Stew Smith
102 episodes listed below
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This is the Tactical Fitness Report with Stew Smith podcast. We will post these each week and discuss a variety of topics focused on Tactical Fitness Training for Military, Special Ops, Police, and Fire Fighting Training. We will also review videos on swimming, give quick power point presentations and discuss all things Tactical Fitness related. Check out other videos of combat swimmer stroke, workouts, and other spec ops related training. See www.stewsmith.com or www.stewsmithfitness.com for more information, training programs, books, ebooks, and online coaching for military, law enforcement, special ops, fire fighting training programs.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Stu Smith connects tactical training with coaching, selection research, service careers, and the mental work required under fatigue.
Stu Smith approaches tactical fitness through the people who train for demanding service roles, coach performance, and study selection. His interview-led conversations connect physical preparation to the longer arc around it, including why someone serves, how training changes…
Nine times seven gets harder mid-set; Stew Smith wants to know if you can still think.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A practical look at Special Forces selection, training gates, and life after service.
Nick Allen's story is treated as a straight look at service, training, and the part that comes after. Stu keeps the conversation moving through the real steps described here: getting selected, returning to unit life, meeting airborne and NCO-school requirements, and then going…
A practical DEA career conversation about training and field discipline.
This episode stays practical from the start: why someone would join the DEA, what academy prep looks like, and how field discipline keeps a case from drifting off course.
A practical conversation about change, effort, and doing the work.
It stays grounded in grit, reinvention, and the uneasy space between how others see a person and what that person can prove. Stu and Jim bring the easy timing of longtime friends and business partners who have also made a podcast together for 10 years, so the conversation lands…
A blunt live Q&A that turns Cliff Young into a usable lesson in grit.
Stu Smith keeps the weekend live session centered on a plain idea: grit gets built, not declared. He uses Cliff Young, the 61-year-old Australian potato farmer, as the story's anchor, then moves from there into mobility work, stretching, and training advice that stays practical…
Plainspoken coaching for hard gainers who want to get bigger without overcomplicating it.
Stu Smith uses a live Q&A to answer a problem many new trainees hit fast: they want size, but their body will not cooperate. He keeps the advice plain. Eat big and lift big, or, in his own shorthand, sleep, eat, and lift.
Selection research meets tactical nutrition without losing the field-level details.
Nick Barringer and Stew Smith use the episode to tie nutrition to Spec Ops fitness tests and the selection data that matter only when they can be put to work. The talk stays grounded.
A practical conversation about coachability, stoicism, and turning lessons into action.
Stu Smith and Pat Bonas spend the conversation on a plain but useful question: whether someone is genuinely coachable or just stacking up advice. The talk keeps returning to learning from other people's mistakes and successes, then putting that into practice.
Practical summer heat training advice that stays grounded and useful.
The episode reads like a practical check-in on training through summer heat, with sweat-soaked shirts, pacing, and the small habits that keep a day from going off the rails.
Yoga, grief, breath, and brave self-compassion.
Western bowhunting lessons from the field.
Stu Smith and Dr.
Stu Smith opens Never Quit Mindset Monday with the Colonel Sanders origin story, including the honorary Kentucky colonel title, failed ventures, and 1,009 rejections before KFC franchising worked.
Stu Smith talks with Dan Willis, a retired La Mesa police captain and former SWAT commander, about 30 years in law enforcement and the stress that came with patrol, detective work, and command.
Stu Smith uses this Monday live Q&A to map out a late-summer training block built around more running, swimming, biking, and six weeks of increased cardio for a group with three half-Ironman racers.
Stu Smith sits down with Mark Cristiani, a former Army Ranger and strength coach, and starts with his path from Army brat to coach.
Stu Smith frames the episode around transitioning out of the military, a topic many listeners do not fully think about until much later.
Stew Smith frames this Monday live session around his book and the Stoic philosophy behind the “Never Quit Mindset,” especially Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and the line “Comfort is the worst addiction.” He says Epictetus was born into slavery, lived as a slave for about 40 years, and built a philosophy around the idea that “they can’t take my mind” and that true freedom is internal.
