Lindsey Kirschman sees her non-traditional educational background as her greatest asset, not a detriment. She still considers herself a teacher — just differently — as the Director of Sports Performance for University of Utah women’s basketball. Coming from a family of educators, Kirschman initially studied forestry and range science before pursuing strength and conditioning. Kirschman explains how her teaching experience provided a firm foundation for optimizing learning and creating a positive environment. Her approach promotes skill transfer from the weight room to sport and beyond, using exercises like sled pushes as analogies for life lessons about resilience. A former track athlete, Kirschman underscores that while the finish line is the same, every athlete’s starting point is unique. Kirschman also discusses culture building through her “GOAT Award” and the challenges of transitioning from a generalist to a specialist. She encourages aspiring professionals to reframe their mindset and fully engage with their working environment. Connect with Lindsey by email: lindsey.kirschman@utah.edu and Instagram: @authentically_strong | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs and LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs Get involved with the NSCA! Don’t miss your chance to give back and fast-track your growth with volunteer roles. Many applications close December 15 — apply now at NSCA.com/Volunteer.

The purpose of this article was to conduct a process evaluation of a six-week recruit strength and conditioning programming for rural structural firefighter recruits.

This article is part of a new, continuing series on practical, evidence-based approaches to reducing the risk of injury while developing tactical strength and conditioning.

The NSCA Long-Term Athletic Development (LTAD) Special Interest Group (SIG) Executive Council Members, Joe Eisenmann, Rick Howard, and Tony Moreno, sit down with the NSCA Coaching Program Manager, Eric McMahon, to discuss LTAD as a framework for the field of strength and conditioning, and the importance of establishing physical literacy in athletes. Find the Long-Term Athletic Development Special Interest Group on Facebook: NSCA Long-Term Athletic Development SIG | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscs

In this video from the NSCA's 2014 TSAC Conference, Matt Wenning, CSCS, MS, talks about programming for the tactical population, which means addressing a broad range of athletic needs.

This article examines training from collegiate lacrosse programs and how this data can be used to develop data-informed recommendations and refine current approaches towards preparing military and tactical personnel for the Army Combat Fitness Test.

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).

To address and combat neurocognitive decline in tactical personnel, this article will detail the mechanistic underpinnings of, and describe how to apply, attention regulation strategies to facilitate greater skill acquisition, retention, and performance transfer.

This article is the ninth in 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.

This article will discuss specific measures of stress that can be monitored, as well as coping skills to mitigate the negative effects of stress.