Stew Smith's tactical clients need everything - so he builds it in phases. Here's how to periodize broad capability.
Clients who want to be strong, conditioned and durable all at once usually end up mediocre at all of it and burnt out - because you can't max every quality simultaneously. Stew Smith's answer is to periodize: build an aerobic base, then transition emphasis into strength, cycling qualities through the year while maintaining the rest. This breakdown covers his method in our own words, adds our take for online clients, and turns it into a phase map you can program.
By Markus Evers · September 2026 · a Coachway video breakdown
the short version
Smith's case is that tactical and occupational clients need strength, endurance and work capacity all at once, and the way to build them is in phases - emphasise one quality for a block while maintaining the others, then transition, timing the sequence to peak for the demand. His fall example: come off a summer endurance base and shift emphasis into strength. The one thing a coach should do about it: stop training every quality hard year-round, and instead map the client's year into phases that build a base first and then transition emphasis on purpose.
Stew Smith - Tactical Training for the Fall Transition (From Endurance into Strength)
Source: Stew Smith Tactical Fitness on YouTube - "Tactical Training for the Fall Transition (From Endurance into Strength)". Watch on YouTube. We embed the public video and summarise it in our own words; the video, title and channel belong to Stew Smith, and nothing here implies his endorsement of Coachway.
Who is Stew Smith, and why coaches watch
Stew Smith is a former Navy SEAL and a long-time author and coach in the tactical fitness world - preparing people for military selection, police and fire academies, and the broad, test-driven demands of those jobs. His niche is one most fitness content ignores: the athlete who has to be well-rounded rather than specialised, and who often has a hard date and a fitness test to be ready for. Coaches watch him for the periodization logic that makes broad capability trainable - how to sequence strength, endurance and work capacity so they build in turn instead of fighting each other. This transition idea is one of his most portable, which is the lens this page is written for.
What Stew Smith actually argues (our summary)
This is our summary of the ideas in the video, in our own words - not a transcript. Watch the original for his exact framing and examples.
- 1
Tactical clients need everything. Strength, endurance, work capacity and durability all matter - the demand is broad, not specialised.
- 2
You can't max everything at once. Hard strength and hard endurance compete for recovery; stacking them constantly blunts both and burns the client out.
- 3
Build the base first. An aerobic-endurance base is the foundation the later strength and power work sits on - lay it before you shift emphasis.
- 4
Transition emphasis on purpose. Move from one quality to the next deliberately - his fall example shifts a summer endurance base toward strength - while maintaining what you built.
- 5
Match the phase to the demand. Time the sequence so the client peaks for the test, season or event they're actually training toward.
Coachway's take
We think this is the right mental model for any client who wants to be "good at everything" - tactical candidates, hybrid-fitness clients, or the general person chasing strength and conditioning at the same time. The instinct is to train it all hard, and the result is interference and fatigue. Sequencing emphasis - base, then strength, maintaining the rest - is how you actually move multiple qualities instead of spinning your wheels on all of them. Smith's tactical framing just makes the logic concrete.
Where we'd sharpen it for online coaching: periodization only helps if the client follows the phases and you can see the base is genuinely built before you transition. The failure mode is transitioning on the calendar while the endurance base is still thin, so the strength phase is built on sand. Track a couple of simple markers per phase - an easy-pace benchmark, a strength number - so the transition is a decision you can defend, and so the client understands why the plan changes when it does.
It also connects straight to the energy-system side of coaching. The base-building phase is where the easy aerobic work lives, so this pairs naturally with polarized and energy-system methods: build the engine in the base phase, then shift the emphasis without letting it fully decay. Maintaining a quality takes far less work than building it, which is exactly why the phase model works.
So our version of his approach is: map the client's year into phases, build the aerobic base first, transition emphasis deliberately toward strength or the next quality, maintain what you're not emphasising, track a marker per phase, and time the peak to the real demand.
Program the phases, watch the base build
Periodization needs the phases laid out and the markers visible. In Coachway you build each phase and its transition once in the workout builder - base block, strength block, what carries over - and roll a client from one to the next without rebuilding the plan. The per-phase markers you're gating the transition on - an easy-pace benchmark, a strength number, how a ruck or run felt - ride along in check-ins, so you can see the base is actually built before you emphasise strength, instead of transitioning on the calendar and hoping. The plan is Smith's; the platform just makes the phase and its evidence sit in one place.
For the engine you build in the base phase, the companion breakdowns on Joel Jamieson on conditioning and Stephen Seiler on intensity distribution cover the aerobic side in depth.
The tactical phase map (adapt to the client's date)
A short template for sequencing broad capability into phases with a marker gating each transition. The phases are examples - set the order and length to the client's demand and calendar, counting back from any test date.
