What defines true toughness in coaching? Dan Perlmutter presents an alternative to the “tough strength coach” stereotype, reframing success as adaptability, resilience, and relentless positivity. As Director of Sports Performance and Head Olympic Sports Performance Coach at Duke University, Perlmutter reflects on building a strong culture rooted in genuine relationships and longevity. He explains Duke’s structured approach to developing interns and coaching assistants, highlighting purposeful recruiting and intentional mentorship to transform passion into professionalism. Perlmutter emphasizes a gratitude lens and people-focused philosophy, always prioritizing the athlete in front of him. He also addresses how strength and conditioning coaches can navigate collegiate shifts, such as Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals and the transfer portal, by reinforcing the weight room environment and culture. If you are seeking practical strategies to build a sustainable career and a workplace you look forward to each day, this conversation is your blueprint. Connect with Dan via email at dan.perlmutter@duke.edu and on Instagram: @theothercoachp | Meet the Duke University Sports Performance Staff on their website | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs and LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs

Monitoring training load is essential for determining if athletes are adapting positively or negatively to their training program. This article goes over the various measurement metrics and includes recommendations to monitor training load for football athletes.

Football requires very fast, high-intensity, and high-impact movement patterns with each position requiring various movements and speeds. This article reviews how coaches are currently observing movement, and offers a framework on how to identify and improve movement in each player without over-coaching movement patterns.

This NSCA Coach article focuses on the in-season resistance training and mobility exercises designed for the 100-m sprint track and field high school athlete.

The purpose of this article is to explore some phrases that strength and conditioning coaches may hear or behaviors they may witness, and provide some direction to identify which allied healthcare and performance professionals may need to get involved to best help the strength and conditioning coach and athlete elevate their performance.

This article will examine the physical demands of soccer players and discuss why repeated sprint ability (RSA) is considered highly important in the performance of these athletes.

Strength and conditioning coaches should strive to teach athletes in a way they can understand: by hearing, seeing, and practicing. This article describes some techniques that a coach can use to accomplish this.

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 examine components that affect speed to determine the degree that speed is governed by skill versus genetic factors.

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.