From the 2021 NSCA’s Coaches Conference, Assistant Athletic Director for Loyola Marymount University and Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Los Angeles Sparks Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) team, Kelly Dormandy, discusses how wearable sports technology can help coaches make more informed decisions for programming and training.

In this session from the NSCA Coaches Conference 2020, Bo Sandoval, Director of Strength and Conditioning for the UFC Performance Institute, discusses the processes in which they assess their athletes, provide individualized training programs to make weight or build performance, and the various ways they are collecting vital information and research pertaining to fighters.

The aging athlete and office worker are both being cramped into body positions that not ideal. People in these situations could greatly benefit from some daily exercises to perform to overcome these issues. In this hands-on session, attendees will be given some simple movements that can be adapted for anyone and any situation.

The ability of strength and conditioning professionals to bridge the gap between sports medicine and coaching is the focus of this session from the NSCA’s 2016 Coaches Conference. Coach Ted Perlak explains why coaches should take into account the “why” and the “how” more so than the “what.”

Bob Alejo passes on some of what he has learned in a long coaching career. In this session from the NSCA’s 2017 National Conference, Alejo discusses what he has learned that might keep you from making the same mistakes or persuade a change in current programming.

This article provides an overview of the scientific evidence comparing specific motor control exercise intervention to using a more general exercise approach, and concludes by discussing the practical implications for strength and conditioning professionals from an exercise programming perspective.

There is a formula for attracting more clients into your gym and it can work for you if you commit to following the right steps. This article will explain how to set marketing goals, create a marketing action plan to bring in new clients based on your strengths as a trainer, provide examples of how to implement your marketing plan, and discuss why tracking the success of your plan is important.

Connect with a young researcher and coach on exploring strength and power topics within elite sport, including a deep dive into velocity-based training. This episode features Dr. Jonathon Weakley, of Australian Catholic University and Leeds Beckett University, discussing his path from growing up in New Zealand, working and studying in the United Kingdom, and performing coaching-centric research with athletes in Australia. Listen in as “Jono” connects with Eric McMahon, the NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, on uses of weight room technology, providing appropriate coaching feedback to support athletic performance, and the global strength and conditioning and sport science landscape. This episode mentions the following research papers from NSCA journals: Weakley, J, Mann, B, Banyard, H, McLaren, S, Scott, T, and Garcia-Ramos, A. Velocity-Based Training: From Theory to Application, Strength and Conditioning Journal (43)4: 31-49, 2021 Weakley, J, Wilson, K, Till, K, Banyard, H, Dyson, J, Phibbs, P, Read, D, and Jones, B. Show Me, Tell Me, Encourage Me: The Effect of Different Forms of Feedback on Resistance Training Performance, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 34(11), 3157-3163, 2020 Find Jon on Twitter: @JonathonWeakle1 | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscs

The research reviewed in this article provides a baseline snapshot of clinically-relevant tools to screen, diagnose, and provide treatment that can improve behavior surrounding sleep, as well as quantity and quality of sleep in occupational firefighters.

As Director of Sport Science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), Heather Farmer spearheads comprehensive integration efforts. This includes ensuring every stakeholder, from sport performance staff to academic advisors, has a seat at the table. Farmer also outlines developing an internship and graduate assistantship program to meet staffing needs and offer opportunities for practical experience. She recounts how leveraging relationships — not data — has been her key to scalability. Additionally, Farmer recognizes that to make an impact, she must meet athletes and sport coaches where they are, which she uncovers through “highlights” and “hurdles.” She suggests that sport scientists with strength and conditioning backgrounds, like herself, are uniquely equipped to excel due to their communication skills. Farmer and McMahon also discuss avoiding “analysis paralysis” and how to incorporate data to elevate the student-athlete experience — an unignorable factor as athletes bring an element of “self” in the age of name, image and likeness (NIL). Reach out to Heather by email at: heather.farmer@unlv.edu | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs