Evidence suggests a positive relationship between physical activity, exercise, and mental health. Exercise as a treatment modality is now being considered alongside psychotherapeutic and pharmacological approaches, and the role of specifically trained exercise specialists and personal trainers is an important component of the multi-disciplinary team.

This article discusses the importance of a strength coach in their institutions and how to effectively design and implement program mission, vision, and core values.

Learn how to individualize a group training session to ensure that all athletes are training at the same intensity. In this session from the NSCA’s 2017 Coaches Conference, Mick Stierli explains how to prescribe individual training for athletes at differing levels of fitness, and the importance of prescribing individual training intensity during conditioning sessions.

Learn how to increase the body’s use of fat as a fuel without compromising the use of carbohydrates for higher-intensity training. Mike Nelson, PhD, explains how combining specific nutrition and exercise together affects the use of fat as a fuel, in this session from the NSCA’s 2017 Personal Trainers Conference.

Clayton Kuklick, coaching researcher at the University of Denver, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about what it truly means to be a master coach. Topics under discussion include motor learning, practice design, mentorship in coaching, and coaching standards.

This article will present a sample program that was implemented successfully by a group of older women in competition, and discuss the general exercise principles utilized to increase BMD in postmenopausal women.

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.

This article describes an innovative approach that was used to implement a long-term athletic development (LTAD) program in a health club, and includes the steps used for implementation.

Learn how to cultivate a client-centered coaching mindset. In this session from the NSCA 2017 Personal Trainers Conference, Matt Berenc, Director of Education for Equinox Fitness Training Institute, explains how to create an optimal learning environment for the client in the training session and develop an authentic coaching presence and style that meets the needs of both the client and personal trainer.

Through a well-designed resistance training program, firefighter recruits can gain the movement skills, confidence to exercise, and foundational strength/physiological adaptations that they need for a long and healthy career.