Stew Smith Fitness News

Comments From People Who Do The Work  At StewSmithFitness.com there are many programs that people use with the goal of reaching a specific physical fitness goal.  But somewhere along the way, they also build a habit of fitness, mental toughness, and have found a proven method to reach a particular goal.  These comments and shared by a wide variety of people unsolicited by us.  We wanted to share them because they are inspirational for whatever challenge you have in front of you:  Thanks for the testimonials over the years. Thanks for Sharing: People who use these programs like the Navy...

You Are Either Assessing or Guessing - Don't Leave Anything Up to Chance / Hope When it comes to tactical fitness training as well as preparation as you transition in the profession, learning to get "good at everything" vs "great at one thing" to the detriment of other elements of fitness is technically the difference between the tactical athlete and the athlete involved in sports or competition.  Sample Assessment Tool Here is an assessment tool that was created for the type of military special ops training as seen in Navy SEAL Training complete with the PST to get TO THE TRAINING as...

How Many Have Heard the Phrase, "It's a Running-man's Game"When It Comes to Selection Training? Photo by D. McBurnett @mcteams3842 instagram Over the years (since the 80s) I have heard this statement about SEAL Training. After experiencing it in the early 90s, I can say that the group that could run well did not have to worry about the class runs, nor the weekly 4 mile timed run on the beach. For those of us whose weekly game face was put on during the 4 mile timed run, we definitely agreed that BUD/S was a running man's game. Not having to...

Who's Ready for a Winter Lift Cycle? There are many options on how to integrate strength training into your tactical fitness training program - see Seasonal Tactical Fitness Periodization.  We focus mainly in the Winter with what we call the Winter Lift Cycle, but the goal is to also maintain the cardio and muscle stamina gains we have created from the Spring / Summer Cals / Cardio Cycle. So, it is not your normal life cycle. Increase Strength and Crush the PST / IFT(Latest Program) The recent Winter Lift Cycle has seen many improvements in strength as well as the PST...

Why Tactical Fitness is Built Different,But Similar in Many Ways Too... I recently received a fantastic email from a career firefighter about tactical fitness training.  It was so good I asked him if I could share his 25 years of experience with others seeking (or currently serving) in the tactical professions.  This email applies to all tactical athletes - not just fire fighters,  wildland firefighters and smoke jumpers:  Check out some of the reasons why we train the way we do, using seasonal cycles, and a wide variety of cardio, calisthenics, weights, and more.  From my friend and longtime user...