The four components of the coach-athlete relationship are closeness, commitment, complementarity, and co-orientation. Coaches should seek to deeply understand the value of each category and how to maximize these reciprocal characteristics with their athletes.

This article highlights some untapped opportunities within the healthcare industry, where personal trainers can still make a meaningful impact and promote health and fitness.

The excerpt from Strength Training for Soccer describes the movements necessary for multidirectional speed.

This excerpt from NSCA's Guide to Sport and Exercise Nutrition briefly discusses micronutrients and their role in optimal athletic performance.

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.

For Keith Swift, coaching is completely effort based, but it starts with camaraderie and education. As Director of Strength and Conditioning at Wofford College, his philosophy is clear: educate, heal, and enhance. While playing collegiate football and studying exercise science, Swift learned early to question the “why” behind training and encourages his student-athletes to do the same. At an academically rigorous institution, his educational focus fits right in, fostering curiosity, technical precision, and peer coaching. Swift shares how his experiences across professional baseball, the private sector, and collegiate programs each shaped his foundation while making it his own. Amid collegiate challenges — from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) transfer portal to the growing authority of student-athletes — Swift holds firm that “there is no substitute for hard work.” His goal is simple: help student-athletes leave with both a degree and a championship ring, setting them up for success in sport and life. Reach out to Coach Swift on Instagram: @worqueowt and @wofford_strength, Twitter/X: @CoachSwift93, LinkedIn: @keithswift, or by email: swiftkd@wofford.edu | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs and LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs Discover how salaries have evolved across collegiate athletics and other work settings in strength and conditioning in the 2025 NSCA Salary Survey at NSCA.com/Salary.

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

Swimming is a form of exercise that has minimal impact on body joints as it applies a lower amount of stress compared to other popular activities, such as walking. This article offers different methods of swimming that improve overall health aimed for the maturing adult.

Because a client’s functional abilities will change in each of the tissue healing phases, the fitness professional must understand the time it takes to heal and the science behind each phase in order to prescribe safe exercises for clients in those phases.

For fitness business owners, marketing is understanding the audience and being able to craft stories that capture their attention. This article includes recommendations of ways to get current clients more engaged, as well as reach out to new clients.