Puberty is a critical period for young athletes, characterized by significant physical, psychological, and social changes. During puberty, young athletes experience the adolescent growth spurt at the same time as intensified training regimens, which can affect performance, injury risk, and overall health. Systematic training can improve physiological and performance outcomes, but the increased training volume and changes to the body during adolescence can also heighten the risk of injuries. This article discusses the injury risks associated with adolescent growth and provides comprehensive recommendations to mitigate these risks. Key recommendations include limiting training hours to the athlete’s age, monitoring growth and maturation to adjust training loads and content, and incorporating and modifying consistent strength and conditioning prescriptions. In addition, optimal nutrition, sleep, and interdisciplinary planning among coaches, parents, and stakeholders should be emphasized to support young athletes’ holistic development and well-being during the adolescent growth spurt.

The proper age-specific program may improve your teenager’s sports performance and reduce their risk of injuries.

Given the growing interest surrounding youth strength and conditioning, the NSCA recently engaged a group of leading experts to author a position statement on long-term athletic development. The document proposes ten key pillars of successful long-term athletic development that practitioners should adhere to in order to enhance performance, promote health and well-being, and minimize the risk of sport- or physical activity-related injury.

Recently, the court made a ruling on summary judgment motions filed by both NSCA and CrossFit. The rulings are not a final decision about the outcome of the case. Nor do they reflect a decision by the judge, that either CrossFit or NSCA won the case. The judge was asked by both CrossFit and NSCA to decide certain issues in advance of a trial by a jury.

The importance of physical fitness is never greater than when lives are at stake. Specifically, professionals in law enforcement, fire/rescue, and the military need fitness and tactical athleticism to efficiently respond to calls and complete missions regardless of the obstacles, mixed terrain, interference, and dangerous environmental conditions involved

The countermovement jump (CMJ) is one of the most used performance assessments in strength and conditioning. Although numerous studies discuss the usability of different metrics in this test, this is often performed within the context of a specific aim. However, to our knowledge, no information currently exists providing practitioners with some over-arching recommendations on which metrics to choose when the purpose of using the test differs. This article discusses how the metrics selected to monitor during CMJ testing may differ when aiming to use it as a proxy for athletic performance, as part of neuromuscular fatigue monitoring, or as part of a test battery for return to performance in injured athletes.

Adequate nutrition generally promotes training adaptations and thus optimal performance. Adolescence is characterized by a pubescence growth spurt, increasing energy and nutrient needs. Most team sports literature focuses on male athletes, with little on adolescent female team sports. Adolescent female athletes are at an increased risk of inadequate energy, and micronutrient intakes because of the pursuit of high fitness levels, and society pressures. This may cause hormonal irregularities, delayed development, poor bone health, and increased risk of injury. This review synthesizes information on the nutritional needs of adolescent female team sport players for performance and health.