The daily energy requirements of tactical personnel are highly variable, depending on gender, body composition, activities performed, age, and environmental conditions.

In this session from the 2015 NSCA National Conference, Nelson Ayotte—the Strength and Conditioning Coach for the St. Louis Blues National Hockey League (NHL) team—explains how to design and implement a specific energy systems program at the elite level. Ayotte demonstrates the characteristics of each of the three energy systems and their trainability, and explores how to understand the energy demands of a sport by analysis of its characteristics, competition intensity, and duration of efforts and recovery periods.

This excerpt briefly describes the different energy systems used by structural and wildland firefighters.

This NSCA Coach article provides a proposes a framework for standardizing SEB resistance training based on principles of kinetic and potential energy. Visit NSCA online to read more on exercise science and sport performance.

This article is intended to provide an understanding of the demands of football from a bioenergetic perspective and provides a framework in which strength and conditioning professionals can design conditioning plans that focus on preparing athletes for competition.

In order to effectively prepare an ice hockey player for the season, it is necessary to have a thorough understanding of the specific demands of the sport.

This article in NSCA Coach examines practical strategies to mitigate LEA and enhance performance in female soccer players. Visit NSCA online to learn more on sports science and exercise research.

The extent to which a special operator’s training schedule can be planned in advance is often limited due to their unpredictable operational demands. However, there may be opportunities to plan for specific training during certain periods.

The physiological response to breath holding includes bradycardia and peripheral vasoconstriction, which contrasts with that of exercise which includes tachycardia and peripheral vasodilation. This raises the question as to what the physiological response is to breath holding during exercise. During low-intensity exercise, the breath holding response of bradycardia and peripheral vasoconstriction prevails over the exercise response of tachycardia and peripheral vasodilation, but nevertheless the exercise may be sustained. Due to the lack of availability of extrinsic oxygen (O 2 ) from the atmosphere during breath holding, the energy demands can be met by increased reliance on intrinsic O 2 stores (i.e., O 2 that was in the body before the breath hold) via increased O 2 extraction at the muscle compared with exercise while breathing, or increased contributions from anaerobic energy systems. During high intensity exercise of short duration, the exercise response may prevail over the breath holding response due to the increased parasympathetic withdrawal and sympathetic drive of higher intensity exercise. If breath holding during high-intensity exercise was sustained for long enough, the breath holding response may eventually overcome the exercise response, although this may be difficult due to the inverse relationship between exercise intensity and breath hold duration.

This article will highlight recent key dietary practices and provide practical applications for implementing these practices for firefighters.