra-marathoners.” 12
- He invited Goggins to live with him for a month. Itzler, as CBS News quotes him: “And I invited him to come live with my wife and I for a month.” 1
- Goggins had one condition: “Just do what I say. No matter what.” CBS News: “But Goggins had one condition before moving in: ‘Just do what I say. No matter what,’ he said.” 1
- He moved in during one of the snowiest winters. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Goggins arrived at Itzler’s home in New York in 2010 during one of the snowiest winters.” Atlanta Jewish Times: “So in 2010 when he decided that he needed to shake up the fitness routine.” 23
- They ran at 6 in the morning and 10 at night. Atlanta Jewish Times: “Itzler and the SEAL run at 6 in the morning and 10 at night.” 3
- Some days, it was a thousand push-ups. Atlanta Jewish Times: “6-mile runs, 50-pound weight vests, burpees, sit-ups, pullups and as many as 1,000 pushups a day.” 3
- They smashed a hole in a frozen lake and jumped in. Atlanta Jewish Times: “They smash holes in a frozen Connecticut lake to risk hypothermia by jumping in.” 3
- His motto: when your brain says you’re done, you’re only 40 percent done. CBS News: “Retired Navy SEAL David Goggins has a saying: When your brain says that you’re done, you’re only 40 percent done.” 1
- “I found out that I had so much more in my reserve tank,” Itzler said. CBS News: “‘I found out that we all have a reserve tank, and I found out that I had so much more in my reserve tank,’ Itzler said.” 1
Sources
- What you learn living one month with a Navy SEAL (November 9, 2015) CBS News
- Life lessons from a Navy SEAL (Nedra Rhone, January 25, 2016) The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- Itzler’s Charming Book SEALed With a Kick (Michael Jacobs, October 18, 2016) Atlanta Jewish Times
- Living with a SEAL, by Jesse Itzler (publisher’s description and author bio) Hachette Book Group
Notes
One line of the Short, Itzler’s account of what the San Diego race did to Goggins, is left off this page, which says nothing about Goggins’s health.
The race: CBS News calls it “a 100-mile race”; the AJC (“a 24-hour relay race”) and the Atlanta Jewish Times (“a 24-hour run”) call it a 24-hour race. The Short follows the second, and no source here gives its year.
A month: the book’s title and the AJC say 31 days (“train him for 31 days”), and the Atlanta Jewish Times gives its totals for 30 days; the Short says “a month.”
Day one: the Short’s “ordered” rests on Goggins’s one condition, “Just do what I say.” The AJC says only that training began with a six-mile run and 100 pull-ups; how many Itzler managed that day isn’t given here, because only summary sites print it.
The lake: the sources say only that it was a frozen lake in Connecticut, so its name, date and temperature aren’t given, and the lake in the photo is another one.
“Businessman”: the sources call Itzler an owner of the Atlanta Hawks and a co-founder of Marquis Jet; the Short calls him a businessman.
David Goggins and Jesse Itzler are alive. Only published reporting, the publisher’s description and their own published words are used. Itzler’s wife is mentioned only in his own words and isn’t named, and nothing else about his family or either man’s private life is given.
Pictures: no free photo shows Jesse Itzler, the San Diego race or the month in 2010; the only free file of Itzler is a frame from a video, so he isn’t shown. David Goggins is in US Navy photos from other days: running the Badwater Ultramarathon in Death Valley, California, on July 23, 2007 (Brandon Rogers); embracing a fellow SEAL as they cross the finish line of the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, on October 11, 2008 (Paul D. Honnick); coaching a prospective sailor through pull-ups during a TV demonstration in Seattle on July 7, 2009 (Michelle Kapica); and standing with the U.S. Naval Academy’s triathlon team at Annapolis in October 2009 (Michelle Kapica). The push-ups are from the Navy SEAL Fitness Challenge at Arizona State University in Phoenix on March 14, 2009, with neither Itzler nor Goggins in the photo (Michelle Kapica, US Navy). The Atlanta Hawks court is from a Hawks–Bucks game on February 28, 2010; Itzler isn’t in it (Hector Alejandro). Downtown San Diego is seen from Mission Bay on May 27, 2012 (Photographeroflife); the Central Park reservoir gatehouse on December 22, 2009, and the Bethesda Terrace stairs on January 22, 2009, both in snow (Jim Henderson); Madison Square after the blizzard of December 26–27, 2010, on December 27 (Beyond My Ken); and Mamanasco Lake in Ridgefield, Connecticut, frozen, on January 21, 2012, not the lake they jumped into (Chris Burke). None of these places is Itzler’s home. The other people in these photos are not named.
Photo credits
The archive photos in this story
The photographs and illustrations in this story are in the public domain or shared under open licenses; each one is credited below with its license. Tap one to enlarge it, or follow the link to its Wikimedia Commons page for the full record. The narration, captions and graphics in the Short are our own; its music and sound effects are credited below.
Music and sound effects
Music: Schumann, Kinderszenen, Op. 15: No. 1 'Of Foreign Lands and Peoples (Musopen, public domain); Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition: IV. Bydlo (piano) (Musopen, public domain); Dvorak, Symphony No. 9 'From the New World': II. Largo (Musopen, public domain).
Sound effects: Freesound, CC0.
_David_Goggins_stands_at_attention_with_members_of_the_U.S._Naval_Academy%27s_triathlon_team_as_they_are_recognized_as_Collegiate_National_Champions_at_the_Navy.jpg){kind=link}
_David_Goggins,_right,_assigned_to_Naval_Special_Warfare_Center,_embraces_Cmdr._Keith_Davids,_commanding_officer_of_SEAL_Team_One,_as_they_cross_the_finish_line_081011-N-BV344-004.jpg){kind=link}