Stew Smith uses a live Q&A to explain his "bump it to the right" strategy after missing a Tuesday workout because he "couldn't find 45 minutes" for the normal 9:30-ish show.
Stu Smith opens by warning that oppressive summer heat changes training and says workouts need extra water, electrolytes, and small habits like bringing a spare shirt.
Stu Smith uses a live Q&A to compare CSS, the combat swimmer stroke, with the elementary side stroke for the Navy PST 500-yard swim.
Stew Smith opens with a live Q&A built around his rule to “work out because you don't feel like it,” tying that habit to discipline and mental toughness.
Stu Smith frames the spring daylight-saving shift as a training problem and says his group solved it by moving the workout from 6:00 a.m.
Stu Smith breaks down what makes a workout "the best," starting with his top rule: the program you actually do consistently matters most.
Stu Smith opens with the first Monday of daylight savings time, then ties that 'spring forward' disruption to his own spring training cycle starting two weeks early at StewSmithFitness.com.
Stu Smith and Jeff Nichols use Tactical Fitness Report to break down how to train people who want to serve but start untrained, overweight, or older.
Stew Smith discusses tactical fitness training and recommends the SOFX report for those interested in spec ops communities.
Stew Smith discusses the term 'tactical athlete,' arguing it's useful for defining fitness in military and first responder contexts.
Stew Smith interviews Nicholas Allen, a former Green Beret, about his journey from a rural Illinois childhood through military service, including struggles with selection, the Q course, and a career-ending TBI.
Stu Smith sits down with DEA agent Jack McFarland for a career conversation that starts with where he came from and how he got into federal service.
Stew Smith interviews Jim Edwards about developing a never-quit mindset through childhood illness and entrepreneurial struggles.
Stew Smith explores the concept of 'Never Quit Mindset' through the lens of human innovation, tracing the rapid technological progress from the Wright brothers' first flight in 1903 to moon landings just 60 years later.
Host Stu Smith kicks off a new Never Quit Weekend special series by telling the inspiring story of Cliff Young, a 61-year-old Australian potato farmer who revolutionized ultramarathon racing by winning the inaugural Sydney to Melbourne 500+ mile race in 1983.
Stu Smith (military fitness coach) discusses periodized running training for spec ops candidates.
Stu Smith opens a Monday live Q&A by talking about hard gainers and the familiar problem of wanting size without seeing the scale move.
Live Q&A with veteran tactical fitness coach Stu Smith addressing rapidly-evolving Air Force Special Warfare selection standard changes.
Stu Smith and Nick Barringer PhD Nutrition talk about why hard gainers, especially young athletes and pre-service trainees, struggle to add weight when training hard and burning more energy than they can replace.
Stu Smith and Nick Barringer PhD, CSCS, RDN, CSSD focus on how Nick moved from Army service into Lionel University as chief academic officer after retiring on 30 August and 1 September.
Stu Smith and Pat Bonas discuss what makes athletes coachable and prepared for high-stakes military training.
Stew Smith discusses mental toughness and takes live Q&A, emphasizing consistent daily action over quick fixes.
Stew Smith discusses preparing for tough training programs, emphasizing mental toughness and proper fueling for military and tactical fitness tests.
Stew Smith discusses how to approach pyramid workouts during a calisthenics deload week, answering a listener's question about managing volume and rest.
Stew Smith discusses a study showing that exercise in your 40s and 50s improves health in later decades, emphasizing it's never too late to start.
Host Stew Smith discusses the final week of a winter lift cycle, outlining a comprehensive fitness test including strength, endurance, and tactical events.
Stew Smith discusses a listener's question about training with shin splints and needing to pass a PST run, offering a bike pyramid workout as an alternative.
Stew Smith discusses how to assess strengths and weaknesses for military and first responder fitness goals, answering questions from listeners.
Stu Smith introduces a favorite workout called the Sam Baby Devil Murph and discusses his live Q&A schedule and swimming video critiques.
Stew Smith discusses a deload week workout with a guest preparing for BUD/S, including calisthenics, running, and swimming.