Are You Sabotaging Your Success? Discover How Exercise Can Transform Your Professional Life I recently was reading about the fictional index fund called the Deadlift ETF. Simply put, the “managers” of this fund selected its holdings based solely on the fact that the CEO lifts heavy weights. It should not surprise you when you see the companies below that they would outperform the market, but the common denominator is the CEO is very physically active: Amazon, Apple, Blackrock, NVIDIA, Uber, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, and Meta are all on the Deadlift ETF that would outperform the S&P by 2 ..read more

These Swimming Issues Should Be Avoided  Don't start adding things you think might be a good idea to your CSS stroke. Most of my video critiques found on my Instagram reels (@stewsmith50), TikTok (@stewsmith50), and YouTube (StewSmith182) are corrected errors. Take a video of you swimming and compare to any of these videos. Looking over hundreds of these, I found the following things I correct the most. DO NOT do these 10 things if you want to swim your best time.  - no extra flutter kicks. Just glide - Remember 1 kick per stroke. Pull-Breathe-Kick Glide.  - no extra double arm ..read more

There is More to StewSmithFitness.com Than You May Know Quick Summary: You can always email Stew Smith if you have questions (Stew@stewsmith.com) FREE Fitness / Mindset Articles and Workouts - Latest info on training for any goal! (over 1000) eBooks, Books and eBooks in PRINT (over 40 options) Spec Ops Swim Critiques on social media - YouTube, TikTok, Instagram Live QA / CSS Critiques Mon / Tues 9am (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram) Podcasts (over 200) Stew Smith Fitness APPs - Triad version, Pushup Push APP, Pullup Push APP, FBI workou ..read more

DUDE - You are NOT in Swimming Shape You may be able to run or ruck for days or play high speed sports, but when you are new to swimming - stand by.  It takes time to first learn the technique and then get into swimming shape - maybe months.  Every week a new athlete joins my local training group seeking to improve his/her PST scores.  We teach the basic Combat Swimmer Stroke and fix the typical (any not so typical) errors with this military / spec ops swim stroke.  For consistency purposes, I am speaking about a 25 yd pool per length, 50yds per lap, 10 laps equals 500yds ..read more

Military, Police, Fire Fighters… Learn to Treat Yourself Like an Athlete Back in the 90’s, before there were terms like “tactical fitness” or “tactical athlete”, I remember stating that one of the biggest problems in the public service (tactical) communities is few consider themselves athletes, nor do they come close to treating their bodies like an athlete would. Obviously, you do not have to be an athlete when serving your country or community. However, taking care of your health, wellness, and ensuring your physical abilities are up to being able to do your job and successfully recover from ..read more

While you’re busy striving for success, the lessons lurking in your failures are quietly shaping your journey. Experience, as they say, is the best teacher. Of course, there's an ironic twist to this adage. You see, it usually doesn't let you in on the lesson until after you’ve failed miserably. As Oscar Wilde wisely pointed out, this teacher is a bit of a trickster; it hands you the test first and the lesson afterward.  "Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test first and the lesson afterward" So, what do you do with this delightful truth? Whether you stumb ..read more

 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. High reps and high mileage is not easy to maintain for much longer periods of time. This is why we start to make a change. 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 tr ..read more

The Dilemma: Pushing Through a Workout When Fatigued or Taking a Recovery Day  Like most people who like to train hard for challenging competitions or selection programs, one thing that maybe holding you back is pushing too hard when pulling back may be the answer. Quick answer - I usually let my 15-20 minute warmup be the assessment to how the rest of the workout goes. If you feel good after the warmup, give it a go. If the warmup did not work, consider pulling back on time, intensity, and overall effort. Maybe move the mobility day to this day or add an additional mobility day to ..read more

Stew Smith   and Jeff Nichols discuss (TFR 240) what being fatigue resistant is and how to build it. Check out the wide spectrum of ways to build it and how to feed it throughout all the phases of tactical fitness and special ops selection prep. What is Fatigue Resistance? Defined by the Google Machine - "Fatigue resistance is the body's ability to resist developing fatigue. It's related to factors that can improve endurance in specific situations, such as stress due to heat, metabolism, and cardiovascular demand. Fatigue resistance is genetically linked to muscle fiber type. P ..read more

To Add the Flutter-kicks to the CSS or Not? Opinion - Yes with fins - No without fins.  See recent critique show testing the flutter-kick option in a swimming athlete who is great at flutter-kicking. Teaching the CSS For many years, I have been learning how to best coach the Combat Swimmer Stroke (CSS) mainly to non-swimming athletes. Those who need to master this stroke are primarily those preparing for a career in any military special ops programs involving diving or combat swimming. I have always taught doing the CSS without extra flutter-kicks for a reason ..read more