This article is a personal perspective of creating and providing a fitness assessment and resistance training program from scratch to a large law enforcement organization.
TSAC FacilitatorsProgram designTesting and Evaluation
Learn how to prep for your NSCA-CPT® exam. Explore study timelines, optional NSCA Exam Prep resources, and community support through our clinics and Prep Group.
Meet the 2026 NSCA Peer & Special Recognition Awards recipients, who will be recognized for excellence across the profession at the NSCA National Conference.
By reviewing this simplified process of obtaining a client’s health history and physician release, designing an exercise routine with modified exercises, and providing exercises for paid clients versus general members, NSCA-CPTs can be confident prescribing a routine for those who suffer from chronic or temporary health issues.
Personal trainersProgram designTesting and Evaluation
There are five ways that a strength and conditioning position is typically structured in a high school. Each position structure has its own pros and cons that should be evaluated for your specific situation.
Sheri Walters’ journey to Director of Sports Medicine at Texas A&M University reflects a career defined by innovation, collaboration, and comprehensive integration. Walters discusses the "arms race" in collegiate athletics and how Texas A&M shatters silos through unit alignment and being intentionally present. Drawing from her EXOS experience, she highlights the impact of integrating sports medicine with strength and conditioning. Walters employs research-based cross-body training to maintain strength, prioritizing long-term rehabilitation over limb symmetry index testing. She explains how her Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist® (CSCS®) and Certified Performance and Sport Scientist® (CPSS®) credentials enable her to elevate rehabilitation and speak the language of sport performance professionals. Walters underscores the importance of getting student-athletes back to team strength and conditioning as soon as tissues can tolerate it to promote physiological and psychological healing. She also shares how strength and conditioning coaches can optimize return to performance and reduce reinjury risk.
Email Sheri at swalters@athletics.tamu.edu | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs and LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs
Catch Sheri’s session on bridging the gap in the collegiate setting LIVE at the 2025 NSCA Coaches Conference! Register to watch online at NSCA.com/Coaches.
Fascinated by the intersection between strength and conditioning and sports medicine? Join other professionals in the Sports Medicine/Rehabilitation Specialist Interest Group (SIG) to discover more resources and engage in discussion.
As performance staffs grow and develop, professional athletes today have a broad array of services and expertise available to them in the locker room and around competition. This episode features the Vice President of Health and Performance for the National Basketball Association (NBA) Phoenix Suns, Brady Howe. Howe tells Eric McMahon, the NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, how humble beginnings as an NBA Developmental League athletic trainer contributed to his current performance-first mindset for leading a multifaceted health and performance department. Topics include often misunderstood developmental factors for training elite athletes and advice for how to serve your athletes at the highest level.
Connect with Brady on Instagram: @bhowe6 or Twitter: @brady_howe | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscs
You can learn more about NBA strength and conditioning from the National Basketball Strength and Conditioning Association (NBSCA), an Official Sport Partner of the NSCA.
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.