Discipline Is Not Suffering: JD Tremblay’s System for Peak Performance

by, LaMont Leavitt
May 18, 2026

About This Blog

JD Tremblay grew up in a household where healthy habits were not part of the routine. His parents divorced when he was young, and at 17 he traded that environment for another one with its own rulebook. He joined the Canadian Armed Forces. Over a decade in uniform taught him something he did not expect. The military did not teach him discipline. It taught him structure and systems to achieve it. When he left, he enrolled at Western University for a biomedical engineering degree because he wanted to understand the human body the way an engineer understands a machine. People told him the math and biology he was studying would never come up again in real life. He wanted to find out.

In this episode of Fountain of Vitality, host LaMont Leavitt sits down with JD Tremblay, Director of High Performance and Mental Resilience at Hungry Warrior Academy and one of three people in the world to finish the Epic Deca. They cover engineering applied to physiology, the BRAIN system for output, why discipline gets defined wrong, and how a slower pace builds speed.

Engineering Meets Naturopathy

After Western University, JD enrolled in a naturopathy program. The reasoning was practical. He had spent years studying anatomy, nutrition, and biomedical systems on paper. He wanted to run them in the field. The certification gave him a license to test what he had learned on himself and on the people he coaches.

JD is also an ultra-endurance triathlete. He has competed at the elite level for years and is still doing so as he approaches 40. He calls himself one of three people in the world to finish the Epic Deca.

Ten Ironmans, Six Islands

The Epic Deca is 10 Ironmans in 10 consecutive days, traveling across six Hawaiian islands between stages. One Ironman is 140.6 miles of swimming, biking, and running. Ten Ironmans is 1,406 miles. Co-founded by Rich Roll and built off the Epic Five format, the Deca was created for the event's 10-year anniversary. Six athletes started. Three finished. JD was the youngest at 36, four years before this conversation.

What got him through was the systems mindset. Nutrition, recovery, hydration, electrolytes, and inflammation were not afterthoughts. They were the work.

The BRAIN Framework

At Hungry Warrior Academy, JD uses an acronym he developed: BRAIN. The B is blood chemistry, which includes glucose swings, hydration, and electrolytes. He points out that clear urine is not proof of hydration. It can also mean the kidneys are not absorbing well, or the cells are not taking water in. R is recovery. A is attention. I is inflammation. N is nervous system.

Every category gets calculated separately and weighed against the demand. During the Deca, he ate vegan because he wanted food that moved through his system quickly. He frames it less as a diet and more as a deployment decision.

Eat for a Purpose

JD does not recommend any specific diet. He says diets are restrictive and have not helped most people. The framing he prefers is to eat for a purpose. An aging strength athlete trying to keep lifting heavy eats one way. An endurance athlete trying to clear miles eats differently. The food has to serve the work. The work decides the food.

Training Through Winter

JD lives in Canada and trains through it. His preparation for the Epic Deca included hiking mountains in minus 30 weather, pulling his son in a sled with a homemade harness rig and snowshoes on. The conditions were extreme. His view is that the right equipment, the right coach, and the right training make most of it accessible.

His son did not always want to go. He wanted video games. JD told him no, picked him up, and headed out. The kid would grab a stick and start playing. JD says the time outdoors triggers oxytocin from shared physical effort, and it is one of the better gifts he can give the next generation.

Discipline as Non-Negotiable

Most people define discipline as doing something they hate for long enough that it counts. JD rejects that. He says discipline framed as suffering is not building anything sustainable. The better entry point is finding the one non-negotiable you actually enjoy.

For him, that is fitness. For someone else, it is cooking, or walking, or reading. The point is to pick something you will do every day inside the 24-hour window you are awake. That non-negotiable becomes the proof point. Once you have it, the discipline trickles into the rest of your life.

Slow Builds Speed

JD spent time in Kenya training with Kenyan distance runners, who are some of the best in the world. He noticed something most amateur athletes miss. The Kenyans were not running fast most of the time. They were running slow. That slow pace, repeated, became their new fast. The slow stayed slow for them. The faster zone built itself underneath.

He calls this zone one training. The test is being able to hold a conversation while moving. For a non-athlete it looks like walking. For an athlete, it looks like a slow jog. Performance is not always being on. It is recovering well enough to be on when it counts.

Training Around Injury

JD draws a line between pain and injury. Pain is the body protesting load. Injury is something that needs rest. Athletes who keep pushing through actual injury create longer setbacks. The fix is cross-training and low-impact substitution. A hurt knee can still swim. A bad back can still aqua jog. A stationary trainer keeps the legs turning over without road impact.

The discipline of staying healthy is the same as the discipline of training. Both come from listening to the system you are running.

Hungry Warrior Academy

JD's work at the Academy is currently focused on men. Executives and elite athletes have been the regulars. A cohort starting soon will be led by a former Navy SEAL with more than 10 years in the teams. The company has a speaking engagement in California at the end of October, and they are moving more revenue into philanthropic work for children.

JD's framing of the mission stays the same. The work is not about living the longest life. It is about living the life you want to achieve.

Key Takeaways

Discipline is not suffering. It is finding the non-negotiable you enjoy.
Diets are restrictive. Eat for a purpose that fits the work.
BRAIN covers blood chemistry, recovery, attention, inflammation, and the nervous system.
Clear urine does not always equal hydration. The cells have to take water in.
Cold weather is not the blocker. Equipment, coaching, and training fill the gap.
Slow training is what makes the faster paces possible.
Pain is normal. Injury is different. The two need different responses.
Cross-training keeps the work going when one system needs rest.
Outdoor time with your kids is a long-term gift, even when they want screens.
Performance is not always being on. It is being on when it counts.

New episodes of Fountain of Vitality drop weekly. Subscribe wherever you listen, share the show with someone working on their own performance, and leave a review to help the show reach more listeners.

GUEST BIO

JD Tremblay is Director of High Performance and Mental Resilience at Hungry Warrior Academy, a Canadian military veteran, integrated engineer, certified naturopath, and ultra-endurance triathlete. He is one of three people in the world to complete the EpicDeca, 10 Ironmans in 10 days across six Hawaiian islands. He is the author of the best-selling book Hunger For More in Life and Vice Chair of the Canadian International Ice Swimming Association.

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