Stew Smith Fitness News

Growing Pains - Growth Does Not Occur in Comfort Zones Face it.  Growing is not easy.  Whether you are a young kid experience the nightly pains of actually growing, or you are an adult working hard to improve your chances of becoming bigger, stronger, faster, smarter, or just a better person overall, growth requires moving out of the comfort zone.  Here Is a List of What You Need for Growth: Be Fearless - You need to go fearlessly head first toward your goal. Remember, we all start out as beginners no matter what journey we are on, but after some...

New Year - New Habits! Though I think there is nothing wrong with the tired slogan "New Year - New You" it is one of those overused "motivational phrases" you may see with people in the fitness business. I am not a "resolution" fan either as that word pops up in our vocabulary once a year and only lasts about 3 weeks and the term disappears - much like most people's attendance in the gym.  Why Do Most New Year's Resolution Fail?  To avoid being a resolution maker that does not create the "new you" consider a few of the...

When Your Training Goals Are Taking You in the Wrong Direction Quite often, athletes who decide to take the path of becoming a member of the tactical population (military, police, fire, spec ops), they have a history of training a certain way.  Most tend to continue their previous training models that focus on improvement in a few of the elements of fitness. This can leave a few important elements of fitness underdeveloped in a tactical world as the tactical athlete needs to be good at ALL the elements of fitness. This means, strength / power, speed / agility, cardio conditioning...

Phase 2 Of Tactical Fitness: Completing Training / Selection And Never Thinking About Quitting Or Worrying About Failing The Standard If you have read much of my writings or listened to my Tactical Fitness Report Podcast, you might have heard me talking about training to get TO and THROUGH the training.  This is a short way to describe phase 1 and phase 2 of tactical fitness training and preparation for candidates, recruits and students either seeking to enter or complete their prospective tactical training (boot camp, basic, academy, or spec ops selection). Everyone who starts this journey wants to graduate...

Weight Vest Wednesday - Leg Day See below for one of my favorite ways to mix in a calisthenics / KB workout with a weight vest for an added challenge: Squat Pyramid 1-10: (25m runs / rucks with weight vest 30-40lbs)1 squat, run 25m, 2 squats 25m, 3 squats 25m...up to 10 (stop at 10) Repeat again but up/down stairs in between each set of pyramid 1-10: (1 squat, up/down flight of stairs, 2 squats, up/down...up to 10) Repeat 3 timesKB Romanian Dead lift 10KB swings 20 Repeat 3 timesWV Farmer walk up.down stairs 3x or 100m (with KB in 1...