SIGNED, SEALED, AND … DETERMINED

SOON AFTER KNOWING he wanted to serve as a Navy SEAL, Corbin Cornelison watched a documentary about the special operations force and got his hands on a SEALs book at the local bookstore. He also rented the movie Navy SEALs, starring Charlie Sheen, and figured he’d better start getting in tip-top shape, so he grabbed a stopwatch and ran a mile in six minutes flat.

Cornelison was 13.

“I ditched all sports and decided I would concentrate only on ROTC and its military skills team at my high school,” recalls the 42-year-old Cornelison, a native of Huntsville, Alabama, and a 1999 Grissom High School graduate. “I’d asked my father (the late Bobby Cornelison), ‘Who are the toughest warriors in the military?’ Without hesitation, he said, ‘Navy SEALs.’”

“From that day forward, I was obsessed with becoming a Navy SEAL. I felt called to be a warrior and to protect those who cannot protect themselves. I was all in, all about being on the front line. I read the book (SEAL! by Michael Walsh and Greg Walker) and found a couple of Navy SEAL exercise books in our town’s bookstore and took notes on a notepad. Then I’d dog-ear a page, hide the book behind other books so nobody would buy it, and return the next day to read where I left off and take more notes.”

Cornelison—whose decorated military career spanned 1999 to 2022 and included stops at Okinawa Japan, Camp Lejeune (Jacksonville, North Carolina) and Naval Station Great Lakes and a combined six tours of duty in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Southeast Asia—is as resolved and laser-focused in the second chapter of his adulthood as he was as an ROTC Cadet Private, an elite Reconnaissance Marine, a Marine Scout Sniper, and a Navy SEAL operator.

The 6-foot, 195-pounder recently launched Optimal Readiness, which provides strategies for performance optimization through comprehensive physical fitness programs, mental skills training, and online performance coaching to assist clients in becoming the best version of themselves.

A certified trainer, Corrective Exercise specialist, and Performance Enhancement specialist, the mixed-martialarts- fit Cornelison instructs and inspires clients ranging from middle-school students to senior citizens online and at Lake Forest Recreation Center. He’s also affiliated with The Farm System, a Lake Bluff-based sports organization built on helping athletes grow into their full potential on and off the playing fields.

“Mentoring, teaching, and coaching appealed to me when I was a Navy SEAL, and the collective sense of purpose and identity I developed through those opportunities is still a major part of me,” says Cornelison, who had held numerous instructor positions and leadership roles in his military career, including an integral role in the Warrior Toughness Program, a Navy-wide human performance initiative arming enlisted sailors and junior officers with the tools needed to perform their duties and responsibilities under stress.

“As a performance coach, I’ve worked with some wonderful people—people I consider friends. I’m helping folks mitigate stress. I’m helping young athletes reach the next level in their sport. I write a lot of training programs, challenging ones, and what I love to hear is, ‘During the week, there’s nothing I look forward to more than my training sessions with you.’”

Cornelison lives in Bristol, Wisconsin, with his wife, special education teacher and Deerfield High School graduate Stephanie, and their two children: Jax, 14, and Charlotte, The couple got married 19 years ago and lived in Santee, California, for 16 years.

“My family is huge in my life, my No. 1 responsibility; it’s also the main reason I retired,” says Cornelison, who earned an Organized Leadership degree from Charleston University in West Virginia. “My son was an infant when I returned home between tours. I’d just been through a violent combat deployment. Had to be all in over there. But, initially, I wasn’t all in as a new father. My wife told me, ‘I need you to be present for your son when you’re home.’ She was right. What I soon realized was, if I’m the best Navy SEAL but not the best husband and father, that’s failure.

“Fatherhood has been incredibly rewarding,” he adds. “Seeing my kids develop attributes of a good human being and demonstrate strong character has been such a blessing.”

His unwavering faith has anchored him since he was 17.

“I surrendered my life to Christ a year before I enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps,” says Cornelison, who, as a teenager, trained for jungle warfare for 18 months in Okinawa, Japan. “He kept me centered then; He keeps me centered now. My faith is the foundation of my life, and it helped me find balance in life. Each morning I enter a walk-in closet at home and pray and read scripture. Later, I complete a workout regimen and write training content. Mind, body, spirit—I exercise all three, every day.”

Sharp mind, conditioned body, strong spirit.

“No matter what it is you choose to do in life, your foundation for excellence is built upon the caliber of those three aspects,” he says. “My calling now is to deliver a proven blueprint to help others become the best version of themselves regardless of their current fitness level.”

For more information about Optimal Readiness, visit optimalreadiness.com.