Nick Umble spent 20 years in Special Forces before walking off a military base and onto a college football field. Now he's competing at the national level in strongman — including top-ten finishes at Masters Nationals and the Arnold Masters Strongman World Championships — and building Sentinel Strength. This episode covers nutrition, identity, competition, coaching culture, and what happens when someone tells a Special Forces veteran he can't do something.

Nick Umble is a retired U.S. Army Special Forces veteran with a 20-year military career, including 14 years in 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne). Throughout his service, he led teams and supported high-risk operations in complex and demanding environments.

After leaving the military, Nick pursued college football before transitioning into government contracting. Over the past five years, he has focused on competitive strongman, qualifying for national-level competitions multiple times and earning top-ten finishes at Masters Nationals and the Arnold Masters Strongman World Championships.

He is the founder of Sentinel Strength, where he applies lessons from Special Operations, athletics, and competition to performance, discipline, and resilience.

• Understand that "I eat pretty clean" is almost never true — if the results aren't there, the diet isn't what you think it is
• Hire professionals for what you don't know — a nutritionist found what Nick couldn't find on his own, and it changed everything
• Know your constraints and variables — influence the variables relentlessly, accept what you can't change
• Don't wait for command to be the difference — coaches and leaders at every level can build culture from the bottom up
• Play the long game — cultural change in large organizations takes decades, not months. Think of yourself as a plank holder.
• Compete at something — structured competition gives purpose, identity, and a reason to train that transcends the gym
• When someone tells you that you can't, let "watch me" be the answer — the human body and psyche are capable of far more than others project onto you
• Strongman is more accessible than it looks — if you can squat, deadlift, and carry heavy things, you have a starting point
• Community matters in training — the culture Nate and the Thor staff built left a mark that Nick still talks about years later

Sentinel Strength - https://www.youtube.com/@SentinelStrength

Spiceology Derek Wolf Maple Bourbon seasoning — spiceology.com

Arnold Masters Strongman World Championships - https://strength.events/2026-arnold-masters/

UHP (University of Human Performance) - https://uhp.com

Ben Seims brings two decades of health and human performance experience, 24 years of Army National Guard service, and a nursing career to a conversation that goes far deeper than his credentials. In the most honest episodes yet, Ben shares a story of homelessness, multiple suicide attempts, and the long road to finding peace.

Ben Seims currently works with the Consortium for Health and Military Performance. He has over 20 years of Health and Human Performance coaching, education, and executive experience with a focus on Tactical Performance and Resiliency.

He was career Army National Guard with over 24 years of service. He spent 10 years in the Infantry with a final position of Squad Leader, 14 years in the Nurse Corps, then served as Holistic Health and Fitness Director of Education at the National Guard Professional Education Center.

Ben completed one combat deployment during OIF II, and several training missions to Thailand for Cobra Gold and Hanuman Guardian medical exercise serving as an AMEDD representative for the Washington National Guard's State Partnership Program with the Kingdom of Thailand.

He was also a civilian nurse for over 17 years, with over 23 years of experience in long term care, acute care hospital, and home health settings.

• Recognize that dragging a second boat behind you as an escape plan prevents you from fully fixing the one you're on
• Understand that clarity — while powerful — is painful, because you can finally see everything you did and can't undo it
• Accept that there is no certificate of arrival — health, recovery, and growth are a relentless pursuit with no finish line
• Build your merry band — the right people around you will literally save your life
• Give yourself grace — veterans carry disproportionate guilt and shame, and grace is not weakness
• Feel what happens when you stop doing the work — Ben can feel it when he misses counseling, bike rides, meditation, breath work. The work is the thing.
• Share your story — you never know who you're going to impact or whose life you might save
• Find your spiritual core — without purpose and vitality at the center, even a physically healthy person is floating alone in space
• Engage to disengage — there's more power in choosing not to win an argument than there ever was in winning it
• Nature is non-negotiable — some of the best moments of your life have happened outside, and no photo does them justice

Mission Resilience San Antonio

JD Mata shares how he applies his diverse professional and educational backgrounds to affect positive change in the humans he coaches and counsels. He reveals how discomfort experienced by physical training is actually a source of comfort for him compared to stepping back and letting others take the lead on occasion.

About JD Mata

JD Mata is a 10-year United States Air Force veteran with multiple deployments supporting Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom, as well as Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa. During his time in the military, he trained airmen and soldiers in small unit tactics, firearms proficiency, integrated defense, active shooter response, nuclear security operations, close-air support, detainee handling, and convoy operations. Following his honorable discharge in 2014, he has been involved in Strength & Conditioning as a coach and human performance researcher in the military, law-enforcement, college, pro, and Olympic sport communities, resulting in multiple peer-reviewed scientific journal articles. Over that time, JD has amassed 20 years of experience in the general and specific development of tactical and athletic skills that contribute to success and survivability in competition and in life. Now pursuing a second master’s degree to become a licensed psychotherapist, JD is exploring the interconnection between childhood adversity, lifestyle, and resilience in special operations personnel.