Advice and guidance for firefighter-specific TSAC practitioners and trainers, including steps to building a health and wellness program for firefighters.

In this session from the 2015 NSCA TSAC Conference, Matt Wenning explains the sumo deadlift, a foundational exercise for maximal strength development and a tool that is essential to the tactical population due to its movement pattern. The ability to learn proper technique and progressions with this exercise can help to improve a tactical athlete’s performance and decrease the likelihood of injury because it trains major muscle groups and multiple joints at the same time.

This brief excerpt from NSCA’s Essentials of Sport Science discusses skill-based key performance indicators (KPIs).

As a Strength and Conditioning Coach with the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC), Jared Siegmund prepares athletes for the apex of achievement and perseverance. Siegmund shares that, contrary to public belief, the Olympic competition cycle is not every four years — Team USA athletes face fierce competition in World Series events along the way to qualify. He also speaks to the creativity required to coach Paralympic athletes, where missing limbs create unique biomechanics and hearing or visual impairments impact cueing. Siegmund touches on his principles-based programming architecture, sample adaptations, and USOPC’s interdisciplinary support team. Additionally, Siegmund and McMahon discuss the new generation of modern athletes who are more in tune with data and can control their preparation experience. The discussion concludes with the importance of a growth mindset and getting out of your comfort zone, as well as opportunities to enter elite sport. Connect with Jared on Instagram at: @jaredsiegmund_ or LinkedIn: @jared-siegmund | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs

This excerpt briefly discusses components of interval workouts, including recommended volume and intensity, to increase overall endurance in athletes.

The power clean is similar to the power snatch but with two major differences. Firstly, the final bar position is at the shoulders, not over the head, and secondly, the grip is approximately shoulder-width apart, whereas the snatch has a considerably wider grip.

Oxygen uptake (or consumption) is a measure of a person’s ability to take in oxygen and deliver it to the working tissues, and the ability of working tissues to use oxygen. During low-intensity exercise with a constant power output, oxygen uptake increases for the first few minutes until a steady state of uptake is reached.

Athletes in field and court sports require reactive agility—they must accelerate, decelerate, and change direction in a constantly changing environment. These requirements result in technical differences between sprinting in a field or court sport and sprinting the 100-m.

This excerpt from NSCA's Essentials of Tactical Strength and Conditioning explains the importance of wellness programs for tactical athletes.

The purpose of this article is to discuss the health and occupational implications of firefighters not currently meeting the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) aerobic capacity recommendations.