Firefighting is a profession that has the potential to be extremely demanding, both physically and mentally. More specifically, these tactical personnel must be physically fit to perform their occupational requirements, all while they are exposed to daily stressors. This is likely to include everything from physical strain and shift work to interrupted sleep and witnessing potentially traumatizing events. Failure to prepare and mitigate these occupational demands can have long-lasting implications to overall performance as well as health and wellness. Unfortunately, many of these elements often go unaddressed. As such, considerations for collaborative and overarching cross-disciplinary allied health teams should be made. Human performance optimization (HPO) is a model that has been successfully adopted by the U.S. military to enhance the overarching health, wellness, and performance of soldiers. This article proposes the utilization of a similar HPO model by providing a rationale for how it can be used to reduce premature morbidity and mortality, as well as increasing overall readiness and resilience within the firefighting profession.

This is the NSCA’s Coaching Podcast, where strength and conditioning coaches share their experience, lessons learned, and advice about how to thrive in a highly competitive profession.

Prepare for your TSAC-F® exam with confidence. Explore study timelines, optional NSCA Exam Prep resources, and community support with our Prep Group and course.

Researchers and practitioners have highlighted the necessity to monitor jump strategy metrics and the commonly reported outcome measures during the countermovement jump (CMJ) and drop jump (DJ) tests. However, there is a risk of confusion for practitioners, given the vast range of metrics that now seem to be on offer via analysis software when collecting data from force platforms. As such, practitioners may benefit from a framework that can help guide metric selection for commonly used jump tests, which is the primary purpose of this article. To contextualize the proposed framework, we have provided 2 examples for how this could work: one for the CMJ and one for the DJ, noting that these tests are commonly used by practitioners during routine testing across a range of sport performance and clinical settings.

Strength and Conditioning Coaches who are NSCA-Certified are preparing youth for training, using proven strategies that improve their safety and competitiveness.

This is the NSCA’s Coaching Podcast, where strength and conditioning coaches share their experience, lessons learned, and advice about how to thrive in a highly competitive profession.

Take part in the NSCA Women's Committee Mentorship program and become a mentor by filling out this application. Mentor Qualification Criteria: ● Identify as female ● Three plus years of relevant work experience ● NSCA Certified o CSCS required for coaching mentor o TSAC-F or CSCS required for tactical mentor o NSCA-CPT or CSPS required for personal training mentor o CPSS required for sport science mentor ● Masters degree or higher required for research or academic career mentor

The Assistant College Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year Award is given to an outstanding Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist® (CSCS) who has demonstrated dedication to improving athletic performance at the college level.

April 6 - New York, NY - Built in collaboration with the Greater New York ACSM Regional Chapter to learn from leading researchers in the field and help with more effective program design.