This article aims to share practical application strategies that strength and conditioning coaches can use in fostering a positive change in their athlete’s performance by understanding intrinsic and extrinsic performance motivation and how to adopt an autonomy-supportive coaching style.

This article provides a first-hand account of the usage and benefits of dumbbell training programs with athletes.

All fitness components depend on body composition to some extent, and the demands of many sports require that athletes maintain standard levels of body composition.

Hear from the widely-respected, Rob Glass, Assistant AD for Athletic Performance at Oklahoma State University (OSU), an influential figure in the success of the OSU and University of Florida athletics programs over his four decades in the strength and conditioning profession. Coach Glass connects with the NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, on the importance of professionalism among strength and conditioning coaches, and specific qualities he looks for in strength and conditioning coaches joining the OSU staff. This episode highlights the importance of history and experience in developing effective training programs for your coaching environment, and how the student-athletes of today benefit more from our improved coaching practices. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear impactful lessons of character and leadership that can help push your career forward. You can connect with Coach Glass by email at rob.glass@okstate.edu| Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscs

The strength and conditioning profession involves combined competencies for the application of sport/exercise science, administration, management, teaching, and coaching. Its professionals must also comply with various laws and regulations while responding to instances of potential injury, and related claims and suits. This creates remarkable challenges, and requires substantial experience, expertise, and other resources to effectively address them, especially in multi-sport (e.g., collegiate and scholastic) settings.

Strength and conditioning professionals who incorporate a properly designed and supervised training program can help their young athletes train, compete, and reduce the likelihood of injury.

A comprehensive but realistic battery of tests can reveal those who are sufficiently fit and athletic to immediately assimilate into training with the least possible likelihood of failure or injury. The Occupational Physical Assessment Test (OPAT) was designed to identify those individuals and screen out those who require further physical development.

HRV is thought to provide objective insight into understanding fatigue, “trainability,” and “readiness” to perform in athletic populations. Evolving access to HRV data may enhance the understanding of individualized fitness and training responses in tactical athletes.