Framing of the personal trainer-client relationship sets the stage for future success, and it all starts with the personal trainer’s approach. Learn how to give clients the right information at the right time, and in a way that will resonate with them.

The path to actual integration of mental and physical training for the tactical athlete is paved with growing empiricism. The current challenge is to sustain creative development of functional approaches and demonstrate that integration can deliver potential benefits.

As Director of Sport Science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), Heather Farmer spearheads comprehensive integration efforts. This includes ensuring every stakeholder, from sport performance staff to academic advisors, has a seat at the table. Farmer also outlines developing an internship and graduate assistantship program to meet staffing needs and offer opportunities for practical experience. She recounts how leveraging relationships — not data — has been her key to scalability. Additionally, Farmer recognizes that to make an impact, she must meet athletes and sport coaches where they are, which she uncovers through “highlights” and “hurdles.” She suggests that sport scientists with strength and conditioning backgrounds, like herself, are uniquely equipped to excel due to their communication skills. Farmer and McMahon also discuss avoiding “analysis paralysis” and how to incorporate data to elevate the student-athlete experience — an unignorable factor as athletes bring an element of “self” in the age of name, image and likeness (NIL). Reach out to Heather by email at: heather.farmer@unlv.edu | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs

Adam Ross, Chair of and an Assistant Professor within the Kinesiology Department at Dallas Baptist University, talks to the NSCA Coaching Program Manager, Eric McMahon, about his unique dual role of strength coach and professor at the university. Topics under discussion include the NSCA Special Interest Groups (SIGs), building trust with athletes and students, and how his mentors and children have shaped his perspective of the field. Find Adam on Facebook: NSCA Baseball SIG or via Email: adamr@dbu.edu| Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscs

As performance staffs grow and develop, professional athletes today have a broad array of services and expertise available to them in the locker room and around competition. This episode features the Vice President of Health and Performance for the National Basketball Association (NBA) Phoenix Suns, Brady Howe. Howe tells Eric McMahon, the NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, how humble beginnings as an NBA Developmental League athletic trainer contributed to his current performance-first mindset for leading a multifaceted health and performance department. Topics include often misunderstood developmental factors for training elite athletes and advice for how to serve your athletes at the highest level. Connect with Brady on Instagram: @bhowe6 or Twitter: @brady_howe | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscs You can learn more about NBA strength and conditioning from the National Basketball Strength and Conditioning Association (NBSCA), an Official Sport Partner of the NSCA.

This article is a personal perspective of creating and providing a fitness assessment and resistance training program from scratch to a large law enforcement organization.

Discover how hospitality-focused ownership and management can create a gym that attracts and retains members for long-term success. Visit NSCA online to read more on professional development, the fitness industry, and health.

Those who are in key decision-making positions should understand the importance of proper research, validation, and implementation procedures when developing physical fitness standards.

The goal of this article is to promote professional dialogue and broaden the knowledge of ways to use nutrition and recovery techniques to work with the physiological changes that come throughout the menstrual cycle.

Coaching staffs need to be mindful of how groups are formed for training, who the leaders are, and what group norms are established across the different combinations of athletes training.