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This week a young man asked me, "Does water affect weight?" After some digging, I realized he has been observing his mother use one of the 45 Day Plans to lose weight / get fit and this program requires the user to drink more water than they normally would - up to 3-4 quarts a day!! Most people do not drink ...

Here is an email from a distinguished military and law enforcement officer concerning physical fitness testing in military and police professions. He writes: _Stew - I like your programs and articles but what is the big deal with physical fitness testing? Do you really think that maxing a fitness test is going to make you a good soldier or police officer? ...

After spending more than a decade helping people become members of Special Operations units in every branch of the military and SWAT Teams in federal / state / local law enforcement agencies, I have seen a few common denominators that spell success, or graduation. Ask "did you think about quitting" to any member of a Special Operations unit in the military ...

Whether you are a military, special operations officer, an athlete, or just a regular person seeking to lose weight, all groups experience similar personal obstacles. Those who succeed in their training programs learn to conquer self-doubt. That is the key to fitness! Every day, excited people join fitness clubs determined to attend classes or workout for an hour a day, five ...

How many of you have taken a physical fitness test (PFT) and did not score as well as you have in the past during your own workouts? Often by the end of a PFT, you will be fatigued and the last cardio test will be slower than normal workouts scores. Here is an email I received that I think we all ...

Every now and then I get a question that requires extra effort to answer. This question required every bit of experience I had to answer. If you are on the fence or how or where to serve your country, please read. Stew I am debating where to serve? Firefighting EMT, Police SWAT, or Military Special Ops. I know you write about ...

Here is an email I get often from people seeking to improve calisthenics scores in PT tests. Either they ask to do pull-ups, pushups, dips, etc every day or how to mix them into a weight lifting program. Here is what I recommend: Hi Stew - I really enjoy weightlifting three times a week. I was wondering if I can do ...

Sleep... How important is it to those who exercise often as well as to those who do not? Scientists have been studying sleep patterns for decades, so there is plenty of research on the importance of sleep in our daily lives. Sleep also affects performance in between workouts during high intensity training programs like military and law enforcement training. I guess ...

Most people who email me are pretty motivated but need guidance on how to get to a new level of fitness and health. From the unfit seeking to getting healthy and lose weight to the athlete seeking to change from a sport workout routine to a military workout routine to better prepare for the different challenges that the military provides, I ...

Stew Smith CSCS, former Navy SEAL Joins Forces with PoliceLink.com as fitness adviser / writer. I am pleased to start writing a fitness column for PoliceLink.com that will enable me to communicate with law officers on a regular basis, but also, I hope to assist our Heroes of Tomorrow and today with maintaining their fitness level and career longevity. It is ...

This week I received an email from an officer who writes: Every time I take the PFT, I ace the PT part but my run is much worse than if I ran first. Does the PT take that much out of me that I cannot run my normal pace had I not done the PT first? As with any test, you ...

_Stew,_ _I’ve been reading your articles and you have some great tips on how to lose weight. I am a 34 year old mother of two, am 5’8”, and have been fighting an extra 30-40 lb for the past two years. It seems that everything I try ends up in failure. I am afraid I am locked in an infinite cycle ...

Nearly on a daily basis, people young and old confide in me with their fitness goals. Too many of these goals are extremely broad and lack focus and many are too narrow in scope and require more elements to succeed. For example, broad goals are “getting healthy again” or “losing weight”. These can require some to stop over-eating, smoking, drinking soda ...

This week, I received an email from an Army Soldier who was having a difficult time running a few months ago. His breathing patterns were so erratic that he was basically hyperventilating while running his two mile PFT run. Once he started breathing properly as well as exhaling FULLY, he was able to perform better in the run – not only ...

This week, a concerned Army Reservist asks, “I have heard about people dieing of drinking too much water. Is this possible?” This is a great question because so many times this issue is taken out of context causing people to stop drinking water altogether. When you read about people who die or get kidney damage “from drinking too much water” you ...

As with any cardiovascular activity if you are going to perform for several minutes or even a few hours you need to find a sustainable pace.  Here is an email from someone who enjoys running with a group but struggles with running alone: Hey Stew - When I run with my group of friends, I am always faster than when I ...

Usually, after 8-9 months of challenging running and calisthenics based workouts (see Solstice Plan), I am ready for a few months of non-impact aerobics of indoor swimming and biking for cardiovascular workout options. However, this year, I have tested out some gear during the 30 degrees days of the past month and feel like pushing it a little during the winter ...

In a fast paced world where the fine line of work and relaxation has been blurred with wireless technology and the development of the home office, workers as well as families have become more and more susceptible to stress-related illnesses. Stress is a natural element of our behavior and our body handles stress by injecting “stress hormones” into our bloodstream when ...

Often I receive emails from military and law enforcement personnel concerning how fair a fitness test is and does it accurately measure someone’s fitness level. For instance, here is an email from one police officer who is seeking candidates for his department’s SWAT Team: _*I am about to open up tryouts for a few SWAT Team positions and am trying to ...

The email that prompted this week’s article was from a young man contemplating on joining the police force, yet he is not quite sure to go local, state, or federal law enforcement. Arriving fit is his plan, but “how fit do you need to be a police officer”? Here is his question: What is the overall physical fitness level of the ...