Stew Smith Fitness News

To Add the Breaststroke Pullout to the CSS or Take It Out? It Depends...  For many years, I have been learning how to best coach the Combat Swimmer Stroke (CSS) to non-swimming athletes, primarily those preparing for a career in any military special ops programs involving diving or combat swimming. I have always taught the breaststroke pullout as a way to kick off the wall; however, many candidates have difficulty adding it to the 500-yard swim test of the Navy PST (SEAL, SWCC, EOD/Diver, SARC). I am now teaching to do the Navy PST WITHOUT the pullout as an option if you...

Don't Short-Sight Your Spec Ops Preparation or You May Be Another Attrition Statistic Photo by D McBurnett - www.dmcburnett.com or McTeams3842 It is no secret that attrition rates are historically high among the Special Ops units across the military and SWAT Teams. Becoming a tactical athlete is a requirement for any tactical profession, as the job tends to be physically demanding, and the members are placed in dangerous situations. Life-or-death situations are common in the tactical professions (military, police, firefighters, EMT), and your fitness level may be THE determining factor in someone (or you) living or dying. So, fitness and your ability...

Where Many Spec Ops Candidates Fail to Go Before I go down this rabbit hole, I will explain where I heard this comment. An older candidate gave his opinion to a younger candidate when asked, "How are you crushing everything like you do?" The new guy is still in his teens, played sports in high school, and is preparing for the Navy SEAL program. The "older guy" is 23 years old, spent his high school years playing multiple sports, and continued wrestling through college. During the off-season, he practiced swimming, treading, and getting comfortable in the water. My involvement with the...

Coaching the CSS The Combat Side Stroke (CSS) has evolved from the side stroke to the modified side stroke. It is still an underwater recovery stroke, which is the Navy Physical Screening Test rule used to screen potential recruits for SEAL, SWCC, EOD/Diver, and Special Amphibious Reconnaissance Corpsman (SARC). The CSS has some more efficient features.  Recently, a swimming coach joined a coaching session with me, teaching about 20 members of the Navy how to learn the stroke. Yes, there is a difference between the CSS and elementary side stroke (see both side by side). Some of the coaching cues...

 Put More Effort Into Your Career Goal Questions - And Do NOT Ask These Questions Anymore... Time to Grow Up & Get to Work Answering questions is something I have been doing for decades now. I get hundreds of them a day through email and social media messages. I have written over 1000 articles (easily found) based on these questions received over the years.  So, I appreciate your questions. However, I see some questions consistently year after year as a new group of people ages into and chooses to serve in the military, police, firefighter, and special ops programs. Even...