#101 - Kevin "The Terminator" Smith: Tactical Training with Former Green Beret
Choose Hard with Cody McBroom
Cody McBroom
4.9 • 825 Ratings
🗓️ 24 March 2026
⏱️ 71 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What does it take to earn the nickname "The Terminator" in the Special Forces? For Kevin Smith, it was squatting 450 lbs, deadlifting 550 lbs, and running seven 6-minute miles followed by an 8-mile ruck—all in a single four-hour window.
In this episode of Choose Hard, Cody McBroom sits down with Kevin "The Terminator" Smith, a former Special Forces Medical (18D) and Intelligence Sergeant (18F) turned online trainer. We dive deep into the reality of operating at an elite military level for 12 years and the "Identity Death" many veterans face when transitioning to entrepreneurship.
In this episode, we discuss:
- The "Terminator" Origin: The legendary feat of strength and endurance that earned Kevin his name.
- The Junk Volume Trap: Why "smoke sessions" and training until you puke are actually detrimental to tactical selection.
- Hybrid Training for Selection: How to balance the barbell and the pavement to become "hard to break" in high-stress environments.
- The "Land Nav" Mindset: How navigating a forest at night with a 60lb ruck translates to running a business and personal growth.
- Recovery as a Discipline: Re-wiring Type-A hard-chargers to realize that 8 hours of sleep is as productive as an extra 5-mile run.
- The Anti-Mediocrity Standard: Why society is moving away from "Hard" and the true cost of modern comfort.
- Whether you are preparing for SFAS, RASP, or simply looking to eliminate mediocrity from your own life, Kevin’s "no-BS" approach to training and psychology is a masterclass in Choosing Hard.
Follow Kevin on IG at https://www.instagram.com/terminator_training/
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | You're doing all these things that you're just not motivated for. |
| 0:02.4 | Like, it's not super fun. |
| 0:03.8 | Most of the days, you're just not going to feel like doing what you're going to have to do. And you just have to learn to not make emotional-based decisions, be like, hey, I don't want to do this, but this has to be done because I have my eyes on the end goal. And this is part of the process. So I'm going to go have to go have to go have to do this. That's what I say is like David Goggins used for inspiration. |
| 0:18.9 | Don't listen to his fitness advice. |
| 0:20.2 | It's probably going to break you in half. |
| 0:22.0 | 100%. |
| 0:22.5 | Yeah. That's what I say is like David Goggins used for inspiration. Don't listen to his fitness advice. It's probably going to break you in half. |
| 0:22.0 | 100%. |
| 0:22.6 | Welcome to the Choose Hard podcast. |
| 0:31.6 | I'm your host, Cody McBroom. |
| 0:32.8 | I am a father, husband, entrepreneur, and coach, and the founder of tailored coaching method. |
| 0:37.4 | Today's guest is the one and only Kevin, the Terminator Smith. |
| 0:41.7 | Excited about this one because Kevin has a really, really cool story. |
| 0:46.2 | He is the epitome of Choose Hard, which is how I try to select these guests. |
| 0:50.0 | But he is a former green beret. |
| 0:52.1 | So he is like the top of the top, has a wild experience as a professional in the military, most of which we really can't talk about. |
| 0:59.9 | But we do get into a little bit of what he did in the military, what he did as a green beret, how he became into one of the most elite units in the military of the country, and how he spends his time coaching individuals to prepare for |
| 1:11.5 | that and coaching tactical athletes today. So this is all things military mindset and specifically |
| 1:17.8 | tactical training for tactical athletes and soldiers preparing to become special forces in the |
| 1:23.6 | military. So without any further ado, let's talk to the one and only Kevin Terminator Smith. All right, dude, Kevin the Terminator Smith. It's cool because you have a very, very, |
| 1:36.8 | just average American name, Kevin Smith. It is like, you know, Mr. and Mrs. Smith status, |
| 1:41.6 | which is quite literally, it's funny because you are like pretty close to that world, if you will, you're not like a James Bond secret agent, but you know what I mean, which is cool. I used to be. I used to be. There you go. The Terminator is, it adds a layer to that for sure. So I want to dive into your nickname and a little bit of your history here in a sec. But first and foremost, man, just tell the listeners who you are if they don't know you already so we can kind of get a good, you know, Kevin in a nutshell. And then we're going to start picking apart your journey. Yeah. So Kevin Smith is my name. My business is Terminator Training Method. I mainly chose that name because we can get into the reasons for the nickname later, but I was thinking of business names and Kevin Smith is just not really going to stand |
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