Nice, Mandy
Dulla, Joe
Joyce, Jill
SWAT-Focused Human Performance Optimization: Practical Fitness, Nutrition, and Recovery Strategies and Tactics for Every Operator

Few professions demand the level of mastery, grit and operational excellence demonstrated daily by SWAT and tactical operators. This session is designed to honor that expertise while delivering practical, science-based strategies that seamlessly complement the strong training foundations operators already have in place.

In this panel presentation, Joe Dulla, Mandy Nice, and Jill Joyce will share evidence-based principles of tactical athleticism, including strength development, tapering, mobility, gear-specific training, and movement-quality techniques that build resilience without adding unnecessary fatigue. The panel will also highlight safe training progressions, effective warm-up protocols, and strategies for maintaining high output during repeated events and callouts.

Additionally, the session will cover actionable fueling and hydration strategies that enhance energy availability, sharpen cognitive performance, and reduce fatigue during multi-event PFQ testing and operational demands. Attendees will learn how to properly time carbohydrates, protein, fluids, and electrolytes for optimal performance, as well as how to avoid common nutrition and hydration mistakes that undermine strength and endurance.

The panel will conclude with a mission-focused approach to recovery, addressing sleep optimization, parasympathetic downregulation, tactical breathing, and simple daily routines that accelerate recovery, reduce injury risk, and support long-term operator health and readiness. This session will equip officers, trainers, and team leaders with practical, evidence-based, and field-proven strategies to maximize physical capability, minimize exhaustion, and elevate performance during PFQ testing, real-world tactical operations, and beyond.

Mandy Nice - Bio
Mandy Nice has over 20 years of experience designing evidence-based fitness and wellness programs that measurably improve strength, resilience, and quality of life for first responders and civilians alike. Her work has earned numerous awards, including three Gold American Heart Association Workplace Health Achievement Awards and the U.S. President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition National Community Leadership Award. Her program outcomes have been featured in IACP Police Chief Magazine and FBI National Academy Associates Magazine.

Throughout her career, Mandy has served as a subject-matter expert and professional speaker for the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Fraternal Order of Police, the National White Collar Crime Center, and other national organizations. As the former National Tactical Program Manager for the NSCA, she partnered with world-renowned experts to develop training resources and toolkits that are still used nationwide.

Mandy currently serves as the Daytona Beach Shores Health & Fitness Manager, Chair of the IACP Physical Health & Wellness Working Group, and a Lexipol CEM, and remains an active SME for the NSCA, NTOA, and the U.S. Department of Justice. Her mission is to help first responders build strong, healthy careers and enjoy long, healthy retirements.

Joe Dulla - Bio
Joseph Dulla has had more than 40 years of operational experience in first-responder roles, including EMT, lifeguard, boat and rescue truck operations, and mountain rescue, as well as more than 31 years in sworn ranks with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. His assignments spanned custody, patrol, investigations, task force operations, technical operations, training, and large-scale incident management.

In a collateral role, Joe spent more than 15 years in the Los Angeles County Emergency Operations Center, ultimately serving as Operations Section Chief, where he coordinated multi-agency law enforcement, fire, EMS, hospitals, utilities, and critical infrastructure for 10 million residents during exercises and major disasters, including the historic Woolsey Fire.

Joe's tactical focus centers on human performance, injury reduction, durability, and operational readiness in high-risk environments. As the LASD Recruit Training Unit Lieutenant, he led injury-reduction and performance-enhancement programs for staff and more than 5,500 academy recruits, implementing systems that improved load tolerance, selection, preparedness, and return-to-duty speed-principles directly applicable to tactical operators.

He has authored or co-authored more than 30 peer-reviewed studies on tactical strength and conditioning, physical abilities testing, injury patterns, and human performance optimization, and contributed a chapter on tactical assessments to an NSCA textbook. His work supports teams seeking evidence-based methods to enhance selection, reduce non-contact injuries, manage fatigue, and extend operator longevity under extreme operational stress.

Joe has presented at the IACP, IADLEST, ACSM, NSCA-TSAC, and international human performance congresses, as well as to law enforcement agencies worldwide. He is currently a PhD researcher with Bond University's Tactical Research Unit, studying attrition, load, injuries, and performance optimization. Joe also consults nationally through the DOJ COPS/CRI-TAC program and Georgia Southern University's Tactical Athlete Program to strengthen fitness, resilience, and mission-critical performance.

Jill Joyce - Bio
Jill Joyce is a Registered Dietitian who hates kale and loves chocolate. She is an Associate Professor and the Co-Director of the Tactical Fitness and Nutrition Lab at Oklahoma State University. Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she spent nine years after graduation moving around the country with her husband during his active-duty Army service, working in a variety of settings as a dietitian.

As a researcher, Jill investigates how healthy tactical athletes (fire, law enforcement, and military) fuel themselves, why they make the nutrition choices they do, and which interventions are most effective in helping them optimize nutrition for health and performance.