Stew Smith Fitness News

Tactical Fitness Training: Old School vs New School?  Is That a Thing? I guess when you have been in the business of working out and writing about it for over 20 years, there is an "old school" moniker that can get attached to you - especially by the generation that was not out of diapers when I started writing about military, law enforcement, and fire fighting training programs. Regardless no plan (old or new) will work if you don't!  But things have changed in the world of tactical fitness training - the name "tactical fitness" is one of many: 1...

- The Importance of Fitness - What do you want out of it?   Do you want... to be healthier?   to live longer?   to look better?   to feel better?   to lose / gain weight?   to perform better at sports / athletic events?   to sleep better?   to be less moody?   to be more energetic?    to run faster / longer?   to swim faster / longer?   to ruck faster / longer?   to have more endurance / stamina?   to get stronger?   to be more powerful?   to be more agile?  ...

The past decade I created a habit at the end of the day to do a few minutes of stretching.  Some days require more movement and stretching than others depending on the activity completed earlier. One of my best creations since I turned 40 was the Mobility Day - it is life changing - not only for guys like me who still like to get after it, but the younger tactical / spec ops candidate has seen big results in performance after taking a mobility day late into the work week (typically Thursday).  This makes Friday and Saturday workouts much...

Which workout will yield the best results for military fitness tests? Personally, I think a variety is best; however, there are a few groups that will benefit from one of my three classic week of military PT workouts that I recommend more than the others. PT Pyramid, the Super Set, and the Max Rep Set Workout As you recall the classic military PT week includes a PT pyramid, a Superset and a max rep set workout.  Each have a place in training programs - see Military.com article below for the answers to why they all work - but differently depending on...

One Month PST Challenge - Kill the PST in Four Weeks - With the way I set up my Seasonal Tactical Fitness Periodization Cycle, we tend to peak on the PST scores by September of every year (this is adjustable however).  When I first created this nearly 20 years ago, it was when people were preparing to take their PST in order to get accepted and become a competitive applicant for Spec Ops programs. You only had one chance if you were at the Naval Academy (typically this was September) and the enlisted route was similar as you did not...