What's behind enduring success at the highest level of college athletics? Kate Smith, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at the University of Michigan, shares insights from nearly 14 years of experience coaching multiple sports in a competitive collegiate environment. Smith emphasizes sustained excellence through adaptability, genuine curiosity, and openness to opportunities — even outside of athletics. Drawing on her private-sector experiences, she explains how diverse roles helped shape her flexible, athlete-centered philosophy. Smith candidly addresses current collegiate challenges, including navigating Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) distractions and adjusting motivational strategies across team cultures and generations. As a Certified Performance and Sport Scientist® (CPSS®), Smith highlights how integrating data-driven insights helps her create a more effective training environment. This expertise uniquely positions her to bridge athletics with academics, deepening collaboration on campus-wide performance initiatives. Learn how to implement practical strategies for keeping athletes engaged amidst external pressures, leverage performance data meaningfully, and continually refresh your coaching approach. Connect with Kate via email at kannehay@umich.edu and on Instagram: @katehaycock | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs and LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs

Knowledge of metabolic rate can help athletes as well as health-conscious people improve their exercise performance or obtain the fat-to-lean-mass ratio optimal for their personal situations. Two examples of how this works follow.

This section from the book, Developing Endurance, gives an overview of how to plan and develop a program for endurance athletes by following four steps.

Congratulations to the 2020 NSCA Award Winners!

This article will present a sample program that was implemented successfully by a group of older women in competition, and discuss the general exercise principles utilized to increase BMD in postmenopausal women.

This article is the third installment of a four-part series on stabilization in weight training. It covers how to train trunk stability and how to decrease the dominance of the extension/compression stabilizing strategy (ECSS) that is often perpetuated during training.

This excerpt from Developing Speed describes an agility drill that aims to develop change of direction.

This excerpt briefly explains the benefits of exercise while pregnant.

This article explains what rotational suspension bodyweight training is and how it is different from traditional suspension bodyweight training.

This article is part of 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.