Do you understand the youth athlete? In order to train youth athletes effectively, coaches must have an understanding of how to motivate youth athletes. This article will explain how to do just that, as well as how to use age-appropriate developmental cues for this population.

A qualified strength and conditioning professional in the high school environment can benefit both the school and the students in a number of ways, including injury reduction, improved performance, and risk management.

This article is the eleventh in a continuing series of tactical strength and conditioning (TSAC) research reviews. It is designed to bring awareness to new research findings of relevance to tactical strength and conditioning communities.

This sample job description is intended to be used as a starting point for creating a job description that is appropriate for your situation.

This article is intended to assist tactical facilitators in the construction of a well-designed tactical return to duty program to help combat against the musculoskeletal injury burden that exists within tactical professions.

This article provides a first-hand perspective of different approaches strength and conditioning coaches can take when they need to produce a highly competitive athlete, but their financial resources are limited.

Through a well-designed resistance training program, firefighter recruits can gain the movement skills, confidence to exercise, and foundational strength/physiological adaptations that they need for a long and healthy career.

This article describes the long-term athletic development programming pillars and suggests practical applications for strength and conditioning practitioners.

This article provides the first academic history of the barbell back squat and its evolution from a bodyweight exercise in the 19th century to a loaded exercise used for a variety of purposes in the present age. In doing so, the article highlights three key drivers in the evolution of the back squat—changes in equipment, the diversification of strength sports, and scientific communication concerning the safety and efficacy of the movement. The goal of this article was not to provide a dry and irrelevant history but rather to stress the complexity of the squat’s prominence within fitness programs and the need to hold a nuanced view toward the “optimal” way to approach this movement. It examines how the movement evolved from being primarily done on the tips of one’s toes, to a loaded movement on tippy toes, to a flat-footed movement. By contextualizing the back squat’s history, this article challenges rigid notions of “correct” squatting technique and encourages a more nuanced understanding of exercise selection in strength and conditioning practice. It concludes by highlighting the importance of critically examining the social construction of knowledge in fitness and sport, and the value of historical perspective in informing contemporary training practices