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 shares various options for integrating mental skills training into existing strength and conditioning programs. Such simultaneous, dual-training approaches may better prepare officers for the realities of occupational performance.

This article will briefly discuss physiological and psychological adaptations, as well as review general guidelines for beginning aerobic and resistance training exercise during pregnancy.

The purpose of this article is to provide strength and conditioning coaches with practical knowledge from the framework of self-determination theory to facilitate student-athlete motivation within the weight room across varying sports.

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.

What training approaches are efficient and effective at developing functionality and resiliency at the core? The answer lies within an intelligent, systemic, multi-method approach to training the core, including an eclectic set of training tools to individualize specific needs of athletes.

Andy Stocks, Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at Augustana University and recently named NSCA Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year, talks to the NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, about persevering as a young coach in a tough career field. Topics under discussion include how his weightlifting and powerlifting background help him program for student-athletes and what he envisions his future as a head coach might look like someday. Find Andy on Instagram: @stocksthestrengthcoach or @augiestrength and Twitter: @augiestrength | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscs

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.

Coaching staffs need to be mindful of how groups are formed for training, who the leaders are, and what group norms are established across the different combinations of athletes training.

Just as any decent coach would not have a client perform a heavy deadlift without first conducting a fitness or movement assessment, a potential facility owner should not move forward without assessing the state of their current business. This article explains three steps for conducting an assessment.