Building athletes who are strong, healthy, and resilient requires more than sets and reps, starting with a shift in mindset. Christi Edson, Head of Performance for the Orlando Pride in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), shares how she integrates strength and conditioning with sport science to sustain athlete health and performance. She reflects on the field’s evolution from the well-known “Bigger, Faster, Stronger” program to a training culture emphasizing resilience, active recovery, and durability. Drawing from her experience coaching high school athletes to NWSL professionals, Edson highlights the adaptability and creativity coaches need. Those qualities help her to develop athletes who can thrive through a demanding 11-month season. She details how tools like GPS, force plates, and velocity-based training sharpen communication and reshape expectations in the gym. Her story points coaches toward the future of athlete development: collaboration, precise load management, and long-term health as the foundation of strength. Connect with Christi on Instagram: @christiedson and LinkedIn: @christiana-edson | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs and LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs Read the article, “A Creative Mind in the Professional Development of a Strength and Conditioning Coach,” from NSCA Coach, 11(1), February 2024 — referenced in this episode’s return-to-play discussion. NSCA Members enjoy full publication access. Interested in bridging coaching and sport science? The Certified Performance and Sport Scientist (CPSS) credential can help you expand your qualifications, open new career paths, and strengthen cross-department collaboration.

This article discusses the balance between muscle protein synthesis (MPS) and muscle protein breakdown (MPB) to help individuals better achieve their goals in muscle hypertrophy.

This NSCA Coach article describes how to manipulate movements, lifts, and rest periods in a way that controls time, space, and flow efficiently to creatively enhance athletic performance.

University of Florida’s Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for baseball and softball, Paul Chandler, speaks about warm-up and mobility patterns used for his athletes.

In this session from 2019 Coaches Conference, Paul Laursen, co-author of the book “Science and Application of High-Intensity Interval Training: Solutions to the Programming Puzzle,” explains the physiological targets of high-intensity interval training and how to design and manipulate variables for a variety of applications.

While exercise and weight management can be critical for a healthy pregnancy and recovery, special care should be taken when training pregnant and postpartum clients. In this lecture from the 2014 Personal Trainers Conference, Annette Lang provides an overview of what it means to work with this specific population.

In this session from the NSCA’s 2017 TSAC Annual Training, Matt Devine demonstrates the use of physical therapy exercises to enhance restorative and strength accessory work appropriate for various injury histories. Also discussed is a mindfulness practice to enhance recovery from injury and self-regulation.

By adhering to the basic principles of training, including progressive overload, periodization, and a safe lifting environment, the bilateral deficit can be improved by the amalgamation of unilateral force production, maximal effort, and repeated effort training.

Weightlifting movements and their derivatives can be programmed effectively by considering their force–velocity characteristics and physiological underpinnings to meet the specific training goals of resistance training phases in accordance with the typical application of periodized training programs.