Jessica Burke is an experienced collegiate strength and conditioning coach, most recently at Penn State University, as well as a personal trainer. She joins the NSCA Coaching Podcast with a unique perspective on the state of the strength and conditioning profession. Burke shares her professional path with NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, including rewarding work as a personal trainer outside of her responsibilities on campus. This episode explores the value of work-life balance across the coaching profession. Should we debunk the “hustle culture” model of the strength and conditioning coach lifestyle? Listen to learn about this topic and more. Other topics covered include strength and conditioning coaches having a presence on social media and training foundations for youth and female athletes. You can follow Jessica on Instagram: @coachjburke and TikTok: @coachjburke | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscs

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This article summarizes current populations and descriptions of sedentariness and deconditioning, and offers practical considerations for personal trainers working with these behaviors.

Establishing a relationship and communicating with your clients in simplified terms that they can understand is a critical aspect of the training process. If you are not taking the time to do this, start now, and it will make the whole experience better for everyone involved.

Bone tissue is “alive” and is a dynamic tissue that can respond to resistance training. In addition to the obvious effects of resistance training on muscle mass and strength, resistance training may lead to decreased risk for osteoporosis, fractures, and falls in later life.

Learn how to increase the body’s use of fat as a fuel without compromising the use of carbohydrates for higher-intensity training. Mike Nelson, PhD, explains how combining specific nutrition and exercise together affects the use of fat as a fuel, in this session from the NSCA’s 2017 Personal Trainers Conference.

In this hands-on lecture from the NSCA's 2014 Personal Training Conference, Nick Tumminello demonstrates his Top 20 mobility and activation exercises and explains why they are in his toolbox. Nick talks about how it is important for trainers to sort through the hundreds of available exercises to better serve their clients.

This article provides a list of items that affect the ability to develop and retain quality fire fitness trainers and provides possible solutions to common challenges for program managers that make decisions for a facility or agency.