The purpose of this article is to strongly suggest and offer a pragmatic and stepwise approach that takes into account the ideas and concepts of shared decision making that allows for the “best practices,” pre-participation screenings, evaluations, and stratification flow charts for safe and effective return to play for athletes.

Alex Calder, Head of Sports Science for the Houston Dynamo Major League Soccer (MLS) team, talks to the NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, about sports science data driving better decisions on and off the field. Topics under discussion include the importance of traditional strength training for soccer players, as well as, the variety of strength and conditioning opportunities there are to gain experience from at the high school, college, private, and professional level of sports. Find Alex on Twitter: @calder_05 or Instagram: @calder_05 | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscs

This article explores the possible causes of low back pain, as well as three potential strategies that a personal trainer may use to work with someone dealing with low back pain.

This article provides a first-hand perspective of different approaches strength and conditioning coaches can take when they need to produce a highly competitive athlete, but their financial resources are limited.

This article describes how introduction of evidence-based practices requires today’s fitness professional to raise the bar of his or her education and analytical experience by actively and consistently using techniques of research in order to perform their job as a fitness professional.

This article is part of a continuing series of tactical strength and conditioning (TSAC) research reviews. It is designed to bring awareness to new research findings of relevance to tactical strength and conditioning communities.

The aim of this article is to review the research into the knowledge of personal trainers, their misconceptions, and to provide evidence-based strategies to help correct any misconceptions.

Strength and conditioning coaches should strive to teach athletes in a way they can understand: by hearing, seeing, and practicing. This article describes some techniques that a coach can use to accomplish this.

The purpose of this article is to inform readers of a training tool which is both safe and effective in allowing swimmers to develop strength and power through a unique training protocol.

In this career series article, Coach McHenry provides a path for education, certification, knowledge, and networking essential to excelling as a successful high school strength and conditioning coach