Nick Clayton, Personal Training Manager at the NSCA, shows key coaching points and progressions for single-leg squat and lunge movements.

This three-part series will show how personal trainers can create a physically literate cradle-to-grave culture for all, with LTAD as the framework. This article addresses awareness of LTAD and why is it important for personal trainers.

This article examines why the Romanian deadlift (RDL) provides a suitable in-season strength training application, explores the interlinked relationship between the demands of practice and resistance training, and identifies how the RDL functions with other lower-extremity exercises.

Building athletes who are strong, healthy, and resilient requires more than sets and reps, starting with a shift in mindset. Christi Edson, Head of Performance for the Orlando Pride in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), shares how she integrates strength and conditioning with sport science to sustain athlete health and performance. She reflects on the field’s evolution from the well-known “Bigger, Faster, Stronger” program to a training culture emphasizing resilience, active recovery, and durability. Drawing from her experience coaching high school athletes to NWSL professionals, Edson highlights the adaptability and creativity coaches need. Those qualities help her to develop athletes who can thrive through a demanding 11-month season. She details how tools like GPS, force plates, and velocity-based training sharpen communication and reshape expectations in the gym. Her story points coaches toward the future of athlete development: collaboration, precise load management, and long-term health as the foundation of strength. Connect with Christi on Instagram: @christiedson and LinkedIn: @christiana-edson | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs and LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs Read the article, “A Creative Mind in the Professional Development of a Strength and Conditioning Coach,” from NSCA Coach, 11(1), February 2024 — referenced in this episode’s return-to-play discussion. NSCA Members enjoy full publication access. Interested in bridging coaching and sport science? The Certified Performance and Sport Scientist (CPSS) credential can help you expand your qualifications, open new career paths, and strengthen cross-department collaboration.

This is an excerpt from NSCA's Essentials of Sport Science by NSCA -National Strength & Conditioning Association, Duncan N. French & Lorena Torres-Ronda.

High standards improve the quality of professionals working within the fitness industry. This article provides steps that may help to increase income for personal trainers.

Athletes must be able to express strength, power, and speed in multiple directions, and it may be beneficial to emphasize horizontally based movements in strength and conditioning programs.

This is my story of how a strength and conditioning coach influenced not only one of Pakistan’s up and coming cricket team’s approach to fitness and lifestyle, but also that of the wider community.

The purpose of this article is to bring awareness and provide an overview of emerging areas within strength and conditioning and sport science.

Jon Carlock, MS, CSCS, *D, spoke at the 2013 TSAC Conference about pulling movements for the tactical athlete.