Ep. 19: Ian Schinelli - Becoming a Navy SEAL and the Importance of Mental Resilience

In Pursuit

MeatEater

Wilderness, Science, Life Sciences, Health & Fitness, Sports

4.9 • 6.8K Ratings

🗓️ 18 December 2025

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Join Rich Froning as he sits down with former Navy SEAL Ian Schinelli for a deep dive into preparation, pressure, and what it takes to stay ready when it matters. From marathon and swim events for the SEAL Foundation to the realities of SEAL training, Ian breaks down how running, swimming, and thousands of reps built the foundation he needed long before stepping into BUD/S. He explains the shock of Hell Week, the mindset that keeps you from quitting, and why controlling your head is more important than controlling your body.

The conversation turns to shared suffering—how CrossFit, hunting, and even long mountain days create the same kind of bond Ian found in the military. He and Rich talk about balancing training with real life, why community makes hard things possible, and what happens to your calm under pressure when the chaos hits.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an I-Heart podcast.
0:02.5	Guaranteed Human.
0:05.9	This season on Blood Trails, each story begins with a hunter stepping into the wild, but not all of them come back.
0:13.4	I'm Jordan Sillers, a journalist with over a decade of experience investigating stories about hunting, fishing, guns, and crime.
0:20.6	Join me as we track the truth through
0:22.1	tangled cover and cold case files, where every trail tells a story, and every story leaves
0:27.8	its own trail of blood. Blood trails. Listen now on Spotify. I mean, I was so focused on, like,
0:36.5	I don't care what anybody tells me to do.
0:38.9	I don't care what you want to do.
0:40.3	This is what I'm doing every day until I get asked to go leave.
0:43.8	Like, you know, the Navy's going to like, hey, you're in now.
0:47.1	But I ran so much.
0:50.0	I swam so much that when I got in, I knew that my times were faster than what they expected on the high end.
0:57.4	I was like, I'm going to beat the fastest times that they want us to do
1:00.0	so that I know when I'm just exhausted,
1:04.1	that that way my body will still be able to do it.
1:06.2	So I knew when I got in, I'll be prepared, but you're still in a shock.
1:09.5	And you get there, you're like, holy shit, dude, this is rough.
1:14.9	Out here, the stakes are real.
1:18.0	Effective preparation starts with fitness, but it requires so much more.
1:23.0	This show explores the tools, knowledge, resilience, and skills needed to be ready when it matters the most.
1:30.1	Join me, Rich Broning, as we apply the decades of wisdom I have gained through training and competition to hunting in the backcountry.
	...

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