This column will explore specific investigations that evaluate the impact of PA and fitness on mental and physical health outcomes among firefighters and law enforcement officers.
Nutrition plays an important role in the injury prevention and treatment of tactical professionals. Nutritional goals for healthy connective tissue are twofold: increase collagen content in connective tissues susceptible to injury and prevent a decline in collagen content to help mitigate injury and facilitate recovery.
Recent advances in research and human performance programs (HPP) has made it possible to learn more about the tactical athlete while creating enhanced methodologies and implementation. This review draws on the past three years of research focusing on strength and conditioning within military communities, exploring the current themes of research and the implications of future studies.
TSAC FacilitatorsExercise TechniqueProgram designstrength trainingHPPhuman performance programstactical strength and conditioningTSAC
Chronic fatigue, stress, sleep deprivation, unhealthy diets, and pain can be commonplace in most departments. The tactical facilitator should try to keep their action plans simple and achievable to help prevent injuries and optimize performance.
TSAC FacilitatorsExercise ScienceProgram designSafetytraining for tactical athletesTSACtactical strength and conditioning
Tactical athletes, due to the nature of their jobs, may have sleeping problems (such as falling asleep and/or staying asleep) which is indicative of poor sleep quality. This article shares sleep hygiene strategies that can help tactical athletes achieve better rest.
TSAC FacilitatorsProgram designtactical strength and conditioningtsacrestsleep quality testsleep hygienesleep
The path to actual integration of mental and physical training for the tactical athlete is paved with growing empiricism. The current challenge is to sustain creative development of functional approaches and demonstrate that integration can deliver potential benefits.
TSAC FacilitatorsExercise TechniqueProgram designtraining resiliencymental strengthtraining for tactical athletestactical strength and conditioning