Decompressing after a workout, practice, or competition is a beneficial habit that can be achieved through breathing. This article provides an overview of the autonomic nervous system and guidelines for how to use breathing to calm, or balance, the brain and body.

Isolated muscle training methods do not necessarily transfer to better sports performance, because technique as well as strength contributes to successful performance. Resistance training for dynamic sports must involve ground-based movements that incorporate the coordinated stabilizing and dynamic functions of multiple muscles.

Learn to identify and combat risk factors among high stress tactical personnel; how they affect performance, sleep, and recovery; and how to begin managing stress. In this session from the 2016 TSAC Annual Training, Jeff Nichols explains how to lay out a clear and concise process to evaluate stress and create a plan specific to each individual to combat the negative side effects of stress.

From the 2022 NSCA Tactical Annual Training, discuss trauma and the nervous system of tactical personnel and how coaches can be trauma-informed in the weight room

Many personal trainers work with clients who are dealing with musculoskeletal pain that has negative consequences both on the client’s ability to exercise and their activities of daily living. This article discusses the different types of pain, and describes targeted approaches for training clients with persistent musculoskeletal pain.

It is important for strength and conditioning coaches, sport coaches, athletic trainers, and administrators to recognize and address the evidence of stress within student-athletes in order to avoid chronic stress-related anxiety and injury.

Biofeedback is a tool that not everyone knows about, yet many coaches and athletes could benefit from using it. This article will describe the psychophysiological principle, introduce biofeedback, and provide descriptions of two biofeedback modalities that may be useful for strength and conditioning professionals to improve performance.

An emerging body of research has explored the potential ergogenic effects of noninvasive interset recovery strategies involving the application of cold substances to the extremities distal to exercising muscles (e.g., palms of the hands or the soles of the feet). It was suggested that such strategies may acutely enhance resistance training (RT) performance by augmenting excitation and motor unit recruitment of the working muscles through enhanced stimulation of the central nervous system, resulting in greater force production and the ability to perform more repetitions to fatigue. Moreover, peripheral stimuli such as distal cooling may acutely reduce the sensation of distress during RT, allowing individuals to tolerate more exercise and achieve higher training volumes. Although there is some evidence that interset distal cooling confers an ergogenic benefit during RT, certain methodological considerations, a paucity of longitudinal research, and contrasting findings call into question its effectiveness. Thus, the purpose of this review is to assess the current evidence regarding the effects of interset palm and sole cooling on RT performance outcomes.

Part 2 of this series on allostatic load theory will focus on how monitoring personnel holistically can contribute to a well-rounded health and performance model supporting the tactical athletes.

This book excerpt discusses how to maximize sprint quality during training sessions.