Stew Smith Fitness News

Goal Setting and Getting Ready for the Long Haul Taking a few minutes to do some blindless scrolling through social media can sometimes entertain you, horrify you, completely waste your time, but on a good day, inspire a thought you would also like to share.  Here is a quote from Russell Brunson who is in the business of helping people sell more products and services. "Some people sign up for the goal, but don't sign up for the discomfort and hard work that comes along with the goal. " - Russell Brunson I have always read more into the life...

Getting THROUGH the Selection / Training: What Really Matters? Obviously fitness is important as there are physical standards that apply to just getting accepted into the tactical professions.  However, the high attrition rate spec ops level programs like BUD/S, SWCC, EOD / Diver, Air Force Spec War, Army Special Forces / Ranger, Marine RECON / MarSOC, and other challenging programs throughout the tactical population, requires much more than just being above average fit.   So, What Really Matters if Fitness is More of a Baseline Necessity?  Did you know there are people who are the fastest at running, rucking, and swimming,...

Weird Names But Fun and Effective Challenges(Push Perceived LImits / Even Tap Into Mental Toughness) One thing these type of workouts do is make you dig deep and ask yourself, how bad do you want to finish this 10 minute test? Expand them to 15 or 20 minutes and you are taking this challenge to the next level. Check out these three fun challenges that sound much tougher than they are.  Anytime someone names a workout and uses the word "death" in it, it has a way of turning people off for some reason. (?) In reality the three rather...

Seasonal Tactical Fitness Periodization Options- Spring / Summer Season Options - Spring and Summer Cycles tend to focus more on calisthenics and cardio with some supplemental lifts placed into the progressive running plan.    2019-2020 Cycle vs 2021 & 2022 Cycle Seasonal Tactical Fitness Periodization vs Seasonal TF Block Periodization The workouts above are similar with a slight difference in the way they supplement adding weight training strength maintenance into a challenging progression of calisthenics, running, swimming, and rucking (aka military cardio).  Both have a steadily progressing mix of calisthenics and running, swimming, and rucking too, but the way the added...

Tactical Groundhog Week = Assessment Week When going from the Winter Lift Cycle when you focused more on strength / power / speed / agility, you should assess yourself as the time toward Spring gets closer and closer. Your scores may justify another 3:1 cycle of lifting depending where your strengths and weaknesses are after such a week of testing.  Here is what we are doing prior to making the switch to Spring / Summer Cals / Cardio / Running Progression Cycle: Day 1:  Your Fitness Test - For instance, the PST / IFT Test (500yd or 500m swim, pullups, pushups,...