Military to Strength & Conditioning Coach?

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The reason for service members choosing to pursue a career in the fitness industry shouldn’t be a surprising one. The military is an organization that prides itself on having a culture of physical fitness. My personal story likely looks very similar to many service members, though finding the right way to go about pursuing education, certification, and gaining experience may be confusing. I hope this article/post can help guide you along the way.

Right off the bat - my background included nothing exercise physiology or strength and conditioning related when I decided to pursue it. I always was more on the “athlete” side, rather than the coaching side. I grew up playing sports then joined the Army as an Infantryman. During my time in the Infantry, I completed Ranger School and was fortunate enough to train up for and compete in the Army’s Best Ranger Competition. I suppose I’m a glutton for punishment, because shortly after that I attended Special Forces Assessment and Selection and later earned my Green Beret. I have always been more of the “doer” of physical things, rather than preparing others to do them. However, throughout this time I was a sponge trying to soak up “the why” behind everything that was connected to my training and nutrition. I was fascinated by human performance and found I got a lot of happiness out of helping other people out with their fitness and nutrition.

Here’s where I see a lot of military heading into the fitness world go wrong. Your service does not qualify you to coach. Maybe that stings a little bit, but it’s true. The human body is far too complex and there’s far too many ways you can limit an athlete’s potential (at best) or injure them (at worst) without the right education and experience. That being said, your service is an important part of truly understanding the demands and needs of athletes in the tactical profession, and I highly encourage you to match this with the right education. This is why I pursued the milestones I’m about to outline in this article, rather than being another “SOF dude teaches fitness” guy on social media.

First, let’s talk about certifications. You’ll hear a lot of guys on the internet tell you they don’t matter, they’ve never had clients ask about them, blah, blah. It’s because they don’t have them. You shouldn’t expect your client to know what a CSCS or SCCC is. The certification isn’t for them. It’s so you can uphold the standards of the profession and develop the baseline understanding of exercise physiology and the practical application of strength and conditioning. If you’re wanting to coach at a collegiate or professional level, it’s the minimum requirement to get an interview. Also, important to note that when I reference certification, it is in reference to either the National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA) or the Collegiate Strength & Conditioning Association (CSCCa). Because the audience for this article is primarily military and not necessarily pursing a collegiate coaching job right off the bat, I’d encourage you to start with the NSCA.

If you check out the certifications on the NSCA website, you’ll see that there’s five of them. So, which one should you pursue? I actually got my Tactical Strength & Conditioning-Facilitator (TSAC-F) prior to my Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS). While I think the ultimate goal for most should be the CSCS, the TSAC-F is a good certification if you are wanting to work with military or first responders and is good experience for taking a test with the NSCA before diving into the CSCS.

One of the best parts about the TSAC-F is that it’s free if you are military. If you’re in the Army and unfamiliar with Army IgnitED, the Army’s education portal, then get familiar. Any member of the military can login into Army IgnitED and use Credentialing Assistance (CA) to earn their TSAC-F. This also comes along with some free college prep courses from Georgia Southern to help prepare you for the exam. Even if you have no desire to pursue a career in strength and conditioning, this is a great developmental option for anybody involved with administering their unit’s physical training (PT) program.

So, here’s the biggest hangup with the NSCA. It requires a college degree to take their tests. Luckily for you, you are in the Army and have either the GI Bill available, or you have Tuition Assistance available. For me, I already passed my GI Bill down to my kids, so that’s not an option. I required Tuition Assistance, which requires an active duty service obligation of (I think) two years after the completion of a degree.

Guys, this is a great option. Apply to the university that you want to attend and then each semester take the courses required to work towards your degree. I already had an undergraduate degree, so I got a graduate degree in Human Performance with a focus in Strength Training and Conditioning. So, the guys who say “I can’t take the CSCS because I don’t have a degree” are pretty much full of it. Whether you have a college degree or not, you are capable of using the resources the Army has provided you to earn your academic degree. Personally, I did my master’s through Liberty University, who I found had great professors but were also very understanding of my military schedule and worked with me to make the classes work for the Army while still allowing me to get the most out of them.

The CSCS was the most intensive block of study. This was like the World Series for me. All of my mentors and coaches I respected had their CSCS and I knew I had to get mine as well. In my mind, I had to leave nothing to chance. In regard to my graduate courses, I planned it following my course in advanced exercise physiology and speed and plyometric development. However, I’d be lying if I said my graduate courses made the largest difference in passing the CSCS. If anything, they may have taken a back seat while preparing for the exam.

The best resources I found while preparing for the CSCS are:

• Dr. Matt Casturo and The Movement System

• Dr. Goodin’s CSCS Prep YouTube Channel

• Reading the book - there’s no substitute. You have to jump into reading Essentials of Strength Training & Conditioning. All other resources are supplemental to actually understanding the book and should help reinforce your understanding of the material presented in the book.

While not required, I highly recommend you find a mentor within the profession. If you’ve been following Modern Athlete for anytime time period, you undoubtedly know Coach Jimmy. He’s a Master Strength & Conditioning Coach through the CSCCa and an author on the latest edition of the NSCA’s Essentials of Tactical Strength & Conditioning. Not all of our conversations focused on passing the CSCS, in fact, I’d say 99% of them had nothing to do it. However, over a few years, I learned more about coaching athletes than I ever could have from a textbook. Keep in mind, the CSCS ensures you have the baseline understanding to have the job, but you need to make sure you can practically apply your knowledge to real athletes. Having a mentor who has spent 20+ years in the profession is an experience that I can’t recommend enough.

Guys, that’s about it. That’s my path. If you are interested in pursuing certification for a career in strength and conditioning, then I highly encourage you send us a message. We’re more than willing to help anybody that connects with us.

You get one shot. Do it the right way. Do it in a way that benefits the athletes and benefits your longevity in this field.