To become a Certified Special Population Specialist® (CSPS®), candidates must sit for an exam that will test their knowledge in four areas: Basic Pathophysiology and Science of Health Status, Condition, Disorder or Disease; Client Consultation; Program Planning; and Safety, Emergency Procedures and Legal Issues. Exams are hosted in testing centers around the world. Read on to learn more about how the CSPS® exam is structured.

Explore the NSCA and SHAPE America joint statement connecting evidence-based practice, physical education standards, and professional learning for K–12 schools.

Time-restricted eating (TRE) is an application of intermittent fasting where an individual consumes their calories in a specific eating window (e.g., 8 hours) followed by a prolonged fasting window (e.g., 16 hours). Several randomized controlled trials have analyzed the combined effect of resistance training (RT) and TRE on physical adaptations, including fat mass (FM) loss, fat-free mass (FFM) retention, hypertrophy, local muscular endurance, power, and strength. In this mini review, we highlight the methodology and results from these studies and conclude by providing practical application suggestions for fitness professionals striving to maximize RT + TRE with their clientele. Generally, RT + TRE leads to positive body composition changes, including FM loss and FFM retention, which culminates in improved body fat percentage. Similarly, RT + TRE consistently stimulates positive neuromuscular adaptations, such as increased hypertrophy, local muscular endurance, power, and strength. When positive changes are not observed, and when safely implemented, RT + TRE rarely confers negative effects on the abovementioned adaptations. In short, RT + TRE may be a beneficial dietary and exercise strategy to improve body composition and muscular fitness. However, there are several caveats for practitioners to consider, which are discussed at length in this article.

The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) is proud to announce the recipients of the organization’s 2024 Career and Service Awards. Given annually, the distinguished Career Awards honor individuals who have made significant contributions to the strength and conditioning community throughout their careers. Additionally, the Service Awards recognize those who have provided exceptional dedication and support to the NSCA’s journals or State and Provincial Director Program. Each winner will be formally recognized at the 2024 NSCA National Conference in Baltimore, MD, this July 10-13.

This continuing education opportunity explores a variety of topics as they pertain to training the youth population. To earn your CEUs, it will be necessary to review several articles and pass a 50-question quiz. Please note: this quiz awards 1.0 CEU (10 contact hours). Articles 1) Effects of Balance Training on Physical Fitness in Youth and Young Athletes: A Narrative Review 2) Seven Pillars of Prevention: Effective Strategies for Strength and Conditioning Coaches to Reduce Injury Risk and Improve Performance in Young Athletes 3) Navigating the Complex Pathway of Youth Athletic Development: Challenges and Solutions to Managing the Training Load of Youth Team Sport Athletes 4) Energy and Macronutrient Considerations for Young Athletes 5) Assessing Athletic Motor Skill Competencies in Youths: A Narrative Review of Movement Competency Screens

Firefighting is a profession that has the potential to be extremely demanding, both physically and mentally. More specifically, these tactical personnel must be physically fit to perform their occupational requirements, all while they are exposed to daily stressors. This is likely to include everything from physical strain and shift work to interrupted sleep and witnessing potentially traumatizing events. Failure to prepare and mitigate these occupational demands can have long-lasting implications to overall performance as well as health and wellness. Unfortunately, many of these elements often go unaddressed. As such, considerations for collaborative and overarching cross-disciplinary allied health teams should be made. Human performance optimization (HPO) is a model that has been successfully adopted by the U.S. military to enhance the overarching health, wellness, and performance of soldiers. This article proposes the utilization of a similar HPO model by providing a rationale for how it can be used to reduce premature morbidity and mortality, as well as increasing overall readiness and resilience within the firefighting profession.

This course is an introduction to force plates and performance testing. This course covers the basics of setup and calibration of force plates, and then walks through several fundamental performance tests including squat jumps, countermovement jumps, drop jumps and loaded jumps. Two versions of the isometric mid-thigh pull as well as an isometric squat are also covered in the course. Real-time data collection from the software is also shown as the athletes are performing the tests. A module on data analysis rounds out the course, which includes five metrics collected from the force plate, as well as calculations from this data, including relative strength index - modified, and dynamic strength index.