The purpose of this article is to provide warfighters and tactical facilitators with an evidence-based approach to improve maximal strength and power using the trap bar deadlift as it relates to combat preparedness.

The importance of physical fitness is never greater than when lives are at stake. Specifically, professionals in law enforcement, fire/rescue, and the military need fitness and tactical athleticism to efficiently respond to calls and complete missions regardless of the obstacles, mixed terrain, interference, and dangerous environmental conditions involved

Learn the basics of conducting a needs analysis for tactical athletes based on the athlete’s goals and desired outcomes, assessments, limitations on workout frequency and duration, equipment availability, health and injury status, and occupational physiological demands.

In this session from the NSCA’s 2016 TSAC Annual Training, Brad Nindl provides an overview the current state-of-the-art physical performance optimization programs, and recommendations for program design based on these programs.

The purpose of this article is to review various gravitational running (GR) techniques from an evidence-based approach, then recommend whether to include GR techniques in the training of tactical athletes.

Learn about the unique culture that comprises tactical performance, to include the unit-specific subcultures within it, and how to adopt both intuitive and research-based methods to more strategically impact military personnel. In this session from the NSCA’s 2016 TSAC Annual Training, Nate Palin explains effective and ineffective approaches to influencing the physical training within a tactical setting.

This research review covers topics such as the effects of police officer equipment loads, military occupational specialties, and the effects of protective clothing and self-contained breathing apparatus for firefighters.

This article summarizes several sessions at the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) 62nd Annual Meeting, held in San Diego, CA, May 27–30, 2015 that examined various aspects of tactical performance.

Several obstacles can derail women from reaching or succeeding in the elite combat schools and will need to be mediated. The main obstacles this article focuses on are the current standard fitness requirements for attending an advanced combat school, the high absolute strength and power demands required by these combat schools, and the unique physiology of women compared to men.

Guy Leahy writes a review of the research relating to the tactical population from presentations and research from the 65th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).