Stew Smith Fitness News

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...

 Get Ready to Level Up Your Training with Seasonal Tactical Fitness Periodization! Training With the Seasons - Get Used to It If Your Job is Outdoors By the end of the summer, the calisthenics and cardio programming take their toll on you. Many are mentally ready to transition into more lifting, but are they physically ready to move on?  We assess after each season and will continue for an extra 3-4 weeks before transitioning to a new training phase or moving on to the next phase. How do you determine this? ASSESS YOURSELF.  Because if you are not assessing - you are only guessing. Here is...

Trust the Process...But Verify / Assess Regularly  If you plan to challenge yourself by attending any Special Ops program selection course, you likely are training hard just to get accepted into the training. If you are wise, you are focusing on the both phases of tactical training (getting to and THROUGH the training), then you likely have been on this journey for quite some time. Here are some questions:Do you trust your efforts each day? Consistency? Sleep? Nutrition? Did you push your perceived limits? Intensity? Do you see the results toward your goal / timeline?  Are you patient and trusting the process? ...