Brice Long, Director of Human Performance Experience at O2X, talks to the NSCA Coaching Program Manager, Eric McMahon, about O2X’s holistic approach for fire, police, military, and federal agencies. Topics under discussion include the value of training as a firefighter, physical tests and assessments in the National Guard, and being diverse in your skill sets as a coach. Find Brice on Instagram: @o2xhumanperformance or Twitter: @o2xhp | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscs

This article provides a background on the benefits of plant-based nutrition for athletic performance, recovery, and overall health.

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.

Nutrition plays an important role in the injury prevention and treatment of tactical professionals. Nutritional goals for healthy connective tissue are twofold: increase collagen content in connective tissues susceptible to injury and prevent a decline in collagen content to help mitigate injury and facilitate recovery.

In the first of a two part series, this article explores the possible benefits for strength and conditioning coach development and discusses how mindful meditation can improve reflective practice and the coach-athlete relationship.

In the intercollegiate athletic setting, the strength and conditioning coach can play a role in the development of student-athlete leadership. For the strength and conditioning coach to be a positive contributor to this effort, he or she must have a clear understanding of their role, the role of the sport coach, and the interaction and relationship between the two.

Understanding attentional styles can improve coaching effectiveness by allowing the coach to provide appropriate cues or methods for each athlete.

This article reviews the basics of the Olympic lifts, including strength base, skill transfer, snatch progressions, and clean and jerk progressions. This article also covers several suggested practices for strength and conditioning coaches to fine-tune and progress learning and coaching of the lifts.

This article explores the possible causes of low back pain, as well as three potential strategies that a personal trainer may use to work with someone dealing with low back pain.

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.