Chris Morris, Director or Performance Science at the University of Kentucky, talks to the NSCA Coaching Program Manager, Eric McMahon, about the importance of capturing athlete readiness through data and technology. Topics under discussion include Dr. Morris’s time as a University of Kentucky football player turned PhD student, how sports science is critical to understanding athlete’s capacities on a much deeper view, and developing interpersonal relationships with athletes to create trust and buy-in. Find Dr. Morris on Twitter: @CMorrisPhD | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscs

The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) is proud to announce the recipients of the organization’s 2024 Career and Service Awards. Given annually, the distinguished Career Awards honor individuals who have made significant contributions to the strength and conditioning community throughout their careers. Additionally, the Service Awards recognize those who have provided exceptional dedication and support to the NSCA’s journals or State and Provincial Director Program. Each winner will be formally recognized at the 2024 NSCA National Conference in Baltimore, MD, this July 10-13.

The purpose of this article is to identify and discuss the difficulties that can arise when performing physiological-based research with firefighters.

This article is the fourth of a continuing series that examines pertinent and recent tactical strength and conditioning research reviews.

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.

This article gives a firsthand account of working in a few of the United States Army’s earlier human performance and injury reduction programs as a strength coach and active-duty physical therapist.

In recent years, performance and prevention strategies have grown to include monitoring training load (TL) to understand fatigue and the potential effects of fatigue on training adaptation and performance.

This article provides some practical applications to minimize the negative effects associated with a long intensive ice hockey season on ice hockey athletes.

This article is the sixth 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.

Tactical jobs are fast-paced, physically and psychologically intense, and failure can have tragic consequences, making it vital to train tactical athletes to perform better under stress.