One of the most important skills for tactical facilitators to have is the ability to influence others. One way tactical facilitators can improve their influence is through education, observation, and participation.

After almost leaving the profession entirely, Ashley Kowalewski landed her role as an Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at the prestigious Louisiana State University. Listen as she recounts the strength and conditioning coach who inspired her as a high-level athlete at Oklahoma State University, diverting her path away from pursuing a physical therapy career. Explore how her early experience as an NSCA intern and working with adaptive sports under the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee expanded her network and strengthened her coaching. Discover where to tap into access points that can build mentors in your corner and the importance of being relationship-oriented in a field where collaboration is key. Kowalewski also speaks about checking her ego after a difficult career experience and the challenge of starting again at the intern level. Learn her guiding principle of providing over proving and how high-quality leadership can elevate a program’s impact and staff longevity. Connect with Ashley on Instagram at: @ashleykowalewski or by email: ashk@lsu.edu | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs

This article is the fourth of a continuing series that examines pertinent and recent tactical strength and conditioning research reviews.

Mental health is changing across sports and human performance. See how strength and conditioning professionals can recognize, respond, refer, and use resources.

The purpose of this article is to identify and discuss the difficulties that can arise when performing physiological-based research with firefighters.

Unfortunately for many soldiers, running, pushups, and sit-ups address endurance, but do little to train mobility and strength. To meet the demands of their work and help avoid overuse injuries, a training program for soldiers should include mobility, strength, and endurance components.

Tactical facilitators are especially well-positioned to integrate mental skills training that may develop more complete tactical athletes who are prepared for dangerous environments. This article offers recommendations for mental skills training based on reported views from a tactical population.

From a strength and conditioning perspective, how should a tactical athlete be reintegrated when they return to a kinetically operational workplace after time away?

This TSAC Report article discusses the training load of GPS technology and blood lactate monitoring for first responders. Visit NSCA online to learn more about tactical fitness.

This article discusses flexible programming strategies for wildland fire suppression aids (FSAs). It also includes a detailed index of exercises that could be utilized for this specific population.