Hear from two-time Olympian, Meg Stone, the first female strength and conditioning coach to head both men’s and women’s strength programs at a major American university. Stone shares her story from being an elite discus thrower towards an unexpected coaching career, with NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Manager, Eric McMahon. She discusses what she believes needs to change to further the strength and conditioning field in support of athlete health and safety. Stone also tells us about what makes the Sport Science Program at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) so unique and beneficial for students. The episode highlights the ongoing work of the NSCA for the prevention of catastrophic injury and sudden death in sport. You can read more about this topic in a recent NSCA press release: NSCA Reaffirms Position on Appropriate Qualifications for Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches. Connect with Meg by email at stoneme@etsu.edu| Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs and Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscs

Clayton Kuklick, coaching researcher at the University of Denver, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about what it truly means to be a master coach. Topics under discussion include motor learning, practice design, mentorship in coaching, and coaching standards.

NSCA has a network of volunteer leaders who direct NSCA’s efforts at the state and provincial level. NSCA’s North Central Regional Coordinator provides oversight and training to local state and provincial directors. Members in the North Central Region can connect at local and regional events as well as on Facebook to others in this area.

This article provides recommendations and advice from a former active-duty Infantry/Military Intelligence Officer in the United States Army on the transition to becoming a tactical strength and conditioning coach.

This article provides a brief overview of the physical demands of table tennis, plus recommendations of specific strength and conditioning exercises to improve table tennis performance.

This article will present a sample program that was implemented successfully by a group of older women in competition, and discuss the general exercise principles utilized to increase BMD in postmenopausal women.

Development of grip strength is often overlooked in traditional resistance training programs, but small program adjustments that target grip strength can be of benefit athletes.

Specificity of training involves an analysis of physiological, anatomical, and psychological needs for an activity. This article explains how to create a well-designed program that takes exercise specificity into account.

This article is the third installment of a four-part series on stabilization in weight training. It covers how to train trunk stability and how to decrease the dominance of the extension/compression stabilizing strategy (ECSS) that is often perpetuated during training.

The purpose of this article is to briefly identify the expectation dynamic for strength and conditioning practitioners and to provide a practical mode for operational thought.