Velocity-based training (VBT) is a contemporary method of resistance training that enables accurate and objective prescription of resistance training intensities and volumes. This review provides an applied framework for the theory and application of VBT. Specifically, this review gives detail on how to: use velocity to provide objective feedback, estimate strength, develop load-velocity profiles for accurate load prescription, and how to use statistics to monitor velocity. Furthermore, a discussion on the use of velocity loss thresholds, different methods of VBT prescription, and how VBT can be implemented within traditional programming models and microcycles is provided.

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.

Position statements are official statements of the NSCA on topics related to strength and conditioning and exercise science. All NSCA Position Statements are published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research® and free to the public.

Altering set configurations during a resistance training program can provide a novel training variation that can be used to modify the external and internal training loads that induce specific training outcomes. To design training programs that better target the defined goal(s) of a specific training phase, strength and conditioning professionals need to better understand how different set configurations affect the training adaptations that result from resistance training. Traditional and cluster set structures are commonly implemented by strength and conditioning professionals as part of an athlete’s resistance training program. The purpose of this review is to offer examples of the practical implementation of traditional and cluster sets that can be integrated into a periodized resistance training program.

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Eccentric resistance training has been shown to elicit beneficial effects on performance and injury prevention in sports because of its specific muscular and neural adaptations. Within the different methods used to generate eccentric overload, flywheel eccentric training has gained interest in recent years because of its advantages over other methods such as its portability, the ample exercise variety it allows and its accommodated resistance. Only a limited number of studies that use flywheel devices provide enough evidence to support the presence of eccentric overload. There is limited guidance on the practical implementation of flywheel eccentric training in the current literature. In this article, we provide literature to support the use of flywheel eccentric training and present practical guidelines to develop exercises that allow eccentric overload.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are commonplace in business and sport. They offer an objective means to link data and processes with performance outcomes. Yet, their application in sports performance, particularly team sports, is not without issue. Here, we review 4 key issues relating to KPI application in team sports; lack of a universal definition, complexity of performance, drifting from on-field performance goals with off-field targets, and agency issues across different key stakeholders. With these issues relating to sports performance KPIs in mind, we propose a complementary approach to help practitioners focus on implementing the conditions that create performance environments and opportunities for success in a complex sporting environment. Ongoing process trackers (OPTs) are quantifiable measures of the execution of behaviors and processes that create the environments, cultures, and conditions for successful performance outcomes. This approach equips sports science practitioners with key questions they can ask themselves and their team when starting to select and use OPTs in their program.