How do you find your coaching voice? Michelle Pifer, Associate Director of Strength and Conditioning at Rutgers University, shares how mentorship and professional communication helped her establish an authentic coaching identity. Reflecting on her extensive intern journey across Ivy League and Division III athletics, Pifer highlights key milestones that shaped her coaching approach. These include observing experienced coaches, applying constructive feedback, and effectively navigating challenging athlete personalities. She offers practical strategies, such as structured time-blocking and maintaining clear boundaries, to accommodate athlete accessibility, in-season travel, and work-life balance. Pifer discusses how coaches must adapt to evolving roles, like managing and interpreting athlete monitoring technology. She also addresses common coaching pitfalls, including inappropriate language during presentations, stressing that coaches can be both authentic and relatable without sacrificing professionalism. Tune in to clarify your coaching identity, enhance your professional skillset, and maximize your impact in the strength and conditioning profession. Connect with Michelle via email at mpifer@scarletknights.com, on Instagram: @coach_pifer, and on Twitter/X: @coach_mpifer | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs and LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs

Some research has found that static stretching can have detrimental effects on subsequent performance. This is not to say that static stretching should be eliminated from an athlete’s program, but it should be sensibly incorporated into the daily training regimen since chronic stretching can enhance the range of motion around a joint and potentially improve strength and power performance.

This article aims to help personal trainers understand the unique symptoms accompanying multiple sclerosis, how exercise recommendations change based on disease progression, and which techniques to best program for your client.

This Kinetic Select excerpt from Developing the Core describes how to perform the medicine ball twist variation as a rotational core movement.

The snatch is one of the most technically demanding competitive movements. This article focuses on barbell trajectory (or bar path), motor control, and the height of the bar relative to the athlete’s body.

This Personal Training Quarterly article presents time-efficient fitness strategies to maintain physical and mental health during early parenthood. Visit NSCA online to read more on nutrition, health science, and fitness news.

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.

Law enforcement officers can experience psychological and physical stress in most of every part of their day, even starting from the first day of the academy. This article looks at Heart Rate Response in relation to stress, and interventions to manage stress through the academy.

The ketogenic diet, while controversial and a highly polarizing subject, has demonstrated promise as an alternative dietary strategy for weight management.

This article reviews the use of heart rate as a way to program cardiovascular exercise.