Falls resulting from trips are a leading cause of injury and can sometimes result in death, especially in the older population. Numerous researchers have studied the biomechanical mechanisms that differentiate fallers from nonfallers and determined whether training can beneficially impact those outcomes. Exercise and task-specific interventions have demonstrated fewer falls after trips but can be costly and often require specialized equipment, making their applicability less practical. Qualified health and fitness practitioners can develop evidence-informed, exercise-based programs focusing on 3 components (balance training, task-specific training, and resistance exercise). Such programs may help to reduce fall risk in older adults based on previously documented studies identifying the biomechanical demands of a successful fall arrest after a trip perturbation. These multicomponent programs should include a safe task-specific training element that does not require specialized equipment.

Acclaimed Wisconsin-area high school strength and conditioning coach advises parents to ask these 10 important questions.

Agility is a key and complex concept within team sports performance. Because of its multidimensional nature, agility benefits from perceptual and cognitive skills as well as physical capacity (e.g., ability to exert acceleration, deceleration, and changes of direction). Agility should be integrated in different and complementary ways in team sports training. From more analytical to more ecological tasks, there is a need to comprehend the respective adaptations and identify how to integrate such a spectrum and, eventually, combine them in the training process and manage it accordingly to the player’s needs. Based on this premise, the purpose of this article is to present alternative methods and recommendations that may help to develop agility in field-based invasion sports. The main concepts pertaining to agility and associated capacities will be explored. Afterward, a proposal for a more analytical approach based on the use of cones and ladders will be introduced, as well as approaches based on small-sided games. Finally, an integration of agility training and a combination of approaches will be presented using soccer as an example.

Adam Feit, PhD, CSCS*D, RSCC, offers practical insight on understanding and motivating human behavior in Autonomy-Supportive Coaching: A New Perspective on Training Athletes. After this engaging video, you will be able to: Review the benefits of satisfying athletes’ and coaches’ basic psychological needs. Explain how specific coaching behaviors can help or hinder athlete and coach performance. Understand how to create an autonomy-supportive training and coaching environment.

Sprinting is a key component for many individual and team sports. Therefore, to enhance sprint performance, various training methods are widely used by coaches and practitioners, including maximum sprint speed and resisted sprint training. Resisted sprinting with sled towing is a method that has recently received considerable attention from the sport science community. However, to date, no consensus exists regarding its acute and chronic effects in team sport athletes. This narrative review aimed to (a) review and analyze the mechanics of sprinting under unresisted and resisted conditions with a specific focus on team sport disciplines; (b) provide a thorough and applied discussion on the importance of considering acute and chronic effects of sled loading on technique, electromyographic activity, and force production, as well as on the role of muscle architecture and neural factors in sled training; (c) analyze the effects of increasing sled loads during acceleration and maximum velocity phases on contact and flight phases, while concomitantly examining kinetic, kinematic, and neuromuscular aspects, because all these factors affect each other and cannot be properly understood in isolation.

The National Strength and Conditioning Association was founded in 1978 with 76 strength coaches from across the country with the common desire to network, collaborate and unify the profession of strength and conditioning. Since its inception, the NSCA has grown to nearly 30,000 members in 72 countries and become the leader in the research and education of strength and conditioning professionals. Take a tour of the NSCA’s past and learn more about how it became the institution that it is today.

Joe Denk, a strength and conditioning instructor for the Navy SHAPE Program, discusses ways to integrate autoregulatory training and recovery systems into your training programs.

The use of exercise interventions to maximize athletes’ performance is a common practice in competitions. This systematic review aimed to compile research that explored the effectiveness of priming strategies to maximize physical performance in track and field. The literature search was conducted from PubMed and Scopus. One hundred eighty-two studies were assessed against the inclusion criteria: (a) minimum 1-year participation/competition experience; (b) randomized controlled trials with pre-post intervention outcomes; and (c) studies involving exercise interventions applied #6 hours before outcome measures were collected. Fifteen studies satisfied the criteria and were categorized according to the exercise interventions used (i.e., resistance training, plyometric/ ballistic training, resisted sprints, and modified warm-ups). Heavy-loaded resistance training (i.e., .85% 1 repetition maximum) and resisted sprints increased subsequent sprint performance. Plyometrics/ballistic training also positively impacted subsequent jumping (i.e., long jump) and throwing performance (i.e., shot put). Modified warm-ups (i.e., high-intensity sprints and heavier throwing implements) also improved subsequent running and throwing performance. Overall, exercise interventions performed at high intensity and low volume augment subsequent physical performance as close to 4 minutes before the event. However, a sufficient recovery interval must be considered for a positive performance response.

Mark Stephenson explains the systems of stress response for tactical personnel and the cognitive influence on decision-making and reaction time.