Tactical Strength and Conditioning Facilitators® are professionals in tactical fields (e.g., military, fire and rescue, law enforcement and other professions) who apply scientific knowledge to improve performance, promote wellness and decrease injury risk. These Tactical Strength and Conditioning Facilitators help their peers improve on-the-job physical performance and reduce time off due to injury. Learn more about expanding your professional expertise with NSCA’s TSAC-F® certification!

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Elite sport often gets more attention, but youth training gives strength and conditioning coaches an earlier chance to build athletes’ competence and confidence. Kelli Brightwell specializes in youth development and brings more than a decade of sports training experience, including four years at Michael Johnson Performance. Brightwell defines peak height velocity as the period during which height increases fastest. She then explains why its timing can differ among teammates of the same age. So what should strength coaches test, and what do the results mean? The answer changes with each athlete’s maturity and training experience. Brightwell addresses the growth-spurt “awkward phase,” when familiar movement patterns can break down as an athlete adjusts to a changing body. She also considers how sport sampling can expand children’s range of physical skills and help them discover what they enjoy. Learn how maturation can affect movement, testing, and programming — and why young athletes need foundations before specialization.

This article seeks to help coaches understand the demands of Brazilian jiu jitsu on athletes, as well as appropriate training strategies to improve performance potential.

This article provides the personal trainer with sample exercise progressions for teaching resistance training movement patterns along with practical strategies for instruction and reinforcement of proper technique.

An organized, science-based, and evidence-based periodized program that is guided by capable and competent professionals is the most efficient and effective way to accomplish the task of returning from a shoulder injury to full active duty. The concepts of periodization paired with evidence-based strength and conditioning interventions provides the framework needed for tactical facilitators to accomplish this task.

The following article provides a list of tests that could comprise a fitness assessment to measure overall fitness and health prior to, during, and after an academy training program.

This article discusses how suspension-based resistance training may help develop the stability and muscular endurance in the shoulder joint needed to decrease the risk of shoulder injuries as a result of the demands of firefighting.

The aim of this article is to highlight the functional importance of the foot, and to provide recommendations for foot conditioning.

An evidence-based movement assessment could hold Marines accountable for mobility and stability by systematically assessing movement patterns. This article (part three of a four-part series) explains one way that this could be accomplished.