Episode 16 - Stay Connected w/ Mark Christiani

Episode 18 - Attack Your Weakness in Honor of Rob Wadleigh

OVERVIEW This one is dedicated to Rob Wadleigh — Senior Enlisted Leader within 1st Special Forces Group, AGD Master of None team member, and by all accounts the Green Beret everyone else was trying to be. Nate reflects on Rob's life, his approach to training, and the philosophy that defined both.. EPISODE TAKEAWAYS * Attack your weakness — find something you're genuinely bad at and throw yourself at it with humility and aggression * Discipline over motivation gets you started. Curiosity and trust keep you going. * Rob hated a program, stuck with it, and ended up loving it. * Mastery is a pursuit, not a state of being — the moment you think you've arrived, you've stopped becoming * True masters don't think of themselves as masters — they have enough humility to keep advancing their craft * Genetic weakness is not an excuse — it's a starting point. * Get from shit to sucks — progress doesn't require perfection as a destination, just honest effort as a practice * You can't take anything with you. Play your cards now. * Touching the flame is relative — what makes you feel alive doesn't have to look like anyone else's version of it * Keep the fire going where it's already lit — but don't be afraid to rub two sticks together until your hands turn to hamburger meat EPISODE LINKS Episode 13 - Build Something w/ JD Mata [/podcast/episode13-build-something]

Episode 17 - You Didn't Die w/ Andy Holmes

OVERVIEW Andy Holmes is a Marine veteran turned collegiate soccer strength and conditioning coach who brings a rare blend of military leadership, athletic performance, and self-aware humor to everything he does. This episode covers coaching philosophy, vulnerability, the role of sport in combating apathy, the value of the near-miss, and why it's okay to not be okay. ABOUT ANDY HOLMES A wellspring of curiosity, Andy has studied international politics, worked as a communications officer in the United States Marine Corps, and has spent the last seven years as a strength and conditioning coach across a wide range of sports, schools and professions. With stops at Georgetown University, The University of Texas at Austin, and 58th Special Operations Wing in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as Andy has worked to help develop athletes physically, he's worked just as hard on his own professional, mental, and emotional development. Currently, Andy works as an assistant sports performance coach at the University of Denver in Denver, Colorado where he directly leads physical development for the Women's and Men's soccer programs. Outside of a job that he thoroughly enjoys, Andy is incredibly lucky to have a brilliant and beautiful partner in adventure and relaxation, Arielle. Together they live in South Denver with their two dogs River and Bowie. EPISODE TAKEAWAYS * Embrace the near-miss — almost making the lift, just missing the cutoff is nine times out of ten more valuable than the make. The world didn't end. You get to do it again. * Create problems for your athletes to solve — coaching isn't about giving answers, it's about building the conditions for aha moments * Find something you care enough about to be disappointed by — apathy is the real enemy, and sport is one of the best antidotes we have * Be willing to fail if that's what it takes to win — two different things that are actually the same thing * Make it undeniable and inevitable — keep attacking, stay relentless, and trust that it's coming * Give people permission to not be okay — especially those who are always expected to be strong, capable, and fine * It's okay to not be okay — and saying so out loud is often the first step * The fear of putting people out keeps veterans silent — communicate anyway, because the people around you want to know and they want to help EPISODE LINKS University of Denver Sports Performance [https://denverpioneers.com/sports/2018/5/24/sports-strength-facility-gallery-html.aspx] Joshua Tree Coffee [https://jtcoffee.com/] Veterans Crisis Line — 988, Press 1

Episode 16 - Stay Connected w/ Mark Christiani

OVERVIEW Mark Christiani has coached at every level — D1 collegiate, Army H2F at Fort Bragg, Army Reserve, and now human performance management with O2X. This episode is a wide-ranging coaching conversation covering training variation, programming philosophy, the tactical human performance landscape, and what it actually takes to build culture inside large organizations. ABOUT MARK CHRISTIANI Mark Christiani is the East Coast Human Performance Integration Manager for O2X Human Performance. He previously served as an On-Site Human Performance Specialist with the U.S. Army Reserve 81st Readiness Division and as Brigade Lead Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Army's H2F Program at Fort Bragg. Mark's background also includes collegiate strength and conditioning experience and time as a competitive powerlifter. EPISODE TAKEAWAYS * Embrace training variation across full cycles — the body craves movement diversity and narrow training eventually produces overuse injuries and mental staleness * A training framework with choices beats a rigid program — give yourself a list of things to hit and create variation through order, fatigue state, and exercise selection * Getting better at variations improves the primary lift — the conjugate principle applied broadly across athleticism, not just powerlifting * Know when you've met your goals and be willing to pivot — chasing numbers past the point of diminishing returns turns training into your whole personality * The best tactical coaches are creative because they had to be — D2 and D3 coaches and early-career tactical coaches often outperform high D1 coaches in adaptive environments * Culture change in large organizations takes decades — think of yourself as a plank holder and influence what you can, when you can * Influence the junior leaders now — the E4s, E5s, and O2s you reach today are the battalion commanders of tomorrow * Police and fire departments are ahead of the military in some human performance areas — less turnover, smaller scale, longer staff tenure * Stay connected — to your veteran community, to a run club, to something. Community is a longevity variable. Isolation is the enemy. * Don't wait for command to lead — coaches can build culture from the bottom up without permission EPISODE LINKS O2X Human Performance — o2x.com [http://o2x.com] Soldiers to Sidelines — soldierstosidelines.org [http://soldierstosidelines.org] Team RWB — teamrwb.org [http://teamrwb.org] NSCA TSAC — nsca.com/tsac [http://nsca.com/tsac] Westside Barbell / Conjugate Method — westside-barbell.com [http://westside-barbell.com]

Episode 15 - Don't Take "No" for an Answer w/ Nick Umble

OVERVIEW Nick Umble spent 20 years in Special Forces before walking off a military base and onto a college football field. Now he's competing at the national level in strongman — including top-ten finishes at Masters Nationals and the Arnold Masters Strongman World Championships — and building Sentinel Strength. This episode covers nutrition, identity, competition, coaching culture, and what happens when someone tells a Special Forces veteran he can't do something. ABOUT NICK UMBLE Nick Umble is a retired U.S. Army Special Forces veteran with a 20-year military career, including 14 years in 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne). Throughout his service, he led teams and supported high-risk operations in complex and demanding environments. After leaving the military, Nick pursued college football before transitioning into government contracting. Over the past five years, he has focused on competitive strongman, qualifying for national-level competitions multiple times and earning top-ten finishes at Masters Nationals and the Arnold Masters Strongman World Championships. He is the founder of Sentinel Strength, where he applies lessons from Special Operations, athletics, and competition to performance, discipline, and resilience. EPISODE TAKEAWAYS * Understand that "I eat pretty clean" is almost never true — if the results aren't there, the diet isn't what you think it is * Hire professionals for what you don't know — a nutritionist found what Nick couldn't find on his own, and it changed everything * Know your constraints and variables — influence the variables relentlessly, accept what you can't change * Don't wait for command to be the difference — coaches and leaders at every level can build culture from the bottom up * Play the long game — cultural change in large organizations takes decades, not months. Think of yourself as a plank holder. * Compete at something — structured competition gives purpose, identity, and a reason to train that transcends the gym * When someone tells you that you can't, let "watch me" be the answer — the human body and psyche are capable of far more than others project onto you * Strongman is more accessible than it looks — if you can squat, deadlift, and carry heavy things, you have a starting point * Community matters in training — the culture Nate and the Thor staff built left a mark that Nick still talks about years later EPISODE LINKS Sentinel Strength - https://www.youtube.com/@SentinelStrength [https://www.youtube.com/@SentinelStrength] Spiceology Derek Wolf Maple Bourbon seasoning — spiceology.com [http://spiceology.com] Arnold Masters Strongman World Championships - https://strength.events/2026-arnold-masters/ [https://strength.events/2026-arnold-masters/] UHP (University of Human Performance) - https://uhp.com [https://uhp.com/]

Episode 14 - Give Yourself Some Grace w/ Ben Seims

OVERVIEW Ben Seims brings two decades of health and human performance experience, 24 years of Army National Guard service, and a nursing career to a conversation that goes far deeper than his credentials. In the most honest episodes yet, Ben shares a story of homelessness, multiple suicide attempts, and the long road to finding peace. ABOUT BEN SEIMS Ben Seims currently works with the Consortium for Health and Military Performance. He has over 20 years of Health and Human Performance coaching, education, and executive experience with a focus on Tactical Performance and Resiliency. He was career Army National Guard with over 24 years of service. He spent 10 years in the Infantry with a final position of Squad Leader, 14 years in the Nurse Corps, then served as Holistic Health and Fitness Director of Education at the National Guard Professional Education Center. Ben completed one combat deployment during OIF II, and several training missions to Thailand for Cobra Gold and Hanuman Guardian medical exercise serving as an AMEDD representative for the Washington National Guard's State Partnership Program with the Kingdom of Thailand. He was also a civilian nurse for over 17 years, with over 23 years of experience in long term care, acute care hospital, and home health settings. EPISODE TAKEAWAYS * Recognize that dragging a second boat behind you as an escape plan prevents you from fully fixing the one you're on * Understand that clarity — while powerful — is painful, because you can finally see everything you did and can't undo it * Accept that there is no certificate of arrival — health, recovery, and growth are a relentless pursuit with no finish line * Build your merry band — the right people around you will literally save your life * Give yourself grace — veterans carry disproportionate guilt and shame, and grace is not weakness * Feel what happens when you stop doing the work — Ben can feel it when he misses counseling, bike rides, meditation, breath work. The work is the thing. * Share your story — you never know who you're going to impact or whose life you might save * Find your spiritual core — without purpose and vitality at the center, even a physically healthy person is floating alone in space * Engage to disengage — there's more power in choosing not to win an argument than there ever was in winning it * Nature is non-negotiable — some of the best moments of your life have happened outside, and no photo does them justice EPISODE LINKS Mission Resilience San Antonio [https://laurelridgetc.com/treatment-services/military/]