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.
The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) has announced that it is working to elevate and advance the strength and conditioning profession by developing a quality assurance process that ensures all future professionals are capable and well-prepared. This process establishes a qualified workforce that has the professional knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to meet industry standards and be successful in the strength and conditioning industry. To achieve this, the NSCA is taking forward-thinking steps by modifying the requirements to attain the Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist® (CSCS®) certification. These requirements are targeted to take effect in the year 2030.
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.
This is Season 9 of 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.
Give your athletes that competitive edge with the 2021 Professional Baseball Strength & Conditioning Coaches Society’s (PBSCCS) Virtual Clinic powered by the NSCA. Identify strength training, conditioning and wellness best practices for the baseball player.
Give your athletes a competitive edge on the ice by developing speed, agility, and quickness inside the weight room. Master off-season training, skill development drills, and performance-based nutrition strategies from NHL and collegiate level coaches with years of experience in the rink. Learn the latest training methods backed by science to help your players dominate the competition.
Whether you train youth athletes, collegiate teams, or NHL professionals, the NSCA Hockey Strength and Conditioning Clinic is for coaches of all levels. Aside from learning new skills, capitalize on networking opportunities with the pros and other experts in your industry.
Join us for the 5th annual NSCA Hockey Strength and Conditioning Clinic
Unable to make the trip? We’ve got you covered. Tune in from anywhere in the world via live stream!
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.