The Choice That Built a Bomb‑Suit Warrior Mindset

The Hard Way With Joe De Sena

Spartan Races

Fitness, Education, Self-improvement, Alternative Health, Health & Fitness, 792700

4.7 • 870 Ratings

🗓️ 2 December 2025

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

She grew up with no roadmap, no support, and no clear path forward. One pull-up changed everything, leading her into the Army and a career in explosive ordnance disposal. Twelve years later, Kaitlyn Hernandez built a life defined by discipline, resilience, and service. She shares how daily discomfort, purpose, and small hard choices shaped her mindset, helping her run a bomb-suit mile, set a world record, and tackle some of the military's toughest challenges.

3 Key Learnings:

Small daily challenges build discipline, mental toughness, and high-stakes performance
Leaning into discomfort strengthens resilience, focus, and decision-making
Purpose, service, and consistent action create long-term endurance and growth

3 Tools / Frameworks:

Controlled discomfort protocols: rucking, cold exposure, physical stress
CNS reset through structured challenges
Mindset reframing: "I get to, not I have to" and "Fix your face" to shift state

Timestamps:

00:51 – Growing up without structure and finding purpose in service

02:27 – Joining the military and discovering direction

04:08 – How she chose the bomb squad and what EOD means

07:48 – What EOD teams do during stateside and presidential missions

09:14 – How bomb suit training works and what "bomb suit dumb" means

10:28 – Breaking the world record and the strategy behind it

12:59 – Running a bomb-suit mile on all seven continents

13:39 – Preparing for the Antarctica mission and raising awareness

18:50 – Her step-by-step advice for building resilience through daily discomfort

Start with one hard thing, lean into discomfort, and build discipline through daily action.

📲 Short, Impactful Content

👉 Instagram: @spartanuppodcast

👉 From me directly: @realjoedesena

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It could be worse. You get to do this and smile through it.
0:04.3	You know, hey, you are more than you seem. Like, go for the uncomfort ability in, like, trying to reach your dreams.
0:13.8	Like, there is, yeah, there's something scary about that.
0:16.8	Spartans, listen up.
0:18.5	We need to sleep better.
0:19.7	How do you sleep better? Never thought about it before.
0:21.6	And so I met Jack.
0:22.6	I met Ascentia.
0:23.6	I had attention to the mattress to sleep on because it's loaded with chemicals.
0:28.6	Recovery, cooling, and pressure relief.
0:31.6	All in one mattress.
0:32.6	Up to 60% more deep and REM sleep.
0:35.6	Less inflammation, faster bounce back. No toxins.
0:40.3	No EMFs. No BS.
0:42.3	My buddy Jack, over at Ascentia, he's kind enough to give us a code for the Spartan community.
0:47.3	That's DECA, that's tough mother of all of us. Use Spartan 25, get a discount, prioritize your sleep,
0:52.3	so you can sleep faster, you can do more burpees,
0:55.9	you can train more, you can get healthier. When you sleep well, you live well.
1:00.1	Joe Descena here, CEO and founder of Spartan, host the Hardway podcast. I got a special one
1:04.4	today. I've got my friend Katie Hernandez. She is active duty army bomb squad. For those of you not watching and listening, you have to get a
1:14.0	look at this woman. She is a supermodel. Does not make any sense to me how she ended up in the bomb squad.
1:19.7	But let's talk about that. When I went away to college, I actually had a recruiter stop me and was like,
	...

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