Don Tran is a former special operations Marine, and is the co-founder of Deep End Fitness. Prior to joining the MARSOC, or Marine Special Operations Command, community, Don was a water survival instructor, where he first began learning the skills that he developed over his career and brought to Deep End Fitness. 

Don was also a JTAC - a Joint Tactical Attack Controller, which is a specialty within US SOCOM that involves the coordination of combat aircraft in close support of ground operations.  

He finished his time as a Marine Raider in a leadership role as a team operations chief and spent additional time at 4th Force Reconnaissance Company before leaving active duty in 2018. 

From there, he shifted full time into his work at Deep End Fitness, where he and his team teach physical fitness and water confidence, integrating the training methods he learned and developed as a maritime special operator. 

At BTE, we’re big fans of the work that Don and his crew are doing at Deep End Fitness, and we encourage our clients to train at their facilities for in-person coaching on the critical skills in the water that they’ll need to excel in their selection courses. The concepts that they’re teaching have been at the heart of maritime special operations culture for a long time, and it’s great to see those benefits becoming more mainstream and reaching not just other competitive athletes, but people from all walks of life seeking to become more fit while learning to better understand and manage their bodies and stress responses.  

Deep End Fitness:

www.DeepEndFitness.com

https://www.instagram.com/deependfitness/

Time Stamps:

00:00:22 Intro to Don Tran

00:01:58 Don's Career Overview

00:02:45 Water Survival Instructor

00:05:26 Marine Raider

00:08:56 Advice For Someone Becoming a Raider

00:10:15 Attributes Don Struggled With

00:12:51 Selection Courses

00:19:47 Underwater Football League

00:22:51 Stresses of a Career as a Raider

00:24:58 Getting out of the Military

00:27:07 Deep End Fitness

00:29:23 How to Explain the Concept of DEF

00:32:32 MMA Fighters and NFL Players at DEF

00:36:10 Training Methodology

00:41:01 Manage Baseline Anxiety

00:43:33 Fear Vs Anxiety

00:44:45 Water: The Great Equalizer

00:47:37 Basic Safety Guardrails

00:50:01 In-Water Safety

00:52:45 Don’t Panic Don’t Drown

00:54:42 Firefighters

00:55:11 Find Deep End Fitness

00:55:50 Outro