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The Hard Way With Joe De Sena

The Hard Way With Joe De Sena

By: Joe De Sena
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 The proving ground where mental resilience, endurance, and purpose are built, the hard way. Spartan Founder and CEO Joe De Sena sits down with the toughest minds on the planet; warriors, entrepreneurs, athletes, and leaders who've earned their success through discipline and pain. No shortcuts. No excuses. Just raw truth about what it takes to stay sharp, endure suffering, and keep moving through hard times.© 2025 Spartan Hygiene & Healthy Living Personal Development Personal Success
Episodes
  • Still Competing at 45: Max King on Discipline and Endurance

    Still Competing at 45: Max King on Discipline and Endurance
    Feb 17 2026

    Most people quit when progress slows. Max King kept going and got better. In this episode, two-time world champion endurance athlete Max King sits down with Joe De Sena to break down what actually sustains performance over decades. They talk about why discipline beats motivation, how putting races on the calendar removes excuses, and how managing injuries early keeps careers alive. This conversation focuses on endurance, ownership, and staying competitive long after others fade. You'll take away simple rules for training consistently, handling setbacks, and building resilience that holds up under pressure.

    Things You Will Learn:

    • How to stay competitive as others quit
    • How to use discipline instead of motivation
    • How to manage injuries without stopping

    Tools & Frameworks Covered:

    1. Calendar Commitment Rule: creates accountability through fixed deadlines

    2. Outlasting Approach: wins through consistency and experience

    3. Early Injury Response: prevents small problems from ending progress

    Max King is an elite American endurance athlete who built his career by repeatedly choosing the hardest path, successfully competing across track, road, mountain, trail, and ultra-distance racing at a world-class level.

    From Olympic Trials and world championships to 100-kilometer suffering and iconic Fastest Known Times, his journey reflects relentless discipline, mental adaptability, and deep respect for durability over ego.

    Now he coaches the same way: build resilience, stay useful under pressure, and stay elite for life.

    Connect to Max:

    🌐 Website: https://www.maxkingtrc.com/max
    📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maxkingor
    📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/max.king.9828
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    17 mins
  • Discipline Before Strength: Brian Alsruhe on Mental Toughness

    Discipline Before Strength: Brian Alsruhe on Mental Toughness
    Feb 10 2026
    Pressure reveals the truth. It shows what you trained and what you avoided. In this episode, strength coach, strongman gym owner, mental conditioning coach, and licensed therapist Brian Alsruhe talks with Joe De Sena about why discipline fails before strength and how missed decisions under stress lead to quitting. They break down using physical hardship to train the mind, stacking small wins daily, and choosing discomfort to build resilience. The listener gains simple rules to perform under pressure, own outcomes, and stop making excuses. Things You Will Learn How pressure exposes weak discipline How to build mental toughness through daily discomfort How small decisions decide long-term performance Tools & Frameworks Covered Stacked Wins: build discipline through daily action Pressure Training: sharpen decision-making under stress Discomfort Practice: strengthen resilience before it's required If this episode moved you, don't just listen. Do something about it. Sign up. Show up. Do the work. Spartan.com. No more excuses. Guest Bio: Brian Alsruhe is a strength coach, strongman athlete, and founder of NEVERsate Athletics, a global community built around resilience, discipline, and personal accountability. His background in counter terrorism and his work toward a graduate degree in clinical mental health shaped his approach to physical and emotional endurance under real pressure. Brian's life represents three core themes: overcoming adversity through discomfort, using strength as a tool for transformation, and teaching people to become harder to kill in both body and mindset. Connect to Brian: Website: https://www.neversate.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neversate YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8Rt7E2JVz4fPmC8AhjDoaA
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    22 mins
  • Life After Service: Discipline When Orders Are Gone

    Life After Service: Discipline When Orders Are Gone
    Feb 3 2026
    When the mission ends, discipline gets exposed. What happens when the uniform comes off and no one is giving orders anymore? Former Army Airborne Infantry soldier and nonprofit founder Jonathan Milkovich joins Joe De Sena to talk about life after service, losing structure, and rebuilding standards from scratch. They cover the gap between military experience and civilian reality, why discipline must become self-directed, and how endurance training, competition, and finish lines replace lost mission and purpose. This episode delivers clear rules for ownership, structure, and performance when no one is watching. Things You Will Learn How to keep discipline when orders and structure are gone How to rebuild purpose through standards, not motivation How competition and finish lines create accountability Tools & Frameworks Covered Calendar-Based Challenges: create urgency and structure without external orders Endurance Training & Finish Lines: rebuild identity through proof of work Checklist Ownership Systems: replace motivation with repeatable discipline If this episode moved you, don't just listen. Do something about it. Sign up. Show up. Do the work. Spartan.com. No more excuses. Jonathan Milkovich is a military veteran who struggled deeply after transitioning out of service, losing the structure, identity, and sense of purpose that once defined his daily life. Through endurance racing, he rebuilt discipline, clarity, and self-belief, discovering that physical challenge could become a pathway back to meaning. That journey led him to found Operation WarriorFit, centered on purpose after service, discipline through fitness, and rebuilding identity through shared challenge. Connect to Jonathan: Website: https://www.operationwarriorfit.com/new-page-1 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/milkovichjonathan/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Operation-WarriorFit-61569077765518 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathangmilkovich
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    20 mins
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