Hydration, footwear, and exercise frequency are only a few of the essentials to safe participation in cardiovascular activity. Make sure to include all six essentials in your program to ensure safe participation.

This article is the eleventh in 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.

This article reviews the use of heart rate as a way to program cardiovascular exercise.

This excerpt from NSCA’s Essentials of Sport Science highlights the importance of quantifying training load for both programming and monitoring an athlete’s progression or regression over time.

Although accelerometers, pedometers, heart rate monitors, and questionnaires are not as accurate as direct and indirect calorimetry in determining metabolic rate, these less expensive tools can be used to create exercise plans, particularly those focused on health promotion and fitness.

Justin Roethlingshoefer, Strength and Conditioning Coach at Miami University, talks about ways to utilize global positioning systems (GPS) and heart rate technology to identify and adjust loads for in-season time periods—and keep players fit and healthy—without creating fatigue. This is a recording of a session from the NSCA’s 2016 Hockey Clinic.

No two days are the same for Will Gilmore as part of a team that oversees over 800 athletes across 200 sports at the Red Bull Athlete Performance Center. From surfers to skydivers, the facility provides an elite high-performance ecosystem for traditionally individual sport athletes. Gilmore highlights the need for remote programming and monitoring to support a constantly shifting roster. Together as a team, they navigate uncharted territory in action sports conditioning, guided by physiological demands and underlying energy systems. Gilmore and NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager Eric McMahon discuss the shift in sport science from ample to actionable data to find, change, and measure what matters most. Gilmore reflects on his “career periodization” and having free time for friends and family while working corporate hours — a stark contrast with his background in Major League Baseball (MLB). The pair also emphasize proactive networking and education for future career opportunities. Connect with Will on Instagram: @will_gilmore_ or LinkedIn: @will-gilmore | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs Want to get involved with the NSCA? Find peers who share your passion for a specific sport or topic in Special Interest Groups (SIGs), or apply now for Volunteer Leadership Opportunities!

Knowing the risks of cold weather training is only half the battle. It is important to be familiar with a proper risk management strategy to help guide decision-making that can enhance safety and exercise performance.

Law enforcement officers can experience psychological and physical stress in most of every part of their day, even starting from the first day of the academy. This article looks at Heart Rate Response in relation to stress, and interventions to manage stress through the academy.

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.