Thomas R. Baechle, EdD, CSCS, *D; NSCA-CPT, *D is the executive director of the Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialists Agency, the certifying body for the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). He has been a state and regional director of the organization, was president from 1983 to 1985, and served as its director of education from 1985 to 1990. He is an associate editor for NSCA's two periodicals--the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research and Strength and Conditioning. In addition, he serves on NSCA's Tests and Measurements Committee, Research Committee, and Past President's Committee. Dr. Baechle has received various honors and awards from the NSCA, including the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Outstanding Strength and Conditioning Professional of the Year in 1985. He is also a professor and chair of the Department of Exercise Sciences at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.
For 20 years Dr. Baechle competed successfully in weightlifting and powerlifting, setting various Midwest records. For more than 20 years he has been involved in the strength training and conditioning of college athletes. Dr. Baechle is certified as a Level I weightlifting coach by the United States Weightlifting Federation, as a Certified Personal Trainer and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist by the NSCA, and as an Exercise Test Technologist and Exercise Specialist by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). He has written numerous articles and is the author of several popular texts on strength training. He has held various offices at the state and regional level in the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance and is a member of NSCA, ACSM, National Association for Physical Education in Higher Education, and the National Organization for Competency Assurance.
Roger W. Earle, MA, CSCS, *D, NSCA-CPT, *D, earned his master's degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in exercise science. In 2008, he became the Professional Education division director at Human Kinetics. Previously, Earle was the associate executive director for National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) Certification, where he was responsible for developing the Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and the NSCA-Certified Personal Trainer (NSCA-CPT) certification exams. He also previously served as the head strength and conditioning coach and a faculty member of the exercise science and athletic training department at Creighton University in Omaha.
Earle has over 25 years of experience as a personal fitness trainer for people of all age and fitness levels, and he frequently gives lectures at national and international conferences about designing personalized exercise and training programs. He coauthored the first and second editions of Fitness Weight Training and coedited both the NSCA's Essentials of Personal Training and the first and second editions of Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning.