I Listen So You Don't Have To: Steve Austin Show Ep. 309

Austin yaks with a Navy SEAL Photo Credit: WWE.com

If you’re new, here’s the rundown. We listen to a handful of wrestling podcasts each week. Too many, probably, though certainly not all of them. In the interest of saving you time — in case you have the restraint to skip certain episodes — the plan is to give the bare bones of a given show and let you decide if it’s worth investing the time to hear the whole thing. There are many wrestling podcasts out there, of course, but this feature largely hews to the regular rotation we feel best fit the category of hit or miss. If we can save other folks some time, we’re happy to do so.

Show: Steve Austin Show
Episode: 309 (March 22, 2016)
Run Time: 1:40:24
Guest: Mark Divine (4:10)

Summary: Austin’s guest this week is Mark Divine, a former U.S. Navy SEAL behind “The Unbeatable Mind” book and podcast as well as the SealFit training program. They discuss his background in finance and how he left that world to become a SEAL. Divine looks at the influence of CrossFit on SEAL training, talks a little about hell week and active duty, as well as what it’s like to try to be a SEAL and family man. He explains why he got into and out of the beer business, then discusses the origin of SealFit and his podcast, book, training methods and the importance of breathing, visualization, meditation and yoga.

Quote of the week:“Everyone has these skills, and everyone can accomplish their goals if they can really just figure out how to manage their mind and their emotions and focus on the right thing. So the skill of breathing, and then eradicating negativity, that’s foundational. That’s first. And to be able to do that, even if you’re going to work on a shop floor or a teacher or something like that, is extremely valuable because you’re able to approach it with a much better attitude, a lot more energy and stay in control during the ups and downs of the day. We all have ’em, right? And whatever crap comes at you, you just stay really controlled and focused, and you don’t let anything bother you so you develop this great resiliency.”

Why you should listen: Are you in need of a motivational speaker and can’t find any good Stuart Smalley or Matt Foley clips online? Mark Divine might be the answer to your prayers. Seriously, if you’re at all into military special forces (the training and qualification process more so than the missions and killing) then this actually is a pretty fascinating interview. Divine is a confident, frank speaker who manages to make matter-of-fact statements about his personal approach to life come across as something that works for him as opposed to shameless evangelism.

Why you should skip it: There’s no reason this interview needed to last almost 90 minutes. A large chunk comes off as little more than an infomercial, and while Austin seems earnestly curious, there’s no shaking the reality that Divine just doesn’t have enough interesting things to say. Once they strayed away from either Divine’s approach to training and SEAL work or his beer business, I checked out hard and fast.

Final thoughts: I lack the enthusiasm to get riled up about this one. It’s probably best if you take a pass, unless you’re super into SEAL stuff. Even then, you probably won’t learn anything you didn’t already know, because you’re already super into it and the discussion isn’t that deep.