 | | In today's edition, Joe shares: - What a 105-year-old veteran taught him about real fitness
- Why "healthy" doesn't mean soft
- A call to get outside
| | Spartans!
This edition is dedicated to Floyd Van Alstyne (1920–2025), who lived and worked harder than most of us ever will.
Joe here, writing this week from Miami, Florida.
My friend Floyd passed away last month at the age of 105. He was a World War II veteran who served with the 389th Port Battalion and fought through the brutal Allied landing at Salerno and the Battle of Anzio. When he came home, he bought a farm in East Barnard, Vermont, and never stopped working. He raised a family. He ran a sawmill. He operated bulldozers, cleared trails, built ponds, sugared trees, logged forests, and stayed strong through rain, snow, and heat.
Floyd loved to tell stories, and he had many. He never met a stranger, just someone he hadn't connected with yet. He once met a man buying lumber and discovered they'd both crossed the Atlantic on the same WWII ship. That's who Floyd was. He didn't just live through history, he built community. He helped start the Broad Brook Fire Department in the 1950s, and for decades, he showed up for his neighbors the same way he showed up for his country: without hesitation..
105 years is not luck, it's discipline. He'd agree with me, "Get your fingernails dirty every day." That's what creates a legacy.
He didn't stretch on soft rubber mats, or workout under bright fluorescent lights designed for Instagram. Box jumps and SkiErgs are cool, but he simply lived hard, every day, for over a century.
Somewhere along the way, we started confusing movement with effort. We chase looks harder than we chase real physical and mental growth. We plan the perfect workout, obsess over optimization, and somehow forget the most important part: stepping outside and just doing the hard work.
This week, I ask you to train like Floyd lived. - Get outdoors.
- Carry something heavy.
- Skip the playlist and the mirror.
- Sweat like your life depends on it, because one day, it will.
Floyd's graveside service is this Sunday, June 8th. If you want to honor a life well lived, then move. Lift. Suffer. Serve.
The world needs more old-fashioned grit. We need more people like Floyd.
With respect,
Joe | | | TRAINING OLYMPIANS IN THE MUD | Olympic wrestling coach Noel Thompson once sent some of his athletes to train with me. I didn't take them to a gym -I dropped them on the side of a Vermont road in the freezing rain, 10 miles from the farm. No warm-up, just a long way to the unknown. That weekend they chopped wood in the mud, hauled sandbags, and rolled a 300lb spool up the mountain. I was testing their will, because champions are forged in chaos, not in comfort.
More stories here: Spartan Up! by Joe De Sena. | | | You Ask, Joe Answers | Q: "Joe, what's your definition of real fitness?"
- Tara M.
A: Tough one, but it's definitely not about abs or aesthetics. Real fitness means you can carry your kid, drag someone out of a ditch, haul firewood in the rain, and still show up the next day. It means you're useful. Hard to kill
Aroo!
Question for Joe? Want to tell him what you think of The Hard Way? Email him at thehardway@spartan.com. | | | | They Said It | | "Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one." | | – Marcus Aurelius | | | ➝The Hard Way Podcast with Joe | | | 93 DAYS TO SURVIVE OR DIE | | | | In this episode, Joe De Sena sits down with Jessica Buchanan, a humanitarian worker who was kidnapped in Somalia and held hostage for 93 harrowing days. | | | | | | ➝Watch The Latest Hard Way Video | | | SPARTAN TEAM SHOWDOWN | | In 2017, the day after the Beast World Championship, 26 national teams went head to head in the first ever Spartan Team World Championship. This wasn't just about speed or strength. It was about trust, grit, and unity. | | | | | | To keep receiving this newsletter, sign up here. | | | WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS NEWSLETTER? | | |
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