Tactical phase map
| Phase | Emphasis | Maintain | Marker before transition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base | Aerobic endurance | Baseline strength | Easy-pace benchmark improved & steady |
| Strength | Strength / power | Aerobic base (1-2x/wk) | Key lifts up; base not decaying |
| Work capacity | Muscular endurance / mixed | Strength & base | Test-specific efforts feel manageable |
| Peak / test | Sharpen for the demand | Everything, lighter | Timed to the test or event date |
How to use it: pick the order that fits the client's demand, build the base first, and only transition when the phase's marker has actually moved. Maintain the qualities you're not emphasising with a small dose so they don't decay, and count the whole sequence back from any test or event date so the peak lands on time.
TACTICAL PHASE MAP (via Coachway) - sequence broad capability into phases; a marker gates each transition - BASE -> emphasis: aerobic endurance | maintain: baseline strength | marker: easy-pace benchmark improved & steady - STRENGTH -> emphasis: strength / power | maintain: aerobic base (1-2x/wk) | marker: key lifts up; base not decaying - WORK CAPACITY -> emphasis: muscular endurance/mixed | maintain: strength & base | marker: test-specific efforts feel manageable - PEAK / TEST -> emphasis: sharpen for the demand | maintain: everything, lighter | marker: timed to the test or event date HOW TO USE: Pick the phase order that fits the client's demand, build the BASE first, and only transition when that phase's marker has actually moved (not just when the calendar says so). Maintain the qualities you are not emphasising with a small dose so they do not decay. Count the whole sequence BACK from any test/event date so the peak lands on time. Broad capability is built in turn, not all at once.
Tactical periodization - FAQ
What is tactical or occupational fitness, and who is it for?
Tactical fitness is training for people whose job or goal demands broad physical capability - military, police, firefighters, and any general client who wants to be strong, conditioned and durable rather than good at one thing. Unlike a sport with a single quality to maximise, these athletes need strength, endurance, work capacity and muscular endurance all at once, often with a fitness test or a season to be ready for. That mix is exactly what makes programming hard: you can't push every quality to the limit simultaneously, so the coach's job is deciding what to emphasise when.
Why periodize instead of just training everything hard year-round?
Because training every quality at maximum at the same time tends to make a client mediocre at all of them and burnt out on top. Hard strength work and hard endurance work compete for recovery, and stacking them constantly blunts both. Periodizing - emphasising one quality for a phase while maintaining the others, then shifting - lets each quality actually progress in turn without the constant interference. Stew Smith's fall-transition example is exactly this: come off a summer endurance base and shift emphasis toward strength, rather than trying to keep both maxed forever.
How long should each phase be?
Long enough to drive a real adaptation and short enough to keep the other qualities from fading - commonly a handful of weeks per emphasis, adjusted to the client and the calendar. The exact length matters less than the logic: build a base first, then a phase that emphasises the next quality while maintaining the base, and time the whole sequence so the client peaks for whatever they're training toward. For a general client with no test date, the phases can be relaxed and seasonal; for someone with a selection course or a fitness test, they tighten up and count backward from the date.
How do I know when to transition a client from base to strength?
Let the markers tell you, not the calendar alone. If the phase goal was an aerobic base, you transition when the endurance markers you set - easy-pace capacity, resting heart rate, how a benchmark run or ruck feels - have actually moved and stabilised. Transitioning before the base is built means the later strength or power phase sits on a shaky foundation; transitioning too late wastes weeks. Tracking a couple of simple markers per phase turns the decision into something you can see rather than guess, and it also shows the client why the plan changes when it does.
More conditioning and programming breakdowns
- · Joel Jamieson on conditioning - building the engine your base phase depends on.
- · Stephen Seiler on intensity distribution - how to run the easy aerobic work.
- · The full library: fitness creator coaching breakdowns.
Program the whole athlete
all guidesJoel Jamieson on Conditioning (Coach Breakdown)
Joel Jamieson's energy-system conditioning, broken down for coaches: build the aerobic base first, layer a smaller dose of high-intensity on top, on one repeatable weekly template - not random HIIT.
Read the guideStephen Seiler on Polarized Endurance Training (Coach Breakdown)
Dr. Stephen Seiler's polarized (80/20) endurance model, broken down for coaches: keep most work genuinely easy, make the hard work truly hard, and audit a client's intensity split instead of just adding volume.
Read the guideDr. Mike Israetel on How Many Sets Per Muscle (Coach's Breakdown)
A coach-to-coach breakdown of Dr. Mike Israetel's volume-landmark advice - MEV, MAV and MRV: what his video actually argues, where we agree and push back for a coaching business, and a copy-paste 4-week volume-ramp planner for programming and tracking clients.
Read the guideFree tools for this: Strength Standards Calculator · Weekly Training Volume Calculator · Bench Press Calculator
Build broad capability in phases
Periodizing a tactical or hybrid client only works if the phases are laid out and the base is visibly built before you transition. In Coachway you program each phase in the workout builder and track the per-phase markers in check-ins, so the transition is evidenced, not guessed. Start your 14-day free trial and coach the whole athlete, one phase at a time.
