Nicole Rodriguez always knew she wanted to pursue strength and conditioning, but the extent of her journey — spanning 44 countries and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games — is nothing short of inspiring. During her time at Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning, Rodriguez recognized the value of experience and environment, later joining the EXOS International Program to coach globally. Eager to test her skills and help standardize coaching education, she sought out developing countries to advance their sport infrastructure. Rodriguez outlines key differences between U.S. and European approaches: while the U.S. excels in strength methodology, Europe enhances sport-specific application through tactical periodization. Additionally, she highlights Europe’s emphasis on rehabilitation and an “inverse relationship” between time in the weight room versus pitch-side with sport coaches. Rodriguez also describes her work with Poland’s Ministry of Sport and Tourism to pursue NSCA Global Chapter status, aligning with her passion for improving strength and conditioning education and implementation worldwide. Connect with Nicole by email: nicole@coachnicolerodriguez.com and online at: coachnicolerodriguez.com | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs and LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs Learn more about NSCA international programs mentioned in the episode at NSCA.com/Global.

Both unilateral and bilateral training should be used to optimally develop basketball players. This article compares single-leg and double-leg training options and provides considerations and potential implications for training basketball athletes.

In addition to standard health, fitness, or sport assessment guidelines, several guidelines exist for the fire service. Since each agency is different in its preferences, capabilities, and philosophies, applying a standard recommendation may not be possible. This article introduces basic decision-making considerations for fire service assessment batteries.

Endurance sports are typically not thought of as highly technical endeavors, but proper movement during training and competition for endurance sports can affect both performance and health.

This study investigated the differences in off-ice and on-ice fitness characteristics between elite and subelite male ice hockey players.

This article breaks down youth training. To develop athleticism for youth, coaches should follow the C.O.R.E. principles: context in which to apply movement patterns, opportunities to develop proper movement, recognition of physical attributes required, and environments in which youth explore movement.

Almost all functional movements of the trunk are combinations or variations of four basic movement patterns: trunk flexion, trunk extension, trunk rotation, and trunk lateral flexion. This article lists exercises to address each of these movement patterns.

This excerpt from NSCA's Essentials of Tactical Strength and Conditioning aims to educate on some fundamentals of energy systems training in tactical personnel.

The purpose of this article is to examine the critical role of core stability in soccer performance.

This narrative review will focus on the research related to tactical load carriage and on a program recommendation to maximize strength and endurance adaptations in Special Operations Forces (SOF).