Parkinson disease (PD) is a progressive and chronic neurodegenerative disorder that compromises both motor and nonmotor functions, ultimately leading to a decline in functional capacity and quality of life. Although the etiology of PD is multifaceted, exercise has shown promising effects in managing PD symptoms and enhancing patient well-being. Although aerobic and resistance exercise demonstrate benefits within this specific population, the exact application of these modalities varies and often differs depending on disease progression and the individual. Although individuals diagnosed with PD are encouraged to exercise, there is still a lack of information pertaining to how to successfully structure physical activity into their daily routine. There are also distinct barriers and motivators impacting their decision to engage in regular exercise. This manuscript offers practical recommendations and personalized exercise guidelines for exercise professionals, empowering them to optimize PD management through targeted exercise interventions. In addition, it offers current information on promoting exercise among patients with PD, specifically to enhance their functional outcomes.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently recognized the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) as one of the first organizations to join the National Youth Sports Strategy (NYSS) Champion℠ program. HHS released the NYSS in September 2019 in response to Presidential Executive Order 13824, which called for a national strategy to increase youth sports participation. The NYSS is the first Federal roadmap with actionable strategies to increase participation in youth sports, increase awareness of the benefits of youth sports participation, monitor and evaluate youth sports participation, and recruit and engage volunteers in youth sports programming.

The purpose of this meta-analysis was to synthesize the literature and provide a robust estimate of the correlations between lower-body, multijoint, isometric and dynamic neuromuscular assessment variables and snatch (SN) and clean and jerk (C&J) performance in competitive weightlifters. A comprehensive search through 3 electronic databases (PubMed, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science) returned 12 studies that met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analyses were performed on Pearson’s correlations between SN and C&J performance and 15 variables from 5 neuromuscular assessments— countermovement jump (CMJ), squat jump (SJ), isometric midthigh pull (IMTP), back squat (BS), and front squat (FS) one repetition maximum (1RM). The FS and BS 1RM exhibited nearly perfect correlations (r 5 0.93 to 0.94), whereas the IMTP peak force exhibited very large correlations (r 5 0.83 to 0.85). The IMTP force at 250 ms exhibited very large correlations (r 5 0.77 to 0.78), and the CMJ and SJ peak power exhibited very large to nearly perfect correlations (r 5 0.88 to 0.92). These findings illustrate the importance of lower-body maximal and time-limited force-producing capabilities in weightlifters. Moreover, each assessment offers at least one variable that exhibits a correlation of .0.70. Therefore, these assessments may be used to gauge weightlifting performance potential.

The physiological response to breath holding includes bradycardia and peripheral vasoconstriction, which contrasts with that of exercise which includes tachycardia and peripheral vasodilation. This raises the question as to what the physiological response is to breath holding during exercise. During low-intensity exercise, the breath holding response of bradycardia and peripheral vasoconstriction prevails over the exercise response of tachycardia and peripheral vasodilation, but nevertheless the exercise may be sustained. Due to the lack of availability of extrinsic oxygen (O 2 ) from the atmosphere during breath holding, the energy demands can be met by increased reliance on intrinsic O 2 stores (i.e., O 2 that was in the body before the breath hold) via increased O 2 extraction at the muscle compared with exercise while breathing, or increased contributions from anaerobic energy systems. During high intensity exercise of short duration, the exercise response may prevail over the breath holding response due to the increased parasympathetic withdrawal and sympathetic drive of higher intensity exercise. If breath holding during high-intensity exercise was sustained for long enough, the breath holding response may eventually overcome the exercise response, although this may be difficult due to the inverse relationship between exercise intensity and breath hold duration.

The Student Research Award is given to students who have presented an abstract at the NSCA National Conference.

Taurine is a well-known free amino acid that has gained prominence in recent years despite its little or no role in protein formation. Few studies on the ergogenic effect of taurine exist with inconsistent results. The answer to the question of whether performance markers demonstrate the benefit of taurine remains unclear. This study aimed to reach a consensus about whether taurine supplementation is effective on aerobic (time to exhaustion [TTE], maximal oxygen uptake [V̇O2max], and rating of perceived exertion) and anaerobic (power outputs, fatigue index, jumping, and blood lactate level) performance outputs. Google Scholar, PubMed databases, clinical trial websites, and gray literature were reviewed until November 2021. Mean differences (MDs) were pooled using random or fixed-effects models according to the heterogeneity degree of the related output. Although 18 studies were detected for the meta-analysis between 2001 and 2021, 16 studies were grouped. Only randomized controlled trials (single or double-blind) were considered. Taurine supplementation had a significant effect on vertical (MD 5 3.60; 95% confidence interval [CI] [2.32 to 4.89], p , 0.00001) and countermovement (MD 5 8.50; 95% CI [4.78 to 12.22], p , 0.00001) jump performance when compared with a placebo group. Taurine supplementation had no significant effect on the V̇O2max level and rate of perceived exertion (respectively, MD 5 20.54 mL/kg/min; 95% CI [26.84 to 5.75], p 5 0.87; MD 5 20.24; 95% CI [20.74 to 0.27], p 5 0.35) when compared with a placebo group. Overall, it looks to be effective for jumping performance and TTE. Taurine supplementation may be useful for people who want to improve these performance outputs.

Every three years, we conduct an audit of NSCA certified individuals who have completed the recertification process. We require each randomly selected certificant to share documentation that shows proof of compliance with recertification requirements